Power Blazer

Developer: Taito     Publisher: Taito     Released: April 20, 1990     Genre: Action

In the 8 and 16-bit days it was not uncommon for the Japanese version of many titles to be better than its international counterpart. There were many reasons why games were changed during localization. Sometimes it was due to a license (Tokkyū Shirei Solbrain became Shatterhand). More often than not they would raise the difficulty to combat the rental market. But these changes were rarely balanced and sometimes almost ruined the game like Contra: Hard Corps. Every so often though a game would become better, which was the case with Power Blazer.

Power Blazer was another take on Mega Man, down to the protagonists looking similar. But although it had the look Power Blazer was a thoroughly awful game in its original form. Taito salvaged what they could and created Power Blade, one of the best action games for the NES. When I say salvage I mean they took the general concept and some of its levels and bosses and made a completely new game altogether. No one remembers Power Blazer for a reason and I am here to explain why.

I compared Power Blazer to Mega Man but the similarities are only superficial. Both games star similar looking heroes with their only difference being a boomerang rather than a mega buster as the primary attack. They each have a stage select. Here the order you tackle the levels does not matter as you gain nothing from it. There are eerily similar looking enemies and stages too. But while they share a look in terms of gameplay Power Blazer completely falls apart.

Power Blazer uses a charging system like Astyanax for its attack. The longer you charge the further and more damaging your attack. The problem is your range and power is so low early on that the game is inhumanly frustrating. You can throw a single boomerang a paltry two inches at first. I went through nearly three levels before finding my first power-up which is insane. Even standard enemies are incredibly resilient, making the early going a nightmare. The lone boomerang power-up outside of increasing the charge bar allows it to pierce multiple enemies. But that makes little difference when you can only throw one at a time.

This is the one critical area Power Blade is a dramatic improvement. Even from the onset the game provides multiple different power-ups. Power-ups drop every few seconds that allow you to throw multiple boomerangs and by default they always hit through multiple enemies. The meter charges super quick and in general the “feel” of the game is so much better. These mechanics are so common sense it makes you wonder what went wrong with Power Blazer.

The controls are lacking in addition to the mechanics. The controls are no responsive, with the game ignoring you input constantly. Rarely have I had as much trouble jumping and climbing a ladder. Your jumping height is so pathetic every platforming section is a nightmare. Power Blazer is not as platform heavy as Power Blade thank god but its few dedicated sections will have you slamming the controller. You need to be on the very edge of a platform to make the simplest jump and if you need to perform multiple jumps in a row it’s a crap shoot how it will turn out. And my god  the disappearing blocks! It is like no one played the game to see how frustrating it truly is.

The difficulty in Power Blazer is off the charts as a result of its flaws. The one sorry boomerang you can throw is not enough in the face of such strong enemies. If you back up to avoid getting hit they respawn, starting the process over. If you time it right you can bounce an attack off an enemy’s back multiple times but it isn’t reliable. There is no time limit so technically you can farm for energy tanks but with the myriad number of issues, including collision detection, most won’t bother. If you can make it to the bosses they are a literal cakewalk. They have simple patterns but it takes forever because of your single attack. I almost gave up on the final boss out of sheer boredom because of this.

If there is one area you could argue Power Blazer might be better than Power Blade depending on your preference it is its level design. The stages are straightforward here with few alternate paths. You don’t need to find an agent to unlock the boss room which I’m sure many found annoying. Considering the many issues this game has its honest level design is a blessing in disguise. I don’t share that opinion of course but it is something to consider.

In Conclusion

You can see what they were going for with Power Blazer but it fails in almost every area. It is rare that a game is so broken fundamentally but here it is. Stick with Power Blade, the true realization of this game’s potential.