
	Platform NES Genre Action Publisher Sunsoft Developer Sunsoft ETA 1988
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Blaster Master

When this game first came out it was like a revelation to me. The first thing that I thought was, “Now hold on just one second, here. You mean to tell me I can both drive around in a vehicle and get out and do stuff on foot? Will wonders never cease?” In a time when but stomping, sword swinging, and blasting aliens was all the rage, this combination of gameplay mechanics came off as being quite fresh.

The game pit players in the role of Jason, a regular guy who has a pet from named Fred. One day, Fred escapes from the house, and comes into contact with a mysterious radioactive device. Upon touching it, he grows to an enormous size, and falls through a large hole in the earth. In order to save his now not so little amphibian buddy, Jason climbs down the hole in search of him. When he gets to the bottom of it, there is a large, well-armed subterranean vehicle (SOPHIA) conveniently waiting for him there. Jason climbs into it, and drives it in search of his pet frog, fighting other mutant animals along the way.

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As I mentioned earlier, a big part of the fun in Blaster Master is how the game splits the action between driving around in your vehicle (it does so in a 2D, side-view platforming fashion), and then have the option to hop out of the vehicle and do stuff on foot, either in the aforementioned side view environments, or other top-down view zones. In and of themselves, they both provided rather traditional forms of gameplay, but by combining them, the game came off as being rather fresh.

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Being able to both drive around, and do stuff on foot certainly added to a sense of exploration in the game. Moreover, it was always nice to earn better weapons to better dispose of the various mutants lurking about. Better still was finding more ammo for said weapons when in a pinch. While there were only eight levels in the game, it certainly felt like a reasonably decent length for its time, especially given the exploration involved.

The game did spawn a few sequels that spanned the NES, Gameboy Color, and PSOne, but has been silent in recent years. It’s really a shame. There are plenty of similar styled action games lurking about these days, but they always try so hard to be serious, and usually fail at being even remotely compelling to anyone over the age of 15. It would be nice to see a revival of Blaster Master, if only so we can remember how good it felt to reunite a boy with his frog.

Mr. Nash

August 10, 2009