It has been announced that the Bomberman and Contra video games are receiving board game adaptations that are expected to be released in 2020.
Bomberman is a series of maze-based puzzle games where players use bombs to destroy their opponents, while Contra is a notoriously difficult series of run and gun games where the player shoots through hordes of enemies. Both of these franchises were dormant throughout most of the past decade until the release of Super Bomberman R in 2017 as one of the Nintendo Switch launch titles and the release of Contra: Anniversary Collection and Contra: Rogue Corps in 2019.
The people who want to experience the Bomberman and Contra series in the comfort of their living rooms (without actually playing the games themselves) will soon have the chance, as board games based on both series will be released next year. According to License Global, Konami Cross Media NY has signed licensing agreements for both video game franchises to be adapted into board games that will be released in 2020. The Contra board game is being developed by Blacklist Games and Kess Co., while the Bomberman board game is being developed by IDW Games.
The Contra board game will be card-driven and will feature miniatures based on the characters from the games, while the Bomberman board game will take inspiration from Super Bomberman R in terms of its gameplay and visuals. IDW Games also acquired the license to create Bomberman card games, collectible pins, and puzzles.
The idea of Bomberman being turned into a board game makes sense, as it’s already a competitive game that has a grid-based map, with random items and power-ups that can appear at any time to turn the tide of battle. For example, it’s easy to imagine a Bomberman board game where players trap their opponents on the map using bombs. On the other hand, it’s more difficult to imagine how the Contra board game will work, as the games are incredibly fast-paced and require twitch reflexes, which wouldn’t exactly translate well to a turn-based board game.
There have already been numerous board games based on video game properties, including Dark Souls: The Board Game (which was made possible thanks to Kickstarter) and Fallout: The Board Game, which even comes with bottle caps as tokens. The Bomberman series seems as if it would be a natural fit for the board game format, while the Contra board game seems like it would be more of a stretch. It will be interesting to see how the company plans on translating the run and gun format into a board game style. For now, fans can only hope that the board game will turn out to be just as much fun as the video game. All they really need to do is make sure that the Spread Gun remains OP and then the fans should be satisfied.
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Source: License Global
