Bomberman 94 is generally regarded as one of the best Bomberman games as well as the point where the series "got good". It introduced Louie, refined the battle mode, made the levels more complex, and tightened up the pacing a lot, what's not to love? Well...
In my Bomberman retrospective, I said I didn't love 94 and that it wasn't even my favorite of the PC Engine Bomberman games. I didn't like that the objective was changed from destroying every enemy to destroying cores since it meant you could theoretically run past enemies and not engage with them. I preferred how 93 made you fight every enemy, along with its generally moodier atmosphere, and couldn't understand how people thought the games prior to 94 weren't as good. But... well... here's the thing. I didn't play 94, I played its Genesis port, Mega Bomberman, and a long time ago at that. I assumed that they were pretty much the same experience, and for the most part they are, but eventually I found out that Mega does actually make a fair amount of downgrades. Music was changed and cut, the spritework generally looks a lot dimmer, and the game has slowdown that the PC Engine version lacked. So, I decided to replay Bomberman 94, the proper version this time, to see if maybe I was too harsh on it. And boy, was I!
So, my initial criticism of the core system was honestly really misinformed in hindsight. Bomberman 94 does so much to encourage you to not skip over everything. For starters, the level design in 94 is more constrictive than in past games which is something I gave it credit for. Most stages do have a "main path" that you will need to traverse, usually with enemies in the way. Some enemies will only be released once you break a core, and other enemies carry the cores themselves so 94 is certainly not at a loss for combat. The main perk of having to break cores and reach an end goal is the fact that you don't need to aimlessly bomb soft blocks until you find a goal like the earlier entries, which does a lot to speed up the pacing. But it's not like soft blocks are useless now, far from it. Prior games only had a single powerup to find per level, but 94 has multiple. This not only makes it far easier to catch up if you die and lose all your upgrades, but it also encourages you to break soft blocks regardless, especially if you want to get the more rare powerups like Louies, the remote bomb, or the wall pass. I also like how upon beating a level, all the remaining soft blocks explode into coins that boost your score, so there's also a strategic element for score-hunters who might want to leave as many soft blocks unbroken as possible. The point is, Bomberman 94 does not allow you to skip over engaging with all of its mechanics, if anything, it feels even more mechanically interesting than its predecessors.
The biggest example of this are the Louies which I feel I had previously undersold. Louies are a great addition to the Bomberman series, not just because they're absolutely adorable mascots, but because they manage to enhance the formula in a number of ways. First off, they work as an extra hit point which helps to mitigate the punishing one-hit deaths Bomberman is known for. But more importantly, each colored Louie has its own unique ability, from dashing across the stage, to jumping over enemies and objects, to kicking soft blocks, to dancing, which doesn't do anything but it is adorable. They're all a ton of fun, especially the jump once you figure out you can jump over your own bomb explosions, and it yet again lends the game more strategy and mechanical complexity. Maybe you find a Louie egg, but you already have a Louie. Do you want to get rid of your current Louie and roll for a new ability, or do you not want to risk potentially getting one of the less useful Louie types? My only gripe with the Louies is that they use the same button as the Remote Controller, at least in the PC Engine version, so you end up activating both abilities at the same time. It's the one thing I think Mega actually does better than the original.
The level design in Bomberman 94 is also easily the best in the series to date. As I mentioned, it's a bit more tight, and the level shapes are more varied than the simple squares and rectangles of the previous games. There's high-up ledges, bridges, gaps, and a number of environmental stage gimmicks. Even more, most stages are now divided up into multiple sections so 94 is able to keep the game feeling somewhat beefy without wasting your time by having you search for the goal. The actual level gimmicks do tend to vary in quality, though. Slammin Sea seems to think that adding a cool-looking water filter is enough to help the world stand out mechanically (it doesn't), but on the other hand, Vexin Volcano has minecarts that you can use to blast through blocks and enemies along with volcanos that shoot fire into the main stage, making for one of my favorite Bomberman worlds overall. The bosses are also a big step-up in quality from previous games, requiring a lot more strategy. For example, the first boss is a beefy Banana Robot who can be defeated more easily by cornering and taking out its pilot, and the third boss will grab your bombs if you place one too close. But the peak of Bomberman 94, in my opinion, is easily the final world. The Final Area in 94 is one massive level composed of seven segments, a lengthy gauntlet that caps off the entire PC Engine trilogy, culminating in a tough, three-phase first final fight against Bagura. It's not just a great test of your abilities, but it even tosses in some fun original gimmicks like TNT boxes, speed boosters, and wind gusts, making for easily one of my favorite finales to a Bomberman game.
The overall presentation in Bomberman 94 is also pretty great, but this is easily where it beats out the Genesis port for me. Battle Mode in general is the best it's been so far between the larger character roster, more interesting stage layouts (High Speed, Magma), and the addition of Louies adding a lot more strategy, but the PC Engine version allows for up to five players compared to Mega's maximum of four. The PC Engine's visuals are some of the best and most impressive on the system, with bold colors, cute animations, and some neat visual effects like the aforementioned water filter. There are so many charming little details, from the background characters, to the surprisingly detailed credits scene. Mega, on the other hand, is such a gargantuan downgrade in every concievable way. It's darker, muddier, more lacking in detail, and it's riddled with slowdown, which 94 completely lacks. You really have to look at both games side by side to really just how royally this port was screwed. And then there's the soundtrack. While I still think 93 has my favorite OST of the PC Engine games, 94 has some serious bangers like Jammin Jungle and Vexin Volcano, it's just a shame neither of them are in Mega. The other tracks are in Mega and they sound fine enough, but Jun Chikuma really made that PC Engine sing like nothing else.
Now, you might be wondering if my thoughts on Super Bomberman 3 since that game visibly took a lot of cues from 94 as well. If I like 94 more now, maybe I'd like Super 3 more as well? Sadly, no. If anything I like it less because it feels like a poor man's 94 in pretty much every way. The single-screen levels feel so much more limiting, especially for the minecart stages and the final area. Only a single enemy type can carry around cores, while the others are often so annoying that I want to engage with them less, and some of the extra strategic nuances like soft blocks turning into coins are completely gone. The battle mode while still fun is completely lacking in those aforementioned gimmick stages, and the soundtrack while technically impressive is composed entirely of remixes. And on top of all that, it doesn't have the dancing Louie, what a tragedy. There are some strong points here, the water world has a lot more going on here, having more than two buttons fixes that control issue with the Louies, and it still an incredibly polished experience with smooth controls, clean visuals, and crisp audio. However, when considering that Super 3 was meant to follow-up the high bars that Super 2 and 94 left off, it feels like a real let-down and kinda just makes me want to play those games instead.
So yeah, I was wayyyyyy too harsh on Bomberman 94, and it's not even really its fault. I unknowingly played the worse version (along with its inferior followup), felt something was lacking, and couldn't put my finger on why so I blamed the gameplay loop. In reality, Bomberman 94 is a lot more polished, mechanically-interesting, cleverly-paced, and thoughtfully-crafted than I previously gave it credit for and I can wholeheartedly say this is not just the best PC Engine Bomberman, but one of the best Bomberman games in general.
Then again, it has the Pink Louie dance so it's automatically perfect.
4.5/5 Stars
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