Blaster Master
a game by | Sunsoft |
Genre: | Shooting Games |
Platforms: | GameBoy Color, Playstation, NES |
Editor Rating: | 6.9/10, based on 4 reviews |
User Rating: | 9.2/10 - 5 votes |
Rate this game: | |
See also: | Blaster Master Games |
Blaster Master is a platforming run and gun game, and it is the first in the series that includes two sequels and also two spin offs.
The story is somewhat different between the Japanese and American versions. In the first, the main character is Kane Gardner who leads the attack against the emperor Goez in order to liberate his home planet. In the US version, the hero (simply known as Jason) jumps down a hole in search of his pet frog that had just been exposed to radioactive chemicals and grown to an enormous size. Down the hole Jason finds a battle tank called SOPHIA the third, which he uses in his search.
The Blaster Master features an interesting mix of gameplay. Most of the game is played in a side scrolling fashion, in control the battle tank and destroying enemies as you encounter them. This part also includes all of the platforming and secret areas. The second part comes when you leave the tank in order to access smaller areas, too small for the machine to fit. Here the game switches to a top-down, closer up view of the character and eliminates jumping on platforms in favour of maze like rooms. This is also where all of the boss fights take place, and upon their defeat, you receive an upgrade for the tank. The upgrade is used to access new areas and continue the game.
On the left side of the screen there are two power meters which have different purposes, depending on whether you are inside the tank or not. While mounted, the meters display the life of the tank and the amount of hover power it has left. While outside, the meters display the hero’s remaining life and gun power, the latter decreasing if you are hit. In both situations, these can be refilled by collecting power ups dropped by enemies.
The design of Blaster Master is quite varied, as each level has its own unique visuals and fitting music, but there is quite some backtracking to be done, and this is not obvious in the beginning. Up to the third level, everything seems to resolve in a linear fashion, but new players will have a tough time realizing that they have to go all the way back to the beginning and search for another way.
Still, Blaster Master offers a nice challenge and combination of gameplay elements to keep you occupied for quite some time.
Blaster Master features:
- Dual gameplay mix; platforming while inside the tank and top-down run and gun while outside
- Maze like levels and puzzle solving
- Continuous upgrade of the tank for a change of pace
Download Blaster Master
System requirements:
- PC compatible
- Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
System requirements:
- PC compatible
- Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
System requirements:
- PC compatible
- Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
- P-200, 32 MB RAM
Game Reviews
People say:
Back in the day (1988 to be exact), a lil' game called Blaster Master came out and it was the talk of the school yard. I must've rented this game a half dozen times, never actually beating it but totally enjoying it. Now I realize how ridiculous the idea of a boy and his pet frog being mutated into a super-mechanized attack force really is, but the game's still darn fun. This brings the feeling of playing the original to Game Boy Color. It's not exactly the NES game, but it's damn close. Graphically, it's one of the better GBC games I've seen that holds up well next to Nintendo's own NES ports. Sound effects, too, are straight out of the original home game. The control feels a little tighter than the NES game. The mix of side-scrolling with top-down gameplay makes it feel like a real adventure and mixes it up so things don't get too monotonous. Unlike another 8-Bit port like Super Mario Bros, or Bionic Commando, you can't look up or down so that limits the field of view. Sometimes that can mean you'll fall off into a pit that you weren't able to see because it was out of view. Unfortunately, it uses a password save system instead of the more convenient (especially for portable games) battery back-up. Imagine not having a piece of paper handy to write down a password when you're at the last boss.
Thank god the wave of quality NES games going Game Boy Color is continuing. I enjoyed the NES original even though I'm not usually big on sidescrolling action games. Some things have been changed to make it a bit easier--enemies moved, frustrating bits taken out--but that just makes it a better, balanced game. It's too bad you have to use passwords. Considering the quality of the rest of the GBC catalog, this is a good choice.
I like the trend of porting NES classics to the GBC. It's a great platform to revisit great side-scrollers from the bygone 8-Bit days. Blaster Master, for those who don't know, is a scrolling shooter featuring a tank-drivin' hero lost in a subterranean world. Jump around, shoot simple enemies, figure out how to get to the next level...It's a nice change of pace to play a game with simple objectives. It's a fine translation so fans of the original should be psyched.
This is exactly the kind of game that used to annoy the hell out of me on the NES. It's a platform game with a tank...now why would a tank be jumping about? It's full to overflowing with those old-school gaming cliches like "Ooh, how do I get past this wall?" or "Deary me, that enemy is one micron shorter than the height at which my gun fires, what to do?" Years ago this would've been fine, but I could happily live if I never saw BM ever again.
SunSoft's Blaster Master plays suspiciously like a free-roaming Off-World Interceptor. If you don't remember that game, it's probably a good thing. Here, you take control of a few different weapon- and Jump Jet-equipped buggies that are great at traversing rough terrain and shooting the hell out of weirdlooking aliens. Of course, the requisite power-ups and other bonus items enhance your destructive power in this fall release game.
Find your way through eight levels of underground challenges inside your jumping Blaster car and within the chambers of the big and nasty boss critters!