An absolute masterpiece. Blaster Master blends tank exploration and on-foot dungeon action. Vast, inventive, visually splendid for NES. Essential in every form.
Your verdict
Category
Action1 player12+
Description
Hybrid action-adventure in which Jason Blake pilots a transformable tank to explore dungeons and battles on foot. Published by Sunsoft, released in the USA in 1988. Tank transforming into different vehicles to progress, vast labyrinthine exploration, on-foot dungeon combat and imposing bosses. A Sunsoft masterpiece on NES with ambitious design.
Blaster Master review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
2/5
Story
★★★★★
"Classic"
The game alternates two scales: the tracked vehicle seen from the side, drawn with articulated wheels and cannon, and the tiny pilot in rooms seen from above. That change of scale also changes the treatment of the scenery, caverns in cross-section for one, organic labyrinths for the other, without ever breaking the unity of palette.
The themes exploit the chip with remarkable density: a mobile bass running beneath the melody, a continuous countermelody, arpeggios filling the space left free. The opening piece has become one of the most cited in the catalogue, and the underground room themes switch to darker writing without losing clarity.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Exploring vast caverns at the wheel of a jumping tank, then heading out on foot through top-down dungeons, marries two styles of gameplay with rare fluidity. The nonlinear progression and the vehicle upgrades reward exploration. Ambitious for the hardware, it retains solid handling and an open structure that still draw players in.
The American NTSC NES edition of the cult Sunsoft title, on the console's flagship market. The blend of top-down exploration and side-scrolling action, carried by Naoki Kodaka's soundtrack, made it an endlessly rediscovered classic stateside. US distribution was wide, so value sits mainly in CIB with an un-warped cardboard box and graded sealed copies. The franchise stays alive through 'Blaster Master Zero', which keeps demand on the original cart steady.
Memorable bosses
Marrying tank exploration with on-foot top-down forays, the adventure saves its guardians for underground arenas where you leave your vehicle to face enormous mutants. Each creature, gigantic next to the tiny hero, demands learning its angles of attack. This dual structure and the Sunsoft touch give these duels a singular flavor, between finesse and nerve.
Is Blaster Master still worth playing in 2026?
Blaster Master, known in Japan as Chou-Wakusei Senki MetaFight, is an absolute Sunsoft masterpiece. The game mixes tank exploration with on-foot dungeon action seen top-down, in a proto-metroidvania structure of unusual scope for 1988. Vast, inventive and visually splendid for the NES, supported by Naoki Kodaka's score, the title still fascinates today. The learning curve asks for some patience, but the sense of progression and the beauty of the world cross the eras. Essential in any form.
