Saturn Bomberman is a 1996 installment in the Bomberman franchise for the Sega Saturn. The game follows the tried and true grid formula, and marks the first appearance of Dr. Ein and the Hige Hige Bandits.
The legendary monster Crator was imprisoned in the Crystal Tower with four crystals, but Mujoe unsealed Crator and enslaved it with the monster controller. Frantically, Dr. Ein sends a message requesting White Bomberman and Black Bomberman to stop Mujoe and his gang from Taking Over the World.
In Normal Game, stages are laid out with various obstacles, and destroying all of the Core Mechas (mechanisms with glowing red orbs) opens the exit. This continues for five worlds, each ending with a boss. In Master Game, all the enemies of the floor must be destroyed within the time limit, with a timed boss every four floors for twenty total floors. The famous Battle Game supports up to ten players, featuring Hudson characters (like Hi-Ten Chara Bom). It also allows online matches due to the modem add-on (except in the PAL version). To date, only Atomic Bomberman rivals this Battle Game.
This game provides examples of:
- Abandoned Mine: The second half of Wild West World is an aversion, since the mine is fully functional.
- Amusement Park of Doom: Hige Hige Land / Amusement World is the first area and the "secret" base of the gang.
- Bad Future: The fifth area, Mujoe World / Mr. Meanie's Future World. However, unlike most examples of this trope, it doesn't look dystopic in the slightest, but like a futuristic sleek metropolis instead.
- Bait-and-Switch Boss: Castle Joe, the first boss of Normal Game. It initially appears to be three Elite Mooks, before a piece of the castle lifts off and smashes onto the arena, blasting the mooks away and starting the battle.
- Been There, Shaped History: It's strongly implied that Crator is the meteor that caused the ice age and killed the dinosaurs.
- BFB: Saturn Bomberman's intro sequence is notable for including some truly GIGANTIC bombs being thrown at Bomberman that are several times his size. This doesn't stop him from grabbing and flinging one back to his assailants, but overshooting and having it fall into a volcano. Cue Mass "Oh, Crap!" over the next few seconds as the camera zooms out, the planet starts bulging, and then turns into a planet-sized Cartoon Bomb before exploding.
- Breath Weapon: One of Crator's attacks is an icy breath that stuns Bomberman and freezes any bombs in its way.
- Collision Damage: In Normal and Master modes, enemies kill you on contact. Averted in Battle Mode, where you can safely touch enemies.
- Combining Mecha: The Gattain Alpha and Beta, a pair of robotic enemies found in the last world, which fly and walk, respectively. If they encounter each other, they will combine into a pure Gattain, a strong robot with a short range attack that can destroy soft blocks, and takes two hits to destroy.
- Crossover: The multiplayer mode features characters from other Hudson games, namely Bonk, Master Higgins, Milon, and Manjimaru and his friends (plus Manto), and Yuna Kagurazaka, the latter two being is secret characters.
- Cowboy Episode: The third area, Gunman World / Wild West World.
- Cyber Ninja: Kougaiger / J Ninja, the second boss of Normal Game.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Double-tapping the bomb button in Bomberman 64 or The Second Attack! does a stationary Bomb Kick. The very same action in Saturn Bomberman and some other 2D titles will Line Bomb instead, unless the player changes the control configuration.
- Dragon Their Feet: The last boss of Normal Game isn't Mujoe, but his Number Two Dr. Mechado.
- Dub Name Change: The English translation had several odd ones that only lasted for this game: Dr. Ein is known as Dr. I, Mujoe is known as Mr. Meanie, and Core Mechas are known as Zarfs, among others.
- Elite Mooks: While the Hige Hige Bandits from World 1 are The Goomba, those encountered in the following worlds are this:
- The ones you enocunter in Stage 2-6 either turn into a tree or a rock at random. If they turn into a rock, they can't be killed.
- The ones in Wild West World are either manning turrets that shot bombs (you can kill them and use the turret yourself), or drive a lizard-shaped vehicle that eat bombs. The latter also take two hits to kill.
- The ones in Dino World, the second portion, will bury themsleves under the snow if they see a bomb, and can't be killed if they're buried.
- The ones in the last world ride a Mini-Mecha that shoots missiles, take two hits to destroy, and once they do they drop the pilot, a normal Bandit.
- Evolutionary Levels: The dinosaurs have three levels, though based on life stages (baby, teen, adult). The more grown up they are, the better their ability is. To make them grow, you either have to gather points until a meter is completely full (Normal Mode) or gather more eggs (Battle Mode).
- Gangplank Galleon: Stage 1-5 takes place aboard a pirate ship.
- Giant Flyer: Egg Birdon, the fourth boss of Normal Game.
- The Goomba: Almost every world has a kind of enemy without any kind of special ability, that does nothing but randomly walk around at a slow pace, and is killed in one hit.
- Humongous Mecha: Mujoe jumps in a giant robot before his boss fight.
- Load-Bearing Boss: Once you beat Dr. Mechado, his airship will blow up for no apparent reason (thankfully, you'll be evacuated from it before it does).
- Long Runner: The online mode in North America is powered by NetLink, which enables players to dial each other directly. Because of this, the online mode is still available to this day, long after games such as Bomberman Online have shut down their servers.
- Mind-Control Device: The monster controller used on Crator. While you eventually do fight Crator, it's before it was mind controlled by Mr. Meanie.
- Minecart Madness: Some of the later levels in the Wild West World have minecarts you can ride to quickly travel from one point of the level to another. They can also destroy soft blocks and enemies (even those that require two hits to kill), though you won't get points for killing them this way.
- Mini-Boss: The evil tree of Stage 4-3.
- Mission Control: Dr. Ein. He will send you the Time Machine after defeating a boss and acquiring its crystal, before telling you what era you need to go next.
- Mook Maker:
- The aforementioned evil tree of Stage 4-3, which will spawn enemies that look like orange pears with legs and one eye.
- The first boss of Dino World, Egg Birdon, will sometimes lay a bunch of eggs, hatching into two possible types of chicks: small, purple ones that do nothing but walk around, and larger, green ones that have a fire breath.
- A blue orb... thingy that appears in some stages in Master Mode will spawn more enemies unless destroyed.
- Offer Void in Nebraska: Online play was available in Japan through SEGASATURN NETWORKS and in North America through NetLink. No Saturn modems were released in PAL territories.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Even if they don't audibly cry out in despair, characters in multiplayer have special Oh, Crap! animations.
Dr. Ein: What?" It... It's Crator! Why is he in this era? If his magic power isn't sealed, it could be infinite! Run away Bomberman!- Everybody's reaction (save the dino) to the giant bomb going into the volcano in the intro cinematic.
- Plot Coupon: The four magic crystals that sealed Crator.
- Poison Mushroom:
- The skull in Battle Game will inflict a random disease, either dropping your bomb power to 1, making you super slow, or have your controls inverted. The devil does this to everybody.
- The sandal makes your character permanently slower, acting as a reverse-rollerskate.
- Power Up Mount: The Tyra dinosaurs. They come in five colors, each of them with a different ability:
- Blue: Kicks bombs above blocks.
- Yellow: Roars, stunning the enemies for a few seconds.
- Green: Super-Speed.
- Pink: Jumps above blocks.
- Purple: Emits sound waves that make bombs explode, and reveals if blocks have items inside or not.
- Puzzle Boss: Rodeon, the third boss of Normal Game. It can only be damaged by firing cannons via bomb blasts.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Dinosaurs in their baby stage are extremely cute, with their round, chubby bodies, beady black eyes and wide smiles.
- The aforementioned dinosaurs.
- Kepo, Dr. Ein's bunny-like furry robot that hangs around Bomberman's ship.
- Rock Monster: Crator, the fifth boss of Normal Game.
- Rushmore Refacement:
- In the background of the Rodeon battle, you can see Mount Rushmore with the faces of Mujoe and his gang go by.
- During the game's ending, it's back to normal... except that Bomberman's face is also up there.
- In Battle Game, there is a Mount Rushmore pastiche with several Bomberman faces.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The second half of the Dino World takes place on an icy mountain. As expected, there are numerous ice-themed enemies (and oddly enough, a fire-themed one).
- Spin Attack:
- The Sword Sharks from stage 1-5 will do this if you get close to them.
- One of Crator's attacks involve spinning and move around the battleground at fast speed, bouncing against the walls. He will become dizzy after a while.
- Super Title 64 Advance: Also the only Sega Saturn game to implement the console's complete name in its title rather with an "S".
- Unique Enemy: Some enemies only appear on a single stage in the entire game:
- Sword Sharks only appear in 1-5.
- B-Class Hige Hige Bandits only appear in 2-6.
- Karakaras (japanese doll-like enemies) only appear in 2-7.
- Shuririns (shuriken-like enemies) only appear in 2-8.
- Chororons (frog-like enemies dressed as flowers) only appear in 4-2.
- We Only Have One Chance: Dr. Ein thinks so when you're about to face Crator.Dr. Ein: Look! The crystals are weakening his power! This is your only chance to defeat him!
- Wutai: The second area, Mage Mage World / Samurai World. Though most of the enemies are insects.
