Bomberman Fantasy Race: Runaway success

It’s almost inevitable, isn’t it? Any time a post-Super Mario Kart series or character becomes popular, they eventually get their own cutesy racing game to go with their success. Sonic. Diddy Kong. Crash. Konami. Even Mortal Kombat, if bonus modes count. In spite of their inescapable presence, too many of these games make the same mistake: They stick a few favourite characters in some colourful vehicles, throw in a few themed power ups, and call it a day. The characters are in karts, therefore the job is done. Bomberman Fantasy Race takes a very different approach. Sure, plenty of famous faces return and lob familiar items at each other, but the racing itself plays out like a completely natural extension of the existing series rather than a hard swerve into new and cynically artificial territory. This is mostly thanks to the way the game’s Louies (Bomberman ‘94) and Tirras (Saturn Bomberman) handle; they actually behave like the colourful fantasy animals capable of dashing, jumping,…