This kid in 4th grade claimed he had beaten it, so naturally I was excited to invite him over to watch him destroy the game which had tormented me . Upon arrival, I learned he’d never played the game. It was probably the first time in my life I felt actual rage.
10 year old me and my friends for a month, could not figure out how to get past level 3. One of my friends finally figured it out. That feeling of triumph was overwhelming lol, I'll never forget it. One of my fav NES games for sure.
As a hardcore fan of this game, I have to say that I share your opinion almost completely. This game is too hard and certainly punishing as you well said, but back then it was an absolute gem and a state of the art in every aspect.
Used to play this game a lot when I was a kid, and I remember beating it when I was like in my mid-teens, it felt so great to FINALLY beat it. Once you get used the game, there's only two main challenges in your way: First, you need to kill the Level 5 boss (the crab shown in the video). Basically, the best thing you can do, is use the dungeon in Level 1 that you have to climb down a long ladder to reach. It's a short dungeon with two GUN powerups, and 4 trips into this room only takes a few minutes. Once you get that, try to take as little damage as possible, and in Level 3 there's one dungeon on your way to a boss that has a flashing GUN powerup. Now, what Pam did not mention in this video, is that the things that fire lasers that slowly move side to side, those can drop GUN powerups (they are the only enemy in the game that does so AFAIK). Full GUN makes the Lv3 boss easy, but isn't absolutely required. Once you kill the Lv3 Boss, refill your GUN at that Level 1 dungeon on your way to lv4. Also what Pam left out, is that getting hit in the overworld vehicle stages even while outside of your vehicle does not make you lose GUN power. Anyways, go through Level 4, if you do it right, you should not be getting hit whatsoever if you still have full GUN. Once you get to Level 5, drop down to the bottom of the ocean, get out and swim. Get to the Lv5 door and if you got save states, save! save often. This is the hardest part in the game, you need to get to the crab with full GUN. Pray, that if you get hit, that one of the laser enemies drops a replacement gun power. If you get to the boss missing any GUN, you are not going to win, most likely. You can try but it will be very difficult. Well, once you get Lv5 done, the next challenge part is getting through Lv8's vehicle section. Once you do that, the Lv8 boss is easy (there's a flashing GUN in his dungeon somewhere in all of those blocks!). Oh, and the last boss can be hard to learn too, because he does 2 damage per hit. You can only get hit 3 times and he takes a Lot of hits to kill. Oh, and the vehicle areas? You know you are going the right way when you hear the chirping enemies that fly horizontally in a wave pattern.
Yeah everyone keeps bringing up The Guardian Legend recently. That was my favorite NES game too. It's about time it had an official sequel or reboot. Or something. We all remember it fondly, and it was a good story, and interesting main character. It's time for another Guardian Legend.
Me: "Aww Cool!! A Blaster Master Master Blaster review!!" Looks at date. October 2016. Almost 3 years ago. Pam. I'm so sorry it took me this long to find you. I binged your videos while I cooked dinner earlier. (I made chicken Bahn Mi sandwiches) I'm glad I know of you now. You're entertaining, and your voice is easy to listen to.
I just love that Jason has a massive container of radioactive material out in his yard... Just sitting there, unsupervised, no fences nothing 🤣 Gaming was so much simpler in the 80s.
I just wanted to mention that it looked like when you fought the crab boss you didn't know how to strafe. If you hold down B, you can move without turning your body and it makes grenading the boss to death a bit easier. This can also come in handy when exploring dungeons.
Or you could grenade him on his weak spot and pause the game. This was a hack/glitch I learned. It works on most of the bosses, not all of them though. I can’t remember which ones. Also, if you take damage and pause it. You will die. The hack works both ways.
@@dinoflagella4185 The grenade and pause glitch only works on bosses in stage 2,4,6, and 7. If only it worked on the boss in stage 3 that replicates! That's just evil. lol
Blaster Master was such a fantastic game. Loved playing through it, and yeah, totally Nintendo hard! Ended up learning it well enough to get to the last stage without dying, but never made it through there. SPIKES EVERYWHERE. Spot on about the Jason sections though. It was bad even back then. It's a shame the Genesis sequels weren't very good.
Great review. I was that 10 year old kid that played this game for hours on in. A lot of fond memories but watching your review I realize it's nostalgia and I'd never pick it up again but dang I loved that game
this game was incredible to play back in the late 80s, absolutely my favorite game on the NES. It's punishingly difficult for htose who don't know the layout or the stratagies to get past certain parts of the games or the bosses. But the game rewards you with feeling like you learn something every time you play and keep coming back to see how far you can get. The game is super long for those who don't know exactly how to Bee line to the correct places as the game can be beaten in as little as 45 minutes by a true Blaster Master, an average player that knows nothing will struggle to get even past stage 5 in 3 to 4 hours and I have gone through long 6+ hour marathons getting to and futily trying to beat Stage 8 (which is a brutally hard stage that punishes you for having Wall 2, and yes, it was designed to be a hinderance there, was no accedent or game bug). When you finally beat the game legitly, you feel like you conquored the world as this game probably took months or even years of constant play throughs and memorizations to finally get the right patern down, a truely satasfying experience to finally beat this very difficult game.
My favorite NES game of all time (oh the memories from 1989). This game is one of those that spawned the TVTrope term “Nintendo Hard”. Eventually I leaned to beat it in about 2 hours. Loved the end sequence and soundtrack! Loved levels 4,5,6 look and feel. Pun intended, this was a blast from the past.
No idea how we beat this game as kids without save states but we did know the pause trick to kill bosses trick. If I had to guess it was definitely not a glitch but a secret to help you along with what was a super difficult game. Video game secrets was a very common trend back then, and this always felt intentinonal
I agree with all of your criticisms, and that's coming from a lifelong fan of this game who grew up with it as one of only about a dozen games on his NES.
I grew up with this game, so there's a ton of nostalgic value for me. The graphics were superb for a 1988 game. And that soundtrack--one of the best on the NES! I use Metal covers for this game in my videos all the time. But yeah, the game is absolutely brutal! I agree with you on so many aspects--it's unnecessarily difficult at times and like you said, just plain mean. You definitely covered this game well. It was cool seeing you do some different stuff with this review. One of your best!
The Blaster Master series to me is one of the best and a true lost treasure at the time it was around. If you've never read the World of Power book to this game by FX Nine you should check it out. ( It even includes some game tips including the one Pam mentions in this video about pausing to beat certain bosses. ) I can proudly say I beat this game back with no save states. It took a lot of months and trial and error when I growing up playing this as a kid, but it was WORTH IT! 😀 Also don't feel bad about the stage 5 boss. Its probably one of the most pain in the *beep* you would face without Jason's Gun Meter being at Max Power. If your looking for a challenge on the NES Blaster Master is truly a challenging game and considering when it was made it wasn't often you had password system of saves for many NES games. The good thing is you did at least have check points at certain spots if you lose a life. Amazing soundtrack. Epic boss battles. Couldn't ask for more at the the times the game was released. ( Sometimes if you boot up the game just right you could accidently turn this game into a 1 life only game. 😱 That's right no lives or continues and when you die it goes straight back to the title screen with no game over music. If you notice after the Sophia 3rd takes off into the cave scene and you don't get the 3 left screen you need to reset the game. I don't know how this happens but its just a matter of luck. ) Just curious Pam have you played nay of the other Blaster Master games from this franchise era? If so which ones? If you've never played them I highly recommend the recent remade Blaster Master Zero series avialable to download from internet stores. Or you can find a physical copy of the trilogy, but its very pricy since it was released by Limited Run. 😞 Thanks again for your time.
You called it. It's harder to appreciate an older game that you didn't grow up with. Mechanics and design can feel dated or frustrating. Also this was *a* time where arcades were still popular and video games were designed to be harder or involve tactics like back tracking to lengthen the game. Honestly this is one of *the* better NES classics and a personal favorite.
This game was a classic for kids growing up in the NES era. They made a sequel for Game Boy, and also rebooted the series a couple times on the PS1 and Switch. Check them out!
One of my all time favorites. I’ve recently started playing it again, this time on the Switch. Now I can save progress and rewind if I do something stupid like walk off a platform into water
"Only to watch Fred run into a radioactive chest, grow to an enormous size and fall into a hole." Ahhh, classic Fred. He's always doing stuff like that.
Spot on review😎👍 one of my favorite games of all time! I love that you played the music in the background...such good memories. This is one game that cried out for the Max controller.
I loved Blaster Master so much as a kid the music of the first level is my ringtone. While it took a while to play all the way through to the end it was worth all the time it took to learn every level, every enemy, and every dungeon. I recently found out they made a new version and two new games and they were available on Steam. So I bought all three at once and loved going through the first one all over again but with the added ability to save at any time. Blaster Master and the Mega Man series will always be my favorite games of all time.
This and Kid Icarus are some of my faves from growing up - fair and honest review from someone experiencing it for the first time in the 2010s - you were spot on with your 10 year old comment...I was obsessed with this game till I beat it and I was 12 at the time of its release.
Now you're talking about an absolute classic. This is one of those games that I played as a kid and have played on many occasions over the years, even somewhat recently. Great review m'lady.
I played this when I was a kid. I didn't own it, but a family I used to play with had it. I got to the boss at stage 7 but got worked up and slipped up. That's the furthest I got. I had a blast while playing it even if I never mastered it in doing so.
This game strikes such a special chord in me. I was seven years old when Blaster Master was released in late 1988 and one of my good friends purchased the game which gave me the opportunity to play it to death and beyond (I think I borrowed it TWICE!) It is an incredibly difficult and punishing game but with lots of practice, it is amazing what you can do. You are right about the gun being off center but a quick grenade can take out those enemies that your gun can't touch. It took me decades to master all of the little tricks though. This game is still one of my all-time favorites and one of my proudest accomplishments is that I have beaten the game multiple times with one life. I am still amazed I was able to do that (it took me like 7-8 months to beat the game as a kid too...LOTS of yelling and screaming happened during that time I can assure you). ;)
This is one of those games that I must have rented a million times when I was a kid... But don't think I ever got very far... Thanks for your awesome reviews.. Keep em coming..
Great review. I played this as a kid, and loved the style, but hated that there were no maps and not plenty of powerups, so I never completed it. However, I ended up playing the Blaster Master Zero trilogy this year, and 100% them all, and really loved it.
Blaster Master is a true gem of the NES and remarkably good and complex for the platform. Loved it as a kid, though I never got further than world 5 with the dive upgrade on the actual console but did beat it on emulated platforms. The remake was one of my primary reasons for getting a switch actually, overall a pretty good update to what was already a great game.
@@Cannotbetamed1 it would definitely being a recommendation from me. The art is updated a bit here and there, the overhead areas look better. The weapon system in overhead is a bit more fleshed out now and it has a save system now. Some say the changes make it too easy but even as a fan of the original difficulty I still found the new experience quite enjoyable.
This was actually my very first NES game as a kid that I received on a Christmas morning along with the console. I really enjoyed it but never fully beat it as I didn't have the time for full play throughs !
Beat this game when I was 10, took me weeks of trying over and over again until I could get to the end and finally fight the last boss with my gun maxed out, which was nearly a necessity. This game plays like metroid, which is a big reason why I love it, and each boss is unique and so satisfying when you beat them. I still play this game on an emulator every couple years because it's just that good. This game also reminds me of another nes game which is a favorite of mine, "The Battle of Olympus" anyone who liked Blaster Master should definitely check this great game out as well.
You don't have to worry about trying to beat the game in one go round on the virtual console release because it saves your spot when you quit the game so it makes the game even better to play!
I played it as a kid, but didn't own it. But I remember it was fun. I did get the remake and sequel on Steam, and loved them! If anyone is wondering if the Steam versions are worth getting, I say yes!!!
this game was one of a kind, I never owned it but played it a bunch as a kid, it was always in the back of my mind when I'd think about nes games I played, could never remember the name and finally stumbled upon it while playing my nes emulator 5 or so years ago
Okay but the conversation between Pam and Pam about the story is pretty much exactly how I always felt about the story, even as a kid. Except...so you have a pet (now-)giant frog? One (or two I think?) of the bosses is...a giant frog... the first time I killed the thing, I was like "WAIT DID I JUST KILL FRED?!"
Ah Blaster Master :) Brings back memories like from 20+ years ago :D I remember my cousin had this one and I remember playing this with him a lot when we met every few months or so. Very fun and quite challenging game it was :)
Not to brag (proceeds to brag), but I was around 12 or 13 when I first played Blaster Master back in the day on the original NES. Game is indeed frustratingly difficult (cheap as hell), but it can be tamed. It took me over a year of playing it on and off to finally beat it. When I finally did I felt like a gaming God. Years later, while a senior in high school, I mentioned to a friend that it was a game I had conquered. Understandably, he didn't believe me, but begged me to come over prove I could. So after dusting off his old NES, and over a long afternoon of some trial and error (hadn't played it in years), he finally got to see the ending. Mad props to me. If only the girls went wild for that sort of thing ;)
This game takes up a good portion of my bone marrow, and I had forgotten how much I loved the music! I guess I can thank RUclips for figuring out I like this game, and introducing me to your channel. Subscribing to see more of your adorable self.
Absolutely one of the best NES games in my book! Crazy thing is back in 1989 I got to the point where I could make it to area 8 without dying. But I still never beat the game. I remember having a hell of a time with the low enemies and spikes everywhere. Gonna give it a run again 30 years later on the emulator!!
This game has been on my list for a long time. I got a physical copy not too long ago and will eventually get around to streaming it. Excellent vid as always Pam.
You should check out Blaster Master Zero! It's sort of a remake of the original game, but much more forgiving and with a bit more story tacked on to give a greater sense of purpose. It still has that "lose weapon upgrades if you get hit" mechanic which I don't love, but early on you can find a power-up that acts as a safety net against that as long as you don't get hit multiple times within a short period. There's a built-in map system so you can't get lost and can see where dungeons and stuff are. Also, your hover and special weapon energy naturally regenerates over time, vastly improving the "quality of life" factor. It's a quick play-through if you want to revisit this adventure with some player-friendly enhancements and some thoughtful twists. There's also an unlockable bonus world and a better "true" ending if you attain 100% completion (which is not that hard to do). It leads into Blaster Master Zero 2, and original game that I only just started playing but I have to say is way more fun and inventive than the first. The developers are no longer bogged down by trying to imitate an 8-bit Nintendo game's structure, and are free to expand and explore new territory and mechanics. Apparently a third game in this series is coming out soon, too, so clearly people like this series!
Blaster Master is one of my favorite games to this day. I still remember the the feeling of triumph when I finished it for the first few times. I almost felt like I could take on Battletoads. Almost.
Hah, I prided myself on the fact that I was the first person I knew in my group of friends that had beaten this game. As a matter of fact I was the only person that could get to level 4 and I had to show all my friends how to get even that far. If I remember right I pretty much showed anyone who was dedicated enough to beat the game how to do it because no one else knew how but me in my entire school.
Blaster Master terrified me. As a little kid, there was a novelization of it that I picked up at a Scholastic book fair in like first grade. I was scared about my frog getting mutated and the cover was kinda scary. (I didn't have a frog 🐸 at the time)
This game scared the crap out of me as a kid...why you ask? It needed a password or battery save system. It was much too long to try to beat it in one go. Super intimidating as I progressed into the game and each death was that much closer to the dreaded "game over.". Did it have unlimited continues? I didn't think so, but I don't recall.
The newer Blaster Master Zero was awesome. I haven't played the next two in the Zero line, but I felt BMZ 1 fixed a LOT of the issues with the original Blaster Master. Also: Music was excellent XD
I loved (and still love) this game, though I still have yet to beat it! I remember when it came out, I was 10. I read about it in Nintendo Power and couldn't wait to play it. I agree with all the criticisms. I think, aesthetically, it is still a superb game despite some gameplay issues and being "Nintendo Hard". The music and graphics are top notch (particularly the music). Sunsoft made some gems, like this and the original Batman game.
I remember loving this game so much when I was a kid. This was my personal level of "NES hard" and was very worth the time spent mapping out and searching. But this was a game I never understood why it didn't have a save file. Pretty sure this was the game I used black electrical tape to hide the red LED so my parents wouldn't see the NES was being left on overnight...
hey thanks for the review! With all this quarantine going on i was thinking of playing Blaster Master finally, but your very detailed and well thought out review made me realize, while it has merit, it's probably not for me. Your review answered every question i had in an entertaining presentation, i can't ask for anything better than that! You gained a subscriber and a fan, keep up the good work.
My favorite NES game. I’m so glad they remade it for the Nintendo switch. I’m definitely buying for my son. I’ve never beaten the game though. I made it to the last boss, killed him with my last life, and died when he revealed his second form. I was like, WTF!!!
So envious of that Guide to the NES Library book you have in the background. I've never been a fan of the where-do-I-go kind of games but who knows, I might wanna pick this one up while it's still cheap.
You're probably right about the whole "had I played it as a kid" part. I loved this game as a kid, but a friend of mine, who recently got into NES platformers (and who never had a console as a kid) just hated it, while he still loves a lot of the other well received NES games, citing similar reasons as you. I still love this game, but I fully accept that without the nostalgia goggles, my opinion on it might be very different.
Nostalgia definitely impacts how much enjoyment I get out of games now. Star Tropics is one that I found more frustrating things with when replaying it recently, but still love it because of how much I played as a kid. Also, if it's something you played a lot as a kid, you have that underlying knowledge and memory of what to do, which makes it more enjoyable than someone going in for the first time and having no idea.
As a kid, this was probably in my personal top-10 on the NES. Your criticisms however, are spot on. All the issues with top-down levels and fruitless backtracking are enough to keep me from revisiting it as an adult.
Cannot be Tamed one game that has unlimited continues is Ninja Gaiden. That game? I beat it but if I played it w/o save states, I'd break the controller
Ahhh gods I adored this game as a kid! I wonder if I'd be any more successful at it today... I think I beat it once but usually didn't make it quite to the end, haha.
I know this review came out years ago, but if by chance you see this, please give Blaster Master Zero a try on either 3DS, Switch, PS4, or PC. It is a remake of this game and vastly improves pretty much everything about it. In fact, I actually think it's a little too easy at points because of how much it lowers the difficulty! It is a really good game though and I think you would like it if given a try.
This kid in 4th grade claimed he had beaten it, so naturally I was excited to invite him over to watch him destroy the game which had tormented me . Upon arrival, I learned he’d never played the game. It was probably the first time in my life I felt actual rage.
So then, why would he lie?
10 year old me and my friends for a month, could not figure out how to get past level 3. One of my friends finally figured it out. That feeling of triumph was overwhelming lol, I'll never forget it. One of my fav NES games for sure.
As a hardcore fan of this game, I have to say that I share your opinion almost completely. This game is too hard and certainly punishing as you well said, but back then it was an absolute gem and a state of the art in every aspect.
Used to play this game a lot when I was a kid, and I remember beating it when I was like in my mid-teens, it felt so great to FINALLY beat it. Once you get used the game, there's only two main challenges in your way: First, you need to kill the Level 5 boss (the crab shown in the video). Basically, the best thing you can do, is use the dungeon in Level 1 that you have to climb down a long ladder to reach. It's a short dungeon with two GUN powerups, and 4 trips into this room only takes a few minutes. Once you get that, try to take as little damage as possible, and in Level 3 there's one dungeon on your way to a boss that has a flashing GUN powerup. Now, what Pam did not mention in this video, is that the things that fire lasers that slowly move side to side, those can drop GUN powerups (they are the only enemy in the game that does so AFAIK).
Full GUN makes the Lv3 boss easy, but isn't absolutely required. Once you kill the Lv3 Boss, refill your GUN at that Level 1 dungeon on your way to lv4. Also what Pam left out, is that getting hit in the overworld vehicle stages even while outside of your vehicle does not make you lose GUN power. Anyways, go through Level 4, if you do it right, you should not be getting hit whatsoever if you still have full GUN.
Once you get to Level 5, drop down to the bottom of the ocean, get out and swim. Get to the Lv5 door and if you got save states, save! save often. This is the hardest part in the game, you need to get to the crab with full GUN. Pray, that if you get hit, that one of the laser enemies drops a replacement gun power. If you get to the boss missing any GUN, you are not going to win, most likely. You can try but it will be very difficult.
Well, once you get Lv5 done, the next challenge part is getting through Lv8's vehicle section. Once you do that, the Lv8 boss is easy (there's a flashing GUN in his dungeon somewhere in all of those blocks!). Oh, and the last boss can be hard to learn too, because he does 2 damage per hit. You can only get hit 3 times and he takes a Lot of hits to kill.
Oh, and the vehicle areas? You know you are going the right way when you hear the chirping enemies that fly horizontally in a wave pattern.
Blaster master is underrated, it reminds me of my favorite NES multigenre game 'The Guardian Legend'. Great review
Excellent comparison, both very ambitious games for the 8 bit era. If they were remade today it would hold up
Yeah everyone keeps bringing up The Guardian Legend recently. That was my favorite NES game too. It's about time it had an official sequel or reboot. Or something. We all remember it fondly, and it was a good story, and interesting main character. It's time for another Guardian Legend.
Totally agree... Another game I never owned but rented many times when I was a kid...
I loved Guardian Legend. There should be a remake with more story elements.
It is a great game 😊
I remember being 12 and finally finishing stage 8 one rainy day. So fun.
Me: "Aww Cool!! A Blaster Master Master Blaster review!!"
Looks at date. October 2016. Almost 3 years ago.
Pam. I'm so sorry it took me this long to find you. I binged your videos while I cooked dinner earlier. (I made chicken Bahn Mi sandwiches) I'm glad I know of you now. You're entertaining, and your voice is easy to listen to.
"A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he intends to."
I didn't find out about her until like the month before last, so don't feel too bad :p
I used to have this game when I was a kid
@@devo076 ☻
@@dreamykid I arrived late to the party too! But I love the retro-reviews! Ahh, memories!
I just love that Jason has a massive container of radioactive material out in his yard... Just sitting there, unsupervised, no fences nothing 🤣
Gaming was so much simpler in the 80s.
I just wanted to mention that it looked like when you fought the crab boss you didn't know how to strafe. If you hold down B, you can move without turning your body and it makes grenading the boss to death a bit easier. This can also come in handy when exploring dungeons.
I did not know that. You'd think they'd put something like that in the manual.
Or you could grenade him on his weak spot and pause the game. This was a hack/glitch I learned. It works on most of the bosses, not all of them though. I can’t remember which ones. Also, if you take damage and pause it. You will die. The hack works both ways.
@@dinoflagella4185 Yeah that's a common strat but it does not work on the crab boss.
@@Cannotbetamed1 pretty sure it's a glitch.
@@dinoflagella4185 The grenade and pause glitch only works on bosses in stage 2,4,6, and 7. If only it worked on the boss in stage 3 that replicates! That's just evil. lol
If your pet frog escapes, gets mutated by radiation, and leaps down a hole, just let it go. Also, don't keep radioactive chests in your backyard.
Finally a proper review with gameplay details matching the video. A cool game with good music and gameplay.
Blaster Master was such a fantastic game. Loved playing through it, and yeah, totally Nintendo hard! Ended up learning it well enough to get to the last stage without dying, but never made it through there. SPIKES EVERYWHERE. Spot on about the Jason sections though. It was bad even back then. It's a shame the Genesis sequels weren't very good.
Great review. I was that 10 year old kid that played this game for hours on in. A lot of fond memories but watching your review I realize it's nostalgia and I'd never pick it up again but dang I loved that game
this game was incredible to play back in the late 80s, absolutely my favorite game on the NES. It's punishingly difficult for htose who don't know the layout or the stratagies to get past certain parts of the games or the bosses. But the game rewards you with feeling like you learn something every time you play and keep coming back to see how far you can get. The game is super long for those who don't know exactly how to Bee line to the correct places as the game can be beaten in as little as 45 minutes by a true Blaster Master, an average player that knows nothing will struggle to get even past stage 5 in 3 to 4 hours and I have gone through long 6+ hour marathons getting to and futily trying to beat Stage 8 (which is a brutally hard stage that punishes you for having Wall 2, and yes, it was designed to be a hinderance there, was no accedent or game bug). When you finally beat the game legitly, you feel like you conquored the world as this game probably took months or even years of constant play throughs and memorizations to finally get the right patern down, a truely satasfying experience to finally beat this very difficult game.
My favorite NES game of all time (oh the memories from 1989). This game is one of those that spawned the TVTrope term “Nintendo Hard”. Eventually I leaned to beat it in about 2 hours. Loved the end sequence and soundtrack! Loved levels 4,5,6 look and feel. Pun intended, this was a blast from the past.
No idea how we beat this game as kids without save states but we did know the pause trick to kill bosses trick. If I had to guess it was definitely not a glitch but a secret to help you along with what was a super difficult game. Video game secrets was a very common trend back then, and this always felt intentinonal
Blaster Master got a Reboot on 2017 called Blaster Master zero. Which improved both story and gameplay while maintaining the feeling of the original.
Not enough people talk about this game, when I was a kid I thought everyone meant this game when they said "metroid" No one else played this gem
Why did the story line to this game make so much more sense to me when I was 8?
A lot of nintendo games had nonsensical storylines like this.
@@devo076 agreed 😊
because you filled in the blanks with imagination, something people lose as they age.
I agree with all of your criticisms, and that's coming from a lifelong fan of this game who grew up with it as one of only about a dozen games on his NES.
I grew up with this game, so there's a ton of nostalgic value for me. The graphics were superb for a 1988 game. And that soundtrack--one of the best on the NES! I use Metal covers for this game in my videos all the time. But yeah, the game is absolutely brutal! I agree with you on so many aspects--it's unnecessarily difficult at times and like you said, just plain mean.
You definitely covered this game well. It was cool seeing you do some different stuff with this review. One of your best!
Thanks so much!You know, even though I mentioned the year in the video, it didn't really sink in. You're right, this looks amazing for 1988.
The Blaster Master series to me is one of the best and a true lost treasure at the time it was around.
If you've never read the World of Power book to this game by FX Nine you should check it out.
( It even includes some game tips including the one Pam mentions in this video about pausing to beat certain bosses. )
I can proudly say I beat this game back with no save states. It took a lot of months and trial and error when I growing up playing this as a kid, but it was WORTH IT! 😀
Also don't feel bad about the stage 5 boss. Its probably one of the most pain in the *beep* you would face without Jason's Gun Meter being at Max Power.
If your looking for a challenge on the NES Blaster Master is truly a challenging game and considering when it was made
it wasn't often you had password system of saves for many NES games.
The good thing is you did at least have check points at certain spots if you lose a life.
Amazing soundtrack. Epic boss battles. Couldn't ask for more at the the times the game was released.
( Sometimes if you boot up the game just right you could accidently turn this game into a 1 life only game. 😱
That's right no lives or continues and when you die it goes straight back to the title screen with no game over music.
If you notice after the Sophia 3rd takes off into the cave scene and you don't get the 3 left screen you need to reset the game.
I don't know how this happens but its just a matter of luck. )
Just curious Pam have you played nay of the other Blaster Master games from this franchise era? If so which ones?
If you've never played them I highly recommend the recent remade Blaster Master Zero series avialable to download from internet stores.
Or you can find a physical copy of the trilogy, but its very pricy since it was released by Limited Run. 😞
Thanks again for your time.
You called it. It's harder to appreciate an older game that you didn't grow up with. Mechanics and design can feel dated or frustrating.
Also this was *a* time where arcades were still popular and video games were designed to be harder or involve tactics like back tracking to lengthen the game.
Honestly this is one of *the* better NES classics and a personal favorite.
This game was a classic for kids growing up in the NES era. They made a sequel for Game Boy, and also rebooted the series a couple times on the PS1 and Switch. Check them out!
One of my all time favorites. I’ve recently started playing it again, this time on the Switch. Now I can save progress and rewind if I do something stupid like walk off a platform into water
Just got done beating this game once again. I can play Blaster Master over and over again. One of the greatest Nes games. The music is awesome too.
"Only to watch Fred run into a radioactive chest, grow to an enormous size and fall into a hole." Ahhh, classic Fred. He's always doing stuff like that.
Spot on review😎👍 one of my favorite games of all time! I love that you played the music in the background...such good memories. This is one game that cried out for the Max controller.
My favorite NES game of all time, BLASTER MASTER. Also my first game on the Switch.
I loved Blaster Master so much as a kid the music of the first level is my ringtone. While it took a while to play all the way through to the end it was worth all the time it took to learn every level, every enemy, and every dungeon. I recently found out they made a new version and two new games and they were available on Steam. So I bought all three at once and loved going through the first one all over again but with the added ability to save at any time. Blaster Master and the Mega Man series will always be my favorite games of all time.
I loved the offset shooting. It made you think more strategically with your shots
Loved this game I remember when this game came out in 1988 classic. I was 9 years old. It was tough but fun.
This and Kid Icarus are some of my faves from growing up - fair and honest review from someone experiencing it for the first time in the 2010s - you were spot on with your 10 year old comment...I was obsessed with this game till I beat it and I was 12 at the time of its release.
Now you're talking about an absolute classic. This is one of those games that I played as a kid and have played on many occasions over the years, even somewhat recently. Great review m'lady.
Thanks!
Cannot be Tamed you're welcome...no you're welcome...NO, you're welcome!
I played this when I was a kid. I didn't own it, but a family I used to play with had it. I got to the boss at stage 7 but got worked up and slipped up. That's the furthest I got. I had a blast while playing it even if I never mastered it in doing so.
This game strikes such a special chord in me. I was seven years old when Blaster Master was released in late 1988 and one of my good friends purchased the game which gave me the opportunity to play it to death and beyond (I think I borrowed it TWICE!) It is an incredibly difficult and punishing game but with lots of practice, it is amazing what you can do. You are right about the gun being off center but a quick grenade can take out those enemies that your gun can't touch. It took me decades to master all of the little tricks though. This game is still one of my all-time favorites and one of my proudest accomplishments is that I have beaten the game multiple times with one life. I am still amazed I was able to do that (it took me like 7-8 months to beat the game as a kid too...LOTS of yelling and screaming happened during that time I can assure you). ;)
Best NES game...Great graphics, music, and gameplay
This is one of those games that I must have rented a million times when I was a kid... But don't think I ever got very far... Thanks for your awesome reviews.. Keep em coming..
Great review. I played this as a kid, and loved the style, but hated that there were no maps and not plenty of powerups, so I never completed it.
However, I ended up playing the Blaster Master Zero trilogy this year, and 100% them all, and really loved it.
Blaster Master is a true gem of the NES and remarkably good and complex for the platform. Loved it as a kid, though I never got further than world 5 with the dive upgrade on the actual console but did beat it on emulated platforms. The remake was one of my primary reasons for getting a switch actually, overall a pretty good update to what was already a great game.
I haven't tried the new one yet.
@@Cannotbetamed1 it would definitely being a recommendation from me. The art is updated a bit here and there, the overhead areas look better. The weapon system in overhead is a bit more fleshed out now and it has a save system now. Some say the changes make it too easy but even as a fan of the original difficulty I still found the new experience quite enjoyable.
I’m so happy this is one cheap games you get for $10 bucks every time I see a nes or snes game I start thinking it’s gonna be over $100 bucks
This was actually my very first NES game as a kid that I received on a Christmas morning along with the console. I really enjoyed it but never fully beat it as I didn't have the time for full play throughs !
I beat this as an 11 year old back in 1989… no save states, just me and that old NES.
Well done
There are a few people who reviewed this title, and I chose yours. Keep up the great work !!
Thanks!
I love this game. Never gets old for me. And the sound track is the best.
I’m 4 years late but I’m finally watching this!
Beat this game when I was 10, took me weeks of trying over and over again until I could get to the end and finally fight the last boss with my gun maxed out, which was nearly a necessity. This game plays like metroid, which is a big reason why I love it, and each boss is unique and so satisfying when you beat them. I still play this game on an emulator every couple years because it's just that good. This game also reminds me of another nes game which is a favorite of mine, "The Battle of Olympus" anyone who liked Blaster Master should definitely check this great game out as well.
You don't have to worry about trying to beat the game in one go round on the virtual console release because it saves your spot when you quit the game so it makes the game even better to play!
I played it as a kid, but didn't own it. But I remember it was fun. I did get the remake and sequel on Steam, and loved them! If anyone is wondering if the Steam versions are worth getting, I say yes!!!
this game was one of a kind, I never owned it but played it a bunch as a kid, it was always in the back of my mind when I'd think about nes games I played, could never remember the name and finally stumbled upon it while playing my nes emulator 5 or so years ago
Okay but the conversation between Pam and Pam about the story is pretty much exactly how I always felt about the story, even as a kid. Except...so you have a pet (now-)giant frog? One (or two I think?) of the bosses is...a giant frog... the first time I killed the thing, I was like "WAIT DID I JUST KILL FRED?!"
Oh no, I didn't even think of that.
@@Cannotbetamed1 Ack, your innocence! I'm sorry!
Cannot be Tamed 🍿
Ah Blaster Master :) Brings back memories like from 20+ years ago :D I remember my cousin had this one and I remember playing this with him a lot when we met every few months or so. Very fun and quite challenging game it was :)
Not to brag (proceeds to brag), but I was around 12 or 13 when I first played Blaster Master back in the day on the original NES. Game is indeed frustratingly difficult (cheap as hell), but it can be tamed. It took me over a year of playing it on and off to finally beat it. When I finally did I felt like a gaming God. Years later, while a senior in high school, I mentioned to a friend that it was a game I had conquered. Understandably, he didn't believe me, but begged me to come over prove I could. So after dusting off his old NES, and over a long afternoon of some trial and error (hadn't played it in years), he finally got to see the ending. Mad props to me. If only the girls went wild for that sort of thing ;)
This game takes up a good portion of my bone marrow, and I had forgotten how much I loved the music! I guess I can thank RUclips for figuring out I like this game, and introducing me to your channel. Subscribing to see more of your adorable self.
Welcome to the channel
One of my favorite games growing up and still play today
I loved this game, one of the very first games I bought for my NES when I was 16. Still love it actually.
Absolutely one of the best NES games in my book! Crazy thing is back in 1989 I got to the point where I could make it to area 8 without dying. But I still never beat the game. I remember having a hell of a time with the low enemies and spikes everywhere. Gonna give it a run again 30 years later on the emulator!!
Was my favorite game on NES. I did beat the final boss only to have it glitch and lock up the console. I never had the energy to run through it again.
Brutal! You've GOT to get revenge, man! :) It will be SO worth it!!!!!
This game has been on my list for a long time. I got a physical copy not too long ago and will eventually get around to streaming it. Excellent vid as always Pam.
Thanks! It's worth a play through, thought it's frustrating.
Thank you! The game is worth playing.
You should check out Blaster Master Zero! It's sort of a remake of the original game, but much more forgiving and with a bit more story tacked on to give a greater sense of purpose. It still has that "lose weapon upgrades if you get hit" mechanic which I don't love, but early on you can find a power-up that acts as a safety net against that as long as you don't get hit multiple times within a short period. There's a built-in map system so you can't get lost and can see where dungeons and stuff are. Also, your hover and special weapon energy naturally regenerates over time, vastly improving the "quality of life" factor. It's a quick play-through if you want to revisit this adventure with some player-friendly enhancements and some thoughtful twists. There's also an unlockable bonus world and a better "true" ending if you attain 100% completion (which is not that hard to do). It leads into Blaster Master Zero 2, and original game that I only just started playing but I have to say is way more fun and inventive than the first. The developers are no longer bogged down by trying to imitate an 8-bit Nintendo game's structure, and are free to expand and explore new territory and mechanics. Apparently a third game in this series is coming out soon, too, so clearly people like this series!
Sounds like it's worth a play.
Blaster Master is one of my favorite games to this day. I still remember the the feeling of triumph when I finished it for the first few times. I almost felt like I could take on Battletoads. Almost.
It did feel like an accomplishment to beat it. Even with cheating.
I LOVED this game back in the day, I even beat the sequel but it was not as good as the original.
Didn't know their was a sequel is it any good 😊
The talking to yourself aspect in this is hilarious 😆
oh wow, I remember this game. fun seeing it again
Hah, I prided myself on the fact that I was the first person I knew in my group of friends that had beaten this game. As a matter of fact I was the only person that could get to level 4 and I had to show all my friends how to get even that far. If I remember right I pretty much showed anyone who was dedicated enough to beat the game how to do it because no one else knew how but me in my entire school.
going all the way west to get the gun power up in the water level and then going all the way back was a pain in the ass.
Most of the kids in my neighborhood would come over after school to play. I had like 148 games.
Blaster Master terrified me. As a little kid, there was a novelization of it that I picked up at a Scholastic book fair in like first grade. I was scared about my frog getting mutated and the cover was kinda scary. (I didn't have a frog 🐸 at the time)
This game scared the crap out of me as a kid...why you ask?
It needed a password or battery save system. It was much too long to try to beat it in one go. Super intimidating as I progressed into the game and each death was that much closer to the dreaded "game over.". Did it have unlimited continues? I didn't think so, but I don't recall.
The hardest game I have ever played. Never knew about the boss glitch.
One hell of a game! The fastest way to beat this gun is to use the NES Advantage controller.
Master Blaster was my favorite NES game.
ah, the memories; I beat this game once; never had the patience to do it again
I am having so much fun watching these great memories!
Awesome, glad you're enjoying
That crab can be beat with just grenades, but its freaking tough as heck
1:54 omg thank you for this Pam on Pam moment… so funny XD
Great review.
I have so many fond memories of playing this game as a kid... mainly of dying and being lost :)
Thanks! I got a lot of experience dying.
The newer Blaster Master Zero was awesome. I haven't played the next two in the Zero line, but I felt BMZ 1 fixed a LOT of the issues with the original Blaster Master. Also: Music was excellent XD
I loved (and still love) this game, though I still have yet to beat it! I remember when it came out, I was 10. I read about it in Nintendo Power and couldn't wait to play it. I agree with all the criticisms. I think, aesthetically, it is still a superb game despite some gameplay issues and being "Nintendo Hard". The music and graphics are top notch (particularly the music). Sunsoft made some gems, like this and the original Batman game.
I remember loving this game so much when I was a kid. This was my personal level of "NES hard" and was very worth the time spent mapping out and searching. But this was a game I never understood why it didn't have a save file. Pretty sure this was the game I used black electrical tape to hide the red LED so my parents wouldn't see the NES was being left on overnight...
hey thanks for the review! With all this quarantine going on i was thinking of playing Blaster Master finally, but your very detailed and well thought out review made me realize, while it has merit, it's probably not for me. Your review answered every question i had in an entertaining presentation, i can't ask for anything better than that! You gained a subscriber and a fan, keep up the good work.
Thanks! Welcome to the channel
My favorite NES game. I’m so glad they remade it for the Nintendo switch. I’m definitely buying for my son. I’ve never beaten the game though. I made it to the last boss, killed him with my last life, and died when he revealed his second form. I was like, WTF!!!
Oh no!
Blaster Master was one of the best Nintendo games, I really loved it, but inti creates remastered it and now it's the definitive version of it.
i still remember most of the map levels and music.
now here's a game that needs a reboot. That tank aspect can be expanded upon with a 3D environment
They did do a remaster (or something) of it on the Switch recently.
Dude was "like my pet!" Ends up defeating Chuds
Love this nes game played it when I was 7 in 1991 my friend shelly let me borrow it took a few hours to beat it 📼🥳
One of the best games out there for the NES. GREAT REVIEW !)
Thanks!
O the memories. So my cousin and I beat this. But it took 2 days. So yes we unplugged the nes from the tv and left it on.
What a great game from my youth. Not gonna lie, though... I totally ended up using my Game Genie. Game is hard as hell.
So envious of that Guide to the NES Library book you have in the background. I've never been a fan of the where-do-I-go kind of games but who knows, I might wanna pick this one up while it's still cheap.
I just bought that this past weekend at RetroWorld Expo!
Cannot be Tamed I want that book so bad but the price is kind of steep :(
Buttered Toast With the awful Canadian dollar is was so expensive >< But it's a really nice book.
Cannot be Tamed You live in Canada? Huh, cool :) it does look really nice....I need it so much >_
I had this game, I was so confused when I was a kid but when I went back and played this later on it was definitely fun.
Fun and very tough.
Inti creates remake blaster master zero is a vast improvement in every possible way
You're probably right about the whole "had I played it as a kid" part. I loved this game as a kid, but a friend of mine, who recently got into NES platformers (and who never had a console as a kid) just hated it, while he still loves a lot of the other well received NES games, citing similar reasons as you. I still love this game, but I fully accept that without the nostalgia goggles, my opinion on it might be very different.
Nostalgia definitely impacts how much enjoyment I get out of games now. Star Tropics is one that I found more frustrating things with when replaying it recently, but still love it because of how much I played as a kid. Also, if it's something you played a lot as a kid, you have that underlying knowledge and memory of what to do, which makes it more enjoyable than someone going in for the first time and having no idea.
As a kid, this was probably in my personal top-10 on the NES. Your criticisms however, are spot on. All the issues with top-down levels and fruitless backtracking are enough to keep me from revisiting it as an adult.
I read the Worlds of Power book on this. It was even stranger than the game. Apparently the Switch remake is very good.
Awesome review, O Master Blaster. I can't lie, I haven't beaten an NES game without a savestate myself. I know the feeling
They're so tough, and if there aren't unlimited continues, I'd get way too angry.
Cannot be Tamed ugh, I'd get a collective headache after one too many deaths.
Cannot be Tamed one game that has unlimited continues is Ninja Gaiden. That game? I beat it but if I played it w/o save states, I'd break the controller
I remember this well, as a kid I loved it and hated it at the same time. Just as some other titles on the NES like Turtles and Captain Planet.
You make very enjoyable retro game reviews, and the selection of games covered is awesome as well.
Thank you!
Ahhh gods I adored this game as a kid! I wonder if I'd be any more successful at it today... I think I beat it once but usually didn't make it quite to the end, haha.
One of my all-time favorite NES games. Love the music!
The music is great :)
I know this review came out years ago, but if by chance you see this, please give Blaster Master Zero a try on either 3DS, Switch, PS4, or PC. It is a remake of this game and vastly improves pretty much everything about it. In fact, I actually think it's a little too easy at points because of how much it lowers the difficulty! It is a really good game though and I think you would like it if given a try.
I'll give it a try at some point, it looks cool.