In the old days puzzle games were generally the most popular software on portable gaming systems. This was because of Tetris on the original Game Boy which is almost single handedly responsible for the platform’s immediate success. It was pretty foolish to ignore this genre if you wanted your hardware to sell, and many other developers tried their hand by introducing new mechanics. I always found it interesting when these third parties would shoehorn their most popular franchises into this genre because the end result was always interesting. Panic Bomber is one of these such instances; it’s a puzzle game with a Bomberman motif. Originally released in the Arcades this title was ported to several home consoles but only in Japan. The only North American release of this game (as far as I know) was actually on the Virtual Boy of all things. Because of this the game is virtually (ha!) unheard of outside of Japan. It might not be the Tetris that the Virtual Boy needed, but it’s still an enjoyable albeit short lived puzzler.
There’s virtually no story to talk about here; Bomberman must battle his way through several opponents gathering medallions from boss characters. For some reason or another he’s not directly blowing them up this time around, and is instead challenging them to falling block puzzles. The basic set up is very typical; you’re given a view of two screens. On the left is your play field, and the right is your opponent’s. Blocks fall from the top (in L shaped composition) and it’s your job to line them up which eliminates them from play. A line of at least three identical icons (horizontal, vertical, and even diagonal) causes them to disappear. When this happens bombs will appear on the bottom of your own play field and push everything else up. What’s interesting is the fact that this hurts the player to some degree because when you have no more room to place blocks you automatically lose. It may sound counter productive, but trust me it all makes sense.
The bombs are your key to victory; occasionally a lit bomb (as opposed to the blocks) will fall, and it explodes upon impact with anything else. If the explosion hits any of the dormant bombs you’ve built up on the bottom of the screen it causes a chain reaction, and depending on how big the explosion is your opponent’s side will fill up. They key to victory is in filling the screen with bombs before igniting them, and when you do you can absolutely decimate your enemy by covering their field with out of play blocks. These can only be destroyed by blowing them up with bombs. It sounds complicated, and it is, but the system works well. There’s a slight learning curve to this game, but when you get a feel for the mechanics everything clicks instantly. Despite these differences Panic Bomber plays like a typical Tetris clone. You’re rewarded for pulling off combinations (eliminating multiple patterns of blocks in a single move) and this is difficult because you’re given very little time to think and must plan out your strategy on the fly.
There are a few other elements here that make Panic Bomber stand out. Clearing blocks fills up a meter on the side of the screen, and when it’s full you get a giant bomb that automatically destroys anything in its blast radius. In addition, as you play you will automatically be given ‘flame up’ power-ups that increase the range of your standard bomb explosions. There might be some method to the madness here but I’ve never been able to figure it out. The last ‘power-up’ of sorts comes in the form of skulls (any fan of the franchise will remember these from the classic mainline games). These only occur during boss battles, and they have a variety of different effects. Sometimes these will eliminate specific blocks or ignite all of your bombs. On another note it’s not all good; these skulls can even reverse your controls which will seriously hinder your ability to play effectively. Should you prefer to play without this you can change the setting in the options menu and turn them off entirely. The variety is nice going by puzzle game standards.
The only problem I have with this game’s graphics is that it’s in red and black, but that comes with the territory when it comes to the Virtual Boy. Otherwise Panic Bomber is a pretty good looking title. The blocks are easy to distinguish from one another, and everything moves very smoothly. Avatars representing the characters you face appear on-screen during the match, and their animations are really impressive with several frames and large sprite details. The 3D effects are designated entirely to pushing back the backgrounds, but that’s okay with me because it looks really nice with the parallax scrolling. The soundtrack is also pretty decent. I noticed several different renditions of classic Bomberman music which is great homage and fits the frantic nature of this puzzle game well. Each of the three worlds has their own theme, and even the boss encounters feature different music. The sound effects are well done too, and many ripped straight out of classic Bomberman. It’s all bleeps and blips here, but it gives the game a very retro feel.
Panic Bomber is an excellent puzzle game, and it does a lot to distinguish itself from the others. There are a few issues that really hold it back though. For starters, it isn’t a great fit for the platform. It doesn’t take advantage of the system’s features in any meaningful way, and the addictive qualities are off-set by the eye strain caused by the Virtual Boy’s display. In addition there is no multiplayer support here. This was almost unheard of back in the day, and it’s a major issue because competing with friends in this type of game enhances the replay value tenfold. As it stands Panic Bomber is simply too short, and the lack of multiplayer knocks it down a fair bit.
