Dot-S Puzzle Review: Bomberman

For those who have been living under a shell for the past 20 years or so, Bomberman is a puzzle game where your in-game character goes about a maze-like levels placing (and detonating) bombs to blow up obstacles (such as walls) and enemies.

I remember playing the game alot on the Micro Genius (a Famicom clone) and it really was addictive and fun. I suppose many of you retro gamers share the same sentiment as well. The simple but venerable game design was recently included with Bomberman Land Touch!, and you can find the classic mode under the Bomberman Battle Pack option of the game.

The Dot-S (a.k.a DotS) Puzzle series brings back memories of old-school video game graphics and some pretty memorable characters, typically that of the NES era. Some of you might remember that I bought a Dot-S Puzzle from the Nintendo Version Collection featuring the character Link from the Legend of Zelda series.


Having been impressed by the quality of the Link Dot-S Puzzle and driven by nostalgia over the game Bomberman, I decided to order another Dot-S Puzzle from Play-Asia. The package arrived today containing the Dot-S Puzzle: Bomberman. When compared to the box that contained Link, the Bomberman box is considerably larger.

And what was inside the box? A large compliment of pegs, a peg board and a nice colour instruction booklet.


It takes sometime to complete a "push-peg" puzzle. It took me around 15 minutes to finish this particular puzzle with the help of the guide.


And now onto the finished item:

When Bomberman met Link:

As like the other Dot-S sets, there are always other modes (a.k.a "recipes") to explore with the large assortment of pegs. Some recipes can be found on the Dot-S website. For my original review of the Link Dot-S set, click here.

Interested in getting one for yourself? You can get find them at Play-Asia.com.

Game Previews Overdose

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I had the opportunity to test out several Nintendo DS games last night, courtesy of a friend. First up was Metroid Prime Hunters, a first-person-shooter set in the Metroid franchise. Having started up a new game, it was rather confusing and there really wasn't any tutorial on what to do and more importantly how to move.

Some initial guess work was needed and I realized that the control scheme was similar to that of Super Mario 64 DS (stylus and buttons simultaneously). Despite this, the game does have some pretty graphics, like a grainier version of Quake 3 Arena. On a side note, first timers on the DS should really give the DS a break and not compare its graphics capabilities to that of a PSP, which has alot more horsepower.

Second up was Trauma Center. A five minute session with this game pratically banished my preconception of "being a gimmick", this game is really quite challenging. The developers have manage to subtly merge addictive gameplay (e.g. stitching people up) and an interesting premise (you are a doctor in the game).

I had a fun time pulling out glass shards and stiching up and making incisions on a patient but heaven forbid I would actually do that in real life.

I know though that my mum would be suprised that this kind of game is available and would want to play it, she works in the medical industry after all.

Thirdly, I got brief looks at Bomberman Land Touch and Yu-Gi-Oh GX: Spirit Summoner. Bomberman Land Touch didn't look like a typical Bomberman game and I pratically got lost in Yu-Gi-Oh. Yu-Gi-Oh is abit like Magic: The Gathering and apparently the Japanese version of the game is dual language and does include English language support!

Club House Games was up next and despite the so-so presentation, casual players should have a blast with it as it is chokeful with mini games such as Solitaire, Chess, Bowling, Biliiards, Texas Hold' Em and many more.

Last but not least, I had a blast playing Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam. A downhill skateboarding game in the lines of SSX3, I was hooked. The graphics are cel-shaded clean and the sense of speed delivered by the game is nothing short of amazing. This game is really fast and the ability to challenge other players on the WFC makes a very attractive acquisition.

Some of the games that I demo-ed feature WFC connectivity and most, if not all of them feature some form of local WiFi play. The replayability value for these titles can be described as good to high and even though some of them are no longer available as new copies, potential buyers should be able to find them in the second market by scouring forums and auction sites. Click on the pictures above to purchase the games in Play-Asia, should they be available.