Thoughts on Blaster Master Zero 2

Out of absolutely nowhere Inti Creates recently just released Blaster Master Zero 2, the sequel to one of my favorite Nintendo Switch games, Blaster Master Zero. After spending a decent amount of time with it, I decided that I may as well post an article detailing some of my impressions on the game.

For the uninformed, Blaster Master (known as Metafight in Japan) started as an NES game released in 1988 released by Sunsoft. It had a novel gameplay loop of playing as a tank pilot named Jason exploring 2D sidescrolling levels in the tank SOPHIA III, while sometimes exiting it to explore dungeons on foot that play like a top-down shooter. Despite its success the franchise went through rocky times after its release, with none of the games that came out afterwards being able to match the quality of the original. Eventually, though, Inti Creates created the most well received entry since the first game in the form of Blaster Master Zero, a complete reimagining of the NES classic.

Earlier this month an original sequel was released, and as a fan of the first Zero I was very intrigued to see where they would go with this next entry. Although the basic gameplay loop is the same, there’s been many new additions and changes to the mechanics that are worth analyzing. Does Blaster Master Zero 2 stack up to its predecessor as a worthy sequel? I plan on hopefully answering that question.

Starting off, one of the biggest additions in Zero 2 compared to the first game is the Gaia system, which completely changes how recharging your sub-weapon and hovering energy (AKA SP) works while you’re in the tank. In Zero 1 you regained SP by either killing enemies and picking up the items they dropped or by waiting for it to refill over time, but in Zero 2 your main way of regaining SP is to fall off ledges as high as you can, and the landing impact will restore your SP. Enemies still drop SP pick-ups, but you won’t regain SP until you run out of it completely.

It’s an unorthodox system for sure, and it’s something I don’t think I’ve actually seen done in a game before. It’s something that could’ve easily ended up backfiring, but I think it works quite well for multiple reasons. For one, the level design is built around this system, the terrain often having many drops for easy SP (and I can only think of one world where this isn’t the case). The regen time is reasonably fast, and you can refill additional SP while it’s in the process of regenerating. The wall-jump upgrade can be used to get more SP as well since the height gained from it counts towards the landing impact. There are multiple upgrades that give you more maximum SP, until your SP meter is eventually doubled. Finally, taking damage restores a good amount of SP, so if you desperately need more you can intentionally get hit as a last resort--it’s like trading HP for SP, which is a neat risk reward strategy. All of these factors mean that you’ll be regularly refilling your SP, sometimes at an even faster rate than in Zero 1, and the way you do so feels more strategic than before. I wasn’t completely sold on it at first, but the more I messed with it the more I liked it.

Another great addition to Zero 2 is the counterattacking system. Whenever an enemy is about to launch an attack during a top-down section, an indicator will appear over them, and if you hit the X button when this happens, you’ll slow down time, quickly move out of the way, and unleash a large projectile. The visual effects are excellent at conveying how cool it feels to be weaving in and out of enemy bullets as you retaliate with huge attacks of your own, and what’s even better is that there’s multiple types of parrying moves. There’s one version, for example, where you run up to an enemy and hit them directly, which is more effective but also puts you at risk since enemies usually come in groups and it’ll probably put you right next to that group. Each version of the counter has its own pros and cons, making for an interesting system all around.

One of my concerns before playing Zero 2 was that the game’s advertised outer space theme was ultimately going to be inconsequential in the sense that you could just take all the levels and put them into one big world like in Zero 1 and it wouldn’t make a difference, but that’s thankfully not the case here. It really does feel like you’re exploring different planets with individual ecosystems and inhabitants, Planet Stranga being my favorite example of this as it’s got some crazy aesthetics and mechanics that probably wouldn’t have made as much sense if it were directly connected to the other levels. The world theming in general is something I love, each level feeling fully unique and memorable with amazing pixel art as usual. I think the spaceship stage does end up being a bit generic, but other than that, it’s all fantastic.

While the weapon system during top-down sections remains the same as before (collecting power-ups gives you new guns but getting hit takes them away), the guns themselves have been changed up considerably. The max level gun has been tremendously nerfed compared to Zero 1, meaning that beating bosses isn’t as simple as sitting in the back of the arena and spamming wave shots to steamroll every fight. The shield gun now does direct damage, goes farther, and restores energy to your counter meter, there’s a spread shot gun that rapidly shoots dozens of bullets throughout a small range, etc. There’s a few guns that I’m not crazy about but I think on the whole the balance is a gigantic improvement over how broken your arsenal was in Zero 1, which makes experimentation a lot more rewarding as a result.

On the topic of weapons, many new sub-weapons have been added while others from the first game return in a tweaked state. Nearly all the sub-weapons in Zero 2 feel incredibly relevant, and I found myself swapping between each one a lot more than I did in Zero 1. The number of options you have can almost be a bit overwhelming by the end, but I think it works out in that it encourages different set-ups on replays and figuring out how many different methods you can approach scenarios with. It’s hard for me to choose which sub-weapon is my favorite, because they’re useful in so many different ways.

Despite how viable most of your arsenal is, Zero 2 isn’t an easy game by any means--it’s the opposite, in fact. The first level of Zero 2 alone is harder than at least half of Zero 1, and it only gets more difficult from there. It’s not an insurmountably difficult experience with ridiculous challenges or anything, but it’s still noticeably harder compared to what came before. You’re going to die a lot, but none of it is so daunting that you’re going to be put off from trying to progress further. It strikes a good balance, even if it does push it a bit in the later levels.

In terms of variety, the level design has seen a considerable step up compared to the first game. Each world usually has several different gimmicks, some of which completely change how you approach gameplay. One example is in the first world, where during the top-down areas there are these floating rocks that can be shot down, an action that has multiple results. These rocks will function as platforms if they’re shot down over a pit of spikes, but they can also be used to destroy enemies nearby. However, the rocks will also damage you if you’re next to them when you shoot them down, and because most of the floating rocks will move in a set pattern and can even start a chain reaction if they land next to other rocks, there’s an engaging number of variables to keep in mind that almost has a puzzle-like aspect to it. Not every new mechanic in Zero 2 has this much depth, but they still have enough to them to make them immediately memorable whenever you look back on each world, and do a great job at spicing things up.

On the whole, the boss fights in Zero 2 are generally much better than they were in the first game as well. The superior gun balance ensures you aren’t going to be annihilating bosses with the max level gun like before, so the fights last much longer and do a better job of forcing you to master their patterns; there’s one fight in particular I like against a rival-type character that requires fast parries and dodges. You can still set down all your landmines in the same spot and let them take out large chunks of boss health all at once, and I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before strategies created to decimate bosses with a specific set-up are made (I’m sure several already exist by now, even), but I mean... it’s better than nothing, right?

A particularly interesting addition are the planetoid mini-levels scattered throughout the game. There’s over 15 of these, each presenting unique challenges generally based around certain concepts or abilities, such as one planetoid where you have to do several careful wall-jumps in a row to reach an upgrade. These generally work well in that they’re completely optional, so you can do as little or as many of them as you like. It could be argued that these should’ve been part of the main levels, but I think the main stages are large enough as is and making them any bigger would run the risk of causing them to be overwhelming or tedious to traverse.

It’s hard for me to bring up these planetoids without addressing the elephant in the room, though: the ladder planet. If you’ve played the game, you already know what this--a gauntlet of several ladder jumps back-to-back. This section is infamous both because it’s easy to miss the fact that you can press the jump button to grab onto ladders (many players are unaware of this and try pressing up instead, which is far more finicky), but also the fact that making a single mistake forces you to repeat the entire section. While I don’t think it’s that bad (FYI, once you get the health upgrade you can kill the enemy shooting projectiles at the bottom, and then once you make it to the ladder that covers the full-screen you can just walk past the flamethrowers) it’s still not fun at all and I think the game would’ve been better off without it.

(UPDATE: The ladder section has been made easier now, so there's that.)

While we’re on the topic, this is a good time to bring up the platforming outside of the tank in general. You have to exit the tank to enter dungeons and start the top-down levels, but there’s also several instances where he’ll be forced to do basic platforming. In other Blaster Master games, exiting the tank is supposed to leave you in a vulnerable state to encourage you to get to the dungeon as quickly as possible. Until you’re in a dungeon, you’re more susceptible to damage and also take some very strict fall damage, but this is normally fine since you’re supposed to be making a beeline for the dungeon anyway.

The problem is that Zero 2, as just mentioned, often requires you to do platforming instead of necessarily trying to get into dungeons. This is bizarre because the fall damage has actually been made even more strict than before, instantly killing you if land even three tiles lower from where you jumped. I think loosening up on this would’ve made these segments much more enjoyable and certainly less frustrating, but even then it’s the tank and dungeons that the gameplay shines in, so as with the ladder shenanigans, I think the game would’ve been better off without it regardless. There’s one particularly tedious segment later on where you’re forced out of the tank for awhile, and it drags on for what feels like forever; I understand that the intent was to make it satisfying when you finally get back to the tank, but you’re forced out of the tank so often in other parts of the game that it ends up diminishing that satisfaction.

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In terms of length, there’s six main planets, which is a fairly smaller number than the amount of worlds in the first Zero which had nine areas. However, the amount of actual content makes up for it with how fleshed out each world is, and also the addition of the planetoids. Getting 100% completion actually took me slightly longer than in Zero 1, so I don’t think the lack of main worlds is nearly as bad as it may seem at first. I think the game still could’ve used one more main level, but at the end of the day it’s not really a downgrade, just a different structure. That said, it doesn’t help that once you beat the game, though, there’s nothing to unlock. I’m sure this will be remedied with DLC, but it is slightly disappointing that there isn’t even a New Game+ mode at launch like there was with Zero 1. The game is still definitely worth the $10 regardless, but it is a bit of a shame.

On a related note, one small but impactful change is the way you obtain the true ending in this game. In Zero 1, beating the final boss gave you a bad ending, but if you did it with 100% completion you would unlock the true final area and get to fight the real final boss. Without going into too much detail, Zero 2 follows a similar structure but you no longer need 100% completion; instead, you need a set of specific items and that’s it. I don’t think this would work in Zero 1, but in a game as difficult as Zero 2 I think it’s a great fit, allowing for more freedom while still incentivizing getting as many upgrades as you can because you will need them throughout the game, at least on a first playthrough.

If there’s one area I think that Zero 2 especially shines in over Zero 1, it would be its mobility, both in the tank and during dungeons. As soon as you unlock the dash counter (named Shift-Up Attacker), you unlock the ability to do a technique that may not be immediately apparent. Whenever you use this counter when there isn’t anything on-screen to parry, you will zoom forward in whichever direction you hold. This can be done several times in a row, allowing you to zip from room to room in seconds. This speeds up the pace in dungeons tremendously, and once I learned about its existence it was hard for me not to do it whenever I could.

The tank has a dash ability of its own similar to the one in Zero 1, but it can now be used consecutively without any breaks. Doing this not only uses less SP than doing multiple dashes individually, but also keeps your aerial momentum allowing you to reach farther distances. The tank can also jump off of walls, a feature that initially seems useless due to the fact that you already get the hover upgrade before it, but it actually has a lot of benefits: it conserves SP, is smoother than hovering, the height gained from it contributes towards regaining SP from falling, and it also chains with all your other movement options.

That last part is the most important because of the implications is has for your mobility in general. Doing slick movement in Zero 2 feels incredibly natural, and mixing together dashes, wall-jumps, and bursts of hovering feels amazing. This applies even more so once you get the drill sub-weapon for the tank, which shoots you towards the ground and gives you SP back, giving you another good mobility option to combine with everything else. This pattern of optimizing your movement while also trying to conserve SP makes for a very satisfying rhythm which may be difficult to fully appreciate on a first playthrough.

And I think that’s something that goes for Zero 2 in general. I enjoyed my first playthrough of the game, but it wasn’t until a replay where it really clicked with me. It was at that point that I suddenly thought to myself “Man, this is really great!” and realized how much there was to uncover. The amount of mechanical depth here really impresses me because there’s so many cool tricks and techniques to mess around with. A boss that’s a massive pain on a first playthrough suddenly becomes much easier when you learn how it interacts with the counter system (go out of your way to parry the mole boss and you’ll be shocked at how easily it goes down), sub-weapons get more and more useful as you take the time to experiment with them and find out that some of them even have special contextual uses during specific boss fights, and so on. I found the learning curve and sense of discovery to be immensely satisfying, and I think it’s one of the game’s best traits.

All that said, I don’t think this game is going to be for everyone, either. Zero 2 makes some bold changes and even breaks a few established Blaster Master rules (like how in previous games you wanted to avoid water during dungeons, but in Zero 2 there’s a world where it’s actually mandatory without indicating that this is the case), so I can understand why some people may dislike this entry or find it weaker compared to Zero 1. While a few things did initially make me raise an eyebrow, as I spent more and more time with the game I appreciated what these changes brought to the table, and at least for me personally, I think most of it paid off.

If there’s something I’d need to nitpick, though, it’d be the lack of polish in certain areas. There’s numerous typos in the menu screens, an upgrade location icon on the map late in the game that won’t go away even when you already have the upgrade, and there’s even permanent soft-locks in certain areas if you aren’t careful. None of these are the end of the world (well, the soft-locks are pretty bad) and it’s nothing that can’t be patched--I’m sure it will be patched not long after I release this post, so keep that in mind--but it also makes me wonder if the game could’ve used a bit more development time to clean up a few elements.

(UPDATE (again): These described errors have now been patched, so good on Inti Creates for fixing them so quickly after launch.)

Overall, though, I’ve found Blaster Master Zero 2 to be a pretty great time. I’m sure my opinion will evolve as I do more playthroughs, but so far I’ve found it to be a good sequel with some interesting new mechanics. There’s a few things I definitely don’t like, but my thoughts are positive so far, and I can see myself replaying this plenty of times in the future.

I admit that this article isn’t going to remain relevant for very long. I have no doubt in my mind that a patch or maybe even DLC is already in the works, so it’s only a matter of time before this post already becomes outdated. Still, I thought it would be worth posting my initial impressions, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them. I have high hopes for the future of this series, and can’t wait to see where it’ll go from here.