3D Bomberman (aka 3-D Bomber Man aka Sanjigen Bomberman) is an early, first-person interpretation of the Hudson Soft Bomberman concept. It was released in – Japan only – for MSX, Sharp X1, FM-7, PC-6001 and PC-8000 home computers in 1984.

In spite of the game’s title, this is not a true 3D game as it doesn’t contain any polygonal graphics, it’s just an old school way of describing a game that takes place along the ‘Z’ axis of an X,Y,Z three-dimensional grid.

3D Bomberman reminds me very much of the classic ZX81 game, 3D Monster Maze, and I have to wonder if the game’s designers had seen that game, and whether it was an influence on the making of 3D Bomberman.

The aim of 3D Bomberman is to move around a series of mazes, dropping bombs, in order to defeat a set number of monsters. When all the monsters have been dispatched, you’ll get a bonus and move on to the next level. It is possible to find the exit to the next level, and enter it, without destroying all the monsters, but if you do that you don’t get a bonus.

The main play window shows a first-person view of the maze. In the top right-hand corner of the screen is a small, overhead view of the maze, although for some reason it doesn’t actually show the maze walls; just enemies, bomb explosions and the outer wall.

When you drop a bomb you’ll see it in front of you, and you must move out of its blast range immediately, before its fuse burns down. Otherwise, the resulting explosion will kill you.

Unfortunately, a first-person version of Bomberman doesn’t work as well as maybe the developers had intended, and this was the first and last attempt to make one. Not being able to see the maze as a whole is a problem; as is the lack of responsiveness in the controls. Making things even worse is the fact that you take half-steps on tiles in the maze, so it’s easy to misjudge where you’re positioned. This half-step problem also exists in the original 2D version of Bomberman, and it’s something Hudson Soft quickly eradicated as they realised it was a bad idea. Unfortunately, it makes this version of the game quite frustrating.

While I can’t fault Hudson for at least trying out the idea to see if it worked or not, I can fault the game for being half-baked and barely playable. First-person Bomberman just doesn’t work at all well, and the idea was pretty much dead from the outset.

That said, if the developer had included a full view of the maze, that would’ve helped. And if they’d gotten rid of that stupid half-step issue, that might’ve saved the game from oblivion. As it stands, though, 3D Bomberman is a failed experiment that is only worth playing out of historical curiosity.

More: 3D Bomberman on Wikipedia