Jeremy Parish

NES Works #094: Blaster Master + Tengen recap (Patreon)

Published:

2022-06-29 11:18:47

Imported:

2024-04

Tags:

blaster master gauntlet nes nes works nintendo pac-man rbi baseball sunsoft tengen

Content

I have finally moved beyond Mario, no doubt to the Mario-haters' relief. (I know some of you exist.) We have entered the final stretch of NES Works 1988, to the point that I've begun laying out the book, and the year looks like it'll be wrapping up well! Not every game will stand quite on the same footing as something like Blaster Master, but you can expect several other flawed-in-their-ambition greats, a masterpiece or two, and quite a few genuinely strong showings. Also some crap, but hey, no console had a flawless library. Well, maybe Neo Geo Pocket Color did—in the U.S., I mean, let's not discuss what Aruze did to the JP library once they took over.

Anyway, I digress. Blaster Master is so cool! And I know everyone loves cool games. The remake, Blaster Master Zero, is even cooler, because it doesn't have that crappy gun degradation system.

I also bring Tengen in the ’88 chronology this episode, having erroneously included their games in NES Works 1987. Look, Nintendo doesn't give official dates anymore and it took a while for people to solidify proper info on release dates for their three licensed games.

Finally, I apologize for the lack of patron bonuses this month. I have cut together 95 minutes of video since the beginning of June (including next week's episode, which is already uploaded to YouTube), and that's nearly twice my usual output—simply creating these recent videos has absolutely dominated my time. I'll make it up to you next month, though, with the arrival of a patron-exclusive (that is, one-year timed exclusive) video feature that I hope to make into a monthly commitment. Please look forward to it.

Files

Blaster Master retrospective and Tengen check-in: One froggy evening | NES Works #094

Sunsoft gets a major glow-up this episode after a mediocre start as a publisher of ancient arcade ports and one neat-but-meager light gun shooter. No one would accuse them of half-assing it this time around, though; Blaster Master shot instantly to the top of the NES all-time greats list as soon as it debuted, and it still holds up remarkably well despite some unforgiving design choices that make for some incredibly difficult scenarios. The plot may not make much sense, and the weapon degradation system can be deeply demoralizing, but on the whole Blaster Master did a lot to advance the state of the NES art. Also this episode, I take a moment to provide proper context for the whole Tengen thing I erroneously tackled back in the 1987 chronology. Special thanks this episode to Stefan Gancer, whose work documenting Sunsoft's history proved a great help for keeping details straight as I organized my notes for this episode. Production note: NES footage captured from @Analogue Nt Mini. Video upscaled to 720 with XRGB Mini Framemeister. Video Works is funded via Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/gamespite) — support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its YouTube debut! Plus, exclusive content, eBooks, and more!