Blaster Master is one of the more famous and notable third party games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Like Bad Dudes, it ushered in an early generation of memes in the blossoming portion of internet retro gaming with its seemingly ridiculous, but VERY 80's video game premise. 

Produced and published by developing machine SunSoft and seeing a release in 1988 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Blaster Master is an open-ended action adventure platform game packed with a plethora of challenges that can almost be approached by any angle. Jason, when not having his name called out repeatedly in a mall, jumps down a massive hole in his backyard to find his pet frog, Fred. Upon landing, he discovers SOPHIA, an all-terrain assault vehicle. Armed with this weaponry, Jason now battles these hostile mutants in order to save his little (uh...giant) buddy. If your president isn't being kidnapped by ninjas, I rank THIS as the greatest video game story of the era. 

Be warned, it's easier to slide your bare torso over sandpaper than it is trekking through the early portions of this game. Through eight levels, it takes a hearty amount of grinding to acquire the necessary power-ups to proceed further, progressing through the 2D side-scrolling portions and the top-down locations.

If there is anything about Blaster Master that can be daunting, there is a LOT of backtracking throughout levels you may have cleared. If you wanna do a solid clear of the game, it'll take at minimum an hour to beat. Not an incredibly lengthy game playing time, but for a Nintendo action game with no battery backup or password system, a full playthrough of Blaster Master can become quite the arduous task. 

Sunsoft can develop some beautiful titles. Games like Fester's Quest and Batman rank as some of the more visually impressive Nintendo games, trying some pretty progressive color palette choices. Blaster Master makes grand use out of the color range the NES is capable of performing, giving each screen something striking and memorable. The bosses are big and imposing, and the animation on SOPHIA is something I always was taken aback by. It may seem minute, but the way her hydraulics recoiled and the body of the vehicle bounced when making landings sticks out to me as cool attention to detail. 

Like with most 8-bit era Nintendo games from Sunsoft, the OST is exquisite. The Blaster Master theme ranks very high on the list of the NES' most iconic themes, and has been used in literally thousands of retro gaming YouTube channels as montage music. The sound effects are evocative and memorable, some of the samples used in other Sunsoft titles. Even a modestly trained ear would pick up on the familiar cues. 

Pretty hard to accurately describe PERFECT game controls, but the fundamental gameplay Blaster Master represents is one I hold in very high regard. Both modes, be it the top-down or side-scrolling approach, are done very nicely. I would say that moments like exiting SOPHIA can feel a little awkward and a touch cumbersome, depending on where you park. It's worth noting that when running around as Jason, you can still defend yourself in 2D portions, though it's not advisable. And don't jump from too high a platform, that CAN kill you. SOPHIA does handle like butter, it's such an agile and versatile vehicle that's capable of firing in five directions, and half of the game is played navigating the hostile terrain in it.   

Metroid may have established the search action genre, I'll say Blaster Master totally nailed it on the NES and served to lay the groundwork for a medium that is still thriving today in games like Axiom Verge, Dead Cells, and GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon. Blaster Master itself has seen a revision and reboot in recent years in the Zero series, developed by Inti Creates. With fantastic music, great controls, a fairly daunting difficulty curve, and high replay value, Blaster Master is a ubiquitous Nintendo title, and a treasured gem from Sunsoft still holds up and is certainly worth revisiting.