Blaster Master on the NES is a rather interesting title; along with Metroid it was one of the first side-scrolling platformers on that system where you explored a large world and gained new abilities as you went. Unfortunately, it has aged poorly. But that just means that Blaster Master Overdrive on WiiWare has the potential to update the game to modern standards, and for the most part it does a decent job of that. The premise remains the same; you control a rather agile tank and maneuver it through several stages, backtracking and exploring as necessary to gain new equipment as well as hopping out to do on-foot shooting stages from an overhead view.
It should be noted up front that Blaster Master Overdrive is not a direct remake of the original. It changes the plot (what little there was to begin with), re-arranges the stage layouts and sometimes creates wholly different areas, and has improved the controls a little. Think of it as a quasi-sequel to the original, and not a true remake. Familiar sights (upgraded to slightly better than 16-bit era visuals) and sounds (remixes of the original music) abound, but it’s clear this is more than just a rebuild of the original and Overdrive is a better product for that.
The most important change is in the controls. You still play it using an NES controller layout (Wiimote held sideways), but the tank’s cannon can now aim at angles other than forward and straight up. The ability to lock the turret’s position while you move is also a big help, opening up new tactics that should come in handy. On-foot combat has been revised as well, with a few new weapons to use as well as the ability to fix your character to face one direction; essentially allowing clumsy strafing attacks that are nonetheless a big help.
Like the original, Overdrive wants you to explore most of the world in your tank and only come out of it to get certain items or explore the on-foot stages. You’ll often find large bosses in those stages, but there are some problems with this. Specifically, these bosses can take forever to kill and even the first one could last through five or more minutes of nonstop gun-fire hitting it. This could be ’epic’ and interesting if the bosses had more than just basic combat patterns, but they don’t and as a result the boss fights are a chore that distracts you from an otherwise enjoyable platforming experience.
Overdrive fixes some of the flaws from the original game, yet strangely maintains others. The most important improvement is the addition of save points located at the start of some on-foot stages. They’re a little spread out, but it’s not too impractical to drive to the stage, save, and walk back out to your tank; certainly no worse than saving in genre classics like Super Metroid or Symphony of the Night. On the other hand, it’s very easy to lose gun power-ups (not vital upgrades needed to complete the game, just power-ups); get hit and your power-up level decreases by one, so now you have lost some health and firepower resulting in being at a disadvantage; this is particularly significant during boss battles! Worse, the stage layout and enemy placement almost guarantees you’re going to take several hits even in the early stages. Thankfully it’s not hard to find repair items for your tank, but this is still annoying.
The world of Blaster Master Overdrive is fairly large, and should last you several hours. Should you buy it, however? At 1000 Points/$10, it’s one of the more expensive entries in the WiiWare library so this is a fair question. Ultimately, Overdrive is a competent 2D Metroidvania that fixes some problems in the original, yet otherwise shows a lack of polish. While there are better choices in this price range, I believe Blaster Master Overdrive is a decent game and fans of a very ’retro’ take on the genre’s mechanics will probably find the good outweighs the bad. However, those not ready for a rather hard game may want to look elsewhere.
