abulinix

Grew up loving the original, which was fresh and amazing for its day, with a strong combination of unique art style, excellent music, varied and challenging gameplay, and crazy bosses that seemed to take up the whole screen. I can see why people are overall positive on this remake. It does check off most of the boxes and faithfully recreates the structure of the original game. I was personally underwhelmed by the demo, but decided to go for it anyway, and I continue to be disappointed in the actual $10 downloadable. It's a subjective call but art style and music in particular seem not up to the standard set by the original. The colors are seemingly less saturated and the game world less vivid than in the NES version. The contrast between the lush/natural and metallic/robotic was striking in the original, whereas the update favors blander Castlevania style shades over more saturated environments. Bosses are diminished in scale, maybe because the resolution is so much higher. Small and effective details from the original are missing. For example, I may be wrong but I think the flashing and pounding at the start of boss fights is now gone, as are the distinctive swishing explosions that ended boss fights, and while that could be fine, it's not replaced with anything comparably distinctive. Bosses are also too easy, but that's been commented on. Something about the quirkiness of environments and enemies is missing as well. The original gave a feeling of being a real place, somehow, governed by its own logic--with odd variations and features popping up here and there. In some cases it was the glitchiness of the game sounds and graphics that gave it character. A lot of that feeling is gone, for me at least. Music falls short too. The water level tune in the original for example was replaced with something blander and less memorable but that's true for many environments. Generally, the new/original music tracks I've heard so far seem uninspired and the old tunes are sorely missing. The weapons system and status screen are far more complicated but not necessarily in the service of better gameplay. The graphical presentation here is especially cluttered (both visually and to navigate through) and anime/"video-gamey" where the original was minimalist and somehow more realistic--less disruptive to the immersion in the game. I don't find the addition of more story or the anime-style adds much--and in fact for me they detracted. In fairness I haven't finished the game and it's possible it will surprise me positively as it moves along. Credit is also due to the developers for making a demo available for free, and the demo accurately captures the feel of the game. if you like the demo you will probably like Blaster Master Zero.