Wario Blast, Game Boy

What do you get when you cross Hudson Soft‘s classic Bomberman with Nintendo‘s cheeky Wario? Answer: you get Wario Blast on the Game Boy. A super fun handheld action game with puzzle overtones that was first released in 1994.

Wario Blast doesn’t deviate too far from standard Bomberman gameplay, except you can play as either Wario, or Bomberman, and each has different characteristics.

Trapped inside a big maze the aim is to drop bombs and blow away rocks that block the way (sometimes revealing bonus items to pick up), and eventually to blow up your opponent, who is trying to do the same to you. In a “Normal” game the opponent is controlled by AI, and in a “Battle” game up to four human players can link their Game Boys together and play against each other.

One cool thing is that Wario Blast was enhanced to provide special features when played through the Super Game Boy peripheral on the Super Nintendo. Playing it on a SNES unlocks a special border, colour graphics, customised explosions, and a multiplayer mode with simultaneous gameplay against opponents.

The grabs here show three versions of Wario Blast: the original black and white Game Boy version first, then the colour-enhanced Game Boy Color version (simply a Game Boy cartridge plugged into a Game Boy Color), then the Super Game Boy version last.