Bomberman World (1998). Play online

Summary

Bomberman World (sometimes just called PlayStation Bomberman) feels like a love letter to classic maze‑bomber action while throwing a few fresh twists at veteran players. The single‑player trek is split into five distinct worlds, each with five areas; you must blast away foes, uncover every crystal, and unlock the exit door. On the fourth area, a Dark Force Bomber appears, and beating it awards a temporary battle armor with its own normal and special attacks, only to vanish when you move on to the next world.

Multiplayer is where the game really shines. The standard Single Match lets up to five bombers clash in Tag‑Match teams or free‑for‑all Battle Royal, with optional Sudden Death map collapse and a “Bad Bomber” mode that lets eliminated players toss extra bombs from the sidelines. Maniac Mode lets you hand‑pick item loads and race against a two‑ or five‑minute clock for points, while a special boss stage tops the scoring run.

Visually the angled perspective is crisp but can skew distance judgment, a point critics flagged. Controls and sound are tight, earning the title an average 63% score and modest sales—over 76 k in the opening week and around 217 k total in Japan.

Storyline

Bomberman World opens with a mythic tale of four evil Bombers, the Dark Force Bombers, who once tried to drown the Bomberman universe in darkness. The ancient ancestors of the Bombermen sealed them inside the Blue Crystal, keeping the world safe for millennia. Then Bagular, a mysterious entity from another point in the time‑space continuum, shattered the crystal and released the villains.
The freed Dark Force Bombers became his loyal minions and quickly conquered the four worlds that make up the game’s setting. Now it’s up to Bomberman to battle through each realm and restore peace.