Blaster Master NES

Blaster Master is Sunsoft’s November 1988 run-and-gun platformer, a Western localization of the Japanese Famicom game Chō Wakusei Senki Metafight. The localized version replaces the original story with a new intro: a boy named Jason chases his pet frog Fred into a hole after Fred is mutated by radioactive exposure, discovering an abandoned tank called SOPHIA III underground.

The game alternates between top-down on-foot exploration, where Jason fights with a limited jump, and side-scrolling tank sections piloting SOPHIA III through a Metroid-like network of interconnected areas gated by upgrades. That blend of vehicle combat and on-foot platforming, combined with genuinely non-linear map design uncommon for the era, has made it a frequently cited example of early exploration-driven console game design.