Blaster Master (NES) review "I’ve come back to Blaster Master time and time again, and I’ve never gotten tired of it. To me, that’s the true definition of a video game classic."

I hesitate to use the word “classic” when talking about retro games because one gamer’s must-play title is another’s shovelware. However, Blaster Master is one of those games I would still award such a label. Mostly that’s because when I was younger, it was one of those rare cartridges that all of my acquaintances owned. I played it more than I did most games of the era and it still holds a lot of significance for me for that reason. Even when I returned to it just recently, I found that it remains a unique game, one that I believe every NES gamer should play.

If you get a chance to read the Blaster Master instruction manual, by all means take a look at the story. It reads like those old “Dick & Jane” children’s books. In a nutshell, young Jason’s frog (named Fred) escapes from his bowl one day. By way of an unfortunate series of events, Fred comes across a crate of experimental radioactive material, which mutates him into a giant frog beast. Fred and the crate fall deep into the earth, and Jason hops in after them. In the most fortunate twist ever, Jason happens upon a fancy battle tank, known as the Sofia. It also happens to have a pilot suit and helmet that perfectly fit the boy, who sets out to find Fred and put an end to all of the other mutated creatures living beneath the surface.

While Blaster Master isn’t going to win any awards for its storytelling, it does facilitate a pleasingly quirky adventure. The majority of the action takes place while Jason is sheltered within his tank. “Sofia” is like no tank I’ve ever controlled, as it’s just as maneuverable and speedy as any great NES action character. A lot of the game involves nailing tricky jumps while blasting pesky enemies with the vehicle’s cannon. Unfortunately, the tank has a very floaty jump that gives the game a drastically different feel from the sort that you’ll find in a lot of other competent platformers. That quirk is something I’ve always been used to, but revisiting the game after all this time left me wishing that the jumping were more precise, without the need for quite so much correcting mid-air.

Platforming is only one aspect of Blaster Master, though. Jason can also hop out of his armored vehicle and explore on his own, which is an option this is only recommended when he needs to squeeze into tight spots that Sofia can’t reach. When he’s not surrounded by an armored vehicle, Jason is quite squishy. It’s rare that there’s any need to be outside of the tank for long, fortunately; it’s really only a way to guide Jason to the overhead game’s exploration levels.

A good portion of the action takes place in these overhead stages. The perspective zooms in close to give a proper sense of scale. Although Jason is positively tiny in the side-scrolling portions of the game, here he’s a huge, detailed character. There are multiple places for him to explore, and some of these are small areas where he’ll fight a few enemies and grab weapon power-ups. While that activity is technically optional, it’s a good idea to grab as many helpful items as possible because each stage has a tough mutant boss to locate and defeat. Taking these baddies down will reward Jason with upgrades for the Sofia, which not only adds to her firepower, but her ability to explore the levels, as well.

Blaster Master is an enormous game. The stages are interconnected, with large doorways that allow Jason and Sofia to enter and exit the different areas at will. While it’s not quite as vast as a game like Metroid, the world you contend with is still huge once you factor in both the places that Jason can explore on foot and the side-scrolling places that need to be traversed in Sofia. Exploration is a big draw, with danger and vital upgrades hiding around every corner. It’s supremely frustrating, then, that Blaster Master affords players no way to save their progress. There’s no password system, no battery back-up. Unless you want to leave your NES on between game sessions, this is an adventure that needs to be tackled in one sitting. I’ve never been one for sitting in front of my NES for more than a couple hours at a time, and as such I have yet to see the ending of this game. It’s just too big to tackle without a map.

Even though I’ve never seen it through to its conclusion, though, I’ve never tired of starting the game over from the beginning. Blaster Master is a finely crafted experience, and really shows off the familiar Sunsoft pedigree. The developers at that company really were able to extract some magic from the NES during their heyday, and this game is no exception. I love the gritty, hyper-detailed sprites of the side-scrolling areas, especially in contrast to the very cartoony aesthetic of the overhead sections.

The music and sound effects are of similarly high quality. Again, there’s something innately Sunsoft about this game. Once you’ve played a few titles from the company you’ll see what I mean. The audio compositions aren’t as memorable as the ones found in some other big NES games, but they always keep me invested in the adventure and the noise of Sofia’s cannon firing shots always sounds powerful and deadly.

I’ve come back to Blaster Master time and time again, and I’ve never gotten tired of it. To me, that’s the true definition of a video game classic. At one time I had much of the game memorized, which made replaying it considerably easier. Today, we can turn to the Internet for help… which is no real cheat, not if it helps us to enjoy this wonderful action/platform game all over again.

Freelance review by Julian Titus (June 09, 2013) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.