Cross-shaped blasts, timing down to a fraction of a second, and the friend next to you trapped in his own corridor.

First signal, when the community picks on gut feeling, without thinking, Super Bomberman 5 only gets ahead of a bit more than a quarter of the games, but on a single duel, to confirm. The detail by criterion is split. Desert island places it just above the average, on few votes. But fun and the urge to rediscover fall to the very bottom, behind almost every other title. That is the surprise for a party game: what people call the most festive is not what shows up here, at least not for a lone player facing a ranking.

Against the Sony mascots or the platformers of the same era, Bomberman plays a different tune. It is an arena game, built for local confrontation, not for the solo adventure you dream of living again fresh. Seen that way, criteria aimed at attachment and the first time are not its turf.

So who is it for? For you if you love tense duels on a couch, the raw strategy of bombs and traps. Much less if you are after a story to rediscover or a game best savored alone, controller in hand.