Despite being nearly 30 years old, Blaster Master for the NES holds up. Blaster Master Zero is much of the same, and those familiar with the original game will find the same Metroid-Vania style exploration while in the side-scrolling missions, and gunplay from the top-down perspective. The more compelling of these two games has always been the side-scrolling areas, and while the top-down missions are not bad, the controls-- especially movement and aiming leave much to be desired. In the age of dual joystick shooters, having to walk in the direction of an enemy in order to aim at them feels very much out of date. Except for a few frusturating boss battles which left me mashing the fire button while standing directly in front of the enemy, I enjoyed my time with Blaster Master Zero. The main campaign took me 12 hours, and for the price you can't go wrong.
