Classic Bomberman rules are in effect here, but not much else. I did encounter a bit of lag in the couple online matches I could find, however. That’s awesome, and the Joy-Con are a good match for Bomberman’s classic one-button gameplay – which, by the way, remains as simplistic and fun as ever.
This 33rd-ever Bomberman game can be easily configured to play in a number of ways: solo (in the Story mode) on the tablet or TV, two players in Story co-op or Battle using the left and right Joy-Con, four players on one Switch tablet locally, eight on the TV locally, eight via four to eight wifi-enabled Switches in the same room, or up to eight online. What Super Bomberman R absolutely gets right is multiplayer logistics. The camera, however, does its best to frame the action by occasionally zooming in or out automatically, but gets annoying in the process because tracked enemies sometimes go out of frame or become obscured by the HUD.
Jump-in-anytime co-op is a plus in this mode. Boss fights every ninth and 10th round are the highlight, with some truly tough (and enormous) opponents standing between you and the next of the five worlds (plus a sixth world’s final boss fight). They aren’t particularly funny or interesting, but they’re easily skippable if you like.
Super Bomberman R puts forth a noble attempt at an actual plot in the 50-stage, few-hour Story mode, complete with anime-ish cutscenes. But that simplicity is what helps make it a thrilling party game, whether you’re barely evading an enemy’s bomb blast or trapping a foe in a corner to get the round-winning kill.
If you’ve somehow never seen or played Bomberman, it couldn’t be much simpler: blow up the destructible parts of the battle arena in order to find hidden upgrades and use them to immolate your human or AI foes. And, at R659, it’s unreasonably expensive considering the amount of content when compared to past Bomberman games. And while there’s plenty to like about Super Bomberman R, the Switch’s tiny tablet screen does not do the top-down, tiny Bomber avatar action any favors.
On paper, Nintendo Switch should be an ideal platform for Super Bomberman R: it can be played on a big television or portably, it supports up to four players on one Switch (if you have extra controllers) or up to eight online, and it seems to stick to the classic Bomberman formula (sorry, but I’ll never not have nightmares about Bomberman: Act Zero).