Platform:
Nintendo Switch
Released:
March 3, 2017
Publisher:
Konami
Developer:
Konami
Super Bomberman R is a smart Nintendo Switch launch title, especially given it’s only one of very few exclusive retail releases available for the newest console on the market. Taking the classic Bomberman formula and making it accessible on a platform that can be played portably and easily with friends in tabletop mode makes a lot of sense, but the price tag is a little too hefty to recommend it wholeheartedly.
For those who haven’t played the classic Bomberman formula before, you are on a grid with other players starting in each corner; using smart placement of bombs, you blow up the debris around you, collect power-ups and try to be the last Bomber standing by taking out your opponents. It’s simple one-button gameplay is still fun even to this day, as it’s incredibly easy to learn and at its core, very entertaining.
Super Bomberman R ties in the quickfire style of gameplay with over 50 levels in a sort of campaign that’s linked together with anime style cutscenes. These missions can be played cooperatively with a friend, and the boss battles and other mini objectives do enough to change the formula and make things interesting, although the experience is over quite quickly.
“Multiplayer is definitely a better time with human players in the mix instead.”
What will keep you coming back is the multiplayer mode, which is designed for either 4 or 8 players to battle it out against one another. If you have the Joy-Con controllers ready to go, this is the way the game should be played. With a range of different power-ups, bomb types, revenge carts (which allow you to try to earn your way back into the game after being blown up) and multiple different maps to play on, it’s a lot of chaotic explosive fun.
There are things to unlock such as character costumes and new levels but the game is perfectly playable without this fluff and didn’t necessarily have me that much more engaged. The AI opponents in multiplayer also have a ridiculous ability to avoid bomb blasts, so much so that most times we were playing with multiple computer-controlled opponents, they were the last ones standing and ran the clock out. Multiplayer is definitely a better time with human players in the mix instead.
Positive:
- Fun with friends
- Classic, addictive gameplay
Negative:
- Single player lacking
- AI is tough
- Very expensive
Super Bomberman R is a simple package, with a quick campaign and multiplayer that suits a party environment. It’s a good time-filler for sure and is suited to the Nintendo Switch in every way except for its unreasonable price tag. With a RRP of $89.95, it’s charging you a hefty entry cost for a game that was available in a cheaper form on Xbox Live over 10 years ago. While simple and strategic is a winning formula, it’s difficult to call this a must-have, but certainly will find some value when it inevitably reaches bargain pricing later in the year.
About the Author
Luke Mitchell
he/him
Luke spends his time making radio, playing video games, binge-watching TV, getting unreasonably invested in wrestling, hosting bear events and hanging out with his beautiful pets.
