As the Nintendo Switch launch title I was most excited about, Super Bomberman R does not disappoint in terms of explosive action, but boy does it make me squint in tablet mode.
My first foray into Switch gaming on launch night was purely tablet-based, and so my first impressions of the return of one of gaming’s greatest heroes wasn’t as bombastic as I’d hoped. There’s just so much happening on that little screen, and I could barely pick out my Blue Bombergirl from the background.
Compared to the bright, colorful cutscenes in the game’s story mode, which really makes the tablet display pop, the actual action was drab and lifeless.
And so I put Super Bomberman R aside. Once I hooked my Switch up to the television it was Zelda time. I finally got back around to Bomberman yesterday, and man, playing on the television makes a major difference.
Here are the first few levels of story mode in action. The Bomberfamily travels from planet to planet, clearing levels and taking on bosses. It’s pretty much standard Bomberfare, which is exactly what I wanted.
In order to clear a planet, players have to clear every stage and defeat the end boss. Should the player run out of lives, they’ll have to spend currency earned in-game in order to continue. The currency is also used to buy new playfields and costume pieces for the game’s characters, so there’s a bit of give and take.
The real meat of any Bomberman game is the multiplayer. While one day I hope to have seven friends in my home and enough Joy-Cons to go around for a massive local battle, for now I am all about online. There are two online modes, league and free play, the latter of which is much easier to find players in.
Multiplayer games are excellent, as long as you don’t get hit by the lag beast. I’ve played five or six games flawlessly, but when I went to record one for this article, painful lag struck.
Multiplayer is a bit better on tablet than single-player, as the playfields are a lot less cluttered, but it’s still a better experience on a nice, big screen.
And so Super Bomberman R is one of my favorite Switch games so far, but only half of the time. Thanks for confusing things just a little bit more, Nintendo.