Saturn Bomberman
European cover art
Developer(s)Hudson Soft
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Shigeki Fujiwara
Kazunori Yasui
Producer(s)Hiroshi Igari
Designer(s)Tatsumitsu Watanabe
Yōhei Nakata
Artist(s)Shoji Mizuno
Naoto Yoshimi
Composer(s)Jun Chikuma
SeriesBomberman
Platform(s)Sega Saturn
Release
Genre(s)Action, maze
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Saturn Bomberman[lower-alpha 1] is an action video game by Hudson Soft for the Sega Saturn. The twelfth installment in the Bomberman series, it was first released in Japan on July 19, 1996, in Europe in May 1, 1997, and in North America in September 4, 1997. It is best known for its multiplayer functionality for up to ten players. The game received praise from critics for its enjoyable gameplay and multiplayer, but received criticism for not advancing the Bomberman series enough beyond previous installments.

Gameplay

Like most Bomberman games, Saturn Bomberman features a battle mode as well as a story mode. Along with them is a master mode in which the player races to finish a series of levels after which the player is given a rank based on how much time is taken. This time is then saved to memory and kept on a scoreboard for future reference.[4] The game also features several new powerups.

Saturn Bomberman utilises Dinosaur helpers, which are initially found as eggs released upon the destruction of a soft block. Dinosaurs come in three levels: babies (the weakest), adolescents, and adults (the strongest). Dinosaurs can only take one hit no matter how large they are. If a player is riding a dinosaur when this happens, the dinosaur takes the hit instead of the player.[4] As powerups are collected, a special meter at the top of the screen slowly builds up. Once this meter is full, the dinosaur will grow one level, from baby to adolescent or adolescent to adult. However, in battle mode this system works differently. Whenever a player collects an egg while riding on a dinosaur, the dinosaur will grow. The player can jump off of the dinosaur at any time.

Story mode

Saturn Bomberman has a story mode which can be played single player or two-player.[4]

The story mode levels involve blowing up poles with glowing red orbs on the top (which are known as Zarfs) while avoiding (or destroying) enemies, blowing up blocks and collecting powerups. Once all the Zarfs on a level have been destroyed, an exit appears. Upon entering the exit, Bomberman will do a victory pose, then a short cut scene takes place. The cut scene shows a piece of scenery moving out of the way, then Bomberman walks through, and something closes up the way he came from. After the cut scene, the next level begins.

Battle mode

Saturn Bomberman supports up to ten human players on battle mode with 2 multitaps,[5] 7 players with just one multitap, or two players without any multitaps. It is also possible to combat against CPU-controlled opponents in battle mode.[5]

If the number of players in a game exceeds eight, the game is played on a widescreen arena, shrinking the characters and blocks to tiny proportions, making the playing field very large. This also disables many of the powerups, including dinosaurs.

The North American version also supports the Sega NetLink for up to four player online via two players per console.[6][7]

Reception

Reviews

Critics were split over Saturn Bomberman. It received enthusiastic reviews from Electronic Gaming Monthly's four-person "review crew", Saturn Power's Dean Mortlock, and Sega Saturn Magazine's Matt Yeo, who were particularly impressed with the ten-player capability[9][13][14] and the numerous modes and options.[13][14] Yeo also praised the game's accessibility, remarking, "Mastering power-ups and building on that initial buzz certainly adds to the game's broad appeal but the fact that players can simply pick up a joypad and leap straight into the thick of things with the minimum of tuition is the real winning factor."[14] However, a reviewer for Next Generation and Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot both felt the game failed to break out from the shadow of Super Bomberman 2. Gerstmann elaborated, "Since that classic game, every subsequent Bomberman game has closely mirrored it, while tacking on a few silly features that kept the game fresh without really adding anything useful. Saturn Bomberman combines all these silly features into one game, giving you what should be the ultimate Bomberman game. But any serious Bomberman player has seen all this before."[10] Next Generation similarly opined that "the basic gameplay goodness of the series isn't tarnished, but nevertheless, the latest offering from Hudson Soft doesn't attain the classic status of SB2."[11]

Critics were also not wholly sold on the 10-player feature, as most noted that the screen size used for ten players makes powerups and characters too small to discern on all but the largest television sets.[10][11][14][16] They nonetheless concurred that the multiplayer modes overall are the highlight of the game.[9][10][11][13][14][16] Dan Hsu of Electronic Gaming Monthly stated that "It's a mediocre one-player game. It's a fantastic multiplayer game. And that's all you really need to know."[9] Mortlock ventured that it is "Probably the best multi-player game you'll ever play."[13] GamePro noted that the screen is much less confusing if there are eight players or fewer, and commented, "If you don't have a Sega multitap, Saturn Bomberman offers the perfect excuse to get one. If you don't have friends, this is a good opportunity to get some of them, too."[16]

The Story Mode and Master Mode were criticized by Matt Yeo for the frustratingly difficult AI and unforgiving boss fights,[14] and GamePro similarly described them as "more a trial of your patience than a test of your skill."[16] However, Next Generation contended that these modes are the one area where Saturn Bomberman actually exceeds Super Bomberman 2, as they "offer a decidedly less frantic (but more cerebral) puzzle-gamelike experience".[11]

Critics generally remarked that the graphics and music are very limited and fail to advance the Bomberman series in any way.[10][11][16] Most also complained at the excessive length of time between the game's original release in Japan and its release in North America and Europe.[9][10][13][14]

Next Generation reviewed the Japanese version of the game as an import in 1996, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "even a mediocre Bomberman game is still worth checking out, and a must for gregarious Saturn fans."[17]

Sales

In Japan, the game sold 129,616 units.[18]

Accolades

Electronic Gaming Monthly gave Saturn Bomberman the 1997 Game of the Year awards for "Saturn Game of the Year" and "Multiplayer Game of the Year".[15] The same year, Electronic Gaming Monthly listed it as the 10th best console video game of all time, remarking that while it was only slightly better than the Bomberman games for the older Super NES and TurboGrafx-16, it was nonetheless the best entry in the series to date.[19] Digitiser ranked it the second best Saturn game of 1997, below Fighters Megamix.[12]

In 2008, IGN ranked Saturn Bomberman eight on their "Top 10 Sega Saturn Games" list, and in 2009 called it the best Bomberman game along with Bomberman '93.[20][21] In 2012, GamesRadar ranked the game fourth on their "Best Saturn games of all time" list.[22] In 2014, Retro Gamer placed the game on their "Top Ten Saturn Games" list.[23]

Notes

  1. ↑ Japanese: サターンボンバーマン, Hepburn: Satān Bonbāman

References

  1. ↑ "Hudson - Action game [ Sega Saturn](Archive)". hudson.co.jp. Archived from the original on 6 February 1997. Retrieved 31 October 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  2. ↑ "Press release: 1997-04-04: Sega's Spring Line Up". Sega Retro. 2023-11-15. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
  3. ↑ "NUMBER ONE MULTI-PLAYER GAME IN HISTORY COMES TO SEGA SATURN". Sega Central. Sega of America. September 4, 1997. Archived from the original on February 2, 1998. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 Yeo, Matt (May 1997). "Things that Make You Go Boom!". Sega Saturn Magazine. No. 19. Emap International Limited. pp. 40–43.
  5. 1 2 "Protos: Bomberman" (PDF). Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 92. Ziff Davis. March 1997. p. 34.
  6. ↑ Dan Elektro (December 1997). "The Saturn's Net Worth". GamePro. No. 111. IDG. p. 32.
  7. ↑ "Net Link Play". Saturn Bomberman US Instruction Manual. Sega. 1997. p. 20. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  8. ↑ "Saturn Bomberman for Saturn". Archived from the original on 2019-12-05.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "Review Crew: Saturn Bomberman". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 100. Ziff Davis. November 1997. p. 191.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gerstmann, Jeff (October 10, 1997). "Saturn Bomberman Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Finals: Saturn Bomberman". Next Generation. No. 35. Imagine Media. November 1997. p. 199.
  12. 1 2 "Digitiser's Top Games of 1997". Digitiser. 13 January 1998. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mortlock, Dean (June 1997). "Review: Bomberman SS". Saturn Power. No. 1. Future plc. p. 75.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Yeo, Matt (May 1997). "Review: Saturn Bomberman". Sega Saturn Magazine. No. 19. Emap International Limited. pp. 52–53.
  15. 1 2 Electronic Gaming Monthly, issue 104, Editors' Choice Awards, pages 86-96
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 Scary Larry (October 1997). "Saturn ProReview: Saturn Bomberman". GamePro. IDG. p. 146.
  17. ↑ "Finals" (PDF). Next Generation. No. 23. Imagine Media. November 1996. pp. 271–272.
  18. ↑ "Game Search". Game Data Library. Famitsu. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  19. ↑ "100 Best Games of All Time". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 100. Ziff Davis. November 1997. pp. 152, 154. Note: Contrary to the title, the intro to the article (on page 100) explicitly states that the list covers console video games only, meaning PC games and arcade games were not eligible.
  20. ↑ Buchanan, Levi (29 July 2008). "Top 10 SEGA Saturn Games". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 3 September 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  21. ↑ Buchanan, Levi (29 August 2009). "The TurboGrafx-16 at 20". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  22. ↑ "Best Saturn games of all time". GamesRadar. Future plc. 18 April 2012. Archived from the original on 26 July 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  23. ↑ "Top Ten Saturn Games". Retro Gamer. Future plc. 20 January 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
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