Despite playing Blaster Master on NES (well, NES-clones, as it was all we had) as a kid and distinctly remembering its amazingly catchy soundtrack, I never got particularly far in that game. Actually, I never even fully understood how it worked. So when a remake, Blaster Master Zero, was released on 3DS and Switch, I didn’t care much. As time went, however, I discovered more about the game (via the amazing Digital Foundry episode on the port, for example) and got increasingly more curious. The game had an exploration focus a slight metroidvania vibe and I love that stuff. With the PC release of the game earlier this year I no longer had any excuses to not play it. So, here we are.
Despite being redone to an extreme extent, the game still feels and looks like something from an older era. That is, until you notice how many tiny details are hidden in every little thing which were simply impossible with the hardware and programmer knowledge at that older time. The basics are the same – you’re still exploring levels in a car-tank that can jump (and learn more abilities) before stumbling upon some obstacle that might require an upgrade that can be found in an isometric level that you explore on foot. The upgrades get only better for tank, but get better or worse depending on pickups and getting hit for the tank pilot, making for a curious dynamic, where you’re rewarded for playing without taking hits. And the world is interconnected, requiring going back and forth, unlocking more abilities and finding optional upgrades that were added in the remake. It’s not quite metroidvania in the fullest sense, but exploration is very important and super fun.
And that’s what the game is first and foremost – fun. Music still kicks ass, levels and enemies are well designed, weapons are fun to use and everything is super… for the most part. There’s a valid criticism to be had that the game is a bit too easy, but I’d rather say this about the challenge – when everything is going well, it’s going too well, but as soon as something can go wrong, it can go obnoxiously and unreasonably wrong fast. One good example is an Area 7 boss encounter which manages to fit all of the absolute worst from the game in a tiny 15 second loop. You must traverse across a simple room via deceptively simple jumps, except this game has ridiculous fall damage when on foot (in most cases, including this one, it’s just instant death), jumping controls are floaty, all boss attacks knock you to your death and to top it all off, the final jump requires a ladder grab that often simply does not work no matter how hard you try. And when you die, you must walk a few steps, watch a scene, skip a scene, watch a scene and then, most likely, die again instantly. And do it all over again for several dozen times until the stars align and things go right.
It’s such a tiny episode in the game, yet it’s a perfect example of how weird and poorly designed the challenge of this game can be. Luckily, it doesn’t detract from hours of enjoyment I had with the game otherwise. It’s a great exploration-focused action platformer and a fantastic example of reviving an old classic in a new, yet recognizable form. If any of what I described (apart from that annoying boss fight) sounds good to you, you should definitely check Blaster Master Zero.