Neo Bomberman

Did You Know?

• The game bears similarity with Super Bomberman 4 for Super Nintendo Entertainment System, as it was developed by most of the same team.
• Kyle Knight of AllGame praised its colorful visuals, tried-and-true addictive gameplay and sound design.

Gameplay

Neo Bomberman is an action-maze game where players control the titular characters, aiming to destroy all monsters on the playfield by placing bombs. Clearing all monsters opens a level's gate to the next area. Bombing Soft Blocks may reveal items that increase bomb capacity, explosion range, or speed, as well as abilities to pass through Soft Blocks and bombs, kick and throw bombs, or make bombs remote-controlled or pierce multiple blocks. Later levels introduce rescuing other Bomberman characters, who then aid the player, and enemies that can be ridden or driven after defeat. Up to two players can play the single-player campaign cooperatively. Battle mode lets a player select one of ten characters to face up to three computer opponents over five rounds in four arenas, with Soft Blocks providing items. A second player switches the mode to one-on-one, and the winner continues.

Development and release

Neo Bomberman was developed by Produce!, who had previously worked on three Super Bomberman titles for Super NES. Two ADS employees collaborated on artwork. Now Production was listed for the game's music and sound effects, though music composers were not credited. The game was first shown at the JAMMA trade fair in September 1996 alongside other Neo Geo titles such as Kizuna Encounter and Samurai Shodown IV, and also at the Amusement Machine Show and AMOA that year. It was released for the Neo Geo MVS on May 1, 1997, but never received a conversion for the Neo Geo AES or Neo Geo CD. On European systems, text appears in Spanish instead of English.