Bomberman GB

"A good investment"

Indiana Jones better watch his back because Bomberman really puts a run for his money in this game. Bomberman takes on this Indiana Jones looking character, and goes in search of a legendary treasure believed to grant every wish. Bomberman finds where it is hidden, but suddenly the ground splits below him and that is when the adventure begins.

This game is made up of eight action packed stages with four regular levels and then a boss level. The good thing about this game is in the beginning of each stage, you get the choice of how you want to play the game. In the beginning of every stage, you can choose either mode A or mode B. This can come in handy a lot for the people who can't beat the first mode. Unfortunately, all of the boss battles are the same no matter what mode you have it on. If you happen to get a game over, you must start at the beginning of the stage. Once you fully beat a stage, however, you are given a password, which can be entered at the title screen.

This game was made for the Super Gameboy adapter for Super Nintendo. If you have that you can play battle mode against up to three other people. But of course for this you need a multi-tap. Battle mode is the part of the game where you try to knock off all of the other players. But in your way stands a new item exclusively in battle mode, the skull, which causes Bomberman to become ill. In battle mode the playing field is usually a lot smaller and can usually fit the whole field on your screen. If you don't have a multi-tap you can always play against the computer with as many opponents as you want. In battle mode you can also choose which mode you want to play. You can either play a timed match or whomever gets hit four times loses.

The third mode is lesson mode. In lesson mode you can pick any stage to play on, and there is a practice level to learn the environment of certain stages and also practice speed and accuracy. The practice level you get to play is always the first level in every stage.

To get past stages, you are given one and only weapon. Your bombs, of course. You can get power-ups that make your bombs shoot longer or so that you can lay more down. After beating any boss, you learn a new ability to help through other levels. After defeating Kahs, the level one boss, you learn “whip” which allows you to whip a bomb into motion. Then you learn “dash”, “tackle”, “linebomb”, “moto-bomber”, and “full-Power”. These will help you a lot and make the game way too easy.

Graphics: 8/10
For the GameBoy's standards this game has pretty good graphics. There is no color of course, being that it is from the original GameBoy. Bomberman and the different enemies are easy to make out and the scenery and background is very detailed and rather nice. If you have in hooked into your Super Gameboy though, the game is in full-color making the graphics even better. But if you happen to play this game in a GameBoy Advance or Color, the colors are all weird and doesn't look pretty.

Sound: 8/10
Also pretty good for GameBoy's standards. The background music is okay, but can get quite annoying if you're stuck in a level for a while. The sound effects are also pretty good with the bombs exploding probably the only one but still the highlight.

Story: 7/10
I look at the story of this game a complete rip-off of Indiana Jones. I mean, this guy looks exactly like him, dresses the same, and the story just has those unbelievable twists that seem unreal. Doesn't it seem like an Indiana Jones movie to have Jones come up to the treasure than something happening where he just has to try and rescue his own life? Well, that is exactly what happens in this game. They really should have called the game “Bomberman IJ” for Indiana Jones. However, I like the whole Indiana Jones thing, so this got a seven.

Game Play: 10/10
This game is very fun. Battle mode would have to be the most fun, but story mode is also pretty fun. The bosses can be hard though and cause you some frustration. If you have a multi-tap, take advantage of it! There are few games that it works for and this is probably the best!

Controlling Bomberman is also easy. He moves at your simple command and does all of his attacks easily at your command. Nothing to complain about here.

Replay Value: 8/10
This is a fun game playing multi-player, but isn't as fun playing single. I still like the single player, but if that's all you play you won't be looking at too high of a replay value.

Final Words: 8/10
I liked this game a lot. It was probably one of my favorite multi-player games for the GameBoy. It is awesome to play against the computer, with friends, or by yourself. If you are lost in the world of GameBoy gaming, this would be a great game to invest in. In my opinion this is a great game and a great buy no matter what price you find it for.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/26/06