Like most classic compilation releases, Super Bomberman Collection is packed with many improvements. Two notable additions are rewind and save states. These changes, albeit simple, help smooth out the sometimes frustrating gameplay that’s a byproduct of the 8- and 16-bit generations. In the past, I’d often turn a corner too fast and get caught in the tail end of an explosion. Now, instead of resetting the level, I can simply rewind and correct my tempo. Save states let you save and load a title at any point, something you couldn’t do with the original releases.
(Credit: Konami/PCMag)
The collection introduces a new boss rush mode, a simple time attack mode where you battle bosses from each game in turn. I don’t dig this mode, as I’m just not a fan of Bomberman’s boss encounters. The bosses sometimes come in the form of large, screen-filling enemies, or sometimes come as smaller, more annoying foes that scamper around the maze and harm you from afar. These fights are usually the most frustrating aspects of Bomberman. In addition, the boss rush is designed for you to chase high scores, so the rewind feature is disabled, making the encounters extra challenging.
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Super Bomberman Collection comes with more than 200 pieces of art from across all five 16-bit Super Bomberman entries, a jukebox that lets you listen to tracks from the various games and create your own music playlist, and retro-style CRT filters for old school visual flair. There’s no music from the two 8-bit games, but you can apply CRT filters to them. The games are presented in 4:3, but you can choose wide and native-ratio displays, and even a pixel-perfect mode meant to emulate how the games would’ve looked on a CRT TV. I appreciate the work that went into preserving these titles and making them playable on contemporary gaming platforms.
(Credit: Konami/PCMag)
A lot of care also went into the collection’s presentation. The menus are bright and colorful, and I even spotted new art and animations in the Bomb Radio section. I especially liked the 3D renderings of each game’s box art and cartridges from each region. You even get instruction booklets for each Super Bomberman entry.
Super Bomberman Collection includes the original games’ local multiplayer modes against bots or buds. However, there’s no online multiplayer—in the traditional sense. You can’t play random bombers, but you can battle people on your friend list using Steam Remote Play (or using GameShare and GameChat with Switch 2). I understand that adding online multiplayer to a classic collection is a heavy lift, but it would be nice to play strangers when my buddies aren’t around.
(Credit: Konami/PCMag)
Bomberman die-hards may lament the missing releases. Fan-favorite 2D titles, including Atomic Bomberman, Bomberman ’93, Bomberman ’94, Saturn Bomberman, and Wario Blast Featuring Bomberman (a Nintendo crossover), are absent. The same goes for 3D games, such as Bomberman 64 and Bomberman Hero. But in the same way Capcom has released a half dozen Mega Man collections (like Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection), I’m sure Konami will revisit other Bomberman titles for future collections if this one does well.
