Super Bomberman R producer talks development, cut ideas, franchise's longevity & more

The following info comes from Noriaki Okamura, producer of the game...

- believes Switch is very compatible with the series
- likes Switch because it has a straightforward composition and it’s easy to make games for
- liked that the Switch came with two controllers
- being able to play anytime, anywhere, and with anyone is an important aspect
- Bomberman has 8 siblings in this game because Konami intended to include eight-player versus from the star
- at first they thought of a Power Rangers-like setting to explain the characters
- instead, they went with a “weird heroes of justice who think they’re protecting the peace in the universe” setting
- Okamura would like to see an anime adaptation, but says that can only happen with fan requests
- graphics are made in a photorealistic style to draw inspiration from the Super Bomberman games on the SNES
- rather than a straight port, Okamura thought of adding “adjustments for memories” without changing the core gameplay
- maps becoming 3D and having 8 characters are also for the same purpose
- the dev team went in knowing some things had to change, while others couldn't be
- the goal was to match “the precious Bomberman” in everyone’s hearts with the current era
- Okamura believes this Bomberman game can be played anytime and anywhere, using Switch’s abilities
- most of the regular items from Super Bomberman were added
- some were removed due to not being compatible with the 3D maps
- by making the maps in 3D, they were able to create stages that have new ways to play unlike anything before
- this idea wasn’t warmly received by past Bomberman players, so they had to readjust it
- if you could jump, it would no longer be a Super Bomberman game, which is why a jump feature was left out
- for the flow of story mode, the team first thought about how you would be playing it
- then they tackled the characteristics of each planet / world, and finally the setting for each
- the final boss mechs at the end of each world were also decided with the same flow
- for the one that looks like Gwinbee, someone in the production team had very fond memories of Twinbee
- no direct connections to past Bomberman entries because there is a major change in the world setting
- story is based on Super Bomberman 3, since there are Bagura and the Five Dastardly Bombers
- Okamura remembered some level structures at the start of development such as a complex level with numerous floors
- there was another one where the whole structure would change when a bomb exploded
- they decided to remove these stage ideas as to keep things from being too complicated
- Okamura believes Bomberman is a highly complete game that can be enjoyed by friends and family of any age/skill
- there have been almost 100 Bomberman-related titles
- Okamura is very thankful that many people have enjoyed the various entries
- Okamura hopes that Bomberman can continue not only for thirty years into the future
- Okamura offered advice for those making Super Bomberman R their first Bomberman game
- before defeating rivals with bombs, you should play it while considering how to become the last man standing