Bomberman Quest is the result of throwing Bomberman into one of the Gameboy Legend of Zelda games. It’s a mashup of Bomberman’s bomb-based gameplay with Zelda’s structure and mechanics, which becomes evident about two minutes into playing it. Since this is a mashup, the game deserves a hybridized name. The choice is obvious, so welcome to Bomberelda Quest, a name I would gleefully use if SEO would allow it.
The game begins with Bomberman piloting a spaceship carrying captured monsters back to a prison on Planet Bomber. Some villainous lights show up and steal his engines, wrecking the ship. The monsters escape into the vacuum of space but somehow land on a nearby planet where they wreak havoc because they’re jerks. Bomberman crash lands on the planet and vows to fix his ship and recapture the escaped monsters. At no point does he vow to understand how astrophysics works since everyone should have died.
The core gameplay is classic Bomberman: plant bombs and blow stuff up. Most bombs explode in the classic cross-style pattern, and you can always blow yourself up as well. Bomberman has always been simplistic at the roots, but that’s also its strength. There’s a reason the series has, for better or worse, largely stuck with the same design all these years. For his GBC quest, Bomberman inherits a life meter, equipment, and items from Zelda to help mix things up. Bomberman can even equip two weapons simultaneously, just like our beloved swordsman.
Bomberman begins his quest in Peece Town (sic), a hub to Quest’s four areas: Field, Forest, Beach, and Desert. A few residents mill about the town, but they never have much to say, and their dialogue doesn’t seem to change. There are only two points of interest in town: the game’s only save point, found next to the wreckage of Bomberman’s ship, and the bomb workshop, which I’ll get to shortly.
If you’re wondering how our diminutive, bomb-generating hero plans to recapture those monsters, you guessed it: by blowing them up. This raises all kinds of questions. How do fiery explosions capture anything? Does the game end when you blow yourself up because you’ve captured yourself? Who knows.
Anyway, Bomberman Quest doesn’t have basic enemies like its inspiration. Instead, each enemy encounter is a mini-boss fight, and only one enemy appears at a time. Portraits and dialogue introduce each fight, giving each monster and our hero some personality. These conversations are often ridiculous, like the onion monster who makes Bomberman tear up or the tree monster who rudely burps at him. Some monsters only speak gibberish, which Bomberman attempts to understand. Appropriately, the game doesn’t take itself seriously at all.
Despite Bomberman Quest’s opening scenes depicting the monsters making a mess of things, they mostly keep to themselves. Some wander around aimlessly, but others will aggressively attack you. There’s a fair amount of variety in their behaviors and attack patterns, but that’s inconsequential mainly since the solution—blow them up—is always the same. Defeating a monster awards a new bomb type or item, like health restoration or a bomb component for use at the bomb workshop. Monsters respawn, but you can run right by and ignore them. However, it is necessary to defeat all the monsters to get the best ending.
Each area has several dungeons, one of which contains the area’s boss. These dungeons are painfully simplistic. There are switches, environmental hazards, etc., but nothing you haven’t seen before. Other games, notably its inspiration, do it much better. More than anything, making it through a dungeon requires having the correct bombs and items, like steel boots to step on certain switches or the glove to throw bombs at faraway levers.
Bosses are just like any other monster encounter except more hectic. They’re fast and have a ton of life and special skills, like throwing whirlwinds at you to push you back. Regardless, it’s still just a matter of hitting them with your bombs, although they can hurt themselves. In fact, during the first boss fight, I hid behind a wall and waited for the boss to kill itself. I didn’t even damage it myself—I’m just that good.
Defeating a boss (and some of the regular monsters) awards a bomb core, a component that lets you build a new type of bomb at the bomb workshop. The bomb formulas are simple: bomb core + component = new bomb. Mixing a bomb core with rubber, for instance, creates a rubber bomb, which bounces when you throw it. Some bosses also award new types of bombs. There are 15 types of bombs, and if that seems like too many, that’s because it is.
Most of these bombs are impractical and unnecessary. You can beat the game with the default bomb, the flak bomb (for flying enemies), and the aqua bomb (which, as far as I can tell, is only required for one monster). There are homing bombs, remote control bombs, bombs that curve left or right, bombs with a damage range that increases while you hold it…I rarely used any of these. The ice bomb, which freezes enemies in place, is a no-brainer and significantly better than the others.
Bomberman Quest’s items follow suit. Taken from its own series and Zelda, there are speed shoes, jump shoes, a shield, a variety of armor, a hammer, rock-pushing gloves, a lamp…it’s a long list. All these items lead to constant item swapping, and it’s a complete chore. Weapons, equipment, and items are separate menus. If you need to change your bomb and equipment, it’s at least ten button/cursor pushes to make it happen. I’m not exaggerating, either. I just did it, and I counted!
With all the bomb types and items, it feels like Bomberman Quest is simply unfinished. Scuba gear lets you explore watery areas, though only a few exist. You use the rock-pushing bracelet twice. The lamp isn’t ever necessary. None of the items have interesting uses, and many should have been permanently active once obtained, which would cut down on the item swapping. Even the bomb workshop isn’t necessary. Its only real use is expanding your bombs’ range. The game would be the same if you earned all the bombs from monsters instead.
Some bombs and items have nonsensical uses. For example, you can’t damage the aforementioned burping tree monster with the default bomb. It’s quite proud of its imperviousness and brags about it. The left/right curving bombs can hurt it. Why? No idea. They aren’t functionally different than any other bomb aside from their curved trajectories. You can only trigger a specific switch type by dashing into it. Smacking it with a hammer or blowing it up does nothing. It’s a weird design choice because bombs are the most powerful thing in this universe until they inexplicably aren’t.
While Bomberman Quest’s graphics are simple, they’re charming in the way that most Gameboy games look. Bomberman and the monsters show different expressions when damaged, which is a nice touch. The opening and closing stills are also impressive. Bomberman is large and expressive, and his real antagonist is intimidating. I wish the developers had paid as much attention to the in-game graphics as they did to these stills. Maybe that’s where the budget went. Simplistic graphics aside, there are a few cut corners. Bomberman’s bomb is its own tile, replacing the tile you set it on. It looks…cheap. This design keeps your bombs separate from the bombs of bomb-laying enemies, but why not shade it instead? Similarly, swimming has no animation either. You walk through the water like any other location.
I will say Bomberman Quest’s soundtrack is appropriately Bomberman. There’s a nice mix of energetic, upbeat themes for exploring and fighting and some “spooky” intimidating themes for dungeon delving and boss fights. I’ve always enjoyed Bomberman’s music, and Quest’s composers clearly understood the assignment.
I wish I could say the same for the design. With so many bomb types and items, Bomberman Quest should have been a grand adventure, but it fails to incorporate the Zelda elements meaningfully. The combat feels random, and exploration is painfully simplistic. You mainly use items to access areas, not solve puzzles. It’s also shockingly short, mostly linear, and utterly devoid of side quests. Given such clear inspiration, I expected much more.
Bomberelda— sorry, Bomberman—Quest desperately tries to follow in Link’s footsteps but misses the point. It’s not enough to borrow Zelda’s items and core progression. Zelda gives you reasons to use its equipment and items: compelling puzzles, intelligent enemies, and engaging level designs. Bomberman Quest uses them for gatekeeping purposes instead. A Zelda-like Bomberman could work if the right developer were to tackle it. As it stands, this bomb is primed but lacks a fuse.
