SUPER BOMBERMAN COLLECTION – Excellent Preservation, Missed Multiplayer Potential

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• DEVELOPER: RED ARTS GAMES
• PUBLISHER: KONAMI
• PLATFORMS: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch
• GENRE: Action / Party
• RELEASE DATE: February 5, 2026  
• STARTING PRICE: 19,99€
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

What a remarkable piece of game preservation Konami has delivered with the Super Bomberman Collection. This classic party-focused battle series is now available in a single package featuring seven titles across twelve versions from the Japanese, European, and North American releases. Most notably, the collection includes the long-awaited localized versions of the previously unreleased Super Bomberman 4 and Super Bomberman 5, finally making them accessible to a wider audience.

Instead of resorting to emulation or spending anywhere from 20€ to well over 100€ on individual cartridges (based on current eBay prices), you can now get the entire collection for around 20€. For fans of retro games, this is an easy recommendation. That said, my biggest issue is the absence of Remote Play support (at least for PC), something Steam already handles quite well. While Remote Play has its limitations, this collection would have benefited significantly from its inclusion. Bomberman is, at its core, a party game, and multiplayer is far more enjoyable than single-player. Remote Play could have helped bridge that gap for players without local co-op options.

Missed Online Opportunity

Beyond the standard single-player and multiplayer modes, the collection also includes a Boss Rush mode, allowing you to time-attack all bosses in each title. One of the most impressive features, however, is the library overview. The interface is clean and polished and each game can be “unpacked”, creating a tangible sense of ownership. This allows you to browse original game manuals, take a closer look at artwork, all of which add to the archival feel of the collection.

The package also includes the very first two Bomberman games for NES: Bomberman, the title that laid the foundation for the entire series with its 50 stages, and Bomberman II, the sequel that introduced versus play. The core concept remains timeless: place a bomb, escape the blast, destroy walls, and collect power-ups. The true depth lies in outsmarting your opponents. Power-ups such as boxing gloves or kicking boots allow you to manipulate bombs directly, whereas Battle Mode arenas further improves this depth with gimmick-filled stages featuring teleport holes, conveyor belts, and pipes that can conceal bombs.

Enemies can be frustrating, but that frustration is part of the appeal. Some move unpredictably, others aggressively pursue you, and bosses can take a while to defeat. Despite this, the gameplay loop remains consistently fun and perfectly suited to couch-style play. While the single-player experience is solid and enjoyable, this collection truly shines in multiplayer, where the series’ design philosophy comes into full effect. Of the five games, four feature cooperative single-player campaigns, and all include multiplayer support for four players. The latter three games also expand their multiplayer capacity to five players.

Lots of Accessibility Options

There’s little reason to analyze every title individually, but what stands out is how clearly you can see the series evolve over time and how much thought went into each installment. For instance, Super Bomberman 5 is often regarded as a refined “greatest hits” entry of the SNES era, featuring a non-linear campaign with branching paths, rideable Louies (kangaroos), and no slowdown. In contrast, Super Bomberman 2 delivers a faster-paced, more traditional arcade experience with 12 unique battle arenas, but it lacks co-op play and suffers from performance slowdown.

All games in the collection can be played using either a controller or a keyboard. Personally, I found the controller experience – I used the Xbox controller – to be somewhat rough, with clunky controls and less precise movement. The keyboard felt far more responsive and offered better control over movement and actions.

An interesting detail is that the first two games still use password-based saving, even though all titles include modern Save/Load anytime functionality, allowing you to resume exactly where you left off. Since I had little prior experience with the Bomberman series, I found the Rewind function especially useful. It allows you to rewind time and retry any moment, making the experience more forgiving without undermining the challenge.

The Final Verdict

The Super Bomberman Collection is a fantastic deal for retro fans. It’s a great piece of gaming history that offers a lot of value, especially since it includes the first English versions of Super Bomberman 4 and 5. Plus, the menus and library are polished and show a lot of respect for the series.

However, while the classic gameplay is still fun with friends on the couch, the collection misses the mark in one big way: there is no online multiplayer. The lack of online play or Steam Remote Play support feels like a major letdown for a series built on playing with others. This collection feels like it was made for consoles, especially Nintendo, rather than PC. It preserves the past beautifully, but forgets how people actually play together today

This is a review based on a copy I purchased, not one provided by the publisher