Released in 1991 in Japan and Europe, and in 1993 in North America, Bomberman II is the sequel to 1985’s Bomberman on the NES/Famicom, and it features improved graphics and a multiplayer mode for competitive games against other players (a first for the series). Bomberman II is more in line with the excellent PC Engine version of Bomberman, than anything radically different, and it does improve parts of the game considerably.

In the single-player game, the basic aim remains the same: blow up all the enemies roaming a level, and avoid blowing yourself up at the same time.

Bomberman II also has cut scenes and graphical intermissions, with a story that sees Bomberman being framed for robbing a bank, by his dastardly alter ego, Black Bomberman. Bomberman is thrown in jail, and must blast his way through six different areas (each with eight stages), to escape and bring Black Bomberman to justice.

There are new elements, not seen in the PC Engine version, too. Like the ghost with the hat, who often appears out of nowhere, who can sometimes be a real pain because he can often trap you, or materialise almost on top of you, instantly losing you a life. This particular addition I’ve only seen in this version of Bomberman, so it was clearly seen as a problem and removed from future versions, going forward with the series.

Bonus stages are exactly the same as in the first NES Bomberman, and there are no boss battles in-between worlds, and no vertically-scrolling stages, as seen in the PC Engine version of Bomberman.

Passwords are given after a game over, and these can be used to carry on where you left off – remembering the level number, the number of bombs you can drop, and the blast strength of your bombs.

‘Versus Mode‘ is for two-players, and ‘Battle Mode‘ is for three players, although you need a “Four Score” multi tap to play with more than two players. Since the multi tap supports up to four players, I’m not entirely sure why Hudson Soft didn’t support four players in this game. The aim in multiplayer mode is to kill the other human players, before they kill you.

Bomberman II is a decent improvement over Bomberman [one], but it’s not quite up to the standard of the PC Engine version, or later Bomberman releases like Saturn Bomberman or the Super Bomberman games.

More: Bomberman II on Wikipedia