Blaster Master

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Blaster Master
Developer(s)	Sunsoft
Publisher(s)	Sunsoft
Composer(s)	Naoki Kodaka
Platform(s)	Nintendo Entertainment System
Release date(s)	JP June 17, 1988 (1988-06-17) NA November 30, 1988 (1988-11-30) EU April 25, 1991 (1991-04-25)
Genre(s)	Run and gun, Platform game
Mode(s)	Single player
Media	2-megabit cartridge
Input methods	Gamepad

Blaster Master is a video game released by Sunsoft in 1988 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the localized version of a Japanese Famicom game titled Chô Wakusei Senki Metafight (超惑星戦記メタファイト^?, which loosely translates to "Super Planetary War Records: Metafight"). Though both versions of the game share identical graphics and gameplay, the plot was completely changed for the American release.

Like The Legend of Zelda, Blaster Master featured the gameplay mechanic of allowing players to revisit previous areas at will; in fact, this is necessary to complete the game. Another notable aspect of the game, the player's ability to gain powers from defeated bosses, seemingly inspired by the game Mega Man. Blaster Master is also regarded as one of the most challenging games for the NES, along with Battletoads, The Adventures of Bayou Billy and Ninja Gaiden.

Blaster Master is one of the most successful original franchises of Sunsoft, a company known for producing games based on popular licenses. It is the first in a series of five games; Blaster Master Boy, a localization of Bomber King 2, was released in 1991 and the first direct sequel, Blaster Master 2, was released in 1993.

Though something of a cult classic, Blaster Master has seen some recognition in major publications long after its release; Nintendo Power's 100th issue listed it as the 63rd Greatest (Nintendo) Game of All Time, and Electronic Gaming Monthly named it the 184th Greatest Video Game of Its Time in its 200th issue.

The game's soundtrack was composed by Naoki Kodaka.

Plot

The plot in Blaster Master is shown at the beginning in a cinematic slideshow as "ominous" music plays in the background.^[1] The game starts with a person named Jason who had a pet frog named Fred, who, one day, decides to leap out of his fish bowl and out the door. Then, Fred touches a radioactive chest and grows enormously. Fred and the chest then fall into a hole in the earth.^[2] Jason then follows Fred down the hole which leads to a large underground cavern and to an armored vehicle named SOPHIA THE 3RD—a vehicle designed to battle radioactive mutants living inside the Earth.^[1][2] Jason then mounts SOPHIA to find the whereabouts of Fred and to destroy the mutants and their leader—the Plutonium Boss—in what has been described as "one of the great scenes in all of video games".^[1][3]

Gameplay

Gameplay in Blaster Master depends on the situation and location of the player. The game has two modes—the first in which the player controls the SOPHIA while Jason is inside it in a two–dimensional platform mode, and the second in which the player controls Jason while outside SOPHIA in either the same 2–D platform mode or in a top-down perspective. The player swiches between these modes as indicated by the various small doorways located throughout the game.^[4] The gameplay is non-linear, in which players must return to previous levels in order to advance to higher levels in the game.^[5]

The two–dimensional platforming mode of Blaster Master. Shown is the vehicle SOPHIA THE 3RD jumping from one platform to another.

The object of the game is to complete all eight levels and destroy the mutants and their bosses by using various weaponry such as guns, grenades, or special weapons. While Jason is inside SOPHIA, the player can attack the mutants with guns (which can shoot in any direction) or with one of three special weapons.^[4] Special weapons can be accumulated by collecting certain objects which are scattered throughout the game. These special weapons have limited ammunition and include homing missiles, "Thunder Break", and "Multi Warhead Missiles".^[6] Players can select their special weapon and monitor how much of a certain special weapon they have remaining by accessing the Menu Screen by pressing the Start button.^[7] Players have a power meter which decreases every time they get hit by a mutant or any other hazardous object.^{[citation needed]} Players lose a life if their power meter runs out, and the game ends if they lose all of their lives. Players are given five continues in which they can restart the game where they left off.^[4][8] They can restore their power meter by collecting power capsules scattered throughout the game.^[8]

While outside SOPHIA in the top-down perspective, players can destroy mutants from any direction with their gun or with hand grenades.^[9] In this mode, players can upgrade their gun by collecting gun capsules, but their gun can degrade when hit by mutants.^[7] Players can obtain additional vehicle functions by destroying bosses at the end of each level. These functions include weapon upgrades for SOPHIA and the abilities for SOPHIA to swim freely underwater, walk on walls and ceilings, hover above ground.^[6] The hover ability cannot be obtained until after defeating the boss of the 3rd level, and players monitor the amount of thrust remaining in the vehicle via a "Hover gauge" located on the screen. Players can obtain additional thrust by collecting hover capsules.^[8] The game has a glitch in the game—colloquially known as the "grenade glitch"—to easily defeat some of the bosses.^[10] To exploit this glitch, the player throws a grenade at the boss, damaging it. While the grenade is exploding on the boss, the player pauses the game; while the remainder of the action on the screen freezes, the grenade remains active, continuing to damage the boss. After fifteen seconds, the player unpauses the game, resulting in the boss being destroyed.^[11]

History

The game was released by Sunsoft in Japan under the title Chou-Wakusei Senki MetaFight on June 17, 1988 (1988-06-17).^[12] It was then released in North America under the title Blaster Master in November 1988.^[13] It was released in Europe on April 25, 1991 (1991-04-25).^[12] Chou-Wakusei Senki MetaFight was re-released for the Sony PlayStation along with Ripple Island in Volume 4 of Sunsoft's Memorial Series.^[14]

Scholastic Books published a novelization of Blaster Master, written by Peter Lerangis under the pen name "A.L. Singer" as part of the Worlds of Power series—books that were loose novelizations of various NES games.^[15][16] He also wrote similar novelizations for Ninja Gaiden, Infiltrator, and Bases Loaded II: Second Season.^[16] As with the other books in this series, all acts of violence portrayed in the games, including any death scenes, were removed in the novelizations. This led to the bosses to be portrayed in the book as "holographic projections placed over formless blobs".^[17] Shawn Struck and Shawn Sharkey from 1UP.com said that Blaster Master was the hardest book for Lerangis to write due to the lack of middle plot. As a result, Lerangis had to come up with details that were not in the game in order to connect the game's actual opening and conclusion. This led to Sunsoft adopting Lerangis' novel as the backstory for the game's sequel, Blaster Master: Blasting Again; hence, this was the only novel in the Worlds of Power series to be officially canonized in a video game series.^[16]

Blaster Master received praise from reviewers for its gameplay. Brad Hicks from SwankWorld calls the game "one of the most underrated games to have ever come out on the NES".^[18] Hicks praises the gameplay referring to it as "seemlessly integrated".^[18] Alex Jedraszczak likewise praised the gameplay for its smooth controls and clean level layouts, comparing the game to Metroid.^[19] Julian Rignall, in a 1992 issue of Mean Machines magazine, praised the overall gameplay, including the tank movements, while Matt Regan enjoyed the game's fast-paced gameplay and abundance of rooms and bonus areas to explore.^[20] One criticism came from Levi Buchanan from IGN, came from the top-down perspective, where the character holds his gun in his right hand, meaning that the player must compensate by moving left before shooting at enemies (if the player can move left on the screen).^[10]

The game received mixed reviews for its graphics and sound. Hicks lauds the visuals, referring to the game's detail in the main levels and in the caverns, graphical variety, and the animations in the tank and the enemies.^[18] Jedraszczak praises the game for its detailed level design, which he adds is "easy on the eyes". In addition, he lauds the game's large and well-drawn sprites used in the top-down perspective. He does slightly criticize the lack of identifiable detail found in the enemies.^[19] Hicks praises the game for its sound effects and music, comparing the music on the first level to the Super Mario Bros. theme;^[18] Jedraszczak likewise gave good praise to the "ear-splitting soundtrack" of the game.^[19] Regan says that the game's sound effects and music further bolster the gameplay and graphical atmosphere.^[20]

One of the main criticisms of Blaster Master has been its difficulty. Hicks, Jedraszczak, and Buchanan criticize the game for its difficulty along with the lack of passwords or save features as used in Metroid, which meant that the game had to be completed in one sitting.^[18][19] Buchanan criticized the game for the difficulty in its on-foot portions, including difficult-to-beat bosses, enemies that regenerate when the player re-enters a screen, of losing a life from the player falling too far while on foot in the 2–D mode.^[10] Hicks and Buchanan also said that some players had to exploit the "grenade glitch" to beat some bosses.^[18][10]

References

External links

• Blaster Master at MobyGames
• Blaster Master at GameFAQs
• Blaster Master guide at StrategyWiki
• Hardcore Gaming 101's In-Depth Article on the series
• Blaster Master: The Legacy - Explains the storyline of the Blaster Master series, with several canon and non-canon additions
• Blaster Master Underground (BMUG) - A complete record of all games in the series, including external media and background development history on each game
• Unofficial arrangements (ReMixes) of Blaster Master's soundtrack at OverClocked ReMix