The Team Renegade Blog X-perience: Time to Blasterbate

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Time to Blasterbate

by Chaplow

When I was a kid I had an NES and I never heard of this game. Why didn't anyone tell me about it?!

The title screen is beautifully geared to induce epileptic seizures.


 I. THE STORY

Apparently it was originally released in japan as  
"Supa Chô Wakusei Senki Metafight (超惑星戦記メタファイト"
(okay i added the "Supa") and it didn't do too well. (source: Wikipedia)


For the American release, it was named MASTER BLASTER and a stupid backstory was added about a boy who follows his pet frog through a hole a la Alice in Wonderland and ends up in a subterranean world next to what I will call the Blaster Tank ...that he is the MASTER of.

Brilliant.
 Needless to say, the game was a success in the U.S.
With no knowledge of the politics in this world,
the boy gets in the tank and rides off to kill thousands.



 II. GAMEPLAY


That gray robot is a bad guy.
Well, I don't personally know him but he tried to kill me.



 The game starts out as a pretty typical 2D platformer of the day, you roll around pressing left or right on the crosspad, A jumps and B is to shoot. Even if this is all there was to the game, it would be a solid 8-bit platforming experience on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Aside from your special missiles and lightning attack,
you can shoot left, right and up. pew pew pew

But then, when you hit that select button something cool happens:

You can get out of your tank?!
WTF is this, Grand Theft Auto? What year is this?! fffffsjajksd

This adds a nice dynamic to the game. Your tank can dish out and take more damage, while on foot you can fit into tight spaces your tank can't go into. As soon as I saw this, I knew I had just entered Narnia the game had just been taken to a new level that not all NES games could rise up to.


 III. ANIMATION


I was really impressed with Sunsoft's attention to detail for this game. The animation of the tank is beautifully done 8-bit animation and the pilot has a very nice range of animations as well.

You can shoot:

pew pew pew

 You can crawl around:

I guess to look for your frog? I don't even know.
 You can swim:

Okay it's the same sprite as the crawling animation,
but still pretty great for 1988.


You can even die!
How did those japanese engineers do it?!

Also there is a cool explosion when your tank blows up:

I left my ipod in there.


 IV. GAMEPLAY (Part Deux)

As it stands, the game is already a great 1980's console gaming experience.
But here's the cherry on top... I don't like cherry so here's the nutella on top.
Anywhere that you find one of these doors:
You can enter by pressing down on the crosspad, and at the same time you do that your 1988 kid brain implodes.

I have exited the matrix.
In those doors your play segments with a top-down view, where you walk around maze-like areas shooting bad guys with your gun (pew pew pew).
The enemies in these areas are as varied as the platforming segments; meaning they're a nice mix of robots and weird alien creatures.

And frankenberry's head?
Wat happened to your head bro?
Through these areas you get power-ups to make your tank better, and you fight the game bosses:
I recognize frankenberry cereal anywhere,
The pieces are all falling into place.

Anyway I give this game a solid 10 for its time, and I recommend you all give it a go.
You can play it here: Virtual NES

I don't have a Nintendo like back in the day, so thanks to them folks at VNES where i also got all these screenshots from. Check them out.

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1 comment:

  1. What? You've never heard of of this game?
    It's just only one of the best games ever to this day.
    The boss battles are insane for back in the day.
    I just to love playing this game. Damn, I miss my NES. Just don't miss the alcohol rubbing to get it started. lol

    ReplyDelete