Genre: Action
Developer: Hudson Soft
Publisher: Sega

In 1996 every game was justifiably pushing for a 3D presentation-- but Saturn Bomberman chucks the trend by making what's essentially a souped-up PC Engine game: richly drawn and animated ice cream cone, ninja, and robot enemies against ultra colorful tile-based stage backdrops. Even the menus are pretty to look at. The title sneaks in lots of quad scaling and rotation, but it's usually subtle-- until the player encounters the Wild West boss, which leans completely into 32-bit territory, really showing off what the Saturn can do. Saturn Bomberman is not going to blow anyone away like the best 3D games of the period, but it has perhaps aged more gracefully.

Saturn Bomberman's music is a mix of Techno and Rock with some light Jazz motifs. With the exception of the DSP stage interstitial songs it's all pre-recorded, but does a good job of staying true to the period with some pleasant guitar and drum samples on tap. There's even some Drum & Bass material, vaguely reminiscent of something out of "Ape Escape". The game's sound effects are high quality and do a good job of conveying what's happening during the various stages and battles.

Where the Bomberman releases on Hudson's own PC Engine gradually introduced the power-ups we know and love today, by 1996 the formula had more or less been settled-- and Saturn Bomberman has the whole kit and kaboodle, to go along with the dinosaurs, a plethora of battle stages plus an entire single player campaign. The single player mode can be saved upon a game over, then any stage can be selected and replayed infinitely to grind out powerups and lives. The bosses are fairly rote, but a couple of them-- including the sophisticated and challenging final boss-- are highlights.

Where the later Bomberman games went either for a pre-rendered look or even full 3D, Saturn Bomberman is hand-drawn and even in 2025 it looks fabulous: full of charm and personality. The battle stages aren't as inventive as from some other games in the series, but in a way their simplicity benefits competitive play. There is even a scaled out mode which allows for ten players at once! The two single player modes are great, with lots of interesting "gimmicks" and even scrolling throughout the various levels. Overall, this is a sort of "ultimate" Bomberman game which is everything one needs and nothing one doesn't.