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Blaster Master

NES

NES

You've fallen down a hidden manhole into a world of creatures so terrifying they'd scare the rats away. You can panic and perish, or blast your way through an endless maze of tunnels, searching for the secret passages to your escape. And that's the easy part. Because the Masters of the Caverns la...

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Developer
Sunsoft

Released on
1988

Size
1 Player

Version
NES

Requirements
Nintendo Entertainment System

Downloads
Platform

ESRB Rating
Not Rated

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Description

You’ve fallen down a hidden manhole into a world of creatures so terrifying they’d scare the rats away. You can panic and perish, or blast your way through an endless maze of tunnels, searching for the secret passages to your escape. And that’s the easy part. Because the Masters of the Caverns lay waiting – prehistoric creatures so powerful, so gigantic, they literally fill your screen! So load your arsenal and get ready for BlasterMaster.

In Japan the game was known as “Metafight”. When being brought over to the west, not only was the name changed, but so was the plot, some of the sprites to compensate for the changed story, and an intro was added.

Blaster Master

Overview & History

Released by Sunsoft for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988, Blaster Master is a legendary sci-fi adventure that brilliantly merges side-scrolling vehicular combat with top-down, room-clearing exploration. The cult-classic storyline follows a young boy named Jason who loses his pet frog, Fred, after Fred leaps into a glowing radioactive puddle and mutates to giant proportions. Jason chases Fred down a subterranean sinkhole, where he discovers a high-tech all-terrain tank known as SOPHIA the 3rd. Rather than merely being a port of the Japanese release Chō Wakusei Senki MetaFight, Sunsoft completely overhauled the narrative, difficulty balance, and visual tone for Western audiences, trading a distant space-opera setting for a moody, underground terrestrial quest against subterranean mutants.

Gameplay Features & Mechanics

The game is celebrated for its dual-perspective gameplay loop. Players pilot SOPHIA through sprawling, labyrinthine side-scrolling areas filled with hazards, enemy mechs, and platforming challenges. The tank possesses a signature hover mechanic powered by a diminishing "hover gauge," allowing players to briefly float over dangerous pits or scale vertical shafts. However, vehicular progress is routinely halted by impassable terrain, forcing Jason to exit the tank entirely. When on foot, the game shifts to an intense, overhead perspective reminiscent of a twin-stick shooter. In these underground ruins and enemy lairs, Jason must rely on his standard gun and grenade upgrades to defeat biological horrors and boss mutations. Collecting power-ups increases SOPHIA's weapon capabilities and grants Jason new mobility tools like wall-climbing and underwater propulsion, seamlessly blending action-platforming with Metroidvania-style progression.

Keyboard Controls

Arrow Keys / D-Pad: Move SOPHIA horizontally / Control Jason in top-down mode
Action Keys: Attack / Jump (Jump with A, Fire weapon with B)
Enter: Start / Pause