Blaster Master
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| Blaster Master | |
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| Developer(s) | Sunsoft |
| Publisher(s) | Sunsoft |
| Designer(s) | Fanky |
| Platform(s) | NES |
| Release date | JPN June 17, 1988 NA November, 1988 EU April 25, 1991 |
| Genre(s) | Run and gun |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media | 2-megabit cartridge |
| Input methods | NES controller |
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.
Blaster Master is often cited as one of the most original and best games for the NES, owing to a successful combination of the genres of side-scrolling action and overhead exploration. 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, seems to be 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 popular & catchy soundtrack was composed by Naoki Kodaka.
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[edit] Game overview
[edit] Story
The plot of Metafight is centered around Kane Gardner, pilot of the battle tank, "Metal Attacker", who lands on the planet Sophia the 3rd to lead the attack against the invading emperor Goez.
In Blaster Master (the localized version of Metafight), the player controls Jason Frudnick, a teenage boy who fell into a humongous underground cavern after chasing his pet frog, Fred, who has become enlarged, due to exposure to radiation. There, he discovers an all-terrain battle tank. This vehicle is designated SOPHIA (sometimes also referred to as Sofia), which stands for "Subatomic Omni-directional Probative Hyper-responsive Indomitable Abdicator (3rd Design) Nora MA-01". As he explores the underground world, he must find the underboss of each of the eight levels and destroy them. After he destroys each underboss, he is given an upgrade with which to enhance SOPHIA the 3rd. When he reaches the end, he discovers that the underbosses were controlled by the Plutonium Boss, a creature which was planning to invade the world above.
The story of Blaster Master is sometimes criticized for being confusing and incomplete.[citation needed] For example, Fred's mutation is brought about after he hops onto a radioactive chest inexplicably placed in Jason's front yard and no explanation is given for either the radioactive chest, or SOPHIA's convenient location. The plot of the Blaster Master Worlds of Power book, which is slightly different from that of the manual, goes into more detail and explains many of these quirks. However, the Worlds of Power book was originally not canon to the storyline of Blaster Master. See the Novel section below for more information.
[edit] Gameplay
Jason begins the game in his tank, Sophia the 3rd, with a limited selection of abilities. It can move horizontally, jump, fire shots from its cannon, or use special attacks after finding ammunition for them. As the game progresses, however, Jason acquires new abilities for the tank by defeating the bosses of each level. Each upgrade affords a different style of gameplay. For example, it is possible to receive an upgrade for water movement ("Dive") which allows the vehicle to move freely through water environments; with the "Hover" upgrade module, Sophia the 3rd has the capability to fly through the air to reach higher targets and gain entry to remote platforms, and so on.
In addition, Jason may leave the tank at any time to explore surrounding regions. His armor and attacks are weaker outside the tank, and falling long distances deals damage to the unfortified Jason. Nevertheless, exiting Sophia is the only way to climb ladders and enter various passageways throughout the level.
When Jason enters one of these passageways, the game mode changes to an overhead shooter. Here, Jason can use either of two weapons: his gun, or grenades. Although the grenades deal more damage and are required to defeat some bosses, they are difficult to aim properly, as throwing a grenade a long distance requires a moving start. Jason's gun is fairly weak at first, but by picking up certain items, its shots become stronger and gain a greater range. Though some of these passages contain useful power-ups, only one per level leads to the boss's room.
[edit] The Grenade Glitch
While fighting the bosses of Areas 2, 4, 6, and 7, players may take advantage of a famous glitch, affectionately referred to as the "pause bomb" or "grenade glitch", to defeat the bosses in one hit. If the player throws a grenade at the boss and pauses the game at the moment of impact, the sound of the grenade dealing damage will repeat itself indefinitely and the game will register the grenade as dealing damage for as long as the game remains paused. If the player waits long enough, then unpauses the game, the boss will die instantly. So popular was this glitch that Nintendo Power once printed it on the subscription cards packaged with NES games as an example of the tips featured in each magazine. One important note in using the pause bomb--The glitch works both ways. If the player gets hit and pauses the game (while still blinking), they will die. The grenade glitch does work on the components of the Area 3 boss, but as each cube must be individually destroyed, the trick's effectiveness is largely moot.
[edit] Other Bugs
There is another bug in the game that is triggered if Jason, when outside of his tank, walks up to a door, and immediately turns and walks the other direction just before actually contacting it. In this case, 'door' refers to the type of portal that connects one segment of a level to another and through which the tank can pass through - not the doors only Jason can enter when outside the tank. When triggered, Jason will disappear as though he's going through the door, but then reappear back somewhere into the originating portion of the level, instead of the one on the other side of the door. If Jason reappears inside a wall or rocks, the game is stuck and must be reset, as there is no way for the player to get back out, nor to commit suicide and start over. This is commonly a problem on level 5 (the water level) at the bottom where Jason must get out of the tank and go through a series of portal doors before earning the Dive capability to enable the tank to swim out of the bottom - if the player turns around to fight two swimming robotic ants just short of entering the first portal after leaving the tank, Jason will disappear and reappear in the rocks nearby, halting the game.
[edit] Legacy
[edit] Ports
In Japan, Meta Fight was re-released for the PlayStation in Volume 4 of Sunsoft's Memorial Series.
[edit] Novel
Scholastic published a novelization of Blaster Master (written by Peter Lerangis under the pen name "A.L. Singer" [1]) as part of their Worlds of Power series, which were loose novelizations of NES games. Although the storyline of the book takes several liberties from the original game's plot, it has been adopted as canon (in contrast to other World of Power books) by the developers of Blaster Master: Blasting Again, since the character of Eve was originally a creation of the book.
[edit] Other appearances
In the Homestar Runner short "japanese cartoon", it is possible to see part of the ending of Blaster Master. By clicking the words "Japanese cartoons" twice at the end of the movie, then clicking on a VHS tape labeled "NES Endings", viewers can scroll through a series of 11 pictures of NES game endings, the 7th of which is Blaster Master. In this particular picture, there is an arrow pointing to Jason's hair, with the words "Blue hair" written. This is a reference to a statement by Strong Bad earlier in the cartoon, as well as the fact that Jason's hair is blue in the game's ending. This error is due to the palette limitations of the NES, as Kane Gardner, the protagonist of MetaFight, had blue hair, but the palette couldn't be changed without adversely affecting the ending visuals.
[edit] 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
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