{"id":455080,"date":"2024-01-26T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/?p=455080"},"modified":"2024-01-26T16:10:49","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T22:10:49","slug":"bomberman-panic-bomber-for-pc-engine-is-a-blast-and-no-one-has-made-that-joke-before-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/bomberman-panic-bomber-for-pc-engine-is-a-blast-and-no-one-has-made-that-joke-before-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Bomberman: Panic Bomber for PC-Engine is a blast, and no one has made that joke before, right?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s pretty easy to stand out in the Virtual Boy catalog<\/a>. There were only fourteen games. Half weren\u2019t very good, half felt like tech demos, and half were Virtual Boy Wario Ware<\/em>. If a game didn\u2019t fit into any of those three halves, it stuck out like a missing tooth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panic Bomber<\/em> was one of those games. It\u2019s a perfectly find match-3 puzzle game, with a heaping of Bomberman <\/em>charm. It just didn\u2019t benefit from being on the hardware in the slightest. The Virtual Boy had its advantages, but it\u2019s hardly the ideal way to play a puzzle game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, it wasn\u2019t exclusive to the crimson goggles. It originally came out on PC-Engine Super CD-ROM\u00b2 in 1994 and was ported to a number of platforms. Unfortunately, the only other time it came out in North America was a port on Wii U. Thankfully again, I have an Analogue Duo<\/a> now, and it plays Japanese games. The Super CD-ROM\u00b2 version isn\u2019t that expensive, so now I can play Bomberman: Panic Bomber<\/em> without wrecking my neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bomberman
Screenshot by Destructoid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not hereditary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve never been terrific at puzzle games of the falling block variety. I\u2019m not terrible, either. I can usually get through whatever story mode they present, but I\u2019m not competitive. My sister, however, is a high-level Dr. Mario<\/em> player. She and her college roommates got really into it for a time, and she built up skills that I would define as \u201cmad.\u201d I can wreck her at most games, but I\u2019d need a few training montages to compete against her in Dr. Mario<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of my affection for the genre comes from my mother. Not hereditarily. I mean, she used to play them a lot. I\u2019d come home from school, and she\u2019d be on my Super Nintendo engaged in Yoshi\u2019s Cookie<\/a> <\/em>or Kirby\u2019s Avalanche<\/a><\/em>. I didn\u2019t have much interest in them myself, but my concept of cozy largely comes from my mom. It\u2019s the same reason I often drink my tea with way too much milk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, what I\u2019m saying is that Bomberman: Panic Bomber<\/em> gives off those same vibes. Puyo Puyo<\/em> did a real number on the genre. This could practically be called \u201cBomberman\u2019s Mean Bomb Machine<\/a>,\u201d except that would completely destroy the rhyme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point is that you face off against various cartoon monstrosities whose portrait sits in the middle of the screen. When you put three Bomberman heads of the same color in a row, they disappear. The big difference here is that more explosives are involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bomberman:
Screenshot by Destructoid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Munitions stockpile<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every time you eliminate a row of heads, a bomb will pop up from the bottom of the screen. Eventually, a pink bomb will drop from the top, and you (sometimes) want to steer it so that it explodes (in the classic Bomberman<\/em> plus shape) and creates a chain reaction with all the unlit bombs you built up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know what you\u2019re thinking, but contrary to what we\u2019ve been taught, the Bomberman heads here are mostly immune to explosions. Like Puyo Puyo<\/em>, the strategy isn\u2019t to keep your field clean. It\u2019s to cause as much frustration to your opponent as possible. Detonating a bomb sends garbage to their field with the goal, expectedly, to fill up their side of the screen until it overflows. Garbage can only be removed using the bombs, so the game boils down to amassing as many explosives as you can, then detonating it at the right time to both prevent your field from overflowing and fill up your opponents\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You also build up a gauge as you knock out combos, and when it\u2019s full, a big bomb drops. This one will actually clear out Bomberman heads, so it\u2019s especially useful when you\u2019re about to drown and need some air. It also typically results in a lot of garbage getting flung to the other side of the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This leads to some interesting back-and-forth action as you clear your screen, send garbage to your opponent, and then they detonate their bombs and send it right back. When this gets going, it can be rather exciting, like a good sumo match. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, it seems like Panic Bomber <\/em>has a single strategy, which is to stockpile bombs and detonate them at the least convenient time. You can still build up combos Puyo Puyo<\/em> style, which will get you appropriate bonuses, but it all comes down to who can screw the other over the hardest. Just like the business world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bomberman
Screenshot by Destructoid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Path of destruction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is going to sound weird, but the Virtual Boy version of Panic Bomber<\/em> is better. Not that I really want to assemble a team to set up my Virtual Boy just to play it, but the VB version had more detailed graphics. To the credit of the Super CD-ROM\u00b2 version, it supports five players<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was kind of disappointed that it doesn\u2019t really take advantage of the Super CD-ROM\u00b2 beyond just for the soundtrack. There\u2019s only an outro cutscene, but it\u2019s not as elaborate as I\u2019m used to from the platform. In fact, the story isn\u2019t really set up within the game itself. You just watch Bomberman cut a path of destruction through the world map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bomberman: Panic Bomber<\/em> is far from the best match-3 puzzle game in the world. It probably isn\u2019t going to replace Puyo Puyo<\/em> for anyone, but it\u2019s decent fun for a while. It\u2019s especially beneficial if you have one friend too many any need a five-player game to keep everyone happy. I don\u2019t have that problem. Being too popular has never been an issue for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For other retro titles you may have missed, click right here!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Haha! Get it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":455098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"article_type":"","ub_ctt_via":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"[]","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[22566],"tags":[2433,20328,468,1312,21000,172],"internal-label":[22870,24255],"invoiceable_action":[23730],"article_type":[23115],"coauthors":[{"id":17,"display_name":"Zoey Handley","user_nicename":"adzuken"}],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Header_PanicBomber01cropped.jpg?fit=1200%2C675","author_info":{"display_name":"Zoey Handley","author_link":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/author\/adzuken\/"},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Header_PanicBomber01cropped.jpg?fit=1200%2C675","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455080"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455080"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":455248,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455080\/revisions\/455248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455080"},{"taxonomy":"internal-label","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-label?post=455080"},{"taxonomy":"invoiceable_action","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/invoiceable_action?post=455080"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=455080"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=455080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}