Back in the 90s, racing games were all the rage. And there had been tons of franchises at that point who’d made their attempts at broadening their horizons by making their very own racing games. There’s Mario, Crash Bandicoot, Mickey Mouse… Heck, there was even a racing game about James Bond. Then, there was video game published Hudson Soft who decided to take their franchise, Bomberman, to the race tracks as well with Bomberman Fantasy Race, developed by Graphic Research Inc. What the heck kinda name is that? I shall get to the bottom of this!

*searches the web*

Oh my gosh, they specialize in developing computer circuit boards. o_o

When you create a new file, you’re being presented by a menu where you get to pick from 6 different characters. You have regular Bomberman, a girl character, a crazed-out old guy, a guy with a motorcycle helmet, some sorta robot… alien… thing, and lastly the black Bomberman, whom everyone knows is the coolest. There’s no reason to favour any of the riders above the others, they’re all the same. After you decided on your character, the game will follow up with a cool, very slick anime intro cutscene showing the Bombermen facing off on the racetracks. This intro cutscene alone looks so good, it could belong to a TV show. So that’s a +1 for presentation.  After the cutscene, you’re taken to a screen of a town. This screen serves as the hub for everything you need. There’s the Single Player option; a 2-Player option; a Time Attack option; an Options menu; a Bank, where you’ll be exchanging prize coins and will be watching your money pile grow and grow; and the Stable, where you’ll be purchasing and selecting your animals to ride on.

Yes, you heard me well: in Bomberman Fantasy Race, you ride animals. There are two kinds of animals to race on: Louies, rabbits who are better at turning, but not as quick. And Tirras, dinosaurs who are faster, but don’t turn as well as Louies. Within each kind of animal, there are 6 animals to choose from. The better animals are very expensive though, so you’ll have to replay a lot of races in order to be able to purchase them. On to the racing itself. You unlock new races by buying tickets to the tracks. It’s an interesting idea, but I’m not a fan. You buy it from the money you earn by winning races, so it seems like a cheap way to elongate the game, making it seem like the game is longer than it actually is. But this is just a little nit-picky. Before you start any race, you’ll be asked to buy up to two items to start the race with. Hurray, more money spending! Actually, don’t bother with this feature. It’s next to useless, as you’ll be picking up plenty of items anyway. After you decide on items, you can start racing!

The racing is really fun. Firstly, there are no bugs, pop-in present. Seriously, I dare you to find any glitch, bug, or any smallest graphical hiccup in Bomberman Fantasy Race. That’s impressive. I’ve noticed around the internet that this game gets flak for its steering controls, and honestly I can see why. The animals move through each turn as if they’re sliding through each corner, and this combined with the camera which sorta floats behind you can make controlling your animal difficult to master. But once you do, this is a lot of fun, and different than what you’re used to from any other Mario Kart-style racer. Yes, this is a Mario Kart racer. A knock-off, if you so desire. You race against a handful of opponents, on different tracks each with a different theme, picking up items and power-ups to beat your opponents. There are two kinds of power-ups, in the shapes of cards. There’s question mark cards, which contains a random item to use against opponents or yourself. This can be a rocket bomb, which homes in on riders ahead of you; a power bomb, a bomb with a big blast radius; or even a handy clock power-up which stops time temporarily for all riders but you. But watch out; there are also bad power-ups, which affect you in a bad way. Items like lead shoes which slow you down for a while; reverse steering, which swaps the left and right buttons; and if you’re really unlucky, a poop item, which brings your animal to a halt to go number 2 on the track. Getting these bad items is annoying in typical Mario Kart fashion. Only the rocket bomb and clock power-up are really useful, otherwise, I wouldn’t really count on them. The second kind of power-up, are Egg cards, which bring temporary enhancements to the kind of animal you’re riding on. Louies gain a speed boost, and Tirras become invincible. Picking up three Egg cards gives you 3 times the duration.

Bomberman Fantasy Race is good fun, certainly against a friend, but this game is not without its notable flaws. The background music on most tracks are fun, and do a good job of giving you a sense of the theme of each track. But the thing is, almost none of the background music makes you want to race. Don’t get me wrong, I like the music and I simply adore the music played in the Bakuzan Ski Course. But it is no racing music. Then there’s the problem with the game’s difficulty. There’s nothing wrong with it throughout most of the game, if you replay each track a couple of times to earn enough money to purchase new animals to be able to stand a chance in some of the later races. But then there’s the final track, the Bomber Castle… Even with the best animal of each kind, this track is so convoluted, so horribly designed, it’ll make you pull your hair out and curse the name Graphical Research Inc-whatever the heck they do nowadays. Speaking of the best animal of each kind, when you finally get to purchase them by having gone through the repetitive act of replaying the races a 100 times, there’s no reason to pick anyone but the two best animals to race on. Some animals are supposed to peak at a certain aspect like speed and jumping, but I never found this is true. The final two animals are the best, and will leave the competition biting their dust. Period.

Bomberman Fantasy Race is not the best Mario Kart-knockoff, but definitely not the worst. The crisp, colourful visuals are completely devoid of glitches, and it’s typical Mario Kart fun.

Pros:

-          The controls feel good, in a weird way

-          Anime cutscenes are really fun to watch

-          Crisp, colourful visuals are completely devoid of bugs and glitches

Cons:

-          Difficulty spike is too big

-          Underwhelming sound

-          Creature stats are broken

-          Items are almost useless