Hello and welcome back to Lost Gems, the special feature where I cover titles that have been forgotten, left behind or simply removed from distribution. This week I will be covering a classic puzzle action game, developed by HUDSON Soft for the NEC PC-Engine. Bomberman ’93 which first released in 1992, with additional releases over the years. So join me as I take a look at this maze based puzzle action title, which became a cult classic over time.
Disclaimer: while the game discussed here is no longer officially on sale, there are ways to obtain the game. This can be either through the second hand market, or via unofficial digital roms/rips. I do not condone or promote piracy, so there won’t be any links to roms or rips of the game being covered.
So with the introductions out of the way, let’s get started. I will be discussing the general game experience, then give my personal thoughts on the title.
About the game
Bomberman ’93 is a maze based puzzle action game, where the objective is to clear each stage of enemies, then find the exit. In this release, the Black Bomberman has stolen special chips from the pan-galactic bureau’s super computer. Due to this, the super detective White Bomberman has been deployed, looking to recover the chips. To achieve this, Bomberman must explore the planets of the Magellan solar system, then track down the Black Bomberman.
This title has two gameplay modes for players to select from, with the option of Normal Game and Battle Game. The Normal Game is the single player experience, where the player will make their way through 56 levels, split into 7 worlds. Each of the 7 worlds contains 8 stages, with the final stage of each being a boss battle. During the standard levels, the player must navigate the mazes, using bombs to destroy blocks and fight enemies.
All of the stages and the mazes use a grid based tile system, with the four cardinal directions being used by the player and enemies. At the beginning of the game, the player will start off with a single bomb at power level one. The explosion range for the flames starts by expanding a single tile in all directions, destroying the soft blocks and enemies that make contact with the flames. The player will also die if they are making contact with the flames.
During a stage, when destroying blocks, there will be an item that could appear for the stage. These are usually limited to one per stage, with a second item appearing rarely. The items will power up the player, increasing the power level of the bombs, the number of bombs and special upgrades. In the even the player dies, they will keep their bombs and firepower, but the special upgrades like speed increases will be lost.
When the player clears all of the enemies of the stage, they will be able to exit the stage and move onto the next. To get to the exit, the player will need uncover it as it is hidden under a block. If the player has not found the item for the stage, the block hiding the item will flash red. However, the bonus item and exit will not be revealed when enemies are cleared. There is also a time limit for each of the stages, with four minutes to clear the regular stages.
In the event that the time limit expires, any enemies still left over will disappear and be replaced with Pontans, a deadly enemy that will hunt down the player. But this is not the only additional threat that can appear. If the player accidentally bombs an exit or item, there will be a sudden monster spawn, attacking the player and hunting them down. This applies further pressure to the player, which can cause mistakes to be made.
The stages will start off as simple squares, but the further the player gets through the game, the more complex the stages become. These stage layouts will scroll horizontally and vertically, expanding the stages from a single screen to multiple. Special mechanics will appear, like teleportation points and gates, making the stages more complex and challenging. The addition of these mechanics adds more puzzle elements to the stages.
When the 7 standard stages have been cleared, the player will face the boss for the planet. In these battles, the player will need to land multiple hits on the enemy, while avoiding their large scale attacks. There will be special mechanics for each boss, like spawning extra enemies or using unleashing flame attacks. The player will have 9 minutes to clear the battle, if the timer expires, the player will die and the battle will restart.
Between worlds, a special little scene will occur showing Bomberman interacting with the boss of the stage, which have a cutesy charm to them After clearing all of the main worlds, the player will gain access to the final world. However, this can be a long road, with the player having limited continues to get through the game. But there is a password and save system, which will allow players to be able to get further into the game.
Then we have the Battle Game, which is the multiplayer mode where up to 5 players can fight it out. In this multiplayer battle mode, the settings are limited, with the option for up to 5 wins and bots to make the most of the mode. There are 8 stages to select from in this mode, with the classic grey and green arena, alongside multiple gimmick stages. There is a lot of depth to the multiplayer, making it a perfect addition to game nights with friends and family.
Personal Thoughts
I have a lot of love for Bomberman as a series, having played it on the PC-Engine, Super Nintendo and many other platforms. I have many happy memories of playing this series with family, with the battle mode being a common occurrence during family game nights. While I had more experience with Super Bomberman, one of my earliest memories of the series is with this game. Which was due to my father importing the PC-Engine back in the 90s.
There is a lot of fun to be had with this game, as it is one of the better early titles from a single player perspective. I have been playing this game, alongside many others in the series a lot over the years, even having it on the Wii Virtual Console. This is one of those games that is fairly timeless, having aged very well over the past 30 years. Everything looks clean and the sprites are bold, there is also the inclusion of colourful cutscenes in game.
The PC-Engine is a special little system, with the way that the system utilized a mix of 8-Bit CPU and dual 16-Bit graphics, allowing a tremendous amount of colors on screen. This makes the visuals of the game pop, with many games feeling like they did in arcades. The sound is also excellent, with bright music and effects that really stood out for the time. This alongside the high quality library, really pushed this series into cult status with players then and now.
This title was made to push the PC-Engine GT Turbo Express, offering a special mode called Com Link, where the player is able to link systems to play. This was a very special feature, which would have been very cool to experience. There were two versions of Bomberman ’93 that were released back in the day, with a “Special Version” which contained only the multiplayer component. This variant is much more expensive due to the rarity of the game.
Bomberman ’93 was re-released twice, with the first being through the Wii/Wii U Virtual Console. Then in 2020, Konami, who now owns all of the Hudson trademarks and properties announced and released the PC-Engine/Turbografx-16 Mini systems. With the release of these micro consoles, players were once again introduced to this game. However, this system was very quickly discontinued and removed from distribution.
Thankfully, the game is relatively affordable on the secondary market, with the standard version being fairly common. This makes it pretty attainable for those who want to pick it up, but the special multiplayer only version is much more expensive due to rarity. The Mini systems are fairly expensive, but this does contain a significant number of games, as well as becoming increasingly rare due to collectors buying them for resale.
I have a fondness for this game and series in general, with many games released over the years. Sadly, the franchise has hit a bit of a rough patch with Konami at the helm, slowing down the releases from several a year to one every few years. This reduction in titles has given the teams the chance to make games with more depth, but makes the series more forgettable. Especially with the lack of smaller games at reasonable prices to keep interest up.
With the release of the Nintendo Switch Online libraries, it is one of those systems that I am surprised didn’t make the jump. As the Virtual Console was on the previous systems, it would be wonderful to see the classic Bomberman games, especially the early games on the NSO service. But it appears that Konami has no interest, preferring to keep most of their inherited library of games to themselves, or release them as pachinko machines mostly.
If you have enjoyed this feature, then please stick around and see what else catches your eye. I cover a wide range of games in reviews, get special previews and put out regular features. I have Lost Gems, Retro Revival where I discuss re-releases and the occasional Gaming Oddities piece, where I cover weird and wacky titles. So stay a while and have a look around.
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