A port of a flat puzzle game may seem like a strange choice for a company’s first Virtual Boy game, but Panic Bomber actually looks absolutely stunning in 3D. The different portions of the game are distinctive layers, so nothing gets in the way of the core tiles, and the effect makes everything look incredibly crisp. It’s a rather wonderful effect.

Panic Bomber is a fun little puzzle game where blocks fall down in an L shape and you flip them around to make lines of three (blocks don’t count, has to be vertical, horizontal or diagonal). Scoring these will make bombs appear, which you can trigger for a lovely effect when a live bomb falls from the top of the screen. There aren’t many options and there’s no multiplayer, but it is a lot of fun while it lasts.

Fun

The problem with Panic Bomber is that battling against a host of bizarre adversaries and a vaguely horror themed Bomberman until you beat them all should only take you the best part of twenty minutes. Amazingly, Hudson Soft have even seen fit to include a password at certain points in the proceedings should you find the going a bit too tough, but that’s highly unlikely.

Wil, Super Play #36

Remake or remaster?

This has already had lots of other ports.