Super Bomberman R 2 Review: Remakes done right (Spoilers)

As old as some of you are, I am sure everyone at some point has heard of Bomberman. Whether you played back on the on Super Nintendo (some cases, NES) or later on Gameboy Advance or GameCube or even the Xbox and PS3, Bomberman has withstood the test of time. Although Hudson Software (the original developers) was bought out by Konami, Bomberman has surprisingly lived on and to no surprise, Bomberman is back and better than ever and has been back since 2017 around the release of the switch.

But what is Bomberman? He’s a fun robot that blasts blocks. While his objectives has went from reaching the surface to become a real boy to return in Lode Runner or in other cases he’s battling with an evil scientist or his black counterpart. In any case, Bomberman has no consistency with his stories and you could say each video game is its own universe and canon shifts based on which game you play.

I personally believe this is what kept Bomberman fresh for so long. You never have to play the games in chronological order, you can just pick up a game and play. Sure, some of Bomberman’s more iconic characters or references are lost to time or with HudsonSoft’s buyout, but the spirit of the Bomberman franchise will never truly end (or at least I hope).

With the newest iteration of Bomberman R (R standing for Reborn or Renewed) we see each Bomberman who had their own color now has their own look and personality to match which is new and actually is both refreshing and humorous. Bomberman has encompasses both goofy and serious moments, these characters feel like they’re straight out of an anime and I love every bit of it.

White bomber is obviously the Leader and older brother, Black bomber surprisingly turns into Mr. suave, blue bomber the sleepiest robot I’ve ever seen, green bomber whose the baby brother with sneaky tendencies, yellow bomber is the carefree goofball, Red is the bomb happy burning passion of Fighting, Pink is the sweeter big sister, and Aqua is the quiet younger sister, and together they are the 8 bomber brothers with the exception of Karaoke Bomber whom I think is the original Pink bomber who was originally a character named Honey who had a looong history in Bomberman.

Well anyways, this new iteration started in 2017 with Super Bomberman R and spoilers ahead: the return to the basics with the original evil scientist to fight Bomberman, Buggler (Bagura in Japan) who wants to take over the galaxy with Robots he reprogrammed. The held traditional 5 stages with 8 levels and a boss, truly traditional Bomberman.

And of course after Super Bomberman R Online came and went (no one paid for the micropay BS)

And 6 years after Super Bomberman R, we come to the sequel of Super Bomber R 2 which is honestly one of the best direct sequels to a game I have ever played.

In this game, we are introduced to a new villain, Fusell and his minions known as The Lugion. A villain spanking across galaxies to collect creatures known as the Ellon for sinister purposes. The Bomberman brothers (that’s what they’re called now) come across the Ellon, baby like energy entities with the power energize equipment for various purposes. As cute as they are, they are definitely a handful as Fusell seeks to capture the Ellon while encountering the sinister looking creatures called The Lugion. This is where the story begins.

This game is very different from other bomberman games where normally the objective was to defeat enemies in 8 round with a boss, now you’re traveling across three long stages to collect 100 Ellon in each stage and battling Lugion in Base defense and base infiltration. An entirely new concept for bomberman which is surprisingly intuitive and challenging but ultimately a FUN CONCEPT!

I’m sure there are people who love or hate tower defense, but when applied to a series like bomberman, it is surprisingly intuitive and almost a match made in heaven. I have fun building defense stages and I get to infiltrate stages of the Lugion (and online as well). The rest of the story is you travelling across 3 planets with around 10-14 areas to explore and level up 15 levels for each planet all to battle a final boss on each level with a 4th and final boss which is Fusell.

How to play: if you played one bomberman game, you’ve played them all. You bomb blocks to create paths and kill enemies, but you also have to place and move before the bomb explodes because your bombs can hurt you. The game works kind of like a puzzle. You bomb blocks to create paths, find power ups and use your bomb powers to blast your opponents with various techniques to block your enemies and blow them up.

The game comes to a satisfying conclusion and actually the story carries some seriousness and moral questions in the story. Upon completion, you’ll find a surprise, a surprise that most games no longer offer: UNLOCKABLES. Unlockable characters with no extra cost, unlockable items with no additional cost, a bunch of in game only currency that requires NONE OF YOUR ACTUAL MONEY TO RECEIVE?! I THINK KONAMI FINALLY LEARNED WE DON’T LIKE MICROPAY?!?!

Hell has frozen over, A big corporate company has finally learned that forcing micropay into our games won’t make us buy them! That’s right. All the in game unlockable don’t require extra money. Just you playing the game.

It’s so refreshing to see this in this day and age. To think something we used to take for granted as kids is now making a fantastic return. Christmas came early boys.

Sure, this may not be the rarest sight, but it’s still very nice to see. Ultimately Bomberman R 2 has brought us everything we like about bomberman and more and I hope we keep seeing more games like this make it to the US. Maybe even the “Bombergirl” game 😳 (I hope and yes, you should look up the Bombergirl game, it’s the kind of game that makes woke Twitter freaks cry).

Whelp, hope you like my review, it’s not everything I wanted to write, and I’m leaving details out like Konami’s bomberman crossover characters like Solid Snake or Simon Belmont, but I wanted to leave it at this and say, Go play bomberman! I would like to contribute to G+G but that’s a bit of a pipedream for me. I just love to write about video games I play and hope people read my reviews and get excited to play them. 8/10 for this game. If you love Bomberman or just want a fun game, pick it up!