Title - Power Blade: A Great USA-exclusive Game

Hello, people.   This is Kenneth$2 ready to review Power Blade for the NES.   First, I will tell you my story of how I got this game. 

My story of how I got this game:

My story of me getting this game is that one day, I was at GameXchange (which is closed now from where I live, which the store was at least 3 or 4 miles from where I live) hunting NES games that I never got a chance to experience before.  I was hunting and hunting and hunting until I finally found Power Blade for the NES.  I noticed the price sticker said $2.95, which was practically a steal (and I'm sure that the low price of $2.95 for an NES game is still cheap).  So, I bought the game, not knowing whether this game was going to be good or not. Now, I played it, and sure enough, I was very satisfied (and I'm STILL satisfied with this game, especially considering I bought this game for the low, low price of $2.95).  Now, I liked GameXchange (which is a mom and pop video game store), because with every 10th game that they stamped on this GameXchange issued piece of paper, you actually get a game for FREE (it can be ANY game you want, it doesn't matter)!    Needless to say, I was quite happy with that store.  It's unfortunate that the GameXchange near where I live went out of the business (probably due to the GameStop being RIGHT across it).   I don't know how many GameXchange stores are left, but I imagine it can't be too many left due to whatever's going on across the world (but that's enough of my story).  Now, I will also point out the differences between Power Blade (USA) and Power Blazer (JPN).   Let's get on with this review.

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Graphics - 9 

Power Blade's graphics are actually very good, considering this was made in 1991.   They are very colorful and detailed.  Now, the graphics DON'T need to be good to make a game good, but this game has very good graphics for 1991 NES standards.   I mean, the enemies are very detailed and very colorful in this game; the enemies are not "blobs" or random "shapeless" things due to bad graphics or anything like that; this is why I consider Power Blade to be graphically appearing because of the detailed and colorful graphics in this game.    

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Sound - 10

Holy Moly, Power Blade has some of the BEST sound in the NES library!   I love the sound in this game, because it makes me pumped up to destroy random robots running rampant around the 7 sectors in Power Blade.  Whenever I start to play this game, I actually hum the tunes found in the 7 sectors, because it's THAT good!   I especially love Sector 7's music, because it feels like a final level with chaos and the character has to stop the enemies in order to save the world!    Not that I don't like the rest of the sectors's tunes too; I love the rest of the sectors's tunes just as much (because the music in the sectors has that "oomph" that Contra has).    

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Story - 8

Let me tell you something; I don't play games for plot (unless it's an RPG).  However, this game's plot is pretty decent (though a bit generic and obvious).   You're this character named Nova and you have to stop the "Master Computer" from taking the world (because it gained sentience and started to go crazy).   Then, you have to locate "contacts" (they're this game's friendly NPCs) to get "ID Cards", to access boss chambers.   Then, after you defeat the 6 bosses in the first 6 sectors, you gain access to the final level, Sector 7.   Then you have to stop the "Master Computer" and destroy it.  Then you (as Nova) gets honored for destroying the "Master Computer" and the people who made the "Master Computer" say they won't surrender control to a computer again.   The ending is also quite good as well.   Now, I suppose you can just play the game to exact details of the plot, but I just gave you a recap of Power Blade's plot.  Now, mind you, I'd still play Power Blade even if the plot was bad; but the plot is pretty decent.   However, that's not why I play Power Blade.   The next reason will be coming up in the next paragraph.

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Addictiveness - 10

Wow, this game is REAL addicting, because of the way Power Blade's 7 sectors are laid out.   The 7 sectors are like Metroid, in that the levels are actually quite big and you can explore for various power-ups or for the contacts that give you the ID Cards (which you need to access the boss chambers, by the way).   This is why Power Blade is known as a "Metroidvania" game, because of the levels actually being quite big and nice.   The enemies are also varied (there's one enemy which looks like ED-209 from Robocop; there's a group of 5 enemies (they look like Xs) that appear and attack you, which you can farm for power-ups).  There's also an enemy that is probably inspired by the Walker Joe (from Mega Man 2); that enemy even hops like the Walker Joe from Mega Man 2 (although it can duck, so be careful).   Now, there's a "power" meter (which is basically range for your boomerang(s); it's like Legendary Axe and Astyanax, in that the axes in those games did more damage the farther you let the "power" meter), which determines how far the boomerang(s) can be thrown.   That adds strategy; do you want to throw your boomerang at it's max range or do you want you to throw 3 boomerangs like a crazy man?   The choice can be yours.   The boomerang(s) can be thrown in 8 directions, which REALLY helps out, considering there are enemies that are above you and floating in Power Blade.   Now, the power-ups are varied too.  The first power-up you will probably see in Power Blade is a star, which increase the range of your boomerang(s).  Collect 3 stars to increase the range of your boomerang(s) to max.   The second power-up you will likely get is a different blue boomerang which the makes the boomerang(s) do more damage; not that it's a necessary thing, because your boomerang(s) automatically multi-hit by default.  The third power-up you will get is the double boomerang power-up, which lets you throw 2 boomerangs at once.  The fourth power-up you will get is a hamburger, which restores 4 bars of energy (you have 16 bars of energy at max).  The fifth power-up you will get is a grenade, which kills MOST enemies in 1 hit (the bigger enemies take 2 grenades to be destroyed); the grenade also destroys bullets (which CAN help in tight situations); you can have a maximum of 4 grenades.    The sixth power-up you will get is an orange (or red, whichever) which is the strongest boomerang in this game and does even more damage than the second blue boomerang.  The seventh power-up you will get is the triple boomerang, which lets you throw 3 boomerangs at once.    Now, the star, the different blue boomerang, the double boomerang, the hamburger, the grenade, the orange-red boomerang and the triple boomerang power-ups can be dropped (and farmed) by enemies, since the enemies re-spawn infinitely (like most of the NES games in the NES library).   The eighth power-up is a Power Suit, which lets you fire an "energy wave" that goes through walls and is even stronger than the orange boomerang (because it does even more damage); however the Power Suit cannot be dropped by enemies; another thing about the Power Suit is that it has it's own life-bar (it supersedes over the character's life bar), which has 3 hits per Power Suit; however the Power Suit cannot be healed by hamburgers; only another Power Suit can restore the Power Suit's life bar to a full 3 hits (making both the character's life bar and the Power Suit's life bar 19 life bars at max (added together, that is)).  Now, some enemies can take off 2 or more life bars, so 19 life bars isn't always 19 hits.  However, collisions and bullets take 1 hit off the Power Suit's life bar.  So, the fact that you have 2 life bars means that you can take some damage, before biting the bullet.  The ninth power-up is a ration which is basically the E-Tank from Mega Man 2/the ration from Metal Gear and Snake's Revenge on the NES; the ration restores all of your life bars to max; the ration cannot be dropped by enemies either.  The controls are 100% perfect; you can jump, immediately turn around, throw a boomerang and immediately turn back around to make it to safe ground without any delay.  This is good, because there's a LOT of floating platforms (with occasional enemies) and stationary platforms (with enemies as well).  There's even those darn "Yoku Blocks" (you know, the ones from Mega Man) that show up; fortunately those "Yoku Blocks" show up in 2 areas in Sector 6 and 2 areas in Sector 7 (making the total that the "Yoku Blocks" that show up in Power Blade a total of 4 times).  The "Yoku Blocks" can de-sync, but since they don't show up until Sectors 6 & 7 (and even then, only a total of 4 times in specific areas of both Sectors 6 & 7), this isn't really a problem.  Oh yeah, there's the ID Cards (which are necessary for accessing boss chambers); also, the ID Card must be a specific ID Card;  for example, ID Card 1 will work on Sector 1's boss chambers, ID Card 2 will work on Sector 2's boss chambers, et cetera. ID Card 1 will NOT work on any other sector's boss chambers, so ID Card 1 must be used on that sector's boss chambers (to give another example).  

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Depth - 8

Now, the fact that you can explore the big areas, that fact that you can throw your boomerangs in 8 directions, the fact that the controls are 100% perfect and the fact that the enemies and the power-ups are varied makes Power Blade actually pretty big in depth.  Oh, and there's an expert mode in addition to the normal mode.  The Normal Mode has the timer set at 999 seconds (for all sectors) and the Expert Mode has the timer set at 300 seconds (for Sectors 1 and 2) and at 350 seconds (for Sectors 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7).   Also, the Expert Mode has knock-back (which the enemies CAN knock off platforms and into pits in Expert Mode, but sometimes this doesn't happen).  

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Difficulty - 3

Yes, I will admit it; this game is pretty easy (even in Expert Mode).  The time is more than enough to explore the level and since you can throw your boomerangs in 8 directions (and they multi-hit by default) and you can upgrade your boomerangs to max, you can make short work of the enemies really easily.   Now, if you die, you do get your boomerang strength, your range and your triple boomerangs downgraded by one level (unless it's a game over/continue, in which case, you start in your default state), but since the controls are 100% perfect and the level design is more than adequate for the character (and fair), this shouldn't be a problem.   It's really fun to watch the enemies explode because your boomerangs easily multi-hit them to death.

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Overall - 9

Yes, this game is easy, but it's fun and addicting to play Power Blade over and over again to watch the robot enemies explode and the levels, like I said, are big and are like Metroid's levels, in that you can explore Metroid's level the same way you explore Power Blade's levels.  The multi-directional ability to throw the boomerangs helps too.   However, I am done yet with this review. Read on to see the miscellaneous stuff below.

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Miscellaneous 

I did say I was going to list the differences between Power Blade (USA) and Power Blazer (JPN), so I'm going to point out the differences between the two versions here.

- In Power Blade, you can throw your boomerangs in 8 directions, but in Power Blazer, you can only throw your boomerangs left and right (one of the reasons why Power Blade is superior to Power Blazer).

- In Power Blade, you can farm your enemies for power-ups pretty easily, but in Power Blazer, the enemies don't seem to drop power-ups nearly as much (even from repeated farming attempts).  

- In Power Blazer, you do gain a life upon completing the level, but in Power Blade, you don't (not that you need them in Power Blade).The levels are big and you can explore the levels in Power Blade (like Metroid's); however, Power Blazer's levels are straightforward and they're just like your typical mediocre NES game.  

- The level design is entirely different between Power Blazer's levels and Power Blade's levels.  This is one reason that it makes Power Blade the superior version to pick up over Power Blazer, because the level design is considerably better in Power Blade than in Power Blazer.

- Both Power Blade and Power Blazer have passwords (not that you need passwords in Power Blade; however, Power Blazer might be a different story).  

- Power Blade's controls are far better and far superior over Power Blazer's controls (another reason why Power Blade is superior to Power Blazer).

- The HUD is different in Power Blade; the HUD in Power Blazer isn't too bad looking, actually.

- The graphics are great in both Power Blade and Power Blazer (though different between Power Blade and Power Blazer).

- Most of the music is the same in Power Blade and Power Blazer (with maybe a couple of different tracks in Power Blazer) and still awesome.  

- The Yoku Blocks show up far too much in Power Blazer, whereas they show up only 4 times in Power Blade (making Power Blazer aggravating to play; also the mediocre controls and mediocre level design in Power Blazer doesn't help either).  

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Conclusion

Whew.....there is a LOT of differences between Power Blade and Power Blazer.   This is also the first time where the USA version (Power Blade) is superior to the JPN version (Power Blazer).  Now, granted, the JPN versions of NES games are superior to the USA versions of NES games most of the time (Mad City being an example of how the JPN version is superior to the USA version, The Adventures Of Bayou Billy).  Not Power Blade, though; Power Blade's superior to Power Blazer, because the controls in Power Blade are 100% perfect, the level design is considerably better and you can throw your boomerangs in 8 directions and Power Blade's a lot more fun than Power Blazer, because of those reasons I listed above.  So you can (sort of) consider this a double review/comparison between the two versions (in this case, Power Blade and Power Blazer).  

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End of Review

So, should you buy Power Blade, rent Power Blade, or emulate Power Blade?   Well....since you can't rent Power Blade (unless you're REALLY lucky to have a store which lets you rent NES games, which is probably next-to-impossible to find anywhere in the USA), I would suggest to emulate this game to see if you like it.  If you do, then buy it.  If not, then don't buy it.   Considering my copy only cost $2.95, if you buy this, you won't regret it.

Whew.....I am done.   See you later, people.