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1997 · Super Famicom
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Emperor Terrorin, a Bomber with power over time itself, has broken a gang of criminal Bombers out of their cells in orbit around Planet Bomber and scattered them through warped time and space. White Bomber, Black Bomber and their Louie mounts go after them, and then after him.
You still lay bombs, clear blocks and try not to stand in your own blast. What changes is the map. You choose which stage to play next, and four of the five areas are built from the four Super Bomberman games before it, with their sprites and remixed music. The fifth is new. Your route decides where you meet the final boss, and there are two endings. Reach 100 per cent and the map resets for a run to 200 per cent, which hands you a new password.
Hudson Soft released it on the Super Famicom on 28 February 1997, in Japan only. It is the fifth Super Bomberman and the last Bomberman on the console. It came in two forms: the normal cartridge, and a gold one sold through CoroCoro Comic with extra battle maps.
It stayed in Japanese for almost thirty years. The first English version came in 2026, when it was included in the Super Bomberman Collection.
Battle mode is where it shines, as always with this series. There are ten maps, and most of the battle roster is made of bosses you beat in the story. Then there is the thing no other Super Bomberman has: a create-a-character mode. You pick a fighter and a colour, get a budget of points, and spend them on power-ups from the story mode. Every friend at the couch shows up with their own build, and the arguments start before the first bomb.
The story mode is a pleasant victory lap. It is a little strange to play levels assembled from older games, but that is the point of a final instalment: a tour of everything the series did on this console. Finishing it twice over is for the devoted.
A last game made from pieces of the earlier ones is a kind of photo album. Each area brings back the sprites and tunes of a game someone played years before, and the player walks through them again on the way to the end.
Wildschut and colleagues found nostalgia is mostly a warm feeling, that it usually features the people we were close to, and that it leaves us feeling more connected. Super Bomberman 5 is built for exactly that. The remixed stages remind you of the games, and the games remind you of who held the other controllers.
Read: Why old games feel like home →
You have been training these without noticing. Here is how to do it on purpose, and where it pays off away from the couch. All the skills games teach →
In the game. Create-a-character gives you a budget of points to spend on power-ups. Every mate shows up with their own build.
Do it on purpose. Make a build around one weakness you have in battle. Test it for five rounds, then tweak it.
Off the couch. Building something that suits you, a workout, a budget, a side project, beats copying someone else's.
In the game. You choose which stage to play next, and your route decides where you meet the final boss and which of the two endings you get.
Do it on purpose. Plan your route before starting a session. Write it down and see if you stick to it.
Off the couch. Planning a night out that suits everyone, or a date they'll actually enjoy, shows you've thought about it. That lands.
In the game. Nine fighters, ten maps, and arguments starting before the first bomb drops.
Do it on purpose. After each round, the loser picks one setting to change. Winner can't complain.
Off the couch. Good sport at the pub, on the field or at work earns respect that lasts longer than any win.
Verdict · 7/10
Super Bomberman 5 is the series saying goodbye to the Super Famicom by walking back through its own past. Come for the build-your-own fighters in battle mode.
