Now, before I get to the real story of this post (Monday’s release of Blaster Master Overdrive on the Nintendo Wii), please allow me to expound a bit on my longstanding love affair with the original NES game which Blaster Master Overdrive is largely based on.

The original Blaster Master on the NES stands out as one of my favorite gaming experiences I can remember from the halcyon days of gaming in my youth. The gameplay consisted of a perfect blend of 2D platform shooting while traversing the map in your trusty tank, SOPHIA THE 3RD, mixed with sections of top-down perspective run-and-gun action when exploring areas that were only accessible by leaving the snug safety of SOPHIA behind. Every aspect of the game displayed a sheen of quality, from the ultra-tight controls to the relentlessly catchy soundtrack. God, I love the soundtrack to Blaster Master. Listen to the music on the MvG Live stream long enough and you’ll surely hear some tracks bubble up every now and then… or I could just post a quintessential track right here.

Feeling nostalgic yet?

I could wax poetic on this game all day… but you get the gist. I fucking love Blaster Master on the NES. Having possibly gone on too long already, I’ll save all my other thoughts for a post devoted entirely to the NES classic. So, having said all of that, you should now understand precisely why I am so excited about the release of Blaster Master Overdrive on the Nintendo Wii!

Judging by the gameplay footage shown in this trailer alone (which is sadly all I have to go on at this point in time), this game definitely looks to be a worthy revamp of the original Blaster Masterpiece (see what I did there? Now that’s clever goddammit). Just as in the original, it appears that much of the game focuses on obtaining power-ups for both your tank and your personal weapon, which, in turn, allows you access to new areas of the game that were previously inaccessible. The term “Metroidvania” is commonly used to describe this type of game mechanic (which I personally feel is a bit misleading, since Castlevania didn’t feature this type of gameplay until Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on the original Playstation). There are some people out there who think that using this type of game mechanic is a sign of lazy level design, as it is a pretty surefire way to keep players out of areas they might otherwise not yet be powerful enough to explore. Myself, I think Metroidvania games are fantastic. Any game that allows me to watch my character grow stronger and more powerful, with more increasingly complex ways of defeating enemies or solving problems the further I progress is one damn good video game in my book.

If you had a tank this cool, you'd search relentlessly for upgrades for it, too.

I’ll definitely be purchasing Blaster Master Overdrive and after actually playing the game, I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it then. So, until that time, let me know your thoughts… especially if you’ve played the game. It looks fucking sweet.