In Defense: Blaster Master Overdrive

Alright, so let's kick this whole thing off with an insanely unexpected and spontaneous throwback to a spectacular NES game called Blaster Master, made by a company called Sunsoft. These guys were one of the pinnacle game-creating companies in the NES era (don't even get me started on Journey to Silius...*drool*), and Blaster Master was perhaps the perfect example as to why. Before I explain anything about BM: Overdrive, though...I'll dive a bit into the history of the original.

The story of the game is simple. You play as a dude named Jason who has a pet frog named Fred. This frog gets out of its cage and hops into Jason's backyard where he consumes radioactive material. Seems to me like Jason has a metric pisston of explaining to do as to how THAT came into his possession, but whatever, we'll roll with it. The frog then jumps in a hole...a really deep, abyssal hole...in Jason's backyard. Now, since Jason is a completely sensible individual, he of course jumps into the hole in pursuit of his frog, since clearly these organisms do not occur very frequently in pet stores or in the wild, and he certainly couldn't have just walked to the store or some nearby swamp and gotten another damn frog. This is where it gets good though. Jason finds a tank in this hole called SOPHIA the 3rd...a fully functional battle tank with means to fire, jump, hover, submerge, climb walls and ceilings, and in general just kick a lot of ass. This is the main reason why I jump into holes when I see them, cause I've learned from these games that there may in fact be a tank at the bottom of them. He also finds a suit which fits him perfectly (of course), so he puts the fucker on, gets in the fuckin' tank, and shoots off into the cavernous distance to find his pet frog.

His pet frog. Fred.

Intro post

So I finally gave in and decided to start a blog so I can shoot my mouth off and e-publish my opinions about something, and what better subject to cover than the one that I happen to have the most expertise in. That's right, I'm talking about vidja games, and not necessarily the new ones (although I do, in fact, play many of them).

However, my whole reasoning behind making this damn thing is not just video games in general...but rather the fact that it's not the new-fangled, state of the art, jaw dropping movie-quality games that I keep crawling back to on hands and knees to play over and over again. It's the classic ones...the simple ones...the punishing and excruciating ones.

Games have changed 'cause they're not a niche market anymore...they're big business, tried, tested and true. And I don't like it all that much, with some exceptions. However, as of late there's been a tendency towards taking the classic games that people like me appreciate so much for their timelessness, throw on a new coat of paint (or not, in some cases), and release them with the same gameplay that had me hooked since I was 4. Of course, a lot of gamers out there don't get it.

"Why does Mega Man 9 look like shit?"

"Why can't you double jump in this game?"

Christ.

That's all I have to say for now, actually. But this is gonna be a blog dedicated to the classics and retro revivals that all seem to be overshadowed. Reviews, lists, and other various articles will be written here. I can already think of a few things that I want to write about, but who knows what'll come up.

First official post to come soon.

- Adam