Blaster Master

Developer: Sunsoft
Year: 1988

Blaster Master has always been one of my favorite games on the NES, even though i never played it all that much way back when, and it really holds up well on replay. I never finished it, and I haven't put it back on the shelf after playing yesterday, so maybe I'll finally get around to it.

Everything about Blaster Master is a success. It's a side-scroller in a big tank thing at points, but then you can get out of the tank and run around, at which point it becomes a really convincing Zelda-style top-down adventure -- except with better graphics. The play is awesome -- feels great, at all stages. And you get so much here, there's so much depth, that in the end I wound up comparing it to nothing so much as Metroid, except with more variety. You kill a boss, gain new powers, and open new areas, and it works really well.

I'm not going to belabor this. Blaster Master is great, and unique in the extent to which is mixes gameplay styles. In fact, new decision: I'm going to finish Blaster Master. There. That's my review.

Rating: 10/10 Tough to give anything a 10, but if it's not for BM, I'm not sure what it's for.
Advice: The most dangerous foe in the game seems to be the grass in the first 20 second of play.
Best Moment: The first time you get out of your tank and start running around. You're very tiny.