Blaster Master — stories left

On the reason for the change, Yoshiaki Iwata, in charge of game design and art, has said that at the time stories in the Japanese anime style were not popular overseas, and that the local staff had asked for it to be changed.

In a 2010 interview, Iwata said: "We were trying to make the best action game to date, with all that entails.

He said: "The goal was really to try to pull off the best graphics on the NES to date.

Electronic Gaming Monthly listed the game at number one in its "Top Ten Games" list in the premiere issue.

Shawn Struck and Scott Sharkey from 1UP.com said that Blaster Master was the hardest book for Lerangis to write because of the lack of a middle plot; he had to come up with details that were not in the game to connect the game's actual opening and conclusion.

Steve Ryno, writing for Electronic Game Player (later known as Electronic Gaming Monthly), Steve Ryno lauded the concept of combining two "radically different" game genres into one continuous game.

He added that the top-down portion contributes further to the depth of gameplay and said that "everything works well without the game becoming crowded or unbalanced".

The game was featured as one of the "Truly Awesome" games in Game Players 1988 buyer's guide.

Jeremy Parish from 1UP.com praised the gameplay, saying that the player can explore the map "Metroidvania style" in a large, responsive tank while occasionally having to leave the tank to explore on foot, which he compared to the Warthog sequences in Halo: Combat Evolved.

Dillard praised the game's impressive graphics, saying that the graphics are varied, distinctive, and well-drawn; he adds that Sunsoft "did their homework" in this regard.

IGNs Mark Syan Sallee described the music "as memorable as anything from Nintendo", while Regan said that the game's sound effects and music bolster the gameplay and graphical atmosphere.

Parish criticized the game for having a limited number of continues and for the graphics in the top-down perspective, saying that the display is "incredibly cutesy compared to the tank sections, with the protagonist's head providing about 50% of his total body mass".

Thomas criticized the control of the tank, particularly the lack of traction, which he said may cause players to roll off a platform or cliff.

Parish criticized the gameplay in the top-down perspective, saying that the gun the players use is too weak; he continued by adding that there are too few upgrades for it and that whenever the player takes damage, it downgrades from a "high-powered beam of death" to "a stupid unreliable peashooter of mild discomfort".

The magazine said that Sunsoft should have used a licensed character to improve sales, but nonetheless praised the graphics and gameplay, saying that "the action switches between side-scrolling stages and stages that have a Zelda-ish view".

In its 100th issue in September 1997, Nintendo Power listed the game 63rd in its list of the "100 Best Games of All Time", citing its "fast and furious" gameplay.

Electronic Gaming Monthly listed it at number 184 in its list of the "Top 200 Games of Their Time".

IGN listed it as #22 in its "Top 100 NES Games" list. 1UP.com listed it at number 11 in its list of the "Top 25 NES Games", calling it "an action game that worked like a mishmash of every NES game before it", noting the expansive map like in Metroid.

In a 2010 interview, Iwata said that he was surprised about the game's positive reception outside Japan:

It's kind of funny that the first time I ever really had any sense of the game's success was about 10 years following the original release of Blaster Master, when a young staff member from the U.S. office said something to me like, "You'd definitely have become a super-famous game designer if you were an American".

Alex Neuse, creator of the Bit.Trip series, recalled playing Blaster Master as a child, and acknowledged that the game was a clone of Metroid that featured a tank that could jump and a corny storyline, but he said it was all "presented in a way that it felt meaningful".

The "Famicom ROM Cartridge All Catalog", a special supplement to the 1991-5-10 issue of the same magazine, described it as "a hidden masterpiece from Sunsoft" and as "an action shooting game with striking character movement.

Blaster Master was praised for its smooth play control, level designs, detailed and clean graphics, and music, but was criticized for its high difficulty level and lack of passwords or save points.

In a 1992 review in UK magazine Mean Machines, Julian Rignall praised the overall gameplay and the tank's control and movements, while co-reviewer Matt Regan enjoyed the game's fast-paced gameplay and abundance of rooms and bonus areas to explore.

Jeremy Parish from 1UP.com praised the gameplay, saying that the player can explore the map "Metroidvania style" in a large, responsive tank while occasionally having to leave the tank to explore on foot, which he compared to the Warthog sequences in Halo: Combat Evolved.

Nintendo Lifes Corbie Dillard praised the game's responsive controls and non-linearity.

Ryno praised the attention to detail in the graphics, adding that they transition well between levels as new and diverse environments are introduced.

He also praised the fluid animation and movement of creatures in the top-down perspective and its music, which he found "pleasing" and noted that different tracks were scored for each separate level.

Dillard praised the game's impressive graphics, saying that the graphics are varied, distinctive, and well-drawn; he adds that Sunsoft "did their homework" in this regard.

Buchanan criticized the game for its difficulty in the on-foot portions, saying that the bosses are too difficult to beat, that the enemies regenerate upon re-entering a screen, and that players can lose a life from falling too far in the 2D platforming mode.

Parish criticized the game for having a limited number of continues and for the graphics in the top-down perspective, saying that the display is "incredibly cutesy compared to the tank sections, with the protagonist's head providing about 50% of his total body mass".

Thomas criticized the control of the tank, particularly the lack of traction, which he said may cause players to roll off a platform or cliff.

Parish criticized the gameplay in the top-down perspective, saying that the gun the players use is too weak; he continued by adding that there are too few upgrades for it and that whenever the player takes damage, it downgrades from a "high-powered beam of death" to "a stupid unreliable peashooter of mild discomfort".

The magazine said that Sunsoft should have used a licensed character to improve sales, but nonetheless praised the graphics and gameplay, saying that "the action switches between side-scrolling stages and stages that have a Zelda-ish view".

Outside Japan it was sold as Blaster Master, and although the game itself is almost identical, the story differs from that of the Japanese version.

The Japanese Chou Wakusei Senki: Metafight is about a fight against invaders over the fictional planet Sophia, while the overseas release Blaster Master was changed to a story about a boy on Earth who follows his pet frog into an underground world. The opening and ending were staged differently to match.

In addition, when the overseas version was released, Richard Robbins of the American branch asked for an opening demo to be added and for the background of the launch scene to be corrected, but no other changes were communicated to the Japanese side, which says it does not know about them.

Overseas, a novel of the overseas version Blaster Master was published in 1990 as one work in Worlds of Power (Scholastic Corporation), a series of novelisations of NES software.

The game was localized as Blaster Master and released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America in November 1988, followed by Europe on April 25, 1991.

Instead, Software Creations developed the North American-exclusive sequel Blaster Master 2 (1993) for the Sega Genesis.

The game was featured on the cover of the premiere issue of VideoGames & Computer Entertainment in December 1988.

Electronic Gaming Monthly listed the game at number one in its "Top Ten Games" list in the premiere issue.

In Nintendo Power, the game debuted at number 12 in its "Top 30" NES games list in its March–April 1989 issue; it later climbed to number six from May to August 1989, before it peaked at number five in September, behind Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Super Mario Bros. 2, Ninja Gaiden, and The Legend of Zelda.

Nintendo Power reviewed the game in its February 1993 issue as part of an overview of NES games that the magazine felt were overlooked or otherwise did not sell well.

In its 100th issue in September 1997, Nintendo Power listed the game 63rd in its list of the "100 Best Games of All Time", citing its "fast and furious" gameplay.

It's kind of funny that the first time I ever really had any sense of the game's success was about 10 years following the original release of Blaster Master, when a young staff member from the U.S. office said something to me like, "You'd definitely have become a super-famous game designer if you were an American".

A reimagining of the first game, Blaster Master: Overdrive, was released for Nintendo's WiiWare service in North America on .

According to their press release, the game was only purported to be tested on several PlayChoice-10 machines in the Los Angeles area between 1988 and 1989.

Besides this, an arcade version of Blaster Master was being developed for overseas release as a game for the Nintendo VS. System, but in the end it was cancelled.

Alex Neuse, creator of the Bit.Trip series, recalled playing Blaster Master as a child, and acknowledged that the game was a clone of Metroid that featured a tank that could jump and a corny storyline, but he said it was all "presented in a way that it felt meaningful".

In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by the magazine Family Computer Magazine,it scored 19.78 out of 30, as shown below.

Parish criticized the game for having a limited number of continues and for the graphics in the top-down perspective, saying that the display is "incredibly cutesy compared to the tank sections, with the protagonist's head providing about 50% of his total body mass".

Blaster Master was praised for its smooth play control, level designs, detailed and clean graphics, and music, but was criticized for its high difficulty level and lack of passwords or save points.

Buchanan criticized the game for its difficulty in the on-foot portions, saying that the bosses are too difficult to beat, that the enemies regenerate upon re-entering a screen, and that players can lose a life from falling too far in the 2D platforming mode.

The Japanese Chou Wakusei Senki: Metafight is about a fight against invaders over the fictional planet Sophia, while the overseas release Blaster Master was changed to a story about a boy on Earth who follows his pet frog into an underground world. The opening and ending were staged differently to match.