Super Bomberman 2

Super Bomberman 2
Developer(s)Produce!
Publisher(s)
Producer(s)Raoh Shimada
Designer(s)Takayuki Hirai
Programmer(s)B. Hanawa
Teturou Kiyomoto
Toshiyuki Suzuki
Artist(s)Jun Kusaka
Junya Numakunai
Composer(s)Yasuhiko Fukuda
SeriesBomberman
Platform(s)Super NES
Release
Genre(s)Action, maze, party
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer (up to four players via Super Multitap)

Super Bomberman 2[a] is a video game developed by Produce! and Hudson Soft and released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in Japan on April 28, 1994, in North America later the same year, and in Europe on February 23, 1995.

It is the second installment of the Super Bomberman series, part of the larger Bomberman franchise, and the only installment without a 2-player story mode (although one was originally planned).[3]

Gameplay

Top: Story mode gameplay.
Bottom: Multiplayer battle mode.

Story Mode

The story mode consists of walking through maze-like areas filled with blocks, monsters, and switches with a goal of opening the gate leading to the next area. To accomplish this, the player lays bombs to destroy all the monsters and flip all the switches. Destroying blocks in the maze will uncover useful power-ups to increase their bomb count, firepower, speed, and grant them special abilities such as remote control bombs, throwing bombs, and taking an extra hit.

There are 5 worlds total, and at the end of each world is a boss. Each boss is first battled on foot before retreating into a giant machine. After the boss is defeated, the player will move on to the next world.

Multiplayer

In Battle Mode, 2 players (4 with a multitap) can face off against one another in one of 10 arenas designed specifically for multiplayer. Matches can be customized as battle royal matches or team matches. A special option called G-Bomber was added making the winner of each match golden and giving them an item to begin the next match with a power up as determined by spinning a wheel at the end of the match.

Story

5 evil cyborgs called the Five Dastardly Bombers are bent on taking over the universe. On Earth, they capture the original Bomberman, and he is placed in a prison cell in their space station. He awakens in the dungeon of Magnet Bomber and must fight his way to a final showdown with the Magnet Bomber himself. In the following four worlds, Bomberman will challenge Golem Bomber, Pretty Bomber, Brain Bomber, and their leader, Plasma Bomber, in an effort to free the Earth and himself from these alien invaders.

Reception

Scary Larry of GamePro gave the game a positive review, praising the strategic gameplay, cute graphics, and music, though he remarked that the single player mode is considerably less engaging than the multiplayer.[5] Next Generation reviewed the game, rating it five stars out of five, and stated that "This is truly God's perfect party game."[7]

Next Generation's 1996 lexicon of video game terms included the joke entries "Bomb-o'clock" and "Bombaholic", in which they referred to Super Bomberman 2 as "the videogame of choice for game developers everywhere".[23] Later that year they named it the 3rd best game of all time, saying it "epitomizes the Japanese art of taking a ludicrously simple concept, and then executing that concept faultlessly. The control is superb, the graphics are ultimately functional ... the play is balanced to perfection - and four players won't have more fun doing anything else. We mean it. Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Quake, Daytona USA - they're all great multiplayer games. But Super Bomberman 2 is better."[21]

In 1999, Next Generation also listed Super Bomberman 2 as number 30 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that, "Of all the games that came out of the 16-bit era, Super Bomberman 2 remains a timeless reminder of the ingenuity and purity of gameplay that characterized Nintendo's world-beating console."[22] IGN ranked the game 89th on their Top 100 SNES Games of All Time.[24]

In 1995, Total! listed the game 3rd on their "Top 100 SNES Games", [25] while in 1996, GamesMaster rated the game 6th in its "The GamesMaster SNES Top 10."[26] In the same issue, they also listed the game 10th in their "Top 100 Games of All Time" and at the time opined SuperBomberman 2 is "The best multi-player game in the world."[27]

The game sold over 713,000 copies in Japan alone.[28]

Notes

  1. ^ Japanese: スーパーボンバーマン2, Hepburn: Sūpā Bonbāman Tsū

References

  1. ^ "Super NES Games" (PDF). Nintendo. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2008-09-20. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  2. ^ "International News Previews: Les Jeux Officiels A Paraitre - Super Nintendo". Super Power (in French). No. 26. SUMO Éditions. November 1994. p. 61.
  3. ^ "Super Bomberman 2 - the Cutting Room Floor". Archived from the original on 2017-01-03. Retrieved 2017-01-02.
  4. ^ "NEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: スーパーボンバーマン2". Famitsu (in Japanese). ASCII Corporation. 1994.
  5. ^ a b Larry, Scary (January 1995). "ProReview: Super Bomberman 2". GamePro. No. 66. IDG. p. 68.
  6. ^ Kirrane, Simon (November 1994). "Reviews - Super Bomberman 2". GamesMaster. No. 23. Future Publishing. pp. 78–79. Archived from the original on 2020-07-23. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  7. ^ a b "Finals - Super Bomberman 2". Next Generation. No. 2. Imagine Media. February 1995. p. 101. Archived from the original on 2019-01-18. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  8. ^ "Now Playing - Super Bomberman 2". Nintendo Power. No. 64. Nintendo of America. September 1994. pp. 104–105.
  9. ^ Mazzocchi, Marco; Secco, Gabrio (July–August 1994). "Review: Super Bomberman 2". Computer+Videogiochi (in Italian). No. 39. Gruppo Editoriale Jackson. pp. 120–121.
  10. ^ Souibgui, Sami; Roure, Maxime (June 1994). "Super Famicom Review - Super Bomberman 2". Consoles + (in French). No. 33. M.E.R.7. pp. 106–107. Archived from the original on 2017-10-02. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  11. ^ "Review - Super Bomberman 2". Game Players. No. 63. Signal Research. September 1994.
  12. ^ Barral, Esther (December 1994). "Lo Más Nuevo: Tu Super Está A Punto De Explotar – Super Bomber Man 2". Hobby Consolas (in Spanish). No. 39. Hobby Press. pp. 136–137.
  13. ^ Morisse, Jean-François; Prézeau, Olivier (November 1994). "Cous Piege? - Super Bomber Man 2". Joypad (in French). No. 36. Yellow Media. pp. 124–125. Archived from the original on 2017-09-16. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  14. ^ Forster, Winnie (November 1994). "Spiele-Tests - MD/SN: Mega Bomberman/Super Bomberman 2". MAN!AC (in German). No. 13. Cybermedia. pp. 58–59.
  15. ^ Weidner, Martin; Hellert, Stefan (October 1994). "Special: Bomberman - Super Bomberman 2". Mega Fun (in German). No. 25. CT Computec Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. p. 8.
  16. ^ Caliméro (November 1994). "Tests: Super Bomberman 2". Player One (in French). No. 47. Média Système Édition. pp. 114–116. Archived from the original on 2016-08-16. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  17. ^ 超絶 大技林 '98年春版: スーパーファミコン - スーパーボンバーマン2 (Special) (in Japanese). Vol. 42. Tokuma Shoten Intermedia. 15 April 1998. p. 280. ASIN B00J16900U. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  18. ^ Hartwig, Klaus-Dieter (December 1994). "Test: Super Bomberman 2". Total! (in German). No. 20. X-Plain-Verlag. pp. 22–23.
  19. ^ Karels, Ralph (December 1994). "Lang lebe TNT - Super Bomberman 2". Video Games (in German). No. 37. Future-Verlag. p. 129.
  20. ^ Meston, Zach (October 1994). "Reviews - Super Bomberman 2". VideoGames - The Ultimate Gaming Magazine. No. 69. Larry Flynt Publications. p. 68.
  21. ^ a b "Top 100 Games of All Time". Next Generation. No. 21. Imagine Media. September 1996. pp. 36–71.
  22. ^ a b "The Fifty Best Games of All Time". Next Generation. No. 50. Imagine Media. February 1999. pp. 72–81.
  23. ^ "The Next Generation 1996 Lexicon A to Z - A Definitive Guide To Gaming Terminology". Next Generation. No. 15. Imagine Media. March 1996. p. 30. Archived from the original on 2018-07-07. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  24. ^ Top 100 SNES Games of All Time - IGN.com, retrieved 2021-02-10
  25. ^ "Top 100 SNES Games". Total! (43): 38. July 1995.
  26. ^ "The GamesMaster SNES Top 10" (PDF). GamesMaster (44): 75. July 1996.
  27. ^ "Top 100 Games of All Time" (PDF). GamesMaster (44): 78. July 1996.
  28. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20010920123100/http://www.rnac.ne.jp/~zangel/1994.htm [1994 Consumer Game Software Sales]. Dengeki Oh (in Japanese). Media Works. Archived from the original *[1]* on September 20, 2001. Retrieved February 19, 2023.