Why Do Video Games Associate Mice With Bombs?

I like it when people reach out to me about weird little video game-related mysteries that have been bugging them for years.I really like it when I’m asked the question and I realize I have no idea what the answer is.And I especially like it when I never thought about this matter myself, despite having played the same video games as the person asking the question.For these reasons, I was more than happy to look into a question from Bluesky user Qalamari asking why so many Japanese video games associate mice with bombs. The examples provided include Mouser from Super Mario Bros. 2, the Bombchu item from Legend of Zelda, the bomb-dropping mice enemies in Konami’s Goonies II and the playe two character from NMK’s Bomb Jack Twin, who sports a mouse-like mask in contrast to the Batman-like one player one wears. That’s enough to make a pattern, and I can even think of some additional examples. In Sonic Battle, Tails has an attack called Chu² Bomb, and although the name might be a reference…