Bomberman with 64 players! Review of the free-to-play Super Bomberman R Online!

On Thursday, May 27, 2021, "Super Bomberman R Online" was released for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. Here is a review of this latest installment in the "Bomberman" series, which is free to play.

A crazy 64-player battle for survival!

The game is based on "Battle 64," a 64-player battle royale mode. Players use "bombs" to destroy blocks on the field and defeat other players in order to survive to the end. The controls are fairly straightforward, even among FPS and action-packed battle royale games, as all you need to do is move around the field and deliver bombs.

The field is divided into 16 sections, each with four players; after the "Battle Phase," in which the players fight for one minute, is over, they move to the "Movement Phase," in which they can move between the fields. These two phases are repeated throughout the match. In the "Battle Phase," players obtain items that appear when blocks are destroyed to strengthen themselves and defeat other players.

Since survival is the top priority in Battle Royale, players can collect items while others are fighting, but they can also defeat opponents and take their items. Since items are valuable, it is easier to steal them from someone else than to collect them steadily, but since players initially have two lives, they cannot always be defeated by attacking once. You should think carefully about whether to collect them little by little or to get them all at once by defeating the player. I had played "Bomberman Jetters" in elementary school, so I must have had a fair amount of experience playing against other players, but my first battle ended in a self-destruction.

In the "Movement Phase," players can move to other fields only within a time limit. During this phase, all players are unable to launch bombs, so they can concentrate on moving without getting into an exchange of blasts over entrances and exits. You can also choose not to move, but since some fields are blocked during the "Movement Phase," you must move if you are in a blocked area.

Initially, there were four players in each field, but each time the "Battle Phase" and "Movement Phase" are repeated, players move, and sometimes there are more than five players in one field. In this situation, bombs would explode all over the place, and the next bomb would be set up just as the first one exploded. Although I have only been playing for a few hours, I think it is important to learn how to punch and kick as quickly as possible.

Both are a type of item that allows you to move the bomb forward. With a punch, you can move a bomb up to three squares in front of you, and with a kick, you can move a bomb up to the wall in front of you. With the punch and kick, you can move the bomb to change the explosion range and take out a player waiting in a safe place, or, conversely, if you are surrounded by bombs, you can escape by throwing or kicking the bomb away.

Each match takes about 3 to 7 minutes. The game can be played quickly and easily with simple controls, so replayability is high. Even if you are defeated, you can watch the matches you participated in, so you can study the moves and tactics of the players who survived to the end.

Guest characters also have special abilities

There are eight characters that players can choose from in this title. All of them are "bomber types," including the series' well-known White Bong, and have a good overall balance, with a large room for growth when taking reinforcement items and uniform stats.

On the other hand, if you purchase the premium version of this title, you can use not only the Bomber type, but also characters from popular KONAMI titles such as "Metal Gear" and "Silent Hill" series. Guest characters have special abilities; for example, the "Naked Snake Bomber" can become invisible and move freely, while the "Pyramid Head Bomber" can knock down opponents on the spot upon contact.

Although extremely powerful, the price to pay is often low growth potential through enhancement items, and the characterization is quite spiky, assuming the ability to use special abilities. The balance between the "bomber" type, which has no outstanding abilities but is highly versatile, and the "guest" type, which is difficult to deal with but strong once it gets going, is a balance of the best and worst of both worlds.

It had been more than a decade since I had touched the "Bomberman" series since "Bomberman Jetters" was released on the GameCube in 2002, but I was grateful to be able to play the game with almost the same ease of operation as back then. Bomberman" is a party-type game that can be played by everyone, so perhaps there was no need to change the gameplay as much as there was with the battle royale. With collaborations with the virtual driver group "NIJISANJI" and the party game "Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout," this title is attracting more and more attention. We look forward to seeing what kind of events and developments await them in the future.

（We look forward to seeing what events and developments await us in the future.)

• Information on the title
• Super Bomberman R Online
• Compatibility: Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X│S, Steam
• Distribution date: May 27, 2021
• Price: Free (with some paid content)
• Number of players: 1 to 64
• Maker: KONAMI
• Genre: Action
• CERO: A (for all ages)

• Downloadable version for all consoles only.
• Cross-platform play is supported.
• Backward compatible with PlayStation5 and Xbox Series X/S.
• Requires PlayStation Plus subscription (paid) to play on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

(C)Konami Digital Entertainment