Hello. Yes, i'm back (Insert long apology/explanation/whatever about me leaving the site).
Anyway, To commemorate the return of...me I guess, here is a question I've always had in my head.
What is your favorite Super Bomberman game (SNES anthology, not mobile or R), Normal Game wise?

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"When Konami gives you lemons, remember that this mode is the closest we'll ever get to a Bomberman x Kirby crossover. Make of that what you will." -BakuBonba on "Super Bomberman R's Memory Cartridges in Grand Prix Battle Mode."

Super Bomberman 1: I love how this game just takes the formula of the NES and PC Engine games and just streamlines it - no scrolling stages, no level gimmicks, just simple arenas with the enemies and their tricks as the main challenge. It's a real arcade sensibility! I don't play it often, but I do enjoy how simple it is, especially its unique quirks like bludgeoning foes with kicked bombs.

Super Bomberman 2: It's the only instalment without co-op, which I'd consider a strike against it if I ever actually played any of the SNES games in co-op! Removing that does give it the freedom to make large, sprawling stages with unique and varied gimmickry, which I really respect in theory... but in practise I don't find the stages terribly fun to play. World 2's furnace traps are enough to make me turn the game off. And the passwords only take you to the start of a world, not a specific level! Boo! Points for creativity though.

Super Bomberman 3: I'd argue this is the most fully-featured Normal Game? It's got all the gimmickry of Bomberman '94, its Louies, its level hazards, the mine carts, the huge weird bosses... all that and co-op! Later on it uses some really intriguing level design and screen-wrapping to make stages feel larger than they really are, but still fit in the confines of a single static screen. There's a lot to like, though I confess I don't play this one often, and I think my stupid reason for that is because I just don't like the background art. I hate that water backdrop in the first world. Bomberman '94 was so much prettier...!

Super Bomberman 4: I find myself playing this one the most, perhaps because of how short it is, but the game feels half-baked in a lot of ways. The level design is very simplified in comparison to SB3, the amount of rideable creatures and their powers is hard to keep track of, and the bosses are probably some of the worst in the entire ranchise, taking an eternity to kill with only a narrow window to hit them. The ability to replay levels is good though, and it's better just entering a late-game password and skipping over levels as you wish.

Super Bomberman 5: Honestly kind of wishy-washy on this one? It's got some quirky level designs later on, and the branching path system is an interesting attempt at replay value, but it just feels a bit blah. With so many paths the difficulty curve is negligible, and tracking down all the individual exits feels pointless when I can't tell any of them. It's perfectly serviceable, but to think this came out after Saturn Bomberman!

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Ok. Since Ragey made a list I guess I should do the same. I hope this doesn't influence people's vote.

1.Super Bomberman 4
Why is this one my favorite? Well, firstly, the organic/mechanical creature thing is really unique idea. I also seem to have the most fun playing this one. I don't know why, I just really like this one. Maybe its the simple gameplay, Maybe its the bosses. The time travel thing is also interesting.

2.Super Bomberman 2
Firstly, the levels are very fun (they made the levels bigger and better). A lot of effort was put into the design of the game. And that music!   The bosses may have been easy, but I still like them. Overall, this game is really good.

3.Super Bomberman 3 & Super Bomberman
Yep. Its a tie! For Super Bomberman 3, The levels were ok (I personally feel that the levels needed to be bigger like Super Bomberman 2 & Bomberman '94/Mega Bomberman. That way, they could reach their full potential). Some levels overstayed their welcome (I'm looking at you Snow Star/Winterland! What with your stages that all have 3 sections each with not much variety in design.   ). And I was also disappointed that the Fiendish Bomber 5 only act as batteries in this game (though that might be nitpicking). But it was still a good game.

For Super Bomberman, well, the game is very fast paced (Probably the fastest paced Bomberman game at its release) and I like that. It gives that arcade feel while still keeping to traditional Bomberman rules. The hidden items are also interesting. The bosses are fun (except for Clown Mask, he's creepy) and I like the music. The 5th world does however suffer from that stupid timer (so many lives lost...). And the final boss requiring the Boxing Glove is just annoying (if you don't have it you need to wait for it), but overall, its a good game.

...And in a distant 4th place...


4.Super Bomberman 5
Where to start with this one? How about the level system? Bomberman Max 1 & 2 would greatly improve upon this. Super Bomberman 5 tries to be unique, but, in my opinion, it falls short. And speaking of unique, the bosses certainly are unique. Uniquely bad that is. Seriously, The first boss alone is IRRITATING. But my least favorite boss of all time has to go to the world 3 boss. I have nothing but sheer contempt for that boss. The bosses (except for the last one, strangely enough) are super cheap and annoying. I swear some of them are down to pure luck.
Oh, and the levels steal assets from past games. Its not paying homage because the game was released too soon.

So yeah. It should be noted that this is all my opinion. Feel free to express your own, whoever is reading this.

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"When Konami gives you lemons, remember that this mode is the closest we'll ever get to a Bomberman x Kirby crossover. Make of that what you will." -BakuBonba on "Super Bomberman R's Memory Cartridges in Grand Prix Battle Mode."

I haven't voted because I can't strictly decide on one.

If I had to rank them, I'd say something like this:

1. SB3/5
2. SB1
3. SB2/4

My reasons are as follows:

Super Bomberman 3 is well-rounded. There are a variety of different enemies with all kinds of special abilities, the graphics are cute, the game has a decent length, and there is a decent amount of challenge involved. A noticable con is the lack of rival battles, which is glaring in the Super series beyond SB1.

Super Bomberman 5 incorporates a lot of different enemies and traps from the previous four games, and adds a slew of new ones in the end. There's a great deal of variety in content. Navigating through the routes is pretty fun, especially with a second player involved. I do feel that it's unfortunate that most of the game is just recycled material, though. The rivals are challenging and fun, but the lack of big bosses until the end leaves a strange void in the experience. And, of course, there is the terrible reward for 100% completion.

Super Bomberman 1 is safe, while still adding more content (the first rival battles of the franchise, as well as new enemy types and bigger bosses). This makes it a good choice. The safeness, though, holds it back amidst other choices in this series, in my personal opinion. Its only flaw is by comparison, though, which says something (the same goes for SB3).

Super Bomberman 4 has a great atmosphere, and I love the variety of enemy characters and mounts and new power-ups and really everything. But... and it's a big but... the game's biggest problem is how unbelievably unbalanced its Normal Game is. Roughly half of the enemy characters you encounter basically turn into HP when you fell them. Furthermore, the fact that you can hold a stock of eggs basically grants you more HP to work with. This already makes the game much easier than an ordinary Bomberman game. But it only gets worse from here. The rival AI is the worst in the Super series, and that's saying something since the SB2 AI is literally just "home in on the player and drop a bomb" while the SB1 AI lacks special abilities and cool power-ups. The Shitennou do a lot of pausing and just standing around, and are a major disappointment. The big bosses are far more interesting. But there are only five of them. And really, there are only four worlds in this game - the fifth world is just a boss rush of all the easy bosses you've already beaten. Lastly, this rushed, short adventure can be skipped over even more quickly if you have a player 2 involved, since you can access tons of bonus stages together, which allow you to become even more overpowered and skip entire levels without having to clear them.

Super Bomberman 2 ties for the bottom in my book for similar reasons. Like SB4, I enjoy the atmosphere and the variety of opponents, but there are glaring difficulty issues here. First and foremost, every single level in the game has exactly four enemy characters. No more, no less. It's a bizarre limitation given that the game is the only one in the Super series to include scrolling maps! Then, as I briefly mentioned, the rival AI is even more basic than that of SB1. Each rival has the same AI - move close to the player, drop bombs, hide from bombs if necessary. That's it. Some bosses are especially disappointing, like Pretty, whose Heart Bombs will generally lead to self-immolation, and Plasma, who is just a faster version of Golem. The big bosses are also very, very easy. I don't need to go into much detail for anybody who has played this game, but for starters, Fire Breast and Robo Bomber routinely blow themselves up, and the final boss does nothing but float around asking for punishment. The AI in the rest of them is extremely poor and easy to lock into a loop. The only challenging one is Skeleguard.

I have more to say on this subject but I've been in this conversation enough times that I'd rather keep it brief.  

It's nice to see everyone's different opinions on the Super Bomberman SNES games.

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"When Konami gives you lemons, remember that this mode is the closest we'll ever get to a Bomberman x Kirby crossover. Make of that what you will." -BakuBonba on "Super Bomberman R's Memory Cartridges in Grand Prix Battle Mode."