Bomberman Generation

Bomberman Generation consists of six worlds consisting of about five levels each. The levels involve puzzles, mini games, Pokémon-like battles using Charaboms who get befriended by Bomberman once defeated, and Charabom or bomb merge areas where a merge item and a bomb get fused or a Charabom and another Charabom get fused resulting in a stronger bomb or Charabom. Pommy (Pomyu) from Bomberman 64: The Second Attack and a few of his variations make appearances as Charaboms. The worlds have unique bosses each with a different strategy of defeating them.

All of the worlds have puzzles that the player has to solve with bombs or Charaboms. Bomberman can acquire various power-ups which can increase his speed and his bomb power.

Six crystals are discovered in deep space, which give off a powerful unknown energy. On orders from Professor Ein, a space freighter begins transporting the crystals, dubbed the "Bomb Elements", back to Planet Bomber for analysis. While en route, the freighter is attacked and destroyed by a saboteur hired by Mujoe and his Hige Hige Bandits, and the Bomb Elements fall to the nearby planet Tentacalls. The Hige Hige Bandits form an alliance with the Crush Bombers, and the collective group head for the planet to retrieve the Bomb Elements. Fearing the damage even one Bomb Element could do in the wrong hands, Professor Ein orders Bomberman to Tentacalls to defeat the Crush Bombers and the Hige Hige Bandits, and to obtain the Bomb Elements first.

Bomberman Generation received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 27 out of 40. GamePro said that the game "delivers decent solo fun, but this game is best played with four friends hunched around the television, bent on trying to blow each other to smithereens."

The game was nominated for "Best Platformer on GameCube" and "Best Game No One Played on GameCube" at GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2002 Awards, both of which went to Super Mario Sunshine and Sega Soccer Slam, respectively.