⚡ Received: November 15th, 2023 ⚡
⚡ Written: April 14th-May 6th, 2026 ⚡
Published by: Hudson Soft | [ ⬤ ]
Hello, gamers and readers alike, welcome to my blog and thank you for taking the time to tune in today, I really appreciate it!
Image from GameFAQs
Takayuki Hirai, who was among the trio of planners for the predecessor, would be the only one to return as game planner. B. Hanawa (who acted as system support for the first game) and Toshiyuki Suzuki (who was assistant programmer for Super Bomberman as well as acted as both sub programmer and scenario writer for Brain Lord) would also make a return, this time around however programming would also be handled by Tetsurō Kiyomoto (who previously helped program Nihon Micom Kaihatsu's Esper Bōkentai: Maō no Toride and the NEC PC Engine port of P-47: The Freedom Fighter). And finally Raoh Shimada acted as "super producer", but strangely enough he does not appear to have any other video game producing credits to his name. Three months after the Enix-distributed Brain Lord arrived on the Super Famicom, Hudson Soft would release Super Bomberman 2 on the very same system in Japan on April 28th, 1994 (which was exactly one year after Super Bomberman made its Japanese debut on that very same day in 1993). Several months later it would be
Images from GameFAQs
localized outside Japan on the SNES format with North America following suit that September while Europe would have to wait until February 23rd, 1995 before receiving it.
Left: Shiro Bom's latest begins in a castle environment with the occasional magnets here and ther 🧲 | Right: Your first enemies are the Puff Puffs, wormlike enemies with antennae and a beak
In the action maze game Super Bomberman 2 you once again take control of Shiro Bom (White Bomberman) whom you can move in a square pattern and can place a bomb in the present spot you're standing in with the A button, at which point you must move to a safe spot or get a safe distance away from the bomb before it sets off and explodes depending on your relation to the available open space you can navigate toward as well as how far the blast radius currently extends to. Scattered through each level are enemies who must be eliminated by bombing them away which can even be concurrently used to destroy any destructible (or soft) block within range where bombing a random one will reveal a helpful
Left: Stacks of dynamite will leave a big explosion in its wake should you place your bomb across from one | Right: The Easter Island-based Mr. Moai also makes his debut here
item hidden within. When you begin the game and when you use up one of your unlimited array of continues after having gotten a game over Shiro Bom can only place one bomb at a time which has a short blast radius and can initially move at a slow walking speed, but hidden inside certain bombable blocks to aid you or to help improve your chances (provided they don't get blown up before you acquire them first) like the normal bomb which adds the number of bombs you can place at a time by one, the flame powerup will augment your firepower and extend the blast radius by one diameter, a rollerblade will make Shiro Bom gain slightly more traction by having him move at a quicker rate than before, the heart icon
Left: Introducing the Magne-Hell, which will attempt to pull you toward its direction should you fall into its line of sight | Right: Mr. Moai is trapped, let's free him so that way we can take him out after the fact
will act as supplemental health allowing to withstand just one more hit after having been touched by an enemy or bomb blast before you're left at your most vulnerable state, the red pierce bomb will blow up more than one bombable block at a time after you've placed a bomb down, the powerup with the small bomb inside a heart will give you the ability to detonate the bomb(s) you have placed at will with a simple press of the B button, the power glove will enable you to pick up the bomb you had just placed while it is in front of you by holding down the A button allowing you to carry it around until you decide to lob it across from you by letting that very button go, the kick powerup will allow you to kick the bomb across by
Left: The Bakuda bomb enemies are back from the first game | Right: Dynamite exit
walking towards it, the wall icon will permit you to freely phase through bombable blocks, the bomb pass will allow you to walk through recently placed bombs upon collecting them, an apple or ice cream for points, and finally there is a chibi Shiro Bom who can be collected by simply walking toward it to gain a life (though because it also falls in the enemy category it's possible to defeat it with a bomb as well, albeit not mandatory). Once you have any one of these special abilities you will hold on to them until you lose a life in which case you'll lose said ability bar the number of bombs, blast radius, and speed level you've attained. Each area is comprised of eight levels with the first six requiring that you both bomb all the enemies
Left: Bomb meet Bomb 💣 | Right: Those fountains with the lion statues are pretty
acting as obstacles in your path but to also place a bomb by a set number of light sources to turn them on under the allotted time you are given where in doing so you will open up the door which will take you to the next level should you make it there. Should you set off a bomb by the door before having accomplished so it will release an additional or two enemies for you to confront in random spots of the present level, so avoid that to the best of your ability. Once in the seventh level you will engage in battle with a Dastardly Bomber where damaging them just enough times will make them retreat to a nearby door after which in the eight level they will act as passengers to the larger boss mechanisms they are riding on which
Left: Guarding the way is Magnet Bomber, the first of the Five Dastardly Bombers | Right: His bombs are of the magnetic variety
you must take down in order to truly defeat the Dastardly Bomber in question, both scenarios give you an unlimited amount of time to finish the job. Should you be contacted by an enemy or a bomb blast you will lose a life and you must start the present level over from the beginning, but should you lose your life in the eighth level you must start over again from the seventh level before it. Once you lose your last life it's game over where at that point you will be given a simple four-digit password to the current area's first level and be given the option to continue from there or to forfeit which will return you to the title screen.
Left: Once Magnet Bomber has been defeated he'll retreat to the back room and control his machine Iron Gigue which you must defeat to move to the next segment | Right: From time to time he'll attempt to punch you by extending its arms
blue water with the occasional fountain with a lion statue in the center of it where the water perpetually pours down from its mouth, Golem Bomber's domain transpires in the boiler rooms where activating the furnace trap will generate so much heat once in a while that the whole screen will briefly become color-layered in vivid red, Pretty Bomber's place is modeled with an amusement park flair to it with bright cheery colors with the quaint bright green floor pattern and striped pink walls, Brain Bomber's domain is like a factory with the occasional shot of the platform in the lower level moving below you with lots of metallic grays, and Plasma Bomber's area setting occasionally take place in dark dimly lit rooms unless you bombed a switch which turned the lights on revealing the floor to be bright purple (regarding this areas, when I first reached these levels playing Super Bomberman 2 on my Insignia
Left: With each hit Iron Gigue receives it gradually loses its coloring until it becomes a rusty gray with steam coming out of it when it reaches its vulnerable point | Right: One down, four to go
flatscreen TV the heavily dimmed out nature of these rooms gave me a bit of eyestrain, which never happens, but I didn't encounter that same issue when playing it on my Samsung smart TV), with the one room the Five Dastardly Bombers have in common being the eighth level room with the vibrant green checker-patterned floor and evenly gapped hard light gray blocks and walls. Shiro Bom is still designed in a solidly endearing manner, his size and animation is about on par with how he appeared in the first Super Bomberman only his blue body is a slightly brighter hue and he's got some new animations like picking up the bomb he's just placed above his head, tossing it across, and when he loses a life this time around he spins around with an incredulous face until he falls on the floor briefly flailing his arms and feet as a lone tear drops from his eyes unless you fell into the water after a misjudged
Left: The next stop is a series of boiler rooms | Right: By placing the bomb by the furnace's hatch it will swallow it up which will activate it where every several seconds or so the room will become so red and ignite the fire trail meaning you should find a safe spot to stand in when that happens
trampoline jump in Pretty Bomber's levels that feature bodies of water in them, in which case he will quickly drown. The enemy roster this time around are decently designed with a solid sense of animation and expression upon taking a hit for Shiro Bom must contend with the worm-bodied Puff Puff with a duck face and antennae above their head, Mr. Moai who naturally is an Easter Island Moai head, floating Magne-Hell enemies who try to pull you toward them with the magnets situated on their helmeted heads, child-like bespectacled Ramosu with sneakers who are sentient walking flames, cross-eyed salivating Glorin frogs, Fiber who appears to be an organic heart that occasionally streams fire, orange Zippo bomb enemies who are nonchalant and relaxed until their wick is lit up in which case they bug out and panic at their inevitable outcome, the metal protected Guardi eyeball enemies, yellow
Left: Glorin | Right: Stay in place until the red color layer is no longer in effect
Poyo slime who ride on a green drilling Mole and bullet-firing Tank, Petan penguins who waddle as they walk and flop on the floor upon having you in their line of sight which will cause them to tummy slide in their desired targeted path, the round yellow Nemu Nemu whose yawns as they rest in place are so big that their mouths are wide open, translucent Futa jellyfish (for which their name is derived from an abbreviated Japanese translation for "hermaphrodite", which for a franchise generally regarded as being universally family friendly and lighthearted feels very out of place), hemispherical Blockers who create soft bombable blocks should they have their way, evil-eyed pink Pakupa Jump enemies (who could potentially be related to the blue cyclopic Pakupa enemies from the first Super Bomberman) who simultaneously move and open their mouths in a similar vein to Namco's
Left: Here you will deal with heart-shaped Fiber enemies | Right: Same deal as before once the furnace trap has been activated, so avoid standing on the fire trail if you can
Pac-Man, the comedic-looking Robodash with gray heads and legs with purple bodies and shoes who will speed up their movement upon having sustained one hit, dolphin-like Pikarin and sea urchin-like Kuragarin who behave differently depending on whether the lights are dimmed or turned on and are the polar opposites of one another, the bipedal headphone wearing Bibin who will attempt to use electricity should you attempt to get near them, perpetually spinning Curansee coins in a similar vein to their Kinkaru cousins from the previous game except for the fact that they cannot also phase through bombable blocks, and making a comeback from Super Bomberman are the normal and red Bakuda bomb enemies (only now they have the Roman numeral "II" to their name). The Five Dastardly Bombers have got individually distinctive designs, right down to their specially designed bombs, that
Left: Enter the Zippos, among the worst enemies to deal with and (for me) one of the game's all-time worst levels for it especially with the heavily constrained and restrictive spacing | Right: Should it be hit once it will go haywire with its eyes bugging out moving so erratically, and once the soft block has been destroyed you better hope it doesn't regenerate the moment you enter the space as the Zippo bomb otherwise it becomes so annoying and inconvenient
give them an endearing quality with the scarf-wearing Magnet Bomber having a magnet on his head, Golem Bomber being the large one of the group has got a fire emblem on his head, Pretty Bomber as the only female Bomber-Cyborg has got an amicable design with a heart on her head, Brain Bomber is of a short stature and dons a cloak around him wearing a crown symbol on his helmet, and Plasma Bomber bears a lightning bolt on his head plus he's the only one among the five who appears in the title screen. There are a few moments of Mode 7 rotating and scaling effects during the opening introduction and ending as the Earth gets closer and closer, Shiro Bom hurtling down from the exploding space station after defeating G Ganzu, and in battle mode's roulette screen as the championship belt wildly spins until it settles into place, and for as brief as they last they are accomplished sufficiently.
Left: Those bespectacled Ramosu flame enemies with sneakers are so cute, too bad you have to dispose of them | Right: Guess Fiber and Zippo didn't catch the memo with the furnace trap, good!
The music to Super Bomberman 2 was composed by Yasuhiko Fukuda, making this the only 16-bit Super Bomberman game Jun Chikuma did not compose music for. Following creating the music for Super Bomberman, Chikuma would work on composing music for Bomberman '94 later that year in 1993, and during the subsequent year she would compose music for Hudson Soft and Pegasus Japan Corp.'s Neo Nectaris, and later the falling block puzzler Bomberman: Panic Bomber. Her itinerary was booked which left her unavailable to compose music for the latest Super Bomberman iteration by Produce. Without a composer this left Hudson Soft in a pickle, it wasn't often that the one who birthed the iconic Bomberman theme and motifs back in 1985 was not available to compose music for an installment of the series, so they had to find someone they deemed qualified enough to fill in
Left: Golem Bomber is just warming up for battle | Right: From time to time he'll toss his bombs at you
the vacant spot. That's where Fukuda comes in, who first contributed his music composing talents to the franchise for the 1990 Game Boy venue Bomber Boy (which was released in North America and Europe as Atomic Punk and Dynablaster respectively), so it wasn't like this was his first rodeo with one series entry under his belt. Though he didn't have quite as much experience with the series like Chikuma before him did, Hudson Soft had faith in his ability for they had developed a good working relationship with him these past few years. Fukuda had the support of acting sound producers Toshiyuki Sasagawa (who programmed the original 1983 personal computer action maze game Bomber Man/Eric and the Floaters, pretty much worked on Meikyū Kumikyoku/Milon's Secret Castle singlehandedly, worked as
producer for Inter State and Kaneko's Star Parodier, served as music supervisor for Hudson Soft's Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys, would sound produce A.I's Chō Genjin/Super Bonk/Super B.C. Kid, compose the music to Red Company's Tengai Makyō Zero, and act as sound producer
Left: Time to battle Golem Bomber's machine Breast Fire (I promise that is its official name, though it does "breathe" fire) where depending on where the fire lands in relation to it he might inflict damage unto himself for you | Right: Good night, sweet Golem
her experience with the franchise since 1985. I'm not sure what the mindset was: was Fukuda told by Hudson Soft to do his own thing under the stipulation to not so much as touch on Chikuma's iconic themes and motifs once, or was he aware that his brand of music wouldn't live up to hers by comparison when it came to the series that he actively avoided implementing or incorporating themes that weren't originated from him to begin with? Whatever the reason behind it, what you're left with is a Bomberman soundtrack that doesn't at all feel like one as it lacks the usual bombastic flair and aural iconography that made the series sound so memorably appealing. The castle theme starts with a formal opening before it starts engaging in a funky rhythm, the boiler room theme is somewhat atmospheric with a slight menacing factor right up until it finishes off with an oriental flair, the amusement park theme is infectiously peppy and bouncy with its lighthearted melody (during a latter moment
Left: Next up is the amusement park | Right: Bomb the Poyo Mole once and the yellow slime will fall off it allowing you to hitch a ride on the drill (unless you destroy that with a bomb as well)
there are intermittent notes that sound like a high-pitched chew toy that has half-squeaked) and is so annoyingly catchy it will stay in your head long after you hear it, the factory theme has got an immersive melody that includes a guitar riff near the end, and the dark theme (which shares a similar preamble to the title theme) is an intensifying head-bopper for it is among Super Bomberman 2's longest pieces of music. The theme for when you first confront a Dastardly Bomber sounds relentlessly hectic whereas the theme for when you confront them riding their personalized machine afterward doubles down on the hecticness with an overwhelmingly intimidating quality especially with the organ. Though it lacks the punch and oomph of the first game, in my opinion, this sequel's organ-ridden credits music is subdued with a celebratory happy tone once Shiro Bom finally frees himself and falls down to Earth (but having said that, it's not a theme I mind listening to again and again once I finish
Left: This level sees you get shot out of a cannon and bouncing from spring to spring | Right: Use your bombs to turn on all the lights and all the metal-protected Guardi will go bye-bye
this game, even though I personally wish the game proper was a lot better than this piece of music deserved). Unlike the first Super Bomberman which had one battle theme, Super Bomberman 2 has got three of them with the commonly used battle theme having a slap bass heavy oriental melodic flair with more of that half-squeaked chew toy sound during the middle portion with it turning intense near the end, the second battle theme has got a bouncy beat with light instrumentation, and the third battle theme makes ample use of the organ during the charged up segment. When the Five Dastardly Bombers are first introduced they're backed up by a theme that complements their mysterious otherworldly nature but sadly it cuts off in-game before you get to hear the real meat of the melody, and the map theme as you start the game also cuts off early before you hear the rest of it play out. It's always upsetting to know how the theme was intended to be longer than how the game makes
Left: With the Poyo fallen off the tank you can get on and ride it... you can't shoot from it but you can still drop off bombs | Right: Tank warfare
it out to be, I always feel bad for the composer in question whenever that happens. Overall, I'd say that Super Bomberman 2's soundtrack is ostensibly Yasuhiko Fukuda music, no question about that, but it is not true Bomberman music in the traditional sense and I don't think it represents his best output as composer. Yes, he did his own thing in Bomber Boy as well but at point in time Hudson Soft was in the planning stage of turning Bomberman into a franchise after the 1985 Nintendo 8-bit game became a household hit (not to mention find a way to gloss over that game's definitive human ending), but once the main themes and motifs were reintroduced and reimplemented time and time again by Chikuma that's when Fukuda's contributions to the franchise start to stand out more without an identifiable theme to directly link it to the series name. He would go on to compose music for the Bomberman GB trilogy (the first of which came out in 1994 as, again, Chikuma was unavailable), act as
Left: Trapped in a room with Penta | Right: Upon having you in its sight the Penta will do a tummy slide toward your direction (this despite the ground not being slippery)
arranger for Produce's Super Bomberman 4, and contribute a theme for Hudson Soft's Super Bomberman 5, which are the only other times he was directly involved with the Bomberman franchise. The sound design by Hajime Ohara, who worked as PSG operator for Tengai Makyō II: Manjimaru and as sound programmer for Bomberman '94, also sounds different than one is accustomed to from the series but is decent enough sounding by itself. Gone are the "squatchy" footsteps Shiro Bom made in the first Super Bomberman for he now walks silently, the boom sounds of the bombs going off sound pronounced, there is a "vvvrrr" sound as the door to the next level opens up to you, there is a bouncing sound effect per trampoline jump, a splash down should you fall down into the water, the reverberating "behr" with a Dastardly Bomber machine sustaining a hit, and upon the Dastardly Bomber having lost in battle against you riding their machine the explosion sounds crisp, et al.
On single match only (it cannot be done in tag match) you can alter the color of your Bomberman by pressing the Select button though it only applies to the one based on which controller slot you're playing from, the colors of the victory card stunts and placed bombs along with its bomb blasts once they go off will also match up with the combatants' currently chosen palette to make it easier to ascertain which Bomberman placed and set off which bomb
Like many traditional Bomberman games before it post-1990, Super Bomberman 2 has got a battle mode as an alternative mode to play outside of the normal game which can be played up to four players through the Super Multitap. On single match you can decide to set Shiro Bom (White Bomberman), Kuro Bom (Black Bomberman), Aka Bom (Red Bomberman), and Ao Bom (Blue Bomberman) to manually controlled or as CPU-oriented where you can simply watch the match unfold, remove a Bomber or two from the equation just so long as there are
Image from the Bomberman Wiki fan website
Shortly after Super Bomberman 2 was released and proved to be a big hit, Hudson Soft would release the peripheral Super Multitap 2. As Super Bomberman was the first game to utilize the Super Mutitap to enable multiple player which would allow more than two players to play per session, it was only natural for Hudson Soft to follow up on it which was bigger in size with its design based on Shiro Bom's head with his trademark determined expression. Unlike the original Super Multitap peripheral, the Super Multitap 2 was a Japan exclusive.
Left: In this level you must also get to the small island from time to time get what you need down by either riding to it on a boat from the left | Right: Or should you be on the right side you can access it via a submarine
Upon release Super Bomberman 2 received generally positive reviews, but unlike Produce's first contribution to the franchise with its immediate predecessor which was unanimously praised it also received a mixed or polarized reception among some outlets. Computer and Video Games gave it a 90 out of 100, Game Informer gave it a 7.75 out of 10, Game Players awarded it an 86%, GameFan would give it the verdict of 113 out of 150, GamesMaster gave it an 88%, Official Nintendo Magazine gave it a 92 out of 100, and Super Play awarded it a
Left: Translucent jellyfish who can phase through soft blocks alert | Right: That's right, one of this game's enemies is a literal emoji
Total! gave this game a 94 out of 100, a whole point higher than they gave its predecessor which makes that review firm an outlier in that regard. During its run on the Nintendo 16-bit console Super Bomberman 2 managed to outsell the first game, the hype from the overwhelmingly positive word of mouth the first game received made that possible, and by the end of the console's run it managed to sell over one million copies which made it the best-selling Nintendo 16-bit game under Hudson Soft's label. Come 1998, it would be reissued on the SNES in North America and in Europe to commemorate that sales milestone.
Poor Kepo, having his face partially obscured by the copyright information like that... 😔
Sega Saturn version of Hudson Soft's Saturn Bomberman. I didn't have any expectations for I kept them in check, but once I got all three together in a bundle I tried them in their chronological order of release. I was impressed with the first Super Bomberman as I ended up finding it to be a very good game and a strong Nintendo 16-bit franchise foray, especially
Left: You must know the difference between softly pressing the direction button in midair and fully pressing it with each spring bounce if you want to pass this level to keep Shiro Bom afloat lest he fall in the water and... | Right: ...drown
until months later that I decided to play the sequel through to the end. Unlike the first game which I ended up loving, I was greatly disappointed with this one for I found the experience to be wildly uneven and occasionally annoying if not frustrating. Which is unfortunate, because there are concepts and ideas that I found interesting and for the most part liked and appreciated, but because of how things got structured it ended up impeding my overall
Left: It is the one! The only! Pretty Bomber! | Right: "Oh-God-I-didn't-mean-to-make-you-cry-I'm-so-sorry!"
personal enjoyment (not to mention there are things that personally bugged and disappointed me here). Now the question that always comes with a sequel after the original was a success is "Where do we go from here?" as there are so many avenues to explore within the franchise that you could take Shiro Bom (and Kuro Bom) anywhere, even space. Super Bomberman 2 marked the debut of the Five Dastardly Bombers, there's a reason they left their mark and were among the memorable elements of this game for those who played be it
Left: Oh, God, the sun is flirting with me! 😖 | Right: By the way, this is Mask Change, Clown Mask's far creepier cousin (even its realistically drawn closed eyelid is super creepy)
arms, Golem Bomber's Breast Fire which occasionally stops to shoot four fireballs which all land in random spots, Pretty Bomber's Mask Change which is creepy in its sunlike design and shares a similar eight-way spark attack to the first Super Bomberman's Clown Mask (and may just be as creepy, if not more so, than that aforementioned boss), Brain Bomber's Bomber Robo is a colossal facsimile of Shiro Bom right down to the giant bombs it will place from time to time, and Plasma Bomber's SkeleGuard is ominous-looking with its horned skull head and menacing arms which will occasionally sic translucent skulls to home in after you.
The Wild Robot 🐦 His embrace of nature and wildlife is such an endearing character trait
Though Golem Bomber is big in stature and is the muscle of the group, he is all honesty like a teddy bear, and I adore him for that. ☺️ Even though his visor making up his face is like an electrocardiograph he's expressive nonetheless for you can tell his present emotion that way. He would be among the fan favorites among the Five Dastardly Bombers for he would appear as a boss character in Bomberman: Panic Bomber, make subsequent appearances in the
Left: It even shares the same eight-way spark attack on occasion | Right: Not the eyes completely rolled backward, I hate that! 😫 Proof a Bomberman boss can get creepier than Clown Mask
depending on the circumstances where she would sometimes be a playable character in her own right, and on occasion be among Shiro Bom's love interests in the series. Plasma Bomber is fascinating as a foe, even though he was the central villain (or so you were led to believe before the true final villain G Ganzu revealed itself) he had a moral principle which added a compelling layer to him. After being defeated riding on SkeleGuard he would walk up to Shiro Bom and extend his hand as a sign of peace for he was willfully surrendering to him, you can infer from this that he's got a code of honor, it's a shame that before there was a chance for things to be patched up that he would be shot in the back by SkeleGuard's projectile fired from its mouth which suddenly opened ajar. Immediately from the get-go Super Bomberman 2 feels like a different animal than any Bomberman that had come out before or since, at least for me at any rate, and I'm not simply referring to Yasuhiko Fukuda's
Left: Carrying a bomb around before deciding to throw it | Right: Concealed beneath certain soft blocks are enemies who jump to action the moment they are revealed
of them take place on a static screen (first, fourth, seventh, and eighth levels) as opposed to all of them whereas the other half's level layouts are so long in measure that you must scroll the screen horizontally (second and fifth levels) and vertically (third and sixth levels) in order to see the whole playing field. No other 16-bit Super Bomberman game has level layouts so wide that they extend past the screen's parameters, be it single or multi-part. The core bomb-oriented gameplay that defined the franchise is still present, that hasn't changed, except this time out Super Bomberman 2 has introduced and included a myriad of gimmicks and traps relevant to the theme of the present area which add potential gameplay scenarios where the thing most of them have in common is that a bomb must be used to set it off. There are magnets which attract the bomb once you place it in relation to their receiving end (unless
Left: Among the hidden enemies are the goofy-looking yet endearing Robodash | Right: Initially they move at a deliberate pace, but once they get bombed the first time then they start moving faster
you bomb it from any other angle in which case they will rotate 90 degrees), stacks of dynamite which once they go off explode any and all soft blocks within range connected to stacks of dynamite on the opposite end, placing a bomb right next to a furnace's window will swallow it up which will activate it where every so often will make the room red and set ablaze a fuel trail which can make quick work out of enemies who should so much as stand on top of it when it happens, soft blocks that once blown up regenerate after a random amount of time has passed, trampolines which you can bounce off of, you can hitch a ride on drills or tanks after bombing a Poyo slime off of it, be shot off from a cannon after climbing inside it, moving platforms which you can step on and ride across the gap to the other side, there are certain enemies who are hidden inside random bombable blocks, light switches which will
Left: Waiting for the moving obstacle to get out of the way before I can walk across | Right: Destroy all the soft blocks in order to access the moving platform which will carry you across
affect the rate of speed and movement for a couple enemies, invisible landmines which reveal themselves when standing one grid away from them, and weak floor grids that give way and get destroyed once they has been stepped over twice at which point they become inaccessible. These are all creative game scenarios and have the potential to be fun, but given certain situations there comes a point when I cannot help but ponder, "Do these gimmicks and traps complement the normal bombing gameplay? Do they work to my advantage? Do they overshadow the core gameplay? Do they manage to strike right balance when it comes to the difficulty and challenge quotient? Are they practical and convenient to use given a scenario? And at what point does said gimmick or trap become counterintuitive to my progress and enjoyment when misjudged or mistimed?" This rings particularly true when it
Left: Boom 🔥 | Right: Activate the switch on the upper right corner to turn on the moving platform
comes to the regenerative soft blocks done at random intervals, and in those instances after you destroyed the soft blocks you do not want to get trapped in the same enclosed space as those damn Zippo bombs who are super annoying to deal with (especially once they uncontrollably go off the rails after having taken one hit) or the Pikarin dolphins when the lights aren't on lest you want to lose a life quickly and start the level over from scratch. Where I feel this becomes too much, however, is during Plasma Bomber's dark levels where there's dim lighting, regenerative soft blocks, invisible landmines, and random spots giving way with each step, and you have to do it all under a specified amount of time. You cannot rush it because that's how you lose a life easily, but you cannot take too long of a time doing it all either. Not to mention there are a series of bombable blocks which you can propel toward
Left: Also back are the Red Bakuda bomb enemies, take them out before they take your bomb (or you) out first | Right: Riding to the southern region of this level
the opposite direction of where you placed the bomb in relation to them, introduced in Golem Bomber's boiler room levels albeit one or two grids away, but because you can only move them one spot at a time it becomes a time-consuming process. The final fifth and sixth levels has you blast propel them so many times up until they fall down a hole acting as a stopgap that will enable you to cross, especially if it's near the exit to the next level. The sixth dark level also laid out in a manner where if you created a stopgap filling in the correct hole you'll be able to move forward, but if you chose wrong then you are stuck without any way of moving forward and are forced to start the level over. The first Super Bomberman gave you 13 to 14 seconds of invincibility time each time you started a level and after losing a life as
Left: To ensure that all the lights are on you must strategically place your bomb to make sure you get them all for you must leave no stone unturned should you hope to go to the next level (right after defeating all the levels' enemies) | Right: You better not bomb the doorway to the next level while it is closed, otherwise an enemy or two will spawn in a random spot where you must backtrack to take care of them
that was a rare Bomberman game where you didn't have to start over after the fact for you could still pick up your progress, but now that's no longer possible. I'm not bothered that it's no longer a thing here, I'm not anticipating every game in the series to give you that advantage (though it did help make the game accessible). What does bother me about Super Bomberman 2, however, is that it sort of gave you too much to do as you had to both eliminate all onscreen enemies and turn on all the lights to enable the door to be opened (which, again, you cannot bomb while it is closed lest you unleash more enemies to contend with). Its predecessor was a simple game at heart, the "less is more" approach it adopted benefited the proceedings there exponentially especially as it made for a fair and balanced experience that was polished. I didn't feel that way about this game, because there were
Left: Surrounded by Robodash | Right: Jumping Robodash
frequent times when I felt like I was vibing with it which were followed up by moments where I felt it to be unfairly structured where I felt some of the deaths I got were cheap. I just did not have an equal amount of enjoyment through and through which made the proceedings feel inconsistent this time around, and I neither felt the fairness nor the balance the precursor had. On several occasions this second Super Bomberman iteration tended to suffer from graphic slowdown for seemingly no reason (including during certain normal levels and when battling against Iron Gigue and SkeleGuard), unlike the first game where there was hardly any slowdown to speak of (or if there was, it was so short-lived that you barely took notice). It's difficult not to take notice here as the action slows down to a pulp, so much so that, in my opinion anyway, it makes Super Bomberman 2 feel sloppily produced by
Left: Like the Bakuda and Red Bakuda before them, Bakuda II and Red Bakuda II can operate as unwilling allies given a circumstance (in here it just activated a moving platform by bombing the switch that activated it) | Right: Guess Shiro Bom managed to enter through a time warp post-5656 password from the first game after having shrunken himself, which is so weird to bring up as the Bomberman series had yet to delve into time travel shenanigans
are only given the password for the first level of each area (even when using the full power password when looking it up). Why was this deemed necessary? What was wrong with giving you access to most if not all levels this time out than there was before? What was the point in fixing what was not broken? I wouldn't take issue with this if not for the fact that Super Bomberman gave you passwords for most levels or if future games hadn't also given you passwords for most if not all levels (including Hudson Soft's Bomberman World, despite that game also giving you the option to save your progress to the PlayStation One's memory
Each Super Bomberman game uses 5656 as a password designated for a special purpose: in the first Super Bomberman it was to reduce all Bombermen down to bite-size, in Super Bomberman 2 it enables Sudden Death Vs. mode for the battle game option
however, was that in the input password screen there was a cameo from Milon along with three clones of himself in different shirt colors. I wonder what influenced the decision for him to appear, even if just for a bit part: was Milon's cameo done in reference to the fact that sound producer Toshiyuki Sasagawa worked on Meikyū Kumikyoku where the character made his first appearance in 1986, or was Milon's cameo bolstered by that game's recent 1993 Game Boy conversion? It's fascinating how less than two years after Super Bomberman 2
Left: Time to confront the Five Dastardly Bombers' second-in-command, Brain Bomber | Right: He can place detonator bombs, but lucky for you they lack in bomb blast radius
until they disappear. With so many elements working against you, it can be so easy to lose lives quickly and be sent back to the previous level where you must contend with Plasma Bomber all over again. The idea at that point is to get to a clear opening when you can and weave around the translucent skulls as you make your way to the bottom of the screen, then rinse and repeat, which is already a time-consuming process all in of itself. Failure at any point will take you back to Plasma Bomber, and because you're operating under great duress at this point that's likely to happen until you figure it out. But like the last game there just had to be one last surprise in store for you, for you have G Ganzu to take care of now who doesn't require anywhere near as many hits as SkeleGuard but does require that you have the power glove to throw bombs at it as it is airborne. Unlike the first Super Bomberman's Uiteru V where if you didn't have the boxing glove by that point you could walk around for a short or long amount of time until it would eventually show up, this game's G Ganzu does not extend that same level of kindness and mercy. If you didn't have the power glove by the time you reached that giant floating spiked up tentacled eyeball alien, there's no point to engage as
Left: Oh boy, Brain Bomber is truly compensating for his short king stature by riding his gigantic Bomber Robo mechanism which is a flat-out imitation of Shiro Bom | Right: He vanished except for his cloak, no wonder he'd eventually go by Phantom Bomber!
you don't have the means to damage it. The only recourse in that event is to lose and be taken back all the way to the battle against Plasma Bomber. Again! The earlier battle is the only time you can get the supplemental heart, detonator, and power glove items, and that's if they don't get destroyed by a bomb set off by either the Five Dastardly Bombers' leader or from your own unlimited arsenal first. If it plays out that way, you have to lose to start the battle against Plasma Bomber and be sure to get the power glove. I lost so many lives during the course of these final seventh to eighth levels, again and again and again, just to beat the game. It felt like a few dozen attempts before I finally succeeded the first time I played to the end, and it took just as many (if not close to that range) the next time I played it through. I was so annoyed to the point of frustration, swearing under my breath for every time I lost a life in a cheap manner or because I felt rushed. Not only that, but I'm at that point in my life where I'm hyperconscious of how much time passes it took me that many tries to beat it for there are some instances where I just do not like taking a longer time than I need to in order to get things done otherwise I just start growing feelings annoyance and resentment which
Left: The last segment begins with the lights dimmed out with the dolphin-like Pikarin swimming back and forth in a swift pace | Right: There is a switch, however, which will turn the lights on giving the playing field a bit more clarity
does not bode well for the situation. This was that instance for me. Super Bomberman was time well spent for it was a game which I felt was considerate of my time with how fair and sound and balanced and enjoyable it was, in my opinion, but with Super Bomberman 2 I simply did not share that same sentiment for its last two levels crossed a line where I felt like my time had been wasted that I'll never get back. Now, it's not lost on me that what I felt as I was playing it was a spur of the moment, and I'm still reeling from that spur of the moment for there's a difference between a feeling and mindset under that condition versus in hindsight and retrospect after plenty of time has passed. But the fact of the matter is this was the most attempts in a Produce game bare none that it took for me to defeat the final boss before I managed to do so for the first time (whereas in the other games by that company the number of tries before beating the final boss for the first time was in the region of single digits) which took an inordinate amount of time, and if I have to think of the exact number of times it took for me to beat this game it's just going to upset me. In the end I was left disappointed, for my disappointment was three-fold: as a sequel to Super Bomberman, as its
Left: When it's dark the Pikarin swim fast, but when it's light they swim at a slow and lethargic pace | Right: Like in the boiler rooms there are soft blocks which can be destroyed and have a tendency to regenerate at the most random points
an action maze game, followed up by Brain Lord which was an action adventure game. Super Bomberman 2 marked the first time this firm revisited a genre they explored once before as well as the first time they worked on a sequel, and it shows. Far be it for me to suggest that Produce would've been able to capture lightning in the same bottle twice, the standard and precedent the first game set had already been so high at that point it would not have likely happened regardless how much effort was put into it, but the least I expected was for this immediate sequel to still be fun and enjoyable to play on its own merits. I didn't get that, not completely. It lacked the earlier title's magic, the level of polish wasn't there, the flow just wasn't consistently smooth, it wasn't as balanced and fun in my opinion, and to me its structure felt cheap and unfair on occasion. Not to mention some of the executive decision-making just made absolutely no sense in retrospect when compared to its sequels. I have no qualms with scrolling in a Bomberman game per se (my favorite game from the series, Saturn Bomberman, had level designs so wide that they stretched past the screen's parameters), but in the case of Super Bomberman 2 it just felt weird as no other game from the franchise made for the Nintendo 16-bit console had scrolling when it came to the core gameplay (it simply adds a level of uncertainty over which enemy awaits you once you scroll ahead, though, which given how this game was structured doesn't necessarily help its case if
Left: In this level are the Bibin who will produce sparks as a means to defend itself should you get any closer | Right: One last light to turn on before the door to the next level opens
part in theory, but in practice that just ensured a shorter period of time to develop it. I personally think Super Bomberman 2 would've benefited substantially had it been granted more time to be worked on. Lucky for Hudson Soft it managed to work out as it ended up making a mad profit for them as they would repeat the April 28th release slot for the third and fourth games in 1995 and 1996 respectively, with Super Bomberman 5 being the exception to the rule as that would come out at the end of February in 1997. With Super Bomberman turning out to be a very great game considering it was developer's first rodeo, the evidence suggested with them returning to collaborate with Hudson Soft that its first sequel should have been a worthy follow up. Takahashi Meijin no Daibōken Jima, while profitable for Hudson Soft in its own right, was never truly that compellingly strong of a
Left: Pakupa Jump and Curansee | Right: Piercer bombs
game to begin with as it was a cumbersome slog to play through with tepid pacing and awkwardly implemented super jump controls that made for an underwhelming time (Yuzo Koshiro's music notwithstanding). The lesser quality of that platformer (which they never worked on before nor would attempt again), to lend it a bit of grace, can be largely attributed to inexperience which Produce needed in order to gain proper experience with making games going forward. Without that bit of inexperience beforehand, Elnard, Super Bomberman, and Brain Lord would have turned out very differently. Though the mileage may vary depending on one's personal gaming preferences and sensibilities, there was a clear love and passion behind those three titles. Produce had established itself as a competent and solid video game developer by the time Super Bomberman 2 came out. I expected so much
Left: Ice cream | Right: This bit is overlong but you must bomb the stopgap blocks one grid at a time until they fall down a hole which will allow you to cross, but should they not move further despite being touched by a bomb blast that means there is an invisible mine in the way you must destroy in order to get the stopgap block to move further
better from them, that's how disappointed I was with this sequel because I know based on those aforementioned games that they are better than this and have done better than this. Until Red Art Games' Super Bomberman Collection which Konami shadow dropped back in early February of 2026 this was the last Super Famicom game developed by Produce to be released officially outside of Japan at the time, and the fact that this was the only other Nintendo 16-bit Bomberman game (out of seven, Raizing's Super Bomberman: Panic Bomber World and A.I's Bomberman B-Daman included) to be officially released for the North American market during the '90s just makes me sad. With both Enix and Hudson Soft finding themselves struggling financially in North America, their only viable course of action was to temporarily close down their doors until they managed to recuperate from their losses,
Left: Step on a random weak spot once and it will start to break, step on it a second time and it will cave completely making that one spot forever inaccessible (until you start the level again) | Right: Kuragarin
unfortunately this meant that any and all titles they had considered localizing for the NTSC SNES console (including Produce's Mystic Ark which would have been given the title 7th Saga II) ended up being cancelled for it which disappointed those who learned of those games through magazines and were so looking forward to playing them. As Europe was unaffected by this, however, PAL SNES gamers still got to play Super Bomberman 3 and Quintet's Tenchi Sōzō (originally an Enix release) as Terranigma (the latter of which was distributed by Nintendo), to name a couple examples, which North America really missed out on. I can sympathize with the notion of not wanting to create a sequel that is the exact same game as its predecessor lest there be accusations of going through the motions and repeating oneself, and to Super Bomberman 2's credit it is not a rehash or retread of its immediate precursor in terms of layout and structure though I do feel that in this case it got carried away in the process of differentiating itself. It should not have tried fixing what was not broken.
a puzzle solving element that makes that adds depth for there are many clever solutions to them whether they be simple or required lateral thinking skills (though one puzzle room in particular is so obtuse with its solution: how were you supposed to gather that you had to stand in front of the door and press X to unlock it which you didn't rely on using otherwise?),
Left: Here starts the ordeal that is the final two levels with Plasma Bomber, the only remaining Dastardly Bomber to deal with | Right: His bombs are of the piercing variety
in both look and sound, and absolutely enjoyable. Super Bomberman 2, on the other hand, is my personal bottom pick. Now I'd never go so far to say it's a bad or terrible game nor the all-time worst of the series (especially since I've not played every game in the franchise), but it just lacked the consistent fun and sense of polish for me to be fully engaged with it plus it lacked the compelling factor that made me want to stick with it. I'd rather play anything else.
Though not nearly as well-received and rather overlooked, I found more enjoyment and consistent entertainment value playing the later spinoffs Eleven's Saturn Bomberman Fight!! and Graphic Research Company's Bomberman Fantasy Race than I have with Super Bomberman 2. While not that involving in terms of strategy, has characters whose gameplay are largely interchangeable with one another (with only minute differences), and is very short to play through, I found the isometric-viewed former to be a fairly entertaining and amusing game with solid 3D visuals and bomb explosions, engaging background music, charmingly delivered voice acting, as well as beautifully designed ending cutscenes and character
How I wish the Tirra made more than just those two video game appearances in the Bomberman franchise, there was so much potential with them as ridable companions. 😞
Left: Never mind, I spoke too soon, the real nightmare begins with SkeleGuard where you must constantly be on the move and not be touched by it or its skulls lest it result in starting over from Plasma Bomber | Right: And that's the other arm destroyed! I hate this battle, too many lives lost to count... 😣
When I think of the high scores this game was given at the time, I can't help but wonder if it partly had to do with the hype building up around it. It made a lot of money and wound up becoming a best-seller for Hudson Soft for it, there's no questioning that fact, but the way I see it that had less to do with the quality of the sequel by itself and more to do with how the first Super Bomberman was such a beloved and revered hit that managed to resonate with those who got a chance to play it at the time. It's feasible that there may have been more mileage gotten from playing battle mode, but I'm hoping it wasn't a case of ranking and rewarding it based on that party game mode alone without having explored story mode as
Left: "I can't believe you won. I underestimated you, Shiro Bom. I should like to shake your hand in surrender, and maybe not today but I hope one day you will find it in your heart to accept me and my compatriots' ap---" | Right: "AGH!!!" 😵
well. The way I view it it'd be wrong to review a Bomberman game without properly exploring both game modes first, otherwise the verdict would be based solely on one half of the package rather than as a whole. I have no idea what game Total! played that they ended up giving a 94%, but it was definitely not this one. Even if the problems I had with Super Bomberman 2 weren't so intrusive and counterintuitive to my personal enjoyment and I wound up liking it on its own merit, I still would not have given it that high of a score (let alone higher than the first game) as it feels extraneously generous. With the hype for it having since died down, I personally did not find this game to have aged as well as its immediate precursor especially for not having lived up to that game's quality and standard.
Left: There's only G Ganzu left, the true villain of this game, and just like SkeleGuard before it should you lose a life here you must begin again with Plasma Bomber's battle | Right: "I spy with my eye a floating alien monstrosity whose last thing they'll see is red!" *TOSS*
It may be a historically significant franchise entry for having introduced the Five Dastardly Bombers, but that does not exempt it from criticism where it's warranted. I don't begrudge anyone for liking this game, but for as much as I keep telling and repeating to myself that there were things I liked and appreciated about it the proceedings simply did not work out for me in the end. By the time I finished Super Bomberman (alongside Saturn Bomberman) it helped give me greater respect and appreciation for Hudson Soft's coveted franchise, I felt proud and accomplished. By the time I was through with Super Bomberman 2 after struggling so much, I questioned why I bothered for it left me feeling tired.
My Personal Score: 5.5/10
● From Super Bomberman 2 alone I've taken a total of 469 screenshots on April 13th and 14th, 2026, so I've had to decide and consider which ones to use for this review while the unused I either discarded or decide to reserve for when I visually reference it in another review.
● What does it say when this game recycled the exact same end credits typeface as the one used in Brain Lord? At least the first game's end credits typeface differed significantly to Elnard's the year prior. Granted, Super Bomberman 4 would also use the typeface for its end credits two years later, however it's fine in that case because the way they're presented and roll in that game are different and occasionally in a different color than white.
● So I managed to take at least one screenshot from the game back when I had my Insignia flatscreen that I had planned to use for something else that I've decided to reallocate for this review for comparison's sake next to how it appears on the Samsung smart TV.
Left: 2009 Insignia flatscreen TV | Right: 2025 Samsung smart TV
In here you can tell some of the tiny amount that has been cropped at the top and bottom of the screen (particularly the top frame of the HUD) even if it's not all that drastic a difference, but the pertinent and crucial information (the counts, time, and score) is all accounted for. Now then, for context the screenshots I got from the Super Bomberman games, Brain Lord, DoReMi Fantasy, Jerry Boy, and Emerald Dragon I took while playing on my Samsung TV whereas everything else I got from back when I still had my Insignia TV.● In irrelevant news, I caught up with Illumination's latest animated film The Super Mario Galaxy Movie in theatres (on April 12th, 2026) which I found enjoyable. I thought Brie Larson was well-cast as Princess Rosalina, I liked how the Lumas were portrayed in the movie with how on occasion they'd act unruly and rambunctious like real children do without ever sacrificing their adorable quality which I didn't mind (I didn't even mind that they were given mouths compared to the games they appeared in), and Donald Glover as Yoshi was just perfect. Yoshi was a real highlight and practically stole every scene he was in (I got a good chuckle from Mario's response after Yoshi "recalled" to them his story for how he got where he was found by them) for I found him endearing and likable (I liked his portrayal), I loved seeing more of Luigi after he had a limited amount of screentime in the last movie as we get to see more of him along with Mario, and I still liked the friendly interplay and chemistry between the characters (especially Mario and Princess Toadstool, I know she's called "Peach" post-Super Mario 64 but that was not how she was referred to when she was conceived). The visuals were absolutely phenomenal as they were up to a high standard Illumination is known for when it comes to their animation (about on par with The Super Mario Bros. Movie with a handful moments superseding it and that was already a colorfully incredible movie to begin with) for I love how the textures of the characters and their eyes are rendered (it helps that Nintendo was also involved in the production), composer Brian Tyler shows he has deep love and understanding of the coveted Super Mario franchise's music while his original material is also well-composed, the writing was funny and entertaining with what I felt was well-judged comedic timing, I enjoyed spotting the subtle little easter eggs and references and cameos to all things Mario and Nintendo (anyone else catch the Excitebike title screen lingering on Mario's TV as Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi prepare to attend Princess Toadstool's birthday?) with one cameo in particular being very hilarious, and there was a moment near the end when I was like, "*GASP* Are they going to do what I think they're going to do?" which caught me by surprise. The Bowser and Bowser Jr. subplot was interesting, I didn't expect it. If I had a personal quibble with it, and it's not a major issue, it's that I felt the movie ended a bit abruptly before the credits started playing (maybe on a rewatch I might feel different, but it didn't feel like it concluded on a finite note like the last movie did which ended on a seamlessly satisfying note). On the whole, I really liked The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, I'm glad I watched it as I felt it captured the charm and endearing quality of the games. Did I like it better than The Super Mario Bros. Movie? It was hard to say at first, so I rewatched the earlier movie on Peacock days later to refresh my memory (I still like it three years later), and even then I couldn't quite decide. After a bit of thinking, I think the first movie might have the edge (the climactic battle there still gave me goosebumps) even if it's just by a smidge, but I look forward to seeing where the movie version of Super Mario goes next (especially with the post-credit sequence, that was fun and satisfying). It was in theatres that I also learned that Stephen Sommers' The Mummy Returns was rereleased on the weekend of March 27th, 2026 (after I saw stacks of its poster on the sales counter). What?? I didn't realize there was a 25th anniversary rerelease of that (not this soon, anyway, and I caught the 25th anniversary screening of its 1999 predecessor two years ago).
Thank you for reading my review, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think (neither spam nor NSFW is allowed); hope you have a great day, be a kind human, and take care!
