Bomberman Channel

In an unexpected turn of events, Konami pulls a power move and buys back the rights to the B-Daman Bakugaiden anime. Credit: Kaleidoskopical (I just needed a spread for this article, okay?) I'm unsure if this is anything I've ever outwardly acknowledged, so if not-- Konami has been surprising me with their numerous callbacks to legacy Bomberman content. I suppose it makes sense, given the series' better reception in Japan. For whatever reason, I mostly figured they were just going to treat the series as some cash cow they could pump a bunch of half-baked games and glorified live-services out of... which, to be fair, isn't wholly untrue. Anyway, up until now, the first major Bomberman spinoff (because Robowarrior/Bomber King and any tertiary connections to Lode Runner more or less died off after two or three games), B-Daman Bakugaiden, was more or less stuck in some legal limbo with Hudson Soft refusing to do much with it in their latter years. Resultingly, they were mor

Out of nowhere, Konami and Ship to Shore PhonoCo. have announced a new vinyl, though it's subject is, at least to me, quite unexpected: *** Yeah, the Super Bomberman games: all 5 of them. This now makes 3 releases, alongside the Bomberman NES duology and Hero, which were both released last and earlier this year, respectively. While people like me who have played through all 5 of these games via emulation are delighted, I can't help but wonder about how this comes off to an average Joe who's only played a couple of the games, usually in quick multiplayer spurts. Putting aside any preconceived  notions about what the series is about, there's also the concern that not a whole lot of the series has been available outside of Japan, meaning that there's no legal or easily accessible way to play a lot of it. Only Super Bomberman 1 and 2 were ever released in the U.S., with 3 being available in Europe and Japan before becoming wholly exclusive to the homeland for 4 and 5. W