Saturn Bomberman
Multiplayer Bomberman for up to ten players.
Saturn Bomberman is an action game by Hudson Soft for the Sega Saturn, and the eleventh installment in the Bomberman series. It was first released in Japan on July 19, 1996, and later in Europe and North America in 1997. The game is best known for its multiplayer functionality supporting up to ten players using multitaps.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Hudson Soft
- Publisher
- Hudson Soft (JP); Sega (WW)
- Director
- Shigeki Fujiwara; Kazunori Yasui
- Producer
- Hiroshi Igari
- Designer
- Tatsumitsu Watanabe; Yōhei Nakata
- Artist
- Shoji Mizuno; Naoto Yoshimi
- Composer
- Jun Chikuma
- Series
- Bomberman
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Like most Bomberman games, Saturn Bomberman features a battle mode and a story mode, along with a master mode where the player races to finish a series of levels and receives a rank based on time taken, which is saved to memory on a scoreboard. The game introduces several new powerups and utilizes Dinosaur helpers, found as eggs released when a soft block is destroyed. Dinosaurs come in three levels: babies, adolescents, and adults, with adults being the strongest. A dinosaur can only take one hit regardless of its size; if a player is riding a dinosaur when it is hit, the dinosaur takes the hit instead. In story mode, collecting powerups builds a special meter; when full, the dinosaur grows one level. In battle mode, collecting an egg while riding a dinosaur causes it to grow. The player can jump off the dinosaur at any time. Story mode can be played single-player or two-player and involves blowing up poles with glowing red orbs called Zarfs while avoiding or destroying enemies and collecting powerups. Once all Zarfs on a level are destroyed, an exit appears; entering it triggers a victory pose and a short cut scene showing scenery moving aside, Bomberman walking through, and something closing behind him. Battle mode supports up to ten human players with two multitaps, six players with one multitap, or two players without multitaps, and also allows CPU-controlled opponents. With more than eight players, the game uses a widescreen arena with tiny characters and blocks, disabling many powerups including dinosaurs. The North American version supports the Sega NetLink for up to four players online via two players per console.
Reception
Critics were generally positive over Saturn Bomberman. Electronic Gaming Monthly's four-person review crew, Saturn Power's Dean Mortlock, and Sega Saturn Magazine's Matt Yeo were particularly impressed with the ten-player capability and the numerous modes and options. Yeo praised the game's accessibility, noting that players can pick up a joypad and leap straight into the action with minimal tuition. However, a reviewer for Next Generation and Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot felt the game failed to break out from the shadow of Super Bomberman 2. Gerstmann stated that every subsequent Bomberman game has closely mirrored that classic, tacking on silly features without adding anything useful, and that Saturn Bomberman combines these features into what should be the ultimate Bomberman game but offers nothing new to serious players. Next Generation opined that the basic gameplay goodness is not tarnished, but the game does not attain the classic status of Super Bomberman 2. Critics were not wholly sold on the ten-player feature, noting that the screen size makes powerups and characters too small on all but the largest televisions. They nonetheless concurred that the multiplayer modes overall are the highlight. Dan Hsu of Electronic Gaming Monthly stated it is a mediocre one-player game but a fantastic multiplayer game. Mortlock ventured it is probably the best multiplayer game you will ever play. GamePro noted the screen is less confusing with eight or fewer players and commented that if you do not have a Sega multitap, Saturn Bomberman offers the perfect excuse to get one.
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