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We first reported on the release of Kaboomania a couple of weeks back, and you may be wondering why the flip a retro gaming site is reviewing a game for a very modern console such as the Nintendo Switch 2! Well, we may be reviewing the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Kaboomania, but it’s absolutely an Amiga game right down to its very (highly explosive) core.
As we reported, not only has Kaboomania been released for modern formats, but it’s also blasted its way onto the Amiga (the format for which it was developed), in both digital and physical forms, including as an enhanced port for AGA Amigas such as the Amiga 1200. And it’s that 128-color AGA port that forms the basis for the game’s release on modern formats. While this port may be considerably more colorful than its 32-color Amiga 500 counterpart, even when played on a more modern machine, Kaboomania still looks, feels and plays every inch the Amiga game, right down to only requiring the use of a single fire button, and that’s a crucial aspect of Kaboomania’s bombastic appeal.
On first glance, you may be tempted to casually dismiss Kaboomania as a carbon copy of Bomberman, except with a character who drops sticks of dynamite rather than bombs, but to do so would be doing the game a huge disservice.
Sure, at its heart, Kaboomania is, indeed, a Bomberman-style game tht wears that influence loudly and proudly on its sleeve, but there’s so much more going on in Kaboomania than just that. Yes, the core game of Kaboomania is what the game’s developer, Fancy Factory, describes as a “fast‑paced retro maze bomber,” and it’s a very very good one at that, with smooth gameplay, intuitive controls, well-designed arenas, as well as charming graphics, creative power-ups, and a useful password system to resume playing from the level on which you last got blown up.
But the game also works on a meta level as a nostalgic celebration of Amiga gaming itself, telling a story of an Amiga gamer playing Kaboomania via some gorgeously rendered pixel art stills, in the style of Amiga games of the past. As an owner of an Amiga 500 in the 1990s myself, this brought back some very fond memories, and it justifies the existence of Kaboomania’s core maze bomber game, as a conduit to bring back those halcyon days of loading up 16-bit games from floppy disks every evening after school. Indeed, the music too is very “Amiga” in sound, thanks, no doubt, to Fancy Factory enlisting none other than the Amiga music legend Chris Huelsbeck to compose the game’s soundtrack.
Kaboomania is a lovingly made game that could so easily have been just a Bomberman clone, but instead it transcends its Bomberman-inspired origins to become something a bit more special. After all, what would be the point in a simple Amiga clone of Bomberman, when the Amiga has already been the home to a perfectly good official port of the game for over 35 years, in the form of Dyna Blaster?
On a surface level, Kaboomania is a very good Bomberman-inspired maze bomber, but for anyone who has fond memories of Amiga gaming, it offers so much more besides, providing a genuine blast from the past that’s sure to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, no matter how many times you accidentally “kaboom” yourself with the game’s dynamite sticks, after accidentally trapping yourself in a corner!
However, had Kaboomania just been another Bomberman-style maze bomber, then no matter how good it was, there would perhaps have been little point porting it to modern formats, which are already awash with such titles, but as a game that’s simultaneously a new retro game, and also a celebration of retro gaming (very specifically of Amiga gaming), that’s designed to evoke warm feelings of nostalgia for those simpler gaming times, porting Kaboomania to other formats makes perfect sense.
Kaboomania comes highly recommended for any retro gamer who enjoys Bomberman, but it’s an absolute must for anyone with any nostalgia at all for gaming on the Amiga.
Kaboomania was released on August 13, 2026, and is is available now on Amiga 500, Amiga 1200, PC, Nintendo Switch 2 (version reviewed), PlayStation 5, XBOX Series X|S, and iOS (iPhone & iPad), and you can find links to buy the game via developer Fancy Factory’s website.
