monsters, Bomberman has been a blast for gamers to play for almost 3 decades. Cool White,

Shirobon, the White Bomberman, whatever you call him, stars in one of my favorite Bomberman

outings on the Super Nintendo. It’s 1994 and this is Super Bomberman 2 .

This was one of the first games I had on my Super Nintendo, receiving it along with Super

Mario All-stars for Christmas when I was a kid, and back then I was never able to get

past the 3rd set of levels, but after a few years of playing Max, Ultra, Live and WarioBlast,

I’ve finally been able to beat this game. The Five Bad Bombers, as their eloquently

called in the instruction manual, have kidnapped BomberMan because some aliens built them to

do so, so the aliens could take over the world and that the aliens could rid the world of

the original Bomberman and some other nonsense. The Bomberman Games focus on Plot is not as

defined as say, a Final Fantasy game….but that’s perfectly alright in my book. I don’t

play Bomberman for the story, I play it to blow things up.

Out of 5 sets of levels, Super Bomberman 2 is pretty short. You start with the Magnet

Bomber and progress through his base until you eventually reach a final showdown with

the Plasma Bomber. Like most Bomberman games, your objective is to destroy all the bad guys,

avoid the level’s traps and your own destructive tendencies, and hit all switches to open a

door to the next level. It’s a simple formula, and it’s executed very well in Super Bomberman

2….though some levels will feel a little cheap with hidden traps or little time to

react when starting a new level. After clearing 6 levels in one Bad Bomber’s

base, the Bad Bomber will confront our explosive laying hero. Each Bad Bomber’s tactics are

different but they’re generally nothing to worry about. You might blow yourself up

more times than the enemy will. But, like all Bad guys, the Bad Bomber’s don’t go

down easy. They’ll retreat to hop in a huge robot or other machine in a final attempt

to crush you. These fights are very frustrating, because if you die, you’ll have to fight

the Bad Bomber all over again. It’s not a deal breaker, but be prepared to have a

few game overs on the latter half of the game. Of course no Bomberman experience is complete

without talking about Battle Mode. Much like soda, chips, and other party favors, Bomberman

should be synonymous with the words ‘party game’. Grab a few friends, plug in the Super

Nintendo Multitap, and have a 4 player game. There’s a ton of Battle maps to satisfy

a Bomberman craving, and while it’s not the most complicated of Battle Modes in the

series, the single match and tag team matches are a blast to play.

The Bomberman series has had its ups and downs. Ever play Act Zero on the 360? But Super Bomberman

2 is not one of the bad games It’s worth picking up and playing through the normal

game, but if you’re all about the Battle Mode, you may want to check out a later title

in the series. It’s Super Bomberman. Its Bomberman! You can’t go wrong with Bomberman,

unless it’s Act Zero on the 360. And quite honestly, if you like that game, we probably

can’t be friends.