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 Japan 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.
Chou-Wakusei Senki - MetaFight review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
2/5
Story
★★★★★
"Classic"
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.
Fun
"From the very first minutes"
Addictiveness
"Captivating"
Difficulty
"Difficult"
Lifespan
"Long"
Technical info
💾0,14 MB📅10/07/1987
Published by Sunsoft
Chou-Wakusei Senki - MetaFight (NES) price, value & rarity
The original Japanese version of what would be localised as 'Blaster Master', built around a sci-fi mecha plot radically different from the US pet-frog framing. The Famicom cart is more affordable than the PAL release, but the boxed Japanese set with manual gains value thanks to renewed interest in the saga's narrative roots, foregrounded by 'Blaster Master Zero'.
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 Chou-Wakusei Senki - MetaFight 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.
