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Blaster Master Zero is a reboot of Blaster Master, an old game for the NES that is fondly remembered (and surprisingly advanced for the NES, with two modes of play) but never became much in the way of a franchise, not that Sunsoft didn't try. The original Blaster Master was followed up with several lackluster games, including spin-off Blaster Master Boy on the Game Boy, Blaster Master 2 on the Genesis (and a North American exclusive), Blaster Master: Enemy Below on Game Boy Color (more of a return to a style), and a few others. It wasn't until Inti Creates' Blaster Master Zero in 2017 that gave Sunsoft the winner they had been searching for.

What BMZ essentially does is takes the original game and its chunky NES graphics and make a number of changes to a new canon. Jason Frudnick isn't an "ordinary teenager" with a pet frog, it's an anime shonen hero type living in the future. It's far more forgiving in terms of lives lost, and despite looking and sounding like a NES game has all those niceties that a NES couldn't actually do—transparency, full color, and bosses that practically take up the full screen. Basically, a NES game with better controls and quality of life features, which is not a bad deal at all (and even without a sale, BMZ is quite affordable).

The other interesting thing is that BMZ is one of the few games that basically canonized (or took heavy inspiration from) non-canon licensed material. specifically the goofy Worlds of Power book series, which was the one to introduce Eve and her relation to SOPHIA III, which is fascinating since these were all extremely silly. Most of the other Worlds of Power books (all third party franchises) have since had their franchises rebooted with zero elements of essentially fan-fiction; for instance, Ninja Gaiden saw a new Xbox title of the same name in 2004 while Metal Gear was soft-rebooted as Metal Gear Solid in 1998. Unfortunately, Eve here is just an android (or a gynoid, rather), so no chance of starting a family that way.

As for the game itself, it's extremely forgiving compared to its NES antecedent, which could be disappointing if you're looking for a challenge. Bosses weren't any problem, especially when using the right weapon. You'll be able to knock it out in eight hours even if you don't know which way you're going. One thing that did bother me a bit is that while SOPHIA III is great, exploring as Jason sucks. On the top-down levels he's slow and moves a bit like he does in the NES game; on the sideview, he can't jump, can't take any falls, and his weapon is basically worthless.

Unlike Blaster Master, which was exclusive to NES, Blaster Master Zero is a multiplat, though it did start off as being a Nintendo-exclusive title for the Nintendo Switch (and a Nintendo 3DS version). It wasn't a launch title but it was released within a week. In 2019 it was ported to Windows (Steam), followed by PlayStation 4 in 2020, and the Xbox family in 2021.

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