Bomberman Hero

Man this is definitely one blast from the past, isn't it (I'm sorry, that was an awful pun)? While looking at the release date, next year this game will be 20 years old! Yeah, 20!!! I sure feel old now, after seeing that. But either way, this is the oldest Bomberman game I own. I rented Bomberman 64 when I was younger, and finished it, but it's been so long that I don't remember anything about it, and B64 was the first Bomberman game I played, as well.

This game, to me, is like.. a completionist-driven game. When you finish a stage, you get a rank, from 1-5, with 1 being the lowest, and 5 being the best, or even perfect, possible score. Naturally this mean you have to defeat every enemy, collect every single crystal, etc. so you can squeeze out that perfect score. I believe on some levels, such as the Bomber Transform stages, you have a little more leeway due to how the stages work, and therefore you can get a higher score. Boss stages have the score start at the maximum and the score is dropping so you have to defeat then quickly. Naturally, having the maximum firepower is a great way to deal with bosses at the huge blast radius can almost always damage them in a quick fashion. And if you don't get the score you want, you can always just try again. Also, some stages have hidden exits that are the only way to access some stages!

A little side option, other than collecting the superbombs in each stage to unlock the hidden final boss, are the different games in the options menu, which are based on your overall rank within each area. Naturally you'll want the Gold Rank as it's the highest possible rank available. But since each level isn't super huge, it never feels like a big chore to replay levels as, once you know how to beat them, it'll only take you a few minutes to re-complete the stage you had a lacking rank in.

But all in all, it's a fun game and it's actually quite a bit longer than you think, and will take you a decent chunk of time if you're looking for everything. I need to replay it next time I plug in my N64. Thanks for reading, like always, and I'll see you again soon!