Nathan vs His Game Collection: Day 8 - A Boy and his Blaster

Nothing some outer-glow or bevel won't do for readability! This isn't the final version of the title image, not by a long shot, but considering my collection I'll say I have a good few months to revise it. For now, hopefully this makes it a little more readable.

Today's batch is actually mostly great game, so let's get on with it! Oh, and here's some youtube retro music goodness for today.

Blades of Steel

A little background

Konami really knew how to not pull any punches when it came to its NES games. Yeah, it had a few stinkers, but the company was really on the ball back in the day (wish I could say that about modern Konami...). In addition to bringing us all-time classics like Castlevania, Lifeforce, and Metal Gear, they also pumped out a truckload of phenomenal sports games. Blades of Steel is one of those.

Released in December of 1988, Blades of Steel was meant to be a more realistic hockey game compared to Nintendo's own Ice Hockey. NES fans and purists still fight over which game is superior, but that's a conversation for another time. Blades of Steel was also an arcade game, but most people probably remember it from this NES rendition. 

First impressions last forever

The voice sampling in this game is actually really good! The intro "BLADES OF STEEL!" is iconic, and the "Faceoff!" and "Fight!" voices are also great.

But what really hits you is both the fluidity of the graphics and controls. Blades of Steel is very intuitive, even from the get go. The fantastic character sprites mixed with an obvious flash of who you are controlling keeps the game simple, and passing and shooting controls are both easy to handle. Plus, the game is (as mentioned already) very smooth and has very little slowdown (though you do get some sprite flicker). 

But as I played further...

This game gets its hooks into you, but it really is fun multiplayer. My wife and I did an NES marathon, and we were stuck on Blades of Steel for a long period of time because we kept wanting "one more match." 

What's also fun is the fights, where if two players crash then the gloves come off and there's an actual fighting situation. It reminded me a bit of Base Wars (also a Konami/Ultra joint) and while it isn't anything deep, its a fun distraction. 

Games also don't last too long, unlike some sports games (*cough10-yard-fightcough*) and it is very easy for even a beginner to pick up the game and learn the ropes fast. 

So what's the conclusion? 

This is tied with Kings of the Beach as my favorite sports game on the NES, and is probably my favorite sports game, period. Even to this day, Blades of Steel is fast, furious, has great graphics and sounds, and is simple yet strategic. Even if you don't like hockey (I couldn't care less about the sport), if you have a friend who is willing to play old games with you, Blades of Steel is nothing but a good time.
Copies are fairly cheap, usually $3 or less, which is an absolute steal.

Blaster Master

A little background

Sunsoft, as mentioned in the Batman review, is pretty well known amongst NES collectors, but most people remember them for Blaster Master. With that incredibly iconic first level song, most people get all over that nostalgia trippin'! Whatever that means.

Released in November of 1988, Blaster Master actually had a children's book written about it and published by Scholastic. Yeah, seriously. It also spawned a few sequels that never really went anywhere, as well as a not-so-great Wii remake. 

First impressions last forever

This game looks and sounds phenomenal. The plot about a boy following his frog into a hole and finding a magic tank is a bit weird, but the game controls fine and the animation is superb. I always though it was cool that you could pop out of your ship and run around and try to fight the big enemies without your car (usually unsuccessfully), as well as find secret doors and ladders you can only go into while small.

The overhead-shooter view for when you're in building is also excellently controlled and looks great. It's fun!

But as I played further...

...I realized this is a really long game, really hard, and with no saves or passwords.

Don't get me wrong, I still really enjoy Blaster Master. For about an hour.

Once I hit the second boss, the game's challenge just seems to go through the roof. Yeah, you get cool new abilities (the "rocket boost wheels" on Sophia [the tank] are super rad) and it's fun to explore new areas, but the game is just so punishing it gets very frustrating. With only three lives and no password or continue option (though you can continue on death, just not if you turn the game off), you're in for the long haul if you intend to beat it.

The world feels decently designed, but there are a few weird jumps and parts when you're on foot where you have to take a hit to proceed, which is cheap. If you screw up even one of the early jumps you can fall into a pit of spikes and not get back out, ending your journey really quick. 

So what's the conclusion? 

I still think this is one of those "essential" NES games, but it's one few people will play for very long periods of time. It's just too difficult, and when the nostalgia of the awesome music and graphics checks out, you've got a game that you wish were better designed (level-wise) to accommodate for everything it does right.
Still, Blaster Master is a cool game with cool ideas. Splitting the game between a shooter-platformer and an overhead shooter-exploration game was neat, and as a whole the package feels complete. If it just wasn't so damned hard.
Copies are plentiful, and usually are under $5.

(David Crane's) A Boy and his Blob (Trouble on Blobonia)

A little background

A Boy and his Blob was published by Absolute (who I know absolute-ly nothing about. Ha ha! Actually I know they did the SNES Home Improvement game) and made by Imagineering. Imagineering, you might remember, is famous for such titles as Bart vs The Space Mutants. Yeah. those guys. 

Anyway, this game came out in December of 1989, one of those rare instances back in the day when we got a game before Japan did (in November 1990). It was later remade by WayForward on the Wii (which seems to be a trend these days...remaking NES games) into a much-improved and much cuter game. "Much cuter," great work. I'm a writer. 

First impressions last forever

Despite the boy looking a bit...bland, this game has some phenomenal animation, especially with the Blob. The ideas here are also cool: you have a Blob that's essentially a toolset, and you use jelly beads to morph him into these various tools to solve puzzles and do some platforming. Pretty original, though if you think the concept sounds like it would lead to frustration, you'd be right. 

But as I played further...

A Boy and his Blob isn't a very fun game to play. It's a great game in concept, and I admire the developers for trying something so unique on such an old machine. With games just now realizing that sidekicks could be, you know, useful (see Bioshock Infinite's Elizabeth), this game's whole crux was based around the fact that this Blob does 90% of the work through instruction.

The issue is that the game is slow, choppy, and honestly a bit boring. This is the kind of game where experimenting with solutions could allow for some fun gameplay elements, or having situations where multiple paths could be attempted with different Blob abilities. Instead, it's a slow-moving, trial-and-error situation with some not-so-hot platforming mixed in. Again, not awful, just not engaging, at least for me. 

So what's the conclusion? 

It's a classic, to be sure, but mostly because of what it was trying to do, not really what it actually accomplished. I honestly think that the developer's ambition was bigger than the NES could handle, which is why the Wii version feels a lot better (though it still has its own set of problems). A Boy and his Blob is still worth checking out if you want to see a unique concept on the NES (as well as some excellent transformation animations for the Blob), but as a game you actually would sit down and play it sort of falls flat. Like the Blob will if you feed him the right jelly bean.

Copies tend to be a bit more pricy, ranging from $10-15. 

Bubble Bobble

A little background

"These are two hungry dino-mights and they've got bubble fighti'n fun down right!"

That might be the best box quote ever to grace a video game. Plastered on every copy of Bubble Bobble NES is this inspired "poem," which makes Edgar Allen Poe look like a poetic troglodyte.

Oh yeah, a review. Right.

Bubble Bobble was an arcade smash hit back in the 80s, so it makes sense an NES port would show up two years later, in November of 1988. Bub and Bob quickly became iconic characters for Taito, eventually migrating over to the Bust-a-Move franchise, and getting some awful backstory about how they're actually transformed humans searching for their transformed girlfriend. Ok, way to take something cute and make it creepy. 

Anyway, the game has been remade and re-released countless times, remixing the iconic theme and upping the graphics and who knows what else. As a tangential FYI: the Bubble Bobble Neo remake on the Xbox 360 is an absolutely horrible port where they screw up the controls so bad it makes some levels almost impossible, so don't get it. Just tossing that out there. 

First impressions last forever

I love Bubble Bobble, but only when I'm playing it two player. Call me picky, but the game is actually kind of dull when I'm playing it by myself. As far as ports go, this NES version seems very comparable, with fluid graphics and animations that match the arcade game. It isn't one-to-one perfect, but it's close enough. Playing two-player is a blast as already mentioned, and I'm already humming the tune to myself just thinking about it. 

But as I played further...

This game is also one that gets ridiculously difficult the further you play, because it was originally designed as an arcade game to eat quarters. However, once you die you realize my biggest peeve about this port: no continues. Once you die, you have to put in a password to keep going or start over. Not cool. And since you have limited lives, you'll be dying a lot. I don't get why this whole "unlimited continues" thing didn't really catch on until way later (even the Metal Slug 3 port on the original Xbox had stupid continue limitations). I already bought the game, guys! Just let me play forever!

It's nothing Game Genie can't fix, but it's still an annoyance. Protip: Put BACCF as a password before starting, and you'll get 99 lives! Aren't you glad you read this review? 

So what's the conclusion? 

Bubble Bobble is charming, has a ton of personality as well as ionic enemies and characters, and is a riot to play with a friend. Minus the annoying continue "feature," it's a solid arcade experience on a home console, and best emulates the original out of the versions I've played thus far. Bubble Bobble is a must-have for people who like playing with friends, or who had any enjoyment out of the first game. I even like it better than it's absurdly expensive sequel, Bubble Bobble II, which costs like $100+ on the NES. Forget that game, get this one instead.

Copies are still a bit pricy, ranging from $15-20 normally, though I've seen them drop to $10.