NES Works #094: Blaster Master & Tengen catch-up

Video Works by Jeremy Parish

Sunsoft gets a major glow-up this episode after a mediocre start as a publisher of ancient arcade ports and one neat-but-meager light gun shooter. No one would accuse them of half-assing it this time around, though; Blaster Master shot instantly to the top of the NES all-time greats list as soon as it debuted, and it still holds up remarkably well despite some unforgiving design choices that make for some incredibly difficult scenarios. The plot may not make much sense, and the weapon degradation system can be deeply demoralizing, but on the whole Blaster Master did a lot to advance the state of the NES art.

Also this episode, I take a moment to provide proper context for the whole Tengen thing I erroneously tackled back in the 1987 chronology.

Production note: NES footage captured from @Analogue Nt Mini. Video upscaled to 720 with XRGB Mini Framemeister.

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