The NES had many gems hidden across its 700+ games in the library. However, Blaster Master was one that was beloved by me, and one I actually owned! Typically, I received a game for Hanukkah, Christmas, Birthday, so, any games I got were at the end of the year. It was a very small amount of them, but I did get to rent from time to time. You know, we did that in the 80s and 90s. But Blaster Master was kind of a hybrid to me: It had the exploration of an RPG, but the action of a side scrolling shooter! You had two modes: You could ride in the tank and do platforming, shooting and destroy enemies. You also had a top-down “big mode” where you played as the boy, shooting enemies with your grenade/blaster, and fought bosses. All bosses are fought in big mode, as he looks for his estranged frog, who has been mutated. It was such an amazing title, and felt so bold and experimental. I wanted more, but never got it. I even had the “World of Power” book. Insanely difficult, no passwords, this game took no prisoners. I didn’t have a Sega, so I never played “Blaster Master 2”, and the original staff didn’t work on it anyway. There were a few sequels but I never got to play them, such as the previously stated one, one on the Playstation, and a re imagining on the Wii. However, there’s going to be a new Blaster Master after so many years, called Blaster Master Zero! It’s going to use the original game as the base, and I imagine it will be prettier, such as Blaster Master: Overdrive. This one will be on the 3DS eShop and it will definitely make me drag my 3DS out, if I haven’t already for Pokemon. It was such a unique game for its time, and even now will without a doubt stand out.
Were there other experimental or weird titles that caught your eye as a child?
