Revisiting familiar play styles from yesteryear can always be a tricky business, as some types of gameplay we loved at some point in the past don’t always hold up well. I suppose there’s an even greater risk of a disconnect when you play a game that absolutely channels the essence of some beloved title, but again what may have once worked for you may not be everything you remembered. While historically Kaboomania’s origins put it more on a parallel path with the classic Bomberman series, playing this new release of it on the Switch leaves me with mixed feelings.

With fond memories of spending quite a lot of time blowing up my friends in Super Bomberman 2 back on the SNES in particular, I’m well aware of the degree of challenge and fun it brought to the table. Laughing, yelling, and carrying on while engaged in a battle to the death in such an uncomplicated form at the time was refreshing. Everyone had their base bombs, scrambled to grab power-ups, and then plotted to destroy each other, but there was more to it than that. Different stage layouts and unique features helped keep things tense and more unpredictable, so it was a multiplayer experience that had decent legs. Of course, there were also single-player challenges to work on, but lacking the intensity of your friends in the room that always felt like a lesser overall experience.

In the case of Kaboomania the overall formula is pretty well identical, though there are at least some variations. I will say that the game’s origins on the Amiga aren’t surprising, as the overall colorful look and visual style do feel like they would have been at home in that arena. Weirdly though, at least in the case of the various power-ups that are dropped, I’d say the more simplistic icon-based approach from Super Bomberman offered more clarity. To the game’s credit, it does feel like the enemies are a little more capable, and their variety did add a little more challenge. Nevertheless, even as much as I enjoyed this style of play back in the day, I’ll admit that in this more pure state it feels a bit lacking. In particular, having played a roguelike variation on this style in the form of Bombslinger, the overall simplicity here could be refreshing, but it didn’t take long for it to get a bit dull. Not even adding some friends to the mix managed to kick that feeling, despite there being familiarity and a memory of fun, now it just isn’t quite the same. If you’re looking to recapture those earlier days, or are looking for multiplayer battling that isn’t quite like most of what’s out there, this may do the trick, but it left me feeling conflicted at the end of the day.