I mostly post joke reviews on this site because I’m lazy (the score reflects my own opinion, however). That’s not the case with Blaster Master Zero III, because this game is truly something special. Blaster Master Zero III is a follow up to Blaster Master Zero I and II, succeeding the stories of both. Zero I was a solid game with little wrong with it. It was somewhat short and had issues with its overall challenge, but it was extremely fun to play, being one of my favorite metroidvanias. Zero II was a big improvement, making gameplay and stages more varied, while increasing the difficulty by a lot. The only problems were that the game’s new mechanics were a bit underutilized. Zero III takes almost everything good, as well as its underutilized mechanics about Zero II and then some. There are some pretty big improvements here. For one, Jason is actually really fun outside of his tank! Jason now has a jetpack, allowing him to survive falls, so long as you can time it right. I really appreciate how it's also used in platforming, too. Alone, this is already a great improvement over Zero II, but they didn't stop there with Jason. His top down sections are also improved, too. The gun system has been completely reworked; instead of getting new weapons when you get more gun power, in Zero III, you start with 5 guns to boot, and get more power when you get a gun upgrade. Unlike Zero I and II, you'll always have the ability to exploit the enemy's weakness, but your Gun power makes a big impact on how easy it is. If you suck at the game, it'll be a hellish time. But if you're good, you'll be able to take full advantage of the combat. A change I also like is that the Energy Guard is no longer permanent. In Zero I and II, if you got hit, you lose your Guard for 5 seconds. If you get hit again, you go down a level. It worked, but it was really easily cheesable, especially in Zero I. In Zero III, if you get Energy Guard, it guards not only your gun level, but your HP too. This sounds easier at first, but now it's consumable. You get 4 Guard at a time, up to 16, gradually respawning in the overworld. I wasn't a fan of this at first, but if you know what you're doing, you can easily get 16 guard and just power through this game. There's also Guard for the tank too. I didn't find it as useful (because the tank doesn't have gun power), but I'd rather have it than not. I really liked the weapons here, too. I used the Quad shot, Electricity, and Wave quite a bit. I wasn't really a fan of the pea shooter, or the whip though. Not because they're necessarily bad per se, but in general, I just found the others to be more effective. But, I really liked the top down sections way more than I expected to. Playing around with my toolkit was really fun, and the challenge feels just right to me, unlike Zero I, which was very easy. When it comes to the tank gameplay, it's generally what'd you expect from Blaster Master. Find upgrades that help you progress, find new abilities, travel the world, et cetera. Unlike the other games though, Zero III introduces a new mechanic; the sub SP. Your guns are more powerful than normal, but in exchange, all of your weapons (save for your vanilla shot) now consume an orange SP meter. This adds to the challenge of the game, as you have to now manage two SP systems. If both are drained at the same time, you get killed in one hit. In reality this is only really an issue with the super nuke you get at the end of the game, but watch out regardless. The main weapons are really fun to use. I really like G Crusher+; it's more damaging at the expense of SP cost. There's also this automatically shooting fire bomb thingy that does a fuck ton of damage. And the Anti SF ammo is fucking powerful. The regular subweapons are fine. I find Zero II’s a little better but I can live with these. Not a fan of the dash nerf, TBH. In Zero II it was a bit more practical for fast travel, because if you spammed it, you'd lose less SP overall. In Zero III, the SP cost is the same no matter what. I also wasn't the biggest fan of the super nuke. It's fine, but it's got nothing against Zero II’s Full Acceleration Burst. When it comes to the overall level design, it's great! They all stick out pretty well and I like them all. A thing I really liked about them were the hyperspace sections. By pressing L+R near a weird screen crack, you can enter hyperspace, and these provide an alternative version of the levels. It was a nice change of pace, but I kind of disliked the insta-kill thingies. They probably should’ve toned down on those, but other than that, it’s pretty fun! The bosses are also pretty fun. These are so much better than Zero II’s bosses, because for one, they're not too easy, but also not too difficult. My favorite would have to be the Jason boss, but for that, I'd have to go into a plot summary. So, SPOILERS AHEAD!
Zero III starts off directly after the last game. Jason and Eve were promptly captured once they return to Sophia, the Gaia Sophia completely destroyed in the process. We don't know why yet, but out of nowhere, the Sophia Force who captured Jason and Eve are now under attack, so Jason hightails it out of there with a new tank, attempting to find Eve, only to be stopped by Kane Gardner. Not even he knows where Eve went. It’s a long journey of going to hyperspace, and exploring Planet Sophia. Yeah, unlike Zero II, you only get one world, aside from Stranga. It does make it feel a bit more linear, but I think it works overall here. As the game goes on, they reveal that after the last game, Eve technically turned into a mutant, hence why they were attacked at the start of the game. After Planade G’s downfall, Eve’s mutated cells were still present, and as Eve technically killed Planade G, mutants were left without a ruler, and Eve was crowned as the Mutant Queen, hence her absence. If Eve were to be killed or go AWOL, the mutants would grow angry and cause a rampage on earth. This leaves Jason with a descision in Area 6. You can either let Eve seal herself away in hyperspace, suffering for the rest of her life, or you can intervene. Intervening will cause Eve to look back and cry, revealing her true feelings to Jason. Jason promises that they will reunite one day, and the game fades to black. After this, we cut to Kane in hyperspace with the Sophia III, ordered to kill Jason and Eve as they opened a hyperspace portal without permission. However, the mutants couldn’t attack Sophia if they wanted to, as Eve stopped them from doing so. Even then, Kane still has to kill them, leading to a fight. You can select either Jason or Kane, but the choice is fruitless story-wise. I recommend picking Kane for this, as his boss fight with Jason is AWESOME. It’s really hard, but everything is telegraphed so well. He uses all of the abilities you gained throughout the adventure, which not only shows how far you came, but makes for a chaotic fight. This should be a trope in metroidvanias from now on. Definitely the best bossfight in the series. When it comes to the Kane fight, things are more disappointing. It’s really damn easy. I beat it on my first try, which is insane considering Rising Garuda took more attempts. But like I said, the ending is the same, so pick your poison. After the fight, it’s revealed that Eve and Jason actually had twins, and Kane decided to back off. After saying farewell to his daughter, Eve, the two (and Fred, yeah he’s still here) ride off into the unknown, thus ending Blaster Master Zero III. I’m serious, that’s pretty much it. I love Zero III but I just wish there was more of it. Zero I and II had so much content outside of the main story (alt characters, hard mode, mini-games, etc.), but Zero III has nothing of note unfortunately. We should’ve at least got a mode where we play as Kane or something. That’s literally my only major complaint about this game, because otherwise Zero III is pretty much perfect to me. Zero III is an incredible send-off to the series, genuinely one of the best sequels of all time. And I thought Zero II was amazing; this just blows it out of the water. Play this game. It’s such a great time, but make sure you play Zero I and II, too. The ending of III has a bigger impact because I played Zero I and II first (at least it does to me). Farewell, Blaster Master!
Zero III starts off directly after the last game. Jason and Eve were promptly captured once they return to Sophia, the Gaia Sophia completely destroyed in the process. We don't know why yet, but out of nowhere, the Sophia Force who captured Jason and Eve are now under attack, so Jason hightails it out of there with a new tank, attempting to find Eve, only to be stopped by Kane Gardner. Not even he knows where Eve went. It’s a long journey of going to hyperspace, and exploring Planet Sophia. Yeah, unlike Zero II, you only get one world, aside from Stranga. It does make it feel a bit more linear, but I think it works overall here. As the game goes on, they reveal that after the last game, Eve technically turned into a mutant, hence why they were attacked at the start of the game. After Planade G’s downfall, Eve’s mutated cells were still present, and as Eve technically killed Planade G, mutants were left without a ruler, and Eve was crowned as the Mutant Queen, hence her absence. If Eve were to be killed or go AWOL, the mutants would grow angry and cause a rampage on earth. This leaves Jason with a descision in Area 6. You can either let Eve seal herself away in hyperspace, suffering for the rest of her life, or you can intervene. Intervening will cause Eve to look back and cry, revealing her true feelings to Jason. Jason promises that they will reunite one day, and the game fades to black. After this, we cut to Kane in hyperspace with the Sophia III, ordered to kill Jason and Eve as they opened a hyperspace portal without permission. However, the mutants couldn’t attack Sophia if they wanted to, as Eve stopped them from doing so. Even then, Kane still has to kill them, leading to a fight. You can select either Jason or Kane, but the choice is fruitless story-wise. I recommend picking Kane for this, as his boss fight with Jason is AWESOME. It’s really hard, but everything is telegraphed so well. He uses all of the abilities you gained throughout the adventure, which not only shows how far you came, but makes for a chaotic fight. This should be a trope in metroidvanias from now on. Definitely the best bossfight in the series. When it comes to the Kane fight, things are more disappointing. It’s really damn easy. I beat it on my first try, which is insane considering Rising Garuda took more attempts. But like I said, the ending is the same, so pick your poison. After the fight, it’s revealed that Eve and Jason actually had twins, and Kane decided to back off. After saying farewell to his daughter, Eve, the two (and Fred, yeah he’s still here) ride off into the unknown, thus ending Blaster Master Zero III. I’m serious, that’s pretty much it. I love Zero III but I just wish there was more of it. Zero I and II had so much content outside of the main story (alt characters, hard mode, mini-games, etc.), but Zero III has nothing of note unfortunately. We should’ve at least got a mode where we play as Kane or something. That’s literally my only major complaint about this game, because otherwise Zero III is pretty much perfect to me. Zero III is an incredible send-off to the series, genuinely one of the best sequels of all time. And I thought Zero II was amazing; this just blows it out of the water. Play this game. It’s such a great time, but make sure you play Zero I and II, too. The ending of III has a bigger impact because I played Zero I and II first (at least it does to me). Farewell, Blaster Master!