While definitely not one of the biggest developers at the time, nowhere near the same level as Nintendo, Sega, or even smaller ones like Konami and Capcom, Sunsoft did make quite a number of niche, quality titles at the time. Even though a good number of them weren’t anything too special compared to other games, they did provide enjoyable enough gameplay to where many people still remember a handful of their titles fondly to this day, such as the Batman games for the NES, Journey to Silius, and… Fester’s Quest…… ok, we can ignore that that one existed, because that will be the best for everyone. But anyway, out of all of their titles, they are definitely most well known for one game, which would launch their main flagship series, and at the time, was designed to be the greatest action game ever made. Whether they succeeded or not on that front is debatable, but nonetheless, this game would turn out to be the original Blaster Master.

I had known about this game for a VERY long time, and I had wanted to play through it for a long time. Based on what I had seen and played myself, it looked pretty good, and considering it has gotten plenty of sequels and spin-offs to this day, including the Blaster Master Zero trilogy, which looks awesome, it was clear that many people loved and still remembered the series all the way to this day, so it must still hold some level of quality all the way to this day. After putting it off for a long time, focusing on plenty of other titles, I finally decided to check it out, and yeah, it is pretty great… but not as good as I would’ve liked it to be. A lot of it is pretty impressive for the time, but there are a lot of little things that hold this game back from being what I would consider one of the best of the NES library. Nonetheless, I still had a great time with it, and I wish I had checked it out sooner.

The story is about the most generic kid ever, Jason, trying to save his frog from a land full of mutants, and doing so by piloting a giant tank named Sophia that he just so happens to find, so it is clear this is the best story told in all media, the graphics are pretty great, being very impressive for the time, even if other games that look more visually appealing, like Mega Man, had already come out by then, the music is fantastic, with one or two iconic tracks present that you will definitely remember after beating it, as well as plenty of other good tunes, the control is pretty good most of the time, with there being plenty of options to maneuver around and get to new places, but there are plenty of instances where I had trouble with them due to some slipperiness in both parts of the gameplay, and speaking of which, the gameplay is pretty inventive, taking inspiration from plenty of different places, and creating something unique that stands out from the rest.

The game is primarily a 2D action platformer, where you take control of Jason and Sophia, go through 8 separate areas filled with plenty of pathways, caves, and dangers, take out plenty of enemies that will attempt to take you down, all of them being either gray or red, because colors weren’t invented yet, obviously, gather plenty of health items, weapons, and upgrades to give you an edge over everything, and take on plenty of big, disgusting bosses that will test your skills in every way. Once again, this is all typical for a game on the NES, but the way that Blaster Master differs from all of them is how it allows you to proceed forward and take out your targets. Given how you are piloting a tank for a majority of the game, you are given plenty of weapons you can find to take out enemies, such as a barrage of missiles, homing missiles, and even thunder bolts, but also, you are given plenty of choices for aiming your shots, so you can easily take out plenty of threats from plenty of angles, which may not seem like much, but considering how many NES games only let you fire in one direction most of the time, this is pretty innovative for an action platformer. Not to mention, as you go along in the game, you can gather plenty of upgrades for Sophia, which not only gives you new abilities such as being able to hover, pilot through water, and climb up walls and ceilings, but it allows you to access new areas that were once inaccessible, similarly to Metroid, really providing a sense of discovery and progression other games at the time just couldn’t manage.

But that is only the start of the options you have to moving through areas and kicking ass. At any time, you are able to get out of Sophia and traverse on foot, which you’ll need to do plenty of times to access new areas you normally wouldn’t be able to otherwise. While on foot, you can also access caves and dungeons, which lead to the second gameplay style featured, which are top-down adventure segments, where you move through a series of rooms, take out plenty of enemies with your weapons, gather plenty of health and upgrades to help you out, and fight all of the game’s bosses. It gives off plenty of Zelda vibes all throughout, and these sections can be pretty fun, even if they do get repetitive towards the end of the game, even with some of the bosses being repeated as you get closer to the end, which is never fun. Not to mention, whenever you get damaged in this mode, not only do you lose health, but also a bit of your gun’s upgrade, which is a fair enough punishment I guess, but it does really suck, and it makes you feel like the biggest tool. Just gotta get good, I guess.

Now, despite all of the good things this game has going for it, like I mentioned before, there are a lot of little things in this game that do bug me, including those moments of slippery control and repetition that plagues the game at points. First off, all of the locations and enemies in this game, while being cool to see, I can’t lie, are pretty bland overall. Sure, the bosses have some cool designs, but in terms of everything else, it all feels pretty generic for an NES game, which does suck, but it isn’t that big of a deal if you don’t care too much about something like that. Secondly, there are some moments of poor design that can be seen throughout, such as when you are going through a door, and you get hit by an enemy immediately without being able to do anything. That shit sucked in Metroid, and it still sucks here.

In addition to that, like I mentioned before, all of the bosses you fight in the game are all fought in the top-down sections as Jason, which does kinda suck, because this game REALLY needs some big fights while you’re in Sophia. Not to say that there isn’t already plenty of challenge in the side-scrolling sections, but come on, you are piloting a super-powered tank with missiles and lighting bolts. That is just SCREAMING with boss fight potential against something, but alas, we never get anything like that. Hopefully this is fixed in later games, but for now, it is somewhat disappointing.

Overall, despite some repetition, blandness with the environments and enemies, and some missed potential here and there, I can definitely see now why Blaster Master is considered a classic of the NES library, because it is genuinely a great game, carrying plenty of innovation for the genre, and that Metroid-y feeling of satisfaction when you get everything right. I would definitely recommend it for those who are fans of this system, or for those who have played later games in this series like the Zero trilogy, because there is definitely something that you are going to get out of this game. Man, now that I finally did check this out, I can’t wait to check out the sequel! I wonder what people think of that one. Hold on, lemme check…………………… oh no.

Game #360