In Defense: Blaster Master Overdrive

Alright, so let's kick this whole thing off with an insanely unexpected and spontaneous throwback to a spectacular NES game called Blaster Master, made by a company called Sunsoft. These guys were one of the pinnacle game-creating companies in the NES era (don't even get me started on Journey to Silius...*drool*), and Blaster Master was perhaps the perfect example as to why. Before I explain anything about BM: Overdrive, though...I'll dive a bit into the history of the original.

The story of the game is simple. You play as a dude named Jason who has a pet frog named Fred. This frog gets out of its cage and hops into Jason's backyard where he consumes radioactive material. Seems to me like Jason has a metric pisston of explaining to do as to how THAT came into his possession, but whatever, we'll roll with it. The frog then jumps in a hole...a really deep, abyssal hole...in Jason's backyard. Now, since Jason is a completely sensible individual, he of course jumps into the hole in pursuit of his frog, since clearly these organisms do not occur very frequently in pet stores or in the wild, and he certainly couldn't have just walked to the store or some nearby swamp and gotten another damn frog. This is where it gets good though. Jason finds a tank in this hole called SOPHIA the 3rd...a fully functional battle tank with means to fire, jump, hover, submerge, climb walls and ceilings, and in general just kick a lot of ass. This is the main reason why I jump into holes when I see them, cause I've learned from these games that there may in fact be a tank at the bottom of them. He also finds a suit which fits him perfectly (of course), so he puts the fucker on, gets in the fuckin' tank, and shoots off into the cavernous distance to find his pet frog.

His pet frog. Fred.

This is the way video game stories were back in the day...oftentimes complete nonsense except for in some particular videogames which I'm sure I'll talk about some other time. The fact of the matter is, the story wasn't there to make a gigantic narrative backbone in Blaster Master. It was there so you had a reason to get in a jumping, wall-climbing death mobile and obliterate everything in your path with a hyper beam. Plain and simple.

So you take off and destroy things in your tank...but that's not all. You also have the ability to exit the tank upon command by pressing the select button. This allows Jason to enter small caverns that SOPHIA can't fit her bulky ass into, at which point the perspective of the game changes from a sidescroller to a top-down perspective. In these areas, you have a health and gun meter...gun upgrades increase the power of your main weapon until it reaches level 8, which some people lovingly call the Rainbow Death Beam. But if you get hit, you not only lose a bar of health, but also one notch off of your gun meter, so avoiding contact with something harmful was doubly important.

It is in these types of areas that you seek out the boss of each of the 8 regions of Blaster Master, each of which drops an upgrade for SOPHIA. For example, the boss of the third area drops your Hover component, allowing you to reach otherwise inaccessible areas. This enabled the developers to create a really interesting game, because you could use these upgrades to access parts of previously explored areas (and oftentimes, you needed to). It was a lot like Metroid, in this aspect, which is certainly a quality to be respected.

Seriously though Jason...it's a frog for fuck's sakes. Take your hovering, wall-climbing tank and get your ass outta there and become famous or something! Of course if he followed my advice, the planet would be destroyed by a critter known as the Plutonium Boss, as well as his partner in crime, the Underworld Lord, so I guess it might be a good thing that Jason feels such a bond to his amphibious pet.

Oh, by the way, don't even get me started about the soundtrack of this damn game. Top-notch, catchy tunes abound in the areas that suit them, while the creepier areas are most certainly matched with brooding, unsettling noise patterns. Music and sound seem to be a couple of Sunsoft's strong points overall.

Also, Blaster Master was tough as nails. I quickly was able to get through to the last area without much of a hitch. But man...Area 8 is a punishment to all players who think they have the guts to make it through and beat this game. I won't get too much into it, cause after all, this article's suppose to be about Blaster Master: Overdrive!

Which brings me to said game. It was announced on Saturday, February 6th, 2010. This announcement made me soil myself, because it literally came outta nowhere. A revamp of one of the staples of the NES library? Sign me the fuck up! Oh, and by the way, the announcement said that the game'd be released 2 days from then. I read this part after I had already changed my pants the first time, so I soiled myself again and the day quickly became a good and bad day all at the same time because let's face it, no one wants to have to clean shitty pants. I downloaded it the day it came out.

And do I regret it? Fuck no! There're quite a few reviews out there that basically say this game isn't too great, and yeah everyone's entitled to their opinions...but I thought this revamp was really cool. Sure, it had some flaws, and yeah it was pretty tough and downright punishing at times...but it was actually those qualities that made me think, "Man...I'm just playing an NES game with a new coat of paint." This is a good thing.

So the story behind this retro revival is way different from the original! No Jason hoarding radioactive material at his house like some fuckin' supervillain, and no chasing a pet frog down a hole and stumbling upon a tank. This one's about a dude named Alex, who's pretty much the only guy left on the planet who can save the entire populace from a virus that's been spreading and putting everyone to sleep, as well as transforming the flora and fauna into death-dealing hellspawn. Alex decides that, well, if he's the only guy left, then he's either gonna take out the source of this virus or die trying. A bit of a darker story than the original Blaster Master, of course, but it puts things into place and, again, gives you a reason to and smash the crap outta stuff with a hovering, wall-climbing tank! Who's to complain! If there's any better way to go out than in a multi-purpose tank, hunting down the source of a transmogrifying virus in the depths of the Earth then I'd like to hear it.

So off you go. Get going Alex, you lonely biologist! First thing you'll notice when you play is the remake of the original tune of Area 1 from Blaster Master. Yes...yes. As far as I can tell, every tune from the original BM was remixed and redone for this WiiWare game, and although they aren't as much of an impact as the original tunes (simply because hearing them the first time and in their original 8-bit glory seems to suit them better...it's hard to explain), you have some damn good tunes to master your blasts to. So get mastering! Not masturbating...but you can do that too if you really want! Just not right now cause that'd be weird...

So you move around in a tank in a sidecrolling setting, just like the original. You get out of your tank to access caverns and move through them in a top down perspective, just like the original. You get gun upgrades to upgrade your weaponry, just like the original...except in this case you have 3 different kinds of weapons in the top down perspective, all of which can be upgraded separately. You have a standard, straight-shooting laser rifle, a weaker but more accurate homing weapon, and a terribly strong but slow missile launcher that blows stuff up in a given radius. These all have their uses...you just have to figure out which situations and enemies merit which weapons.

Anyway, let's continue this list of stuff that's just like the original. Top down sections have bosses that you need to find, which are, in general, much better than those found in Blaster Master for the NES. These, of course, give you tank upgrades so you can get to new areas in the sidescrolling section. You can find upgrades for your tank and Alex, just like th...oh wait a second...that's fuckin' new! As you explore the game with the new tools you've got, as well as check out top-down areas, you'll find upgrades to your health and tank energy, which determines for how long you can use your upgrades and cannon...pretty spiffy, and really gives you a reason to explore, particularly if you're a perfectionist. This adds another small touch of Metroid to the equation...not to mention the map screen that you can check out, which instantly reminded me of Super Metroid or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Man, with these elements that are similar to friggin' gaming masterpieces, Overdrive is on a roll so far! Although I'm not necessarily calling it a masterpiece, by any means, but it's certainly a cool addition to the original formula. Oh, and there are save points! It's interesting, however, because the low frequency of save points seems to be something that reviewers are panning...even though it's clearly an improvement from the original which had none at all. Just sayin'.

So you get cool upgrades for your tank...some old, some new. One of my personal favourites is the Anchor, which functions as a grappling hook so you can jump and hook to reach hard-to-access areas. I won't spoil all of the upgrades, but they all certainly have their uses and I thought they were pretty damn satisfying and cracked a smile each time I used one for the first time.

So yeah, the formula's the same! And yeah, this game is also pretty damn tough, and at times, unfair...but you know what? Life is unfair, and sometimes you just have to keep powering through trials (or giant, bullet-shooting flies) to get your rewards. In this respect, it reminds me of an NES game. Back then, a lot of games were difficult simply because there were some "unfair" sections...but the fact of the matter is that with the right amount of patience and some quick thinking, you can usually get through anything these games, and this particular game, can throw at you. So I thought it was a welcome and nostalgic quality, but I can see how it'd frustrate some people, because yeah, there are certainly areas in the game that you cannot get through without taking a hit.

Not to mention the final boss...but I won't get into that, obviously because that would be a spoiler! Get to it yourself you sissy, and you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, the whole point I'm trying to make is that Blaster Master: Overdrive and Blaster Master are very similar beasts, in a very good way. If you haven't tried either of them, then I would recommend both. If you've only played the original, then for your own sake, download this revival of the original formula and have fun playing through it...because the whole time you venture through the pathways of this throwback to old times, you'll easily be reminded of those NES games that you conquered when you were young, and get the same sense of satisfaction when you finally get past a difficult area or conquer a boss. I regret nothing about this purchase, and here's hoping that Sunsoft pumps out some more cool games like this, because I'll gobble them right up. Sure, it's not absolutely perfect...but it reminds me of the days when video games were never absolutely perfect.

And for some reason, I really like that.

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The Bottom Line:

I'd give this game an 8/10. There are some frustrating parts, but nothing that can't be dealt with if you persevere, and I'm sick of games that hold your hand through areas such as those, just so you can keep the game moving along. You're gonna die at some point, which is awesome.

Feels just like an update of the original, although I personally wouldn't consider it to be as good as the original Blaster Master because BM for the NES is damn hard to top. This game, however, does a commendable job of trying.