Super Bomberman R

Online manual (Standard)

Available in Japanese, English and more languages on the the Super Bomberman R Official Website.

Online manual (Grand Prix)

Available in Japanese, English and more languages on the the Super Bomberman R Official Website.

Super Bomberman R Official Website

Konami's feature-packed hub for the game, with character bios, gameplay pages, online manuals and a news section with update patch notes. Also available in numerous languages including Japanese.

Nintendo Everything - Super Bomberman R producer on revitalizing the series for Switch, anime interest, cut stages, much more

Translated excerpts from interviews with game producer Noriaki Okamura from magazines Dengeki Nintendo and Nintendo Dream. Most of these comments would be repeated in NHK World's imageine-nation.

Bomberman TV #1 / 第１回「ボンバーマンTV」

Uploaded February 27th 2017. A web video series on Konami's YouTube channel, hosted by Tetsuya Yanagihara and Yoshiyuki Hirai, the voice actors of Magnet Bomber and Golem Bomber respectively. They and their guests Keisuke Koumoto (White Bomber's VA) and Minami Takahashi (Aqua Bomber's VA) talk about their roles, sample both game modes and even show off humanised fanart of the characters they play drawn by the game's staff.
A partial English translation by Bomber D Rufi can be read over at Bomber Base!

Bomberman TV #2 / 第2回「ボンバーマンTV」

Uploaded March 21st 2017. The hosts are joined by Genki Okawa (Blue Bomber's VA) and "Seto Bon" (瀬戸ボン, Konami public relations) to play some more Battle Game.

imagine-nation (S10E01 / episode 153)

Broadcast April 4th 2017 on NHK World HD. A general overview of the game, with hosts Chiaki Horan and Nicholas Pettas playing some of the Battle Game (and losing to the CPU), fan opinions from Game Party Japan 2017 (闘会議), as well as comments from producer Noriaki Okamura.

First I heard from Nintendo about their new console. Upon that news the first thing that crossed my mind was Bomberman. I felt there's just no other hardware better suited for Bomberman than this new console.

For this project we took the utmost care in choosing what elements of the game to change and not to change. We tried to instil the essence of Bomberman that made this game so enjoyable for everyone in the past, and incorporated that into this latest game. We aspired to build on top of the nostalgic memories of past enthusiasts and essentially revitalise the appeal of Bomberman. That was our main objective for this game.

I considered the past Bomberman game for the SNES as the pinnacle of the Bomberman series. For me, Bomberman is the SNES version, so I wanted to resurrect that masterpiece. However, just simply doing a remake wouldn't be exciting at all. That's why we felt we needed to essentially offer something new.

Bomberman is traditionally a 2D game. On a 2D screen there's a limit to what you can achieve graphically, so all the stages end up looking similar. It's those stages that we wanted to improve so there'd be more variation. In designing lots of new stages we knew it would be difficult to achieve this in 3D and that many Bomberman enthusiasts from the past wouldn't like the idea of going 3D. In the beginning many people said "don't make it 3D," but if we went along with their wishes, we knew we wouldn't be able to transform Bomberman into a modern game. Therefore, we tried very carefully to preserve the essence of Bomberman while adapting the gameplay for 3D graphics.

As you can see with the item panel, the game itself is made with 3D graphics, but the item panel was intentionally made to look retro. The reason for this is that the game doesn't actually feel like Bomberman without this look. Even though the game is capable of a much higher resolution, we made the item panel pixellated on purpose to recreate that Bomberman feel.

We've successfully managed to get the game out onto the market. However, we've also received lots of critical feedback from veteran fans who say things like, "it should be more like this," or "why isn't it like this?" and "please make it like this next time!" Since the series is over thirty years old and there was close to ten years of inactivity, we're actually very grateful for this feedback and hope to make improvements on it in the future. We certainly hope to take the Bomberman series well into the future, so that it may remain popular for another thirty years.

EDGE (issue 305, May 2017)

You have to admit, it's a tempting pitch. A longforgotten hero making an opportune return; an all-time multiplayer classic revived and reimagined for an irresistibly social new console at launch. With the remaining Switch lineup looking a shade on the slender side – Link's magnificent new adventure aside – Super Bomberman R would at first glance appear to be the ideal second game. Don't be fooled. This overpriced confection isn't Act Zero bad, but it sits worryingly close to that end of the quality scale, peering vainly at the sublime SNES and Saturn versions far off in the distance. [...] Seemingly slapped together in haste and without much care, it's a cynical piece of work, destined to leave those holding a nostalgic fondness for earlier entries wondering whether Bomberman was really all they remembered. This is a cheap game with an expensive price tag, and there's nothing remotely super about it.

Published March 30th 2017. Awarded 4 out of 10.

GamesMaster Magazine (April 2017)

It's worth noting none of this is new. Bomberman has had a story mode, personalised rules, and different maps for decades. What Super Bomberman R brings is accessibility. Playing with friends is easy, and finding others online equally so. It just doesn't do enough to justify a full-priced release. Bombs are dangerous, but this is as safe a sequel as it gets.

Published March 23rd 2017, reviewed by Ben Griffin. Hailed as better than Act:Zero, but worse than Generations. Awarded 67%.

Weekly Famitsu / 週刊ファミ通 (issue 1474)

Dated March 16th 2017, reviewed by Bunbun Maru (ブンブン丸), Ashida (芦田), Namuko (ナム子) and Totsuka (戸塚). The game is well received from all the reviewers, particularly the infusion of personality through the cutscenes, character customization and sibling dynamic. The only major grumbles were with the tilted perspective on the camera and the imprecise control using the Joy-Cons. Awarded 30 out of 40. Scan from Japanese Nintendo.

Nintendo Dream / ニンテンドードリーム (vol. 277)

Dated May 2017. Features bios and concept art for the heroes and villains, a quick timeline of game releases, and a Q&A with producer Noriaki Okamura (岡村憲明). Nintendo Everything translated excerpts from this interview.