The first Super Bomberman, a four player local multi peak. Essential for friend nights, Hudson's eternal formula.
Your verdict
Category
Action4 players3+
Description
Multiplayer bomb game featuring Bomberman in arenas supporting up to four simultaneous players. Published by Hudson Soft, released in the United States in 1993. Bomberman placing bombs to eliminate opponents, speed and flame power-ups and adventure mode. First Super Bomberman on Super Nintendo.
Super Bomberman review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
1/5
Story
★★★★★
"Anecdotal"
Everything is designed for four player readability: a well contrasted square grid, destructible blocks in one colour, fixed walls in another, and four bombermen distinguished only by hue. The move to sixteen bits mainly serves the scenery around the field, factories, forests, laboratories, drawn with care yet never encroaching on the play area.
The soundtrack works in short, nagging loops built to run all evening without becoming a burden: cheerful melodies, bouncing bass, marked percussion setting the tempo of bomb placement. The selection menu theme has stayed in the collective memory far more than the solo campaign.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Trapping your opponent in a maze of explosions, snatching power-ups and managing the blast waves grounds a multiplayer of perfect readability. The short, twitchy rounds chain together before you notice them passing, especially with several players. This clear, tactical mechanic remains one of the safe bets of group play, intact decades later.
Fun
"From the very first seconds"
Trapping a rival between two blasts remains one of gaming's great joys, and this entry finally brings it to four players on one screen. Laying bombs, grabbing power-ups and trapping the others sets off a hilarious, strategic chaos. Instant to grasp, fearsome to master, a local multiplayer essential that gets the party going at once.
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Dropping a bomb, gauging the blast and trapping a rival in a corner is the whole nervous thrill of the series, especially with several players. Each match reshuffles power-ups and positions, so you start the next one on reflex. The solo mode stays predictable, but the multiplayer clash keeps an immediate tension that never wears thin.
Difficulty
"Balanced"
Lifespan
"Massive"
Dropping bombs in these arenas truly shines in company: up to four players clash in chaotic duels that chain on without ever growing stale. The adventure mode keeps a solo player busy, but it's the endless multiplayer replayability, fueled by speed and flame power-ups, that stretches the fun. This first Super Bomberman remains a staple of controller-in-hand nights.
The American SNES NTSC version of Hudson's Super Bomberman from 1993, the first 16-bit Bomberman officially distributed in North America, in the warp-prone US cardboard box. The reference edition for the North American collector, opening the NTSC Super Bomberman sub-collection. Still common: value rests on a clean CIB and graded sealed, carried by multiplayer Bomberman's reputation as a sociable 16-bit living-room classic.
Better with friends
A king of bomb-laying party games, where up to four players trap each other in maze-like arenas with calculated blasts. The competition is joyful chaos: you place, you dodge, you laugh at the dumb eliminations and last-second reversals. Immediate and terribly addictive, its battle mode restarts forever and guarantees endless shouts, betrayals and good-natured rivalries.
Is Super Bomberman still worth playing in 2026?
Super Bomberman lays the foundations of 16 bit Bomberman, namely an arena puzzle action where players eliminate each other through bombs. The four player multiplayer via Multitap remains an absolute peak of retro party gaming. The handling is precise, the bomb timing crucial. The tech stays sober but the gameplay is timeless. Recommended for any retro multiplayer evening and to fans of digital party games where conviviality clearly outranks graphics or complexity.
