Do You Remember - Blaster Master?

[IrishCanadian25]

With all of the "Wii" talk, and myself still having an original XBox which gets dusted off MAYBE three times each year when I need to shoot people in Mercenaries or The Godfather, I got nostalgic for OLD SCHOOL NINTENDO. So, I am going to recall some old NES games, and hopefully you will all take this journey with me.

Nintendo Power's 100th issue ranked Blaster Master the 63rd greatest NES game of all time.

The plot centers around the character Jason, who chases his pet frog into a huge ditch. He falls into another world after his fall, seeing his pet frog (Fred) mutated by radiation. Jason also finds a tank - SOPHIA the 3rd - which he gets into and discovers that he must defeat 7 levels and their underbosses.

Similar to Mega Man, defeating a boss earned additional powers for Jason's tank. Jason can travel in SOPHIA, or exit and walk around, though decidedly weaker if he does.

If Jason leaves Sophia for an underground passage, the game goes from horizonal recon to overhead shooter, with Jason armed with a gun and grenades.

Blaster Master had been known for a neat glitch, called "The Grenade Glitch," in which an area boss could be defeated with one hit if a thrown grenade exploded and the player paused the game at the moment of impact. That pause would not be recognized by the grenade, which would continue repeating the damage it was doing to the boss. It was possible to defeat 4 area bosses with this glitch.

Make no mistake, the bosses in this game were TOUGH, and the game itself was often regarded as one of the hardest on the original NES. The game ends after you defeat the final boss - The Plutonium Boss. Not a creative name, but hell, it was 1988.

Spoiler: Level 7

In a fun twist, the end of level seven (pre-plutonium boss) forces Jason to fight his pet frog Fred - and destroy him - to survive. Nice touch. If you beat the game, though, Fred comes back fine.

Now - who remembers Blaster Master?

 

[Lee]

Every month I like to buy a new video game, every three months it's a retro game for one of my extensive range of games consoles. I think that Master Blaster will be this months purchase, would you believe I hadn't even HEARD of this game let alone played it?

I hang my head in shame. But alas I digress...from the research I've been doing this looks like a very immense game, sort of Zelda with guns and from what I read it's rather challenging. What more could you want?

I look forward to you doing more threads like this as I am a huge retro gamer. NES FTW.

 

[Mr. TM]

Thank you IC, I owe you a lifetime of gratitude. My cousin owned this game, and it was one of my favorite as a kid. Unfortunately I grew up and had no idea what the name of the game was. Just seeing the screenshots, I went up in goosebumps. It was an incredible game as a kid, and all I remember was the difficult experience I encountered while playing the game. I shall play this game after I defeat Legends of Zelda, which I hiope to be done tonight. Thank you IC.