Bomberman GB (Wario Blast Japanese Original) - Authentic Hudson Game Boy Cartridge, Tested
The 1994 Japanese original of Wario Blast, minus the Wario. Japanese needed: almost none. On a Super Game Boy it becomes battle Bomberman for up to four (three or more need an SNES multitap).
$25.00
How I grade condition: every grade is tested and plays; grades differ only in looks.
Want to see the exact copy you'd get, inside and out? Ask me for photos, board included.
Wario Blast, before Nintendo added the Wario
This is Bomberman GB, Hudson’s 1994 Game Boy Bomberman, in its original Japanese release. In the US it became Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!, with Wario bolted on as a playable rival and the story intro cut. This is the game as Hudson made it: just Bomberman, eight stages of four areas each, a boss in every fourth area, and a hidden survival mode you unlock with a password.
Yes, the naming is a mess
There are three Game Boy games called Bomberman GB in Japan, and the West shuffled the names around:
- Bomberman GB (Japan, 1994) became Wario Blast in the US. This is that one.
- Bomberman GB 2 (Japan, 1995) is the cart sold in the US and Europe as Bomberman GB.
- Bomberman GB 3 (Japan, 1996) never left Japan.
So if you want the US Bomberman GB, this is not it. If you want the first game, without Wario, this is exactly it.
Battle mode lives in the Super Game Boy
On a handheld it is a one-player game; battle mode does not run over a link cable. Put it in a Super Game Boy and it gets custom colors and sound plus battle mode for up to four (three or more need a Super Famicom/SNES multitap and extra controllers). That is the Bomberman most people remember, running off a Game Boy cart.
The only Japanese you will see is a short intro and the password screen, which is characters you copy down. It saves by password, so there is no thirty-year-old battery inside. The series lives on under Konami, which absorbed Hudson in 2012; if Super Bomberman R is your Bomberman, this is a good look at its handheld roots.
Add it alongside the Game Boy Head-to-Head Bundle, or drop it in a Super Game Boy for the four-player version.
Specifications
| Authenticity | Authentic original Hudson Soft cartridge (DMG-EEJ) - not a reproduction |
|---|---|
| Condition | Graded on my condition scale - every copy is opened, cleaned, and tested by playing before it ships. |
| Gameplay | Action / maze, 1 player; 1-4 player battle mode on a Super Game Boy (3+ players need an SNES multitap) |
| Includes | Loose cartridge only (no box or manual) |
| Language | Japanese, light: a short intro and the password screen. The game itself needs no reading |
| Region | Japanese release. Game Boy is region-free, so it plays on any Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance or Super Game Boy |
| Save | Password (no battery to die) |
| Title Full | Bomberman GB / ボンバーマンGB (Nintendo Game Boy, Hudson Soft, Japan, 1994) |
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