Characters in the Blaster Master series.
For characters introduced in Blaster Master Zero and the appearances of the Metafight cast in Zero III, check the respective page.
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Metafight Canon (Japanese Version)
Kane Gardner
The original protagonist of the series, Kane Gardner is the youth chosen by NORA to pilot the Metal Attacker, a battle tank made to blast mutants invading their home planet, Sophia the 3rd. Accompanied by Metal Attacker, Gardner sets out to defeat Goez and the Invem Dark Star Army once and for all.
Kane Gardner was replaced by Jason Frudnick in the Western Blaster Master series. Despite this, his design would later serve as the basis for Jason's new design in Blaster Master Zero.
Appears in:
Metafight
Blaster Master Zero (Mentioned only)
Blaster Master Zero (Mentioned only)
Jennifer Cornet
A NORA scientist responsible for the creation of the Metal Attacker.
Due to the vastly different plot in the Western version of the series, she is removed completely from the Blaster Master series. However, her design serves as the basis for the character of Eve in the series reboot, Blaster Master Zero.
Appears in:
Metafight
Blaster Master Zero (Mentioned only)
Blaster Master Zero (Mentioned only)
- Adaptation Name Change: Her mention in Zero gives her the same last name as Kane, implying (and confirming in III) another trope at play.
- Lady Not-Appearing-in-This-Game: Despite appearing on the box art and being prominently featured in the manual, Cornet never actually appears at any point except during the game's ending.
- The Ghost: She's all over the covers, but she never directly appears in game. She does have her own profile in the manual and shows up at the congratulations screen with Kane, narrowly preventing her from becoming Lady Not-Appearing-in-This-Game.
Goez
The leader of the Invem Dark Star Army. Goez is also known as the Mutant Overlord, an immensely powerful mutant who commands all others in the known universe. He is the final boss of Metafight and the final obstacle Kane Gardner must face to save his planet.
In Blaster Master, Goez appears as the final boss of the game, as he does in Metafight. However, due to his near-omission from the Western version of the plot, his presence is never addressed in any other game in the series until Blaster Master Zero III.
- All There in the Manual: Goez is mentioned in the Blaster Master manual as the "Master Boss" that the manual says is too powerful to be shown in the manual's boss gallery, narrowly averting Dub-Induced Plot Hole and Giant Space Flea from Nowhere.
- Galactic Conqueror: He is a most feared interplanetary tyrant who conquered Sophia, and it is Kane Gardner's job to retake Sophia.
Blaster Master Canon (Western Version)
Jason Frudnick
Jason Frudnick
Your average high school boy who winds up finding a battle tank below the Earth when his pet frog Fred jumps down a pit. Jason replaced Kane Gardner as the protagonist of the Blaster Master series.
Appears in:
Blaster Master
Blaster Master (Worlds of Power novelization)
Blaster Master 2
Blaster Master Boynote
Blaster Master: Enemy Below
Blaster Master: Blasting Againnote
- Adaptation Name Change: In the original games, he's just called "Jason." It was Worlds of Power that gave him the last name "Frudnick." Meanwhile, the Sunsoft Game Times comic instead called him "Jason B. Masters." It wasn't until the time of Blasting Again that someone decided "Frudnick" should be his canon name.
- The All-American Boy: Before his subterranean adventures, he was a fairly average looking New Yorker living with his pet frog in a peaceful looking town.
- Big "NO!": In the Worlds of Power novel; how he reacts after supposedly killing Fred, the boss of Level 7. However, in the end it was revealed to be a mutant disguised to look like Fred, meant to torture Jason psychologically.
- Composite Character: Boy/Jr. gives him the explosive prowess of a Bomber.
- Down the Rabbit Hole: Falls into a deep hole in his backyard to kick the plot off. Bonus points for chasing Fred all the way there.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Was killed in action prior to the events of Blasting Again.
- Falling into the Cockpit: In the original game, he just found SOPHIA III while he was searching for Fred.
- Happily Married: To Eve, as of Blasting Again.
- Tank Goodness: Pilots a battle tank named SOPHIA III.
- Weak, but Skilled: Outside of the SOPHIA III in the overworld, Jason is largely underequipped, as his only method of attack is a weak and slow peashooter. However, he's capable of many things that the SOPHIA III can't do, such as climbing ladders, entering dungeons, swimming (prior to the Dive upgrade), shooting mines which are too low for the tank's cannon to hit, and crawling through tight spaces.
Eve
Eve
The woman who would become Jason Frudnick's wife prior to the events of Blasting Again. In reality, she is the original owner of the SOPHIA-III and passes it to her and Jason's children, Roddy and Elfie, after her death. Her true origins are somehow tied to the new mystery occuring below the planet's surface.
Appears in:
Blaster Master (Worlds of Power novelization)
Blaster Master: Blasting Again
- Adaptational Dye-Job: She is described as red-headed in the Worlds of Power novel. In Blasting Again and Zero, she's blonde.
- Blunt Metaphors Trauma: In the Worlds of Power novel, her understanding of the human language results in several funny manglings of popular phrases.
- Canon Immigrant: She's one of the aspects of the Worlds of Power novel to ascend to canon, as detailed in a backstory of Blasting Again.
- Damsel in Distress: Gets captured by the Plutonium Boss at some point during Jason's adventure to search for Fred in the Worlds of Power novel.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: In Blasting Again, she died of an unknown illness prior to the start of the game. She comes back to help out later.
- Energy Being: In Blasting Again, it's revealed that the shapeshifting "Lightning Beings" are actually other survivors of her race.
- Happily Married: To Jason, as of Blasting Again.
- Human Aliens: In the Worlds of Power novelization, she's an alien who looks like a typical American teenage girl.
- Spirit Advisor: To her son Roddy in Blasting Again, after Elfie is captured. However, Kaiser can see and speak to her too. It may have something to do with her true nature as some form of Energy Being.
- Spock Speak: In the Worlds of Power novel, she finds it easier to communicate in the human language by not using contractions. This also results in manglings of popular phrases.
- The Unpronounceable: When she introduces herself to Jason, she reveals her name to be "Yvtrkizj".
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In the Worlds of Power novelization, she discovered Earth while out exploring and radioed back to her world with the coordinates. Unfortunately, at that same time, her planet was being destroyed by the Plutonium Boss, and her transmission led him right to the location of his next meal...
Fred
Fred
Jason's pet frog. He escapes from his tank and comes into contact with a crate of radioactive material, causing him to become giant and jump down a hole to the mutant-infested caverns below. Part of Jason's mission involves rescuing Fred.
Appears in:
Blaster Master
Blaster Master (Worlds of Power novelization)
- Action Pet: Not in a good way: he's pitted against his owner Jason in the Waterworks stage.
- Amphibian at Large: He becomes a giant frog boss that must be defeated twice after touching radioactive material.
- Miracle-Gro Monster: In the original NES game, he grows enormously after coming into contact with radioactive material.
- Nuclear Mutant: He becomes an Amphibian at Large after hopping onto a radioactive chest.
- Unexplained Recovery: In the ending, he's back to his normal size again.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: There's no mention of him in any games after the first. By the time of Blasting Again, he's presumably long since dead.
Roddy Frudnick
Roddy Frudnick
Roddy in Blasting Again
The son of Jason and Eve, and current pilot of SOPHIA J-7.
Appears in:
Blaster Master: Blasting Again
- Half-Human Hybrid: Half-human from his father, half-alien from his mother. However, it doesn't seem to give him any special abilities.
- Heroic BSoD: After Elfie is captured while he's helpless to do anything. Eve comes back and helps snap him out of it.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: As evident by their clothing, the hot-headed red to his sister's more level-headed blue.
- Take Up My Sword: Takes over as the pilot of SOPHIA in the battle against the Lightning Beings after Jason is killed.
- Tank Goodness: Takes after his father in that respect.
Elfie Frudnick
Elfie Frudnick
Elfie in Blasting Again
The daughter of Jason and Eve, and Roddy's older sister. Serves as Roddy's spotter while he's on missions.
Appears in:
Blaster Master: Blasting Again
- Damsel in Distress: About halfway through the game, her base gets attacked by Kaiser's minions and she's captured.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Like Roddy, she's technically half-human, half-alien. Although nothing seems to come of it.
- My Greatest Failure: Took over as Jason's spotter after Eve died. However, due to her inexperience, on one of his missions she failed to notice that he was heading into a trap until it was too late. She considers his death to be It's All My Fault.
- Mr Fix It: Responsible for repairing and upgrading SOPHIA.
- Mission Control: Serves as Roddy's spotter (until she's kidnapped, anyway).
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: As evident by their clothing, the blue to her younger brother's red. In their first cutscene she reminds him not to get too carried away.
The Plutonium Boss
The Plutonium Boss / Mutant Lord
The leader behind the mutant threat in Blaster Master. The Plutonium Boss is not the final boss of the original Blaster Master, and in the original Japanese version wasn't even relevant to the plot; he became an Ascended Extra when the well-known US localization promoted him to the role of Big Bad. While it only appears in its original form in the first game, Zero and Zero II have featured variations of it as bosses.
Appears in:
Blaster Master
Blaster Master (Worlds of Power novelization)
Blaster Master: Blasting Again (Mentioned only)
Blaster Master Zero (as the Skeleton Boss)
Blaster Master Zero II (as Cerbeboss)
Blaster Master Zero III (as Metal Cerbeboss)
Blaster Master (Worlds of Power novelization)
Blaster Master: Blasting Again (Mentioned only)
Blaster Master Zero (as the Skeleton Boss)
Blaster Master Zero II (as Cerbeboss)
Blaster Master Zero III (as Metal Cerbeboss)
- Ascended Extra: The Plutonium Boss effectively displaced Goez as the main antagonist in the western localization of the original game. This carries over to Blasting Again, where he is mentioned post-humously and has ties to the current mutant invasion.
- Big Bad: Of the first game.
- Dem Bones: It is featured in Zero in a skeletal form called "Skeleton Boss", again in Zero II where it now has three heads and is referred to as "Cerbeboss", and in Zero III with one head replaced with a metal exoskeleton and referred to as "Metal Cerbeboss".
- Demoted to Extra: Never mentioned at all in Zero, and only appears in a skeleton form called "Skeleton Boss" that can be destroyed with a single Acceleration Blast. Its role is replaced by the Mutant Lord, who is a separate character in this game and is based on the Final Boss of the original game.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Inverted; the novel states that the Plutonium Boss has no true form, but appears differently to each person based on their greatest fears.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: There's no explanation of what it is or where it comes from in the game itself.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In the novel, it's said that it normally takes many, many years for the Plutonium Boss to absorb enough radiation to destroy a planet. However, while on Earth, it's been building a giant machine that will help greatly speed up the process. When Jason confronts it, his gun has absolutely no effect (the Boss is able to literally eat the shots). So instead, Jason shoots the machine, and the Boss is sucked into it and destroyed.
- I Know What You Fear: According to the Worlds of Power novelization, it has no true form, but appears as whatever is most frightening to whoever looks at it.
- Planetary Parasite: In the novelization, when it arrives on a planet, it burrows underground and starts feeding on radiation from the planet's core. Eventually, it destroys the planet from the inside out, then moves on to another world.
- Stationary Boss: Only its head moves around.
Kaiser
Kaiser
The final boss of Blasting Again, and leader of the Lightning Beings.
Appears in:
Blaster Master: Blasting Again
- A God Am I: His answer when Eve asks if Kaiser intends to be the next Plutonium Boss is to invoke this trope.
- Big Bad: Of Blasting Again.
- Damage-Sponge Boss: See all those green lines in the upper right corner of the image? Those are his health bars. And he's got fifteen of them.note
- Evil Former Friend: Toward Eve, although it's unclear if they were friends or just acquaintances. They knew each other from when they were both SOPHIA pilots.
- Kaiju: Roddy's SOPHIA unit is about the size of his head.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Eve tells him that his willingness to destroy humanity and take their world from them makes him no different from the Plutonium Boss.
- The Social Darwinist: He believes that the Plutonium Boss was able to destroy their world because their people had become too weak, and that the survivors had to become stronger at any cost. The result? With the exception of Eve, they're now a bunch of horrible mutant monsters trying to wipe out humanity and take Earth for themselves.
- Was Once a Man: Or whatever his and Eve's species used to be. Now he's a mutant the size of a skyscraper.
Alexander
Alexander
Appears in:
Blaster Master Overdrive
- Ambiguously Brown: He has the darkest complexion of any playable character in the series, besides Shantae in Zero.
- Badass Bookworm: He's a biologist by trade, and faces the mutant outbreak head-on.
- Drill Tank: The Drill Kit upgrade lets his SOPHIA break through solid rock obstacles, similar to Blaster Master 2. Unlike 2, however, it can also be used on the offensive as a Dash Attack.
- Family Man: Both his wife and child were afflicted by the virus, which rendered them comatose. He wants nothing more than to save their lives.
- Gadgeteer Genius: He built his own SOPHIA unit as a research vehicle. Once the mutants harvested it for parts, he built a second one in order to fight against them.
- Grappling-Hook Pistol: The Anchor Kit upgrade for his SOPHIA lets him fire a grapple in order to access otherwise unreachable heights. Then a second Anchor Kit can be acquired to let him fire a second consecutive grapple.
- Grenade Launcher: One of the fire settings on his blaster rifle. A slow but powerful projectile that explodes a set distance away from Alex, as indicated by a targeting reticle. Upgrading this weapon increases the firepower and blast radius.
- Homing Laser: One of the settings on his blaster rifle. A single shot is fired off and zones in on the nearest enemy. Upgrading this lets it be fired rapidly, reaching Beam Spam levels.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. The Worlds of Power novelization has a character named Alex Bufoni, but there's no indication that he and Overdrive's Alexander are one and the same.
- Rage Helm: Rather than Jason's helmet and visor, Alex opts for a red helm with glowing red eyes, shaped in an angry grimace.
- Ray Gun: One of the settings on his blaster rifle. Shoots straight forward and does moderate damage. Upgrading this enables rapid fire, making it a laser machine gun.
- Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: On the title screen
◊, he's pointing his blaster rifle towards the camera. - Shoulders of Doom: His armor sports some big honkin' shoulder pads.
- Smart Bomb: In place of Jason's grenades, Alex can acquire Blast Bombs from defeated enemies. He can only carry one at a time, but it will destroy all on-screen enemies at once. The blast pattern changes depending on what projectile his current primary weapon is set to.
