Blaster Master (NES review)

Developer: Tokai Engineering

Publisher: Sunsoft

Released: 1988

Blaster Master is an action-adventure game that was known as Metafight on the Nintendo Famicom.

Your mission is to rescue your frog that's fallen into a radioactive hole, and destroy the Plutonium Boss of the underworld. There's eight levels and the basic action consists of two styles; the majority of the time is spent in side-scrolling areas where you drive an armoured vehicle while shooting enemies and exploring. The Select button allows you to travel on-foot, and if you then find one of the small doorways the action changes to a top-down view where you fight mutants, hunt for power-ups and attempt to locate the end-of-level boss. While the gameplay is exploration based like Metroid (1987, NES), it's basically a much better version of Sunsoft's Fester's Quest (1989, NES), due to its similar power-up system and multi-angle stages. Your vehicle is nimble and controls great, while its numerous abilities and power-ups give it a large number of ways to tackle enemies and levels. One of the game's best features is its focus on upgrading your weapons and abilities after you beat each boss, similar to Double Dragon (1988, NES). It's a fun, engaging system that makes you want to continue seeing what lies ahead. The majority of the level design is superb, with huge areas to explore and lots of opportunities for power-ups. Stage 4's side-scrolling area is a highlight, as towards the end it forces you to travel on-foot to unlock a door from the other side in order to allow your vehicle to pass through; it's daunting due to your limited on-foot abilities, making for some intense moments! The level design does falter at times though, particularly at the end of Stage 3; here, players somehow need to know to backtrack to the beginning of the game so they can use a new Hover ability and access the next level... all with zero hints!

Blaster Master is a lengthy and addictive adventure game that wraps you up inside its enticing and well thought-out world. The level design, while mostly excellent, could have used some refinement, but it's still full of standout moments and the fact that each stage can be tackled in multiple ways gives it lots of replayability.

Random trivia: In 2017, the game was remade and released as Blaster Master Zero on the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch.

Journey to Silius (NES review)

Developer: Tokai Engineering
Publisher: Sunsoft
Released: 1990

Journey to Silius is a run 'n' gun game that was released in Japan as Rough World.

It contains five stages and your mission is to stop terrorist's from destroying a colony development. Six different weapons are available and you're able to switch between them on the fly. The default weapon is a low-powered Hand Gun but as you progress you can pick up special items like a Shot Gun and a Laser Rifle. Each time you fire a special item it uses up some of your Gun Energy Meter although this can be topped up by collecting blue Energy Capsules. Red Life Capsules can also be found to increase your life meter. In many ways the game is a mixture of Mega Man's precise platforming and the frantic run 'n' gun action of Contra. Lots of memorisation is required and at times the enemy placement is so tough that it's impossible to advance without taking damage. Leaps of faith are sometimes required as you can't always see what lurks below the screen before you jump. Health power-ups are scarce so unless you know the level well enough you'll usually be close to death by the time you reach the boss. If you're in a crouching position there's also a slight delay between pressing the jump button and the game recognising it. The ability to switch weapons is excellent though and it encourages you to experiment. The bosses are also enjoyable with gigantic sprites and diverse attack patterns. The final level doesn't have any enemies and automatically scrolls while you dodge obstacles; it's a nice change of pace and forces you to focus solely on your platforming skills. The music is outstanding and some of the tracks wouldn't sound out of place in Sunsoft's Batman game (1989, NES).

Journey to Silius is a short but tough game that has some decent run 'n' gun action. The controls are a bit wonky and it doesn't have much replay value but if you don't mind a challenge that's 'NES hard' you might get some enjoyment out of it.

Random trivia: The game was originally based on the 1984 film Terminator but the licensing deal ultimately fell through. As a result the graphics and story were changed.