Review – Blaster Master: Enemy Below

Release Date – September 24, 2000
Developer – Sunsoft
Publisher – Sunsoft
Console – Gameboy Color
Genre – Run ‘n’ Gun, Metroidvania
Official Website

Blaster Master on the NES is one of those games that tends to divide gamers. Some view it as a veritable institution on the system, while others find its flaws and difficulty so off-putting that the game is practically unplayable. I fall somewhere in between. As a kid, I found Blaster Master’s gameplay absolutely enthralling. Spelunking with a tank? What’s not to love?

As it turns out, there’s plenty not to love. Sophia’s (an odd name for a tank, to be sure) controls are loose, which results in plenty of accidental deaths. Spelunking is fun until you realize the game’s areas are huge and full of dead ends. Enemies respawn at a rate that seems outlandish even by NES standards. The list goes on. Suffice it to say, I’ve never beaten the original game, and I didn’t even reach the final boss until I was in my 20s and had mapped out the entire damn game by hand.

Sophia is ready for adventure (NES).

The top-down sections with Jason bring along their own problems. Unlike Link in the original Zelda, Jason holds his gun in his right hand. This sounds trivial, but he doesn’t fire directly in front of him. Trying to hit anything is a massive chore. I usually tried to avoid enemies if at all possible.

So, I guess I like the idea of Blaster Master more than the actual execution, which is part of what makes Blaster Master: Enemy Below such a surprising treat.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that BM:EB is a port of the NES original. It reuses the same art style, soundtrack, and gameplay (with a few tweaks), so much so that I actually wonder if it reuses the same code. Both games even start in the same exact place. It wasn’t until I started exploring the first area that I realized what Enemy Below brings to the formula.

Seem familiar? Same design but on the GBC.

Enemy Below takes place some point after the original, and you know who cares about that? No one, because the original’s story was just…bizarre. Something involving Jason’s pet frog escaping, radioactive monsters or aliens—I don’t know. The same is true here. Apparently, some not-so-brilliant scientist decided to experiment with the remains of the first game’s antagonist, and, of course, things go horribly (and laughably) wrong. Check out that intro. It feels like a trailer for a 1950s sci-fi movie, possibly involving a swamp monster.

The point is that there’s little to no plot here, just like the original, which is fine because no one played it for the story anyway. The lack of a compelling narrative does mean the game’s success entirely rests on its gameplay. The original (arguably) pulled it off and so does EB.

It might seem odd that I’ve spent so much time comparing the two games because they’re on different platforms, but they’re so closely related that it’s impossible not to do so. This is especially true because Enemy Below is essentially the greatest hits version of the original. It takes the Blaster Master experience and streamlines it, while also ironing out a ton of the original’s frustrations.

One of my biggest complaints about the original game is its level design. Each area is a giant cavern filled with a bunch of different catacombs to explore as Jason. The entire point is to find the correct catacomb, which has the area’s boss. Defeat the boss, get a new weapon that gives access to the next area, and repeat. The problem is that there’s no way to tell which catacomb contains the boss, and all the other catacombs are dead ends. A talented player (not me) could probably at least get a few life or gun items in those catacombs. So, the game forces the player to explore, but then doesn’t offer much in return. Pick the wrong catacomb and you waste time and probably continues.

Stage 8 is just as hard as the original, but at least you can turn wall climb off.

Enemy Below is still cavernous, but the scale is significantly reduced. There are also fewer catacombs and all of them have a point. You either get an upgrade, items, a key (at the end of the path), or it leads to the boss. It’s much easier to fill up on life and there’s no risk of getting stuck in a catacomb and dying while trying to get health that might not even be there.

EB also forces players to find a key to unlock the boss’ catacombs, and a few bonus weapons for Sophia and Jason are scattered throughout the world. Exploring in EB actually rewards you, unlike the original. And there’s a catacomb or two in each area that consists of a single room full of health and weapon items. These two changes alone make EB a far more player-friendly experience.

If that wasn’t enough, enemies don’t respawn as frequently, aren’t nearly as aggressive, and frequently drop life. Sophia moves more slowly, but it also doesn’t frequently coast to its doom. One of the highlights of the original, the ability to climb walls and ceilings, can be turned off in the menu, preventing you from accidentally climbing every surface ever. And while EB only has one life, you have unlimited continues and a password system.

All of these improvements make Enemy Below superior to the original. Unfortunately, some of the technical fidelity seen in the original is lost in the transition to the Gameboy Color.

Pew-pew on the NES.

Pew-pew on the GBC

For whatever reason, enemies don’t flash or show any indication of damage. There’s a damage sound, but good luck hearing it over the music and the weapons’ and enemies’ sound effects. This is especially problematic with bosses because you can waste a ton of time pummeling them and not even know if you’re hitting the right spot.

The soundtrack is recycled from the original, but the songs are a little off. Some are missing a few notes or are an octave higher or lower than the original, but they’re close enough to be recognizable. In the same vein, some sound effects are off. Some of the weird, high-pitched blooping sounds the enemies make seem more appropriate for a Mario game. Flicker and slow down also occur during boss battles, which makes those encounters more frustrating than they should be.

Jason’s exploration sections are easier as well, but he can no longer move diagonally, which makes the whole process cumbersome. The gun system from the original is still here in that you lose a gun level for every hit you take, which means you’ll still spend a frustratingly long amount of time leveling it up. The gun also fires at odd angles for some levels, too. The optional grenade launcher and shotgun help offset some of these quirks, but the weapon system itself could still be better.

Enemy Below is basically portable Blaster Master. Even though it’s marketed as a sequel, it uses the same design, music, and gameplay of the original. That said, it’s also more accessible than the original. While Enemy Below has a weaker presentation in terms of sound and visuals, the gameplay and game design is stronger. If you played the NES version and found yourself frustrated with its difficulty, try this one. It has everything the original has but with more options. The ideal Blaster Master experience would marry the gameplay, level design, and features of Enemy Below with the graphical and audio strengths seen in the NES design. However, since that’s not possible, I’d opt for this one over the original if you want old school Blaster Master.

Total Score: 8.0/10