Blaster Master Zero

Genre: Metroidvania / Top-Down Action

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Blaster Master Zero, despite the name implying this is a prequel, is actually both a remake and reboot of the classic Nintendo Entertainment System game Blaster Master, originally released in 1988, which combined two styles of gameplay, a side-scrolling Metroidvania and a Top-Down Action game. Blaster Master Zero takes that beloved classic, cleans up some of its more antiquated design, improves the graphics and adds its own flair to the level design and bosses to produce something both old and new at the same time. This modernized version of the game came out on multiple platforms in 2019, including Nintendo Switch.

The presentation of this game is an interesting case of a game that looks to update the visuals of the classic in a way that keeps it in the realm of something a nostalgic person might feel the game looked like when they played it back in its heyday. The game still uses pixel art graphics, but this time around they seem juuust a bit too nice for the likes of the Nintendo Entertainment System the original game appeared on. Likewise, the game’s chiptune music, which is very good, seems just advanced enough to be beyond the capabilities of the Nintendo Entertainment System. I can’t help but feel like, if Blaster Master got a remake on the Super Nintendo, it would look and sound like this.

Just as the game keeps the same overall look of the original while modernizing it, the same goes for the gameplay, which keeps the overall basic level layouts and enemies of the original while updating and changing things around enough to make things interesting, adding additional upgrades to find, as well as adding in more modern features like a map and a checkpoint system, and providing players with a clearer indication of where they should be going, in part through new bits of story throughout the game. Purists may turn their nose up at these changes and complain that they make the game too easy, but I would strongly argue that they preserve what was great about the original while bringing it up to the standards we’ve come to expect from more modern games.

This release also adds in a new “2-player mode”, although it’s hardly as extensive as one might hope for – it’s just a way for a second player to use an aiming reticle to take out enemies while the first player plays the game normally. It’s a nice addition, but nothing extraordinary.

One other small but noteworthy feature that this version adds is some surprisingly good use of the HD Rumble feature on the Nintendo Switch, with the controller responding at different levels based on what’s going on. Players who don’t care for this can shut it off in the menus, but I personally found it to be an excellent use of this feature.

However, while this is generally a well-measured modernization of a classic game, there are still a few more areas that could do with further modernization. For example, the game does a terrible job letting players know how its weapon upgrade system works, and some of the visual choices made here are a bit odd, such as having a yellow health bar and yellow power-ups, but having health pickups in green. Also, as Metroidvanias go, the segmented nature of the game’s “stages” limit exploration.

However, while there are areas I can nitpick here, I have to say that on the whole Blaster Master Zero is a phenomenal remake of a beloved classic. And I’ll say that while I wasn’t a huge fan of the original game, this remake actually sucked me in in a way that the original never did. Fans of old-school games and Metroidvanias should absolutely give this game a try.

tl;dr – Blaster Master Zero is a remake/reboot of the Nintendo Entertainment System classic Action-packed Metroidvania that I would argue is superior to the original, modernizing it and making it a far more playable game by today’s standards. There are still areas where it could do with improvement, but overall this is a phenomenal Metroidvania that straddles the line between old-school and modern design brilliantly.

Grade: A-

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