Format: Arcade
Genre: Action
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami

This Apple Arcade-exclusive's main menu depicts a pair of Bombermen floating through space in a capsule filled with CRTs, a PC Engine, a window-pointed telescope with Post-It notes on it, and so forth-- it's extremely evocative in both its content and the colored pencil sketch manner in which it's drawn. The stages are played "inside" VHS cassettes, and have FMV of J-pop dancers and other psychedelic things going on in the background. Meanwhile, the stages and in-stage characters are drawn with a sort of cel-shaded 3D aesthetic, contrasting with other recent games in the series, such as the more gritty-looking "Super Bomberman R".

The main menu song is a "lo-fi", soothing beat slow rhythm ditty, and it fits the game's personality and aesthetic perfectly. The in-match songs are pop music, either Japanese or otherwise, with the odd rock tune thrown in. The high-tempo music also fits the title's space-age, abstract personality, and songs such as the truly bizarre "Bomb Bomb, Blow 'Em All" lend a surrealistic quality to the proceedings.

The single-screen gameplay is all here, with the traditional power-ups one would expect: the glove, the boot, the fire pickups, and so forth. Louie eggs even spawn in one of the levels! There are touch screen controls on iOS, and the bot AI is suitably toned down to accommodate this sloppy input method. But the game also supports USB plus Bluetooth controllers and keyboards, on either Mac or iOS-- by far the preferable way to play. There is no single player campaign, but the multiplayer has full internet and couch competitive play, plus full bot support.

Amazing Bomberman is aptly named, in that it ushers in the 40th anniversary since the series was created. The game itself isn't "amazing" in any way, but it does some novel and experimental stuff regarding both aesthetics and its "new blocks fall from the sky in rhythm with the music" mechanic. Not to mention, it provides a way for Japanese people to play a quick match between train stations, or for people in a household to enjoy some traditional living room Bomberman competition on their Mac, especially if AirPlay is used to mirror the action to a television.