About this game
Released in April 1993, Super Bomberman brought the series to the Super Famicom and, more crucially, delivered a five-player simultaneous battle mode via the Super Multitap accessory — one of the earliest implementations of this scale on the platform. Players place bombs in a grid arena to eliminate opponents by trapping them in the blasts, and the chaos of five players reading each other's intentions while fighting for power-ups produced a party game dynamic that few games of the era could match. The single-player mode was competent; the multiplayer mode was revelatory.
Key Features
Five-player simultaneous multiplayer via the Super Multitap accessory, a grid battle arena where bombs destroy breakable blocks and the environment constantly shrinks, power-ups including Bomb Up, Fire Up, Speed Up, and Kick that dramatically change each player's reach and mobility, a single-player story mode with boss battles, and the cleanly readable visual design that made reading five players' positions possible at a glance.
Gallery
The Story Behind
Super Bomberman arrived at the point where Hudson's series was evolving from a single-player maze game into something that defined social gaming in Japan throughout the 1990s. The Super Multitap, which allowed up to five controllers simultaneously, was introduced in Japan alongside Super Bomberman — the two products were effectively designed for each other. Four-player and five-player gatherings around a single television, with Bomberman running, became a cultural touchstone of early-to-mid 1990s Japanese gaming sessions.
Tricks & Tales
Super Bomberman was one of the first Super Famicom games to ship alongside a peripheral — in Japan, bundle packages including the Super Multitap and the game were common. The series would produce five Super Famicom entries in total, each refining the multiplayer formula. The game's development was handled by Produce!, a studio that worked closely with Hudson on several titles, rather than Hudson's internal teams. The five-player multiplayer setting remains the most chaotic and beloved configuration; players at the edge of the arena have a survival advantage over those caught in the centre.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
Super Famicom and SNES region differences operate on two separate levels. First, there is a physical incompatibility: a Japanese Super Famicom cartridge and a North American SNES cartridge have different shell shapes. NTSC-J (Super Famicom) carts are narrower and will not seat in a North American SNES slot without the slot's internal tabs removed or bypassed; conversely, the wider NTSC-U carts cannot even be inserted into a Super Famicom. Second, even where cartridges physically fit — PAL carts share a shell shape closer to Super Famicom and will insert — a lockout chip on the motherboard (F411 for NTSC, F413 for PAL) will prevent the game from booting on a mismatched console. Running a Super Famicom cartridge on a Super Famicom purchased in Japan is of course straightforward; playing it on a foreign console requires either a mod or an adapter that addresses both the physical and the chip-level lock.
Maintenance Tips
Super Famicom cartridges use edge connectors similar in concept to Famicom, but the pins are finer and more tightly spaced. Clean them by running a cotton swab lightly dampened with 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol along the length of each row of contacts — not side to side across the pins. Avoid touching the cleaned contacts with bare fingers afterward, as skin oils re-contaminate the surface quickly. For cartridges that still read intermittently after IPA cleaning, a small amount of CAIG DeoxIT applied to a fresh swab can address oxidation that alcohol alone cannot dissolve. The plastic shell of Super Famicom hardware is ABS and will yellow over time when exposed to UV light; storing cartridges away from direct sunlight in a cool, dry environment will slow this process considerably.
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese Super Bomberman copies regularly.
Do Super Famicom games have internal save batteries, and should I worry about them dying?
Yes — many Super Famicom titles that allow you to save your progress use SRAM backed by a CR2032 coin cell battery soldered to the PCB. The designed lifespan of these batteries is roughly 15 to 25 years, which means cartridges manufactured in the early 1990s are at or past that window in 2026. A dead battery means any save data written to the cart will not persist after the power is cut. Battery replacement is possible but requires soldering; you cannot simply swap the coin cell without tools. When buying a used copy of a save-equipped title — RPGs, Zelda, Metroid — ask the seller whether the battery has been tested or replaced recently.
How can I tell if a Super Famicom cartridge is genuine or a reproduction?
Open the cartridge with a 3.8mm gamebit screwdriver and inspect the PCB: a genuine board will have a copyright year and 'Nintendo' etched directly into the board material. Counterfeit boards are often undersized and carry no Nintendo markings. On the outside, authentic cartridges have alphanumeric codes molded into the plastic shell (such as E-27 or B-43 near the pin area); fakes typically have smooth, unmarked plastic. The back label of a real cartridge has characters stamped into the surface — if you see a perfectly flat label with no imprint, that is a strong indicator of a reproduction.
Will a Japanese Super Famicom cartridge work on my SNES?
Not without modification. The cartridge shell shapes are physically different, and a hardware lockout chip will block the boot even if you bridge the physical gap. Some collectors remove the slot tabs on the SNES for a physical fix, but the lockout chip still needs to be addressed separately — either by a mod chip or an adapter designed to defeat both barriers.
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