Bomberman Hands-On

Bomberman, Hudson's official mascot, will be blasting his way to your mobile phone by year's end, although he's already managed this feat in the very similar Bomberman Special. We saw Bomberman in a final--or perhaps near-final--state, as it has recently been submitted for carrier approval. The game reprises the gameplay and graphics of Bomberman's classic 1985 outing on the 8-bit NES home console, which isn't a bad thing at all. While the version of the game we played seemed to have control issues, which may be a detriment to the game upon its release, the small-screen version of Bomberman will surely be pleasantly familiar to fans of the franchise.

For the uninitiated, Bomberman is a lovable little scoundrel who spends his days detonating walls and baddies using black, spherical bombs of the type commonly found in Warner Brothers cartoons. Bomberman can accrue power-ups that increase the number of bombs he can place, in addition to their blast radii. Certain pieces of cubic wall are impervious to his bombs and can serve as shelters from their explosive forces. This is good, because Bomberman can hoist himself by his own petard, as they say, by failing to flee to safety before a bomb automatically detonates.

Hudson seems to have toed the line here and is poised to deliver a game that is very similar to its 8-bit antecessor. We'll provide you with more information when the game launches later this year.