Stuck In 2D: Bomberman
Over the years many iconic video game franchises have tried and failed miserably to enter the 3rd Dimension. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re taking a look at the Bomberman Franchise’s attempts to break from its 8-bit past.
Of all the video game mascots roaming the wild, Bomberman is arguably one of the most beloved. The white Bomber made his debut in 1983 when he popped up on several computers in Japan. Since then the simple franchise bred sequels like rabbits! This resulted in hundreds of games across each and every gaming platform.
So, along with making minor updates to its already perfect design and graphics with each new version, developer Hudson Soft eventually came under pressure to cross the void into the 3rd Dimension. But they faced an uphill challenge in converting the video game equivalent of Chess, while simultaneously satisfying its ever-maturing fan base.
This led us to perhaps the most half-hearted, weird and just terrible attempt to modernize a video game series in recent memory. That’s right, we’re talking about 2006’s “Bomberman: Act Zero” for the Xbox 360.
Not only did the game take the series into HD territory, but it somehow managed to abandon the charm and character design of its namesake. At first glance fans instantly felt betrayed by its cyberpunk aesthetic, lack of frantic twitch gameplay, and old-school inspired layout with annoying rotating camera.
What they did was the equivalent to shaving Mario and giving him a gun.
Ironically, Act Zero was unfairly shafted for following the original game’s back-story. Unless you read the manual that came with your old cartridge version of the game back in the day, you probably didn’t know that Bomberman was originally conceived as a robot. Don’t feel bad, we used to think that he’s some kind of mushroom man with an intense love for pyromania.
Incidentally, Act Zero wasn’t Hudson’s first attempt to introduce the franchise to 3D.
Bomberman’s first taste of bittersweet three-dimensionality was 1997’s “Bomberman 64” for the N64 console. While this game was well received by a willing public, future games quickly degenerated into early childhood follow-ups “Bomberman Generation” and “Bomberman Jetters”.
These games bred contempt from fans, despite retaining the original art design. One can’t help but wonder why they increasingly sought to limit the focus on strategic multiplayer. In fact, ‘Bomberman Hero’ shocked gamers by presenting them with only a single player campaign on top of being overly ‘cute’.
What Hudson Soft has failed to realize time and time again is that their strategy game may not need a full-fledged 3D adventure with cinematic backstory.
Don’t get us wrong, Bomberman has the potential to evolve if done right. However, we don’t see a need for him to be anything more then a fixed-camera action-arcade game. Why else would he continue to thrive in his retro 2D form on online services like Xbox Live and Sony’s PlayStation Network?
Like a strategic board game, Bomberman is about simplicity in both game structure and appearance.
