Video Game / Blaster Master Zero II

aka: Blaster Master Zero 2

Unmarked spoilers for Blaster Master Zero below!

Blast off for a new adventure... IN SPACE!!

Blaster Master Zero II is the sequel to the 2017 reboot/remake of the Blaster Master series, Blaster Master Zero, for the Nintendo Switch. Developed once again by Inti Creates, Zero II was revealed during a Nindies Direct episode of Nintendo Direct on March 20th, 2019 and subsequently released the same day. A version for PC was released on November 29th, 2019 on Steam. A PlayStation 4 version was released on June 29, 2020. Versions for the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S came out on July 15, 2021.

At the end of Zero, Jason eradicated the mutant threat on Earth, saving the SOPHIA-III's Support Droid "Eve" and the planet. Unfortunately, despite their newfound peace, a new threat has emerged: leftover mutant cells from the mutant parasite that infected Eve's body during the climax of their previous adventure have started corrupting her body, slowly transforming her into a mutant. With no hope of a cure on Earth, Jason and Eve (with Fred) decide to board Jason's new SOPHIA unit, the EARTH MA-001 "GAIA-SOPHIA" (G-SOPHIA) and embark on an intergalactic mission to Eve's home planet, Sophia, in hopes of finding a cure.

However, Jason soon discovers that they aren't alone in the mutant war. After the creation of SOPHIA-III, Sophia deployed their Metal Attacker units across the galaxy in hopes of assisting other planets in destroying the mutants once and for all. During their journey, Jason and Eve will encounter other Metal Attackers and their pilots, but not all of them are friendly. Who can they trust in this new journey?

While the core gameplay of Blaster Master hasn't changed from the previous installment, Zero II is one of the most ambitious installments yet; the scope of exploration has expanded from a single planet to an entire galaxy, using the G-SOPHIA as a method of space travel. Both Jason and the G-SOPHIA are equipped with brand-new, unique armaments never before seen in a Blaster Master game, and both are armed with new abilities. The G-SOPHIA wields the GAIA-System, which enables it to convert hard landings and enemy damage into Subweapon Gauge, and Jason can fight dungeon enemies with the new Blast Counter attack, enabling him to strike back against aggressive enemies.

Beyond the addition of new playable EX Characters, in 2020 the game received a paid DLC called "Kanna Raising Simulator". In this sub-mode starring the titular busty plant-girl from Planet Stranga, the player is tasked with harvesting materials through top-down minigames to grow and collect several different varieties of Kanna, each with unique designs and flavor text.

A sequel, Blaster Master Zero III, was released on July 29, 2021. It is the final installment of the Blaster Master Zero series, concluding Jason's story.

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Blaster Master Zero II contains examples of:

• Ability Depletion Penalty: Running out of energy gauge with the G-Sophia puts it on a forced recharge state, which disables your secondary weapons and makes your primary weapons weaker. Zero 3 splits the energy meter into two separate meters for weapons and specials.
• All Your Powers Combined:
  • Villianous example, the True Final Boss has abilities from every Metal Attacker in the game. ATOM's drill, EIR's plant-growth powers, GARUDA's aerial attacks, ANDREIA's water bubbles, and pure energy like what runs G-SOPHIA. The boss also has a Super Mode... but shuts down after using it. Just like a Metal Attacker using all its SP.
  • Attacking said boss with a max charge Full Acceleration Burst in its depleted state will vaporize it instantly, even at full health!
• Attack Reflector: Defeating Leibniz awards the Vector Reflector Blast Counter, which allows Jason to project a wide-range field that negates enemy projectiles and returns them to the attacker.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: In the final area, Eve, Jason, and Fred are separated after being thrown into inter-dimensional space. The player takes control of Eve for the remainder of the game up until the final boss.
• Ambidextrous Sprite:
  • Beautifully averted for Eve. If you attack on each distinct direction you'll see different angles from her. Granted, it would feel very weird to see her giant cat gauntlet and corrupted side not flipping...
  • Copen averts this as well, whenever he turns around he keeps his gun in his right hand.
  • Jason's top-down walking sprites avert this as well, keeping his asymteric helmet spikes and pauldrons on the correct side in all 8 directions. He always fires the Blaster Rifle in the hand furthest from the camera, but that's to make sure the bullets come out on the same level either way.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • ZL and ZR for the Switch, or LB and RB for Windows can be shortcuts for Jason and G-SOPHIA's weapons, meaning you can have up to four different weapons at a time without switching.
  • In most cases, once you've secured the main item in a dungeon, Fred will open a wormhole so you can teleport out right away.
  • Fred can teleport Jason back into the G-SOPHIA's cockpit. However, it's disabled if you're expected to hoof it.
  • The True Final Boss fight happens in a flat box, so the Gaia System triggers with standard jumps. A Wall Jump heals even more SP than normal.
• Asteroids Monster: The mini-boss Capell in Area Omega is a giant bouncing ball that splits into two smaller balls, then four.
• Attack Reflector: Gun Level 6 is the Whip. It's a short-range melee attack that's decently fast and does good damage and hitting certain projectiles sends them back like the previous game's Attack Reflector weapon and Shovel Knight's Shovel Blade. It's also Leibniz's weakness.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Full Acceleration Burst has some advantages over Zero's Acceleration Blast, like being able to move and attack while charging and shooting it speeds up the process. It still takes a while to charge and requires one full SP bar to start, plus if the ball is struck it loses a charge level. However, it can kill the final boss in one hit if timed just right. And, as ever, if used on the Skeleton Boss, even souped up as it is as the new Cerbeboss, the grand creature goes down in one hit.
• A Winner Is You: Much like the first game, the DLC characters don't have a really elaborate ending. You get a unique art piece with a "Thank You For Playing" on it and that's about it.
• Background Music Override: Copen's Idol Trigger transforms Lola into her Idol Mode and makes an 8-Bit version of the "Luminous Promise" song play out. This music overrides all normal gameplay themes, including boss ones.
• Badass Cape: Jason's mutant fiber cape grants him the counter ability. Leibniz has one as well.
• Bag of Spilling:
  • G-SOPHIA inherits only three upgrades from SOPHIA-Zero: Hover, Dive, and Crusher. Justified by SOPHIA-Zero's Flawed Prototype status and Jason wearing it out searching for a cure for Eve before Zero II starts. Jason mentions that SOPHIA-Zero's main cannon is the only part in G-Sophia he carried over rather than building himself.
  • This is handwaved in a similar fashion for Jason's Blaster Rifle; it had no "safety" features to lower its power output and making use of its full power at all times had worn out it to the point Jason and Eve had to rebuild and remodel it into the Gaia Blaster. It is also the reason why the most powerful weapons will lose their power if used too liberally.
  • Downplayed with the Hover module; while it is damaged from the landing on Flosante, it's the first major upgrade you get, as it is mandatory for interplanetary travel.
• Battle Cry: During the interactive cutscene where Eve charges the Acceleration Blast, Eve is seen screaming "TAKE THIS!!!" in giant, bold letters while the cannon charges.
• Bishōnen Line: Drolrevo Mastro. While Drolrevo's first form is a giant cocoon surrounded by eyes, Mastro is a humanoid mutant that proves more than a match for G-Sophia.
• Bizarre Alien Biology:
  • Kanna has a flower pot for a head that sprouts fruits and flowers, and she "eats" by being watered. She also has a humanoid body with rather large breasts.
  • Stein, while otherwise humanoid, contains large amounts of a mineral called "Sophinium" in his blood, which, incidentally, is the same material used to power the Metal Attackers. He can produce Sophinium in crystal form and feed it into his Metal Attacker to power it up or repair it.
• Blackout Basement: One planetoid requires Jason to navigate by watching enemy attacks. This is another reference to Atlantis no Nazo, which uses a similar gimmick.
• Body Horror: The mutant infection transforming Eve's right side. Jason and Eve designed the armor on Eve's right arm to slow the infection, but she's tethered to G-SOPHIA. Channeling her newfound purification powers into ANDREIA's Acceleration Blast stabilizes her and renders the infection benign, but does not cure her.
• Boob-Based Gag: Kanna's Buxom Beauty Standard is lampshaded by the chest area of her suit being designed like watermelons.
• Boring, but Practical:
  • Jason's Level-1 gun is this. It's not the piddly, short-ranged shot he had in Zero 1, but the first upgrade weapon he had in that game. While it's nowhere as powerful as his other weapons it's the one you can always fall back on.
  • G-SOPHIA's main cannon is far from the flashiest or coolest weapon in its arsenal, but it's also the only one that doesn't consume SP and (most of times) always get the job of killing mutants done.
  • Impact unleashes a 360 degree sound blast that vaporizes nearby Mooks, damages heavier enemies, and nullifies projectiles. Goes through walls too.
  • Copen's starting EX Weapon, Stellar Spark, a significant departure from its relative uselessness in its home game. While untagged, Stellar Spark fires multiple bolts of electricity in front of Copen. Not only do the bolts stay out for quite a while per use, they have absurd range (going fullscreen in dungeons) and they absolutely shred any weak mook or rock in their path. The attack's sheer range and width also lets it plow through a surprisingly high number of obstacles simultaneously, and its piercing properties mean it can wreck mutants as long as they're visible and break walls from the opposite side.
• Boss Rush: In Sector G, prior to the Final Boss battle you must duel your way through two Planetoids worth of bosses. Planetoid G-2 features all side-scrolling bosses, while G-3 features all dungeon bosses except Dig-rawler. Dig-rawler shows up later in Area Omega as a Puzzle Boss for Eve in the True Ending path.
• Bullet Time:
  • A successful Blast Counter performed by Jason will slow down things for a brief moment. The only exception is the Vector Reflector which will stop time and then reflect all bullets instantly.
  • Eve's "Blast Counter", Unchained DDF, slows down all bullets and enemies for 10 seconds at the cost of CP. It's also the only Counter that is also available in overworld segments.
• The Cameo: Although otherwise not appearing anywhere else in Copen's campaign, Fred appears during Copen's ending to send him home through a wormhole.
• Canon Welding: Luminous Avenger iX 2 retroactively made Copen's Guest Fighter campaign in this game canon due to Alternate Timeline shenanigans, since the damaged Blaster Rifle that Roddy left behind in Area Omega ultimately finds its way into the hands of the "main" timeline's Copen.
• The Cavalry: Collect all three MA Emblems before Planade-G and Leibniz informs the other MA pilots of Eve's situation. Survive for a bit against Drolrevo and the pilots show up to buy Eve time to charge ANDREIA's Acceleration Blast.
• Call-Back: A few significant examples on the path to the true ending:
  • The first being Eve piloting ANDREIA, which controls nearly the same way as SOPHIA III from the first game up to having the same War Head Missiles and Spark Tackle. Another significant one is during the battle against Drolrevo Mastro which uses attacks very similar to the Multidimensional Overlord from the first game as well, although they are on a much bigger scale since you're fighting it with G-SOPHIA instead of on foot.
  • The final words Eve speaks to Jason in the True End is a throwback to Jason’s own final words to her in the True Ending for the first Zero title; there, he told Eve he had something to tell her after all the chaos they'd just been through. Here, with Eve taking up Jason's role from the first game for the last section of this game, she repeats the sentiment. It's heavily implied that both are love confessions.
• Charged Attack: Gun Level 7 is the EX-Charge. It's over incredibly weak at base power, but deals great damage when fully charged. Equipping an elemental Subweapon alongside it will add that element to the charge shot for a further boost.
• Checkpoint Starvation: Planetoids G-2 and G-3 don't have checkpoints between bosses. Die on either planetoid and you have to start fighting its group of bosses all over.
• Chekhov's Gun: The Gaia System ends up being the key to defeating Planade-G, a planet-sized mutant storing enough energy to destroy the universe. The G-System can drain off enough energy to safely collapse it.
• Cherry Tapping:
  • The large flies on Stranga are highly-resistant to G-SOPHIA's weaponry, but will die in one hit from Jason's own gun.
  • When recovering from Gaia system shutdown, the G-SOPHIA will emit a pulse of light indicating that the SP Gauge is full. This pulse happens to inflict minor damage to targets in immediate range, which can be used to kill weak mooks or missiles in a pinch.
• Chest Monster: Some Stranga enemies are disguised as health and energy pickups until you get close. And then there's the fake save points with their Wave-Motion Gun!
• Collection Sidequest: After finishing their respective planet, you can do a small Fetch Quest for each MA pilot in exchange for an Emblem. Having all three unlocks The Very Definitely Final Dungeon and the Golden Ending.
• Colossus Climb: Gathervira, the boss of Montoj, is an absolutely massive mountain-like mutant that can't be defeated by normal means. To defeat it, Jason must climb up to the top and inflict damage to the diamond-shaped core on its head, then enter the dungeons located on its body and defeat the Zaviras inside them.
• Conservation of Competence: Most MA Pilots and their Support Droids introduced here have more or less this dynamic, although is less about one being dumb and the other smart:
  • Gonbei is impulsive and tends to fight first and ask questions later. Tae on the other hand is calmer and doesn't jump to conclusions.
  • Kanna is eccentric and has a very quirky personality to say the least. Kenwood on the other hand is calm and unfailingly polite who also keeps Kanna's weirdness in check. Mostly.
  • Stein is a very proficient mechanic and can easily repair ATOM, however he is hopeless with tech and the operating systems of the Metal Attackers. Tesset on the other hand is able to handle that.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Eve's mutation manifests as an irregular blue pigment, that turns her eye yellow with black sclera. This is the same as the Mutant Core, the True Final Boss of the last game and the organism that infected her in the first place.
  • When Jason meets Cerbeboss for the first time, he initially mistakes it for Skeleton Boss until he realizes that it has three heads.
  • Late into Area Omega, Eve picks up a damaged Blaster Rifle, which has the same design as Jason's from the previous game. It's later revealed that it belongs to the ANDREIA, which has the same base construction as the SOPHIA series.
• Cool Tank: The G-SOPHIA as per the norm, but this time, there are more tanks scattered across the galaxy each wielded by different pilots and their Support Droids.
• Counter-Attack: Zero II features a new core mechanic for Jason called the Blast Counter, which takes the form of a Badass Cape. By using it, Jason can retaliate against enemies with a variety of special actions. Blast Counter is limited by the CP (Counter Points) Gauge, which refills over time but can be refilled faster by shooting enemies or using the Absorber to turn enemy projectiles into CP.
• Crossover: In one of the first worlds Jason goes to, he meets a seemingly feudal Japanese farmer named Gonbei who is leading a "farmer's rebellion" or "Ikki" against a feudal lord who is taxing too much. This is straight up from Sunsoft's Arcade Game, Ikki. Except for the part where the feudal lord got possessed by a mutant and Ikki got his own Metal Attacker Tank and Mysterious Waif.
• Darkest Hour: Hoo boy. The path leading to the true ending starts off even worse than it did for the previous game... After defeating Planade-G the dimensional wormhole goes haywire and separates Eve from Jason leaving her stranded alone in Area Omega, a nest of mutants. It doesn't get better even after Eve finds ANDREIA and faces a hopeless battle against the Mutant Cocoon since ADREIA doesn't have enough firepower to destroy it, and, oh, Jason and G-SOPHIA were petrified by said Mutant Cocoon and can't help Eve.
• Dash Attack:
  • The Burn Spark Subweapon for G-SOPHIA envelops the G-SOPHIA in fire and charges forward. If the Subweapon button is mashed, you can maintain the boost in exchange for SP. As an added bonus, you are immune to fire damage while using it.
  • ANDREIA's Spark Dash Subweapon is used in a similar fashion to the Burn Spark, except it can't be maintained after one dash. It can, however, push around enemies that have been immobilized by the Water Bind Subweapon, which becomes a vital attribute during the fight against Drolrevo.
  • The Shift Attacker Blast Counter allows Jason to do this to enemies; it uses CP to perform, unless as a follow-up on a killing blow. Jason can still dash even without a target, but CP is still consumed.
• Death World:
  • A twisted example. Planet Stranga's atmosphere is inherently toxic to the mutants, and some species of flower shoot seeds that cause flowers to sprout from mutant foes; these foes are completely pacified and will not attack, with one even corrupted to shoot recovery pickups instead of bullets. These passive effects are ineffective on Jason and Fred, but Eve's mutant corruption makes her vulnerable in turn. You need to find three fruits at Kanna's request so she can make a medicine for Eve. Furthermore, the boss of the area is situated on an otherwise innocuous planetoid.
  • At the very end of the game you visit two of these. One of them is even a boss: Planade-G. And after killing it you have to travel through Area Omega, the remains of a planet infested with mutants.
• Defeat Equals Friendship: Most of the Metal Attacker pilots you encounter have to be taken down by force before they're willing to listen to Jason and Eve.
• Degraded Boss: Bosses from the first game occasionally appear as enemies in the overworld. Fortunately, they go down a lot faster to G-SOPHIA than they do to the Blaster Rifle. Even the Multidimensional Overlord, the Final Boss of the first Zero, is now fought in the tank, but this is actually an inversion. The version fought in this game, Drolrevo Mastro, is actually the True Final Boss.
• Developer's Foresight: The dialogue when first encountering Kanna still makes sense even if you went out of your way to fight GARUDA first. Impressively, nothing actually changes: the same narration from Jason makes sense whether he's reacting with confusion or or immediately recognizes GARUDA but doesn't get it out before Kanna attacks.
• Downer Ending: Even moreso than the previous game's. Fail to collect all three MA Emblems before facing Planade-G and Eve spends her last moments thinking about Jason before she succumbs to the mutant virus and shuts down. Meanwhile, Leibniz intercepts a SOS from Earth, only to cackle about how Jason now has lost everything as well.
• Downloadable Content:
  • Much like Zero, Zero II got EX Characters as DLC, starting with Copen from Luminous Avenger iX. A second DLC character, The Empress, from Dragon: Marked for Death was announced later as well.
  • The "Kanna Raising Simulator" DLC adds a new minigame featuring Kanna, where the player must find and raise other types of Kannas.
• Early-Bird Boss: GARUDA can be fought considerably ahead of schedule if you go hunting for upgrades. If this happens, Jason will stress that it might be worth retreating for now and coming back better-equipped.
• Evil Overlooker: Leibniz is depicted quite menacingly on the key art.
• Evolving Weapon: Jason's Blaster Rifle, once again, takes on this trait, and much like Zero, each level has its own effect. Unlike Zero, however, there are twinks which keep one weapon from overshadowing the others too much. Still rewards good play, as damage brings down the weapon's level or the self-renewing Energy Guard. Projectiles that "decay with use" will recharge to maximum power on a successful Blast-Counter.
  1. : G-Blaster. Basic shot; doesn't do much damage.
  2. : Stinger. Pierces terrain, sticks in enemies.
  3. : Spreader. Insane fire rate, wide coverage, miniscule damage per shot. Range decays with use.
  4. : Seeker. Travels in a wave pattern, breaks debris. Tethers to target and strikes repeatedly on hit.
  5. : Absorber. Low fire rate, wide range. Converts projectiles into CP on contact. Impersonated by Eve's I-HIX.
  6. : Whip. Heavy damage, low range. Can reflect some projectiles.
  7. : EX-Charge. Low damage unless charged. Adopts elemental properties of equipped subweapon.
  8. : Wide Blaster. Heavy damage, wide coverage, long range. Damage and coverage decays with use.
• Fall Damage: The G-SOPHIA actually inverts this, as it is able to regain Subweapon meter by falling from substantial heights. Still applies to Jason, however.
• Fan Disservice: Eve got a Fanservice Pack inbetween titles? Huzzah! The all-but-certain case that this is because her affliction is resulting in an overgrowth of mutated mass inside her chest? Not huzzah. Then she gets to retain the benefits with all of the detriments purified from her body in the Golden Ending? Huzzah again!
• Fetch Quest: After beating the boss in the planets associated with the other MA pilots, you can talk to them and they will give you a sidequest to bring them a particular item. Doing so earns you their Emblems, which are required for the Golden Ending.
• Find the Cure!: Jason travels through space and across dimensions looking to cure The Corruption infecting Eve.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Jason can obtain special sub-weapons for his Blaster Cannon imbued with the familiar elemental trio. By combining them with his main weapon, he can unleash powerful element-enhanced shots that can do severe damage against enemies who are weak to it.
  • The Torch Bomb immolates the blast zone and burns everything that tries to go through it; the Spreader's shots combust if Jason fires it from within the blaze. The EX-Charge is modified so that its charge shot explodes on contact with enemies or terrain, but also detonates about half a screen away from him; enemies will be set on fire from this attack as well.
  • The Flash Striker electrifies enemies in the area around its detonation point, and zaps foes struck by the Stinger, a la Flashfield. The EX-Charge pierces terrain on a fully charged shot.
  • The Absolute Comet orbits Jason with freezing bits that chill enemies, and firing a Seeker through it enables the Seeker to freeze its target. The EX-Charge turns into a spread shot.
• Flash Step: The Shift-Up Attacker Blast Counter causes Jason to dash toward an attacking enemy at high speed and fire a point-blank shot. He can chain this attack repeatedly as long as there are available targets onscreen, and if the shot kills an enemy, the next dash costs no extra CP.
• Fragile Speedster: The GARUDA is noted to have incredible speed but lackluster defenses.
• Genius Loci: Planade-G is the planet of Sector G, itself turned into a mutant, and acts as the boss of the sector.
• Geodesic Cast: Jason meets up with other MA pilots. Each has their own Metal Attacker, support droid, and support animal.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Drolrevo is the source of the mutants in both games, but doesn't have a hand in any of the conflicts until you reach Sector Omega.
• Goomba Stomp: A weird example, using G-SOPHIA's Gaia System to land from high ground on enemies will actually do nothing but damage G-SOPHIA, however using the Gaia System is the only way to defeat Planade-G, an entire planet turned mutant.
• Guide Dang It!:
  • Like before, you are never required to talk to Eve, but not doing so will cause you to miss a variety of optional conversations that fill in smaller details and explain a lot of important tidbits that are otherwise glossed over in the main plot.
  • Did you know that the Jump button can also grab ladders? This is actually a holdover from the original Blaster Master on the NES, but the ability to grab onto ladders with the Up button rendered this largely obsolete. However, this mechanic suddenly becomes extremely useful on Planetoid C-2, which involves jumping between ladders.
  • Jason's Pilot Sub-Weapons and Blast Counters do not function outside of dungeon areas, so players can make the easy mistake of assuming Eve's "Unchained DDF" Blast Counter wouldn't either. It is in fact the only Blast Counter that works outside of dungeons, and your only hint is that Eve has a CP bar in the overworld whereas Jason doesn't. You are expected to use this in overworld sections of Area Omega that are rife with enemies.
  • Did you know that if you go to an overworld save spot as Jason and press X, you can summon G-Sophia to you? No? Well, this is exactly what you need to do to solve the puzzle on Planet F-1, which in turn is needed to unlock the Revol Buster weapon. As the game never tells you this option exists, it's one of the most frustrating puzzles in the game.
• Guest Fighter: Like the first Zero, EX Characters were added to the game over time featuring characters from other Inti Creates games.
  • The first EX Character is Copen from Luminous Avenger iX, utilizing his design and abilities from said game.
  • The second EX Character is the Empress from Dragon: Marked for Death.
• Hailfire Peaks: Div Ido is a Shifting Sand Land and Slippy-Slidey Ice World combined, separated by dimensional rifts opened by the local Mutant Overlord.
• Happy Ending Override: Zero ended very happily, with the mutants on Earth destroyed for good and Jason and Eve together again. Zero II reveals that Eve's capture and partial absorption by Invem SOPHIA left mutant cells in her that are now spreading and killing her, so Jason and Eve must now embark on a quest to find a cure.
• Heel–Face Turn: On the path to the true ending, Elfie talks Leibniz into moving past Lucia's death and giving up his personal vendetta against Jason and Eve. He later pulls through for Eve by sending the other MA pilots to help her, and in The Stinger is seen flying to Earth to stop a second mutant invasion (in part so he can spite Jason by stealing his glory).
• Helpful Mook: One room on Stranga consists entirely of docile mutants who shoot Health and Subweapon restoratives instead of normal projectiles.
• Heroic Willpower: Makes all the difference between the good and bad ending, as in the former Eve is inspired to save Jason and stabilzes herself instead of Dying Alone.
• Heroic RRoD:
  • A side effect of the Gaia System causes all of G-SOPHIA's main systems to shut down in the event that the tank runs out of Subweapon energy. If a Gaia system shutdown occurs, all functions that consume SP will be disabled and your Main Weapon will be reduced to SOPHIA III's original cannon without the Hyper or Crusher upgrades which barely inflicts damage. The tank only recovers from a Gaia system shutdown by restoring Subweapon energy to maximum, which can be done by waiting for the energy to regenerate or through normal means such as dropping from high places, getting hit, or picking up capsules that refill the gauge. If you are in a safe area and are low on SP, you can intentionally run out of SP to force your SP to regenerate.
  • ANDREIA is permanently disabled after Eve uses the enhanced Acceleration Blast.
• History Repeats: Like in the Golden Ending of the first title, Zero II concludes with what appears to be a Love Confession (indicated by "I have something I want to tell you—"); only this time, Eve says it instead of Jason.
• Hopeless with Tech: Stein claims that he's great with machines but can't work his way around the technical aspects of the Metal Attackers, so he leaves Tesset to do all the tech stuff. This results in him picking a fight with Jason and Eve because he didn't realize that his radio could even receive and output audio.
• Humongous Mecha: The Area 3 major boss, Defend Them All. In the Boss Rush, a stronger variant, called Invem Them All, is the last boss of the tank section.
• Improbable Use of a Weapon: The Gaia Blaster's Whip mode uses the gun's barrel as an impromptu energy whip. Jason insisted on it because he wanted a melee weapon despite the fact that it's just not how Blaster Rifles work, forcing Eve to work overtime to develop a way to pull it off. Bringing it up is perhaps the only time she sounds audibly frustrated with her partner.
• Incendiary Exponent: The Torch Bomb Subweapon plants a mine that explodes into flames when an enemy approaches. In addition to dealing damage over time to enemies standing in it, shooting certain weapons into the fire causes the bullets to ignite and deal fire damage.
• Ironic Name: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz coined the phrase "best of all possible words" in reference to ours and was one of the chief early proponents of rationalism. This game's Leibniz lives in the worst possible version of Jason's world. Lost his Support Droid, lost his planet...and as a result he's going through a psychotic break.
• Jump Scare: A minor one when entering Planade-G. After G-SOPHIA zooms over to the planet, the planet itself suddenly forms creepy red eyes.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler:
  • Eve is a Robot Girl, as mentioned in this sequel's opening.
  • The official website's first wallpaper, released to mark the Steam version in November 2019, features characters as they appear in the Golden Ending. At some point, it also became the Steam Store image and thus a Spoiler Cover.
• Left Hanging:
  • During the rematch against Leibniz, Jason notes that Leibniz can also perform Blast Counters just like he can. It's explained that Jason's cape is what allows him to perform the Blast Counter, but Leibniz's ability to use them is never elaborated on.
  • Eve manifesting the ability to purify mutants in the final area is never explained, although the sequel would retroactively provide a possible explanation by way of Eve becoming a mutant herself.
• Let's You and Him Fight: Jason fights against every other MA pilot in the game for a differing reason based on the pilot in question. This is not how the Metal Attackers are supposed to work; the support droids are programmed and instructed to cease the use of Metal Attackers against non-mutants by any means necessary, but circumstances conspire to prevent this until after the scuffle.
  • Gonbei is oblivious to everything outside of Planet Montoj, and assumes that Jason is in league with Zavira's mutant hordes; this fight takes place on foot without Metal Attackers, so Gonbei needs some sense knocked into him before Tae can talk him down.
  • Kanna mistakes Jason for a hostile due to a prior encounter with Leibniz; Kenwood eases her out of the loss-induced tantrum afterwards.
  • Stein has fought too many Mutant Attackers away from Tesset and mistakes the G-SOPHIA for one, and has the radio set to "broadcast only"; the fighting stops when Eve cracks the comms so he can hear you out.
  • Leibniz attacks Jason unprovoked and tries to terminate him and the G-SOPHIA; he retreats after taking too much damage, but swears revenge each time. That he is not talked down by anyone other than Jason and Eve implies that, as confirmed later, his support droid was destroyed in action.
• Magic Music: Like in her source game Lola's Idol Trigger song powers up Copen normally.
  • Lola's Idol Trigger is also another way to damage Planade-G, as it takes damage over time while it is active.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Jason's personally-developed SOPHIA is named "GAIA-SOPHIA", as it is the first Metal Attacker unit produced on Earth.
  • Most of the planets' names are words in Esperanto:
    • "Flosante", the planet of floating rocks, is an adverb that means "floating".
    • "Montoj", the mountainous farm planet resembling feudal Japan, means "mountains".
    • "Stranga", the planet with unusual flora, is named after the word for "weird".
    • "Divido", the planet split in two by dimensional distortions, uses the word for "division".
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: ANDREIA has similar controls to the SOPHIA-III and uses energy units instead of a depleting meter for the Subweapon gauge. It also possesses some of the original upgrades, including the Double Jump and Acceleration Blast.
• More Dakka: The A-Cluster is a Main Weapon for the G-SOPHIA that fires small lasers like a gatling gun. The "shells" that are ejected while firing are actually cluster bombs that will deal explosive damage to anything directly behind the G-SOPHIA.
• Morton's Fork: The dilemma on how to deal with Planade-G. Destroying it would cause an explosion that may very well destroy the entire system they are at, however leaving it alone would eventually lead to Planade-G growing even further threatening the neighboring systems...
• Ms. Fanservice:
  • Kanna, the pilot of NORA MA-06 "EIR". Her introduction cutscene involves putting her gratuitous bust front and center for the audience, and she's wearing a skintight suit. She also happens to have a flower pot for a head and is a complete and utter ditz.
  • Also applies to Eve to a certain degree due to Fanservice Pack, although the Body Horror doesn't help much until she's stabilized and her infection was rendered benign.
• Multiple Endings: As with before, there is a Bad Ending and a True Ending, the latter of which entails The Very Definitely Final Dungeon and the True Final Boss. However, 100% Completion is not required this time; getting the True Ending only requires you to pick up three specific key items from a Collection Sidequest. If you're playing as Copen or Empress through EX Character Mode however, you access the true ending without needing the key items.
• Mundane Utility: Shift-Up Attacker can be used as a simple dash button if there are no valid targets onscreen. This can be used to quickly evade attacks and traverse rough ground that would normally slow him down. On planet Div Ido, it can even be used to move against the shifting sand and take shortcuts through the various switch puzzles.
• Mythology Gag:
  • In the original Metafight, the tank was called "Metal Attacker", while in its sequel, Zero, it was called "SOPHIA-III". This game clarifies that "Metal Attacker" refers generically to the tank series that Sophia developed, while SOPHIA-III and its successor SOPHIA-Zero are specific versions of Metal Attacker.
  • The ANDREIA's pilots are named Roddy and Elfie, after the main characters from Blasting Again. The tank also comes with an (unusable) Acceleration Blast, which like in Blasting Again becomes an 11th-Hour Superpower.
  • The Skeleton Boss' new form, the Cerbeboss, certainly looks imposing, huh? Of course, during the rematch, you'll just so happen to have a weapon that is an upgrade to the Acceleration Blast...the attack that could one-hit kill Skeleton Boss from the last game. Sure enough, if you use the Full Acceleration Burst, you can still kill Cerbeboss in one hit.
  • Copen's MA is the Giga Lola boss from Luminous Avenger iX
• Nerf:
  • Zero II's Wide Blaster is basically the response to the overpowered Wave Gun from Zero. It's functionally similar to the Wave Gun, except the Wide Blaster's damage and shot size quickly decreases if the attack is spammed repeatedly over a short period of time. Its power will recover instantly if you perform a successful Blast Counter, encouraging you to mix it up in combat.
  • Jason's on-foot weaponry in general isn't quite as strong as the guns in Zero. Several guns suffer from being either Awesome, but Impractical or just being plain weak, and the better guns either have drawbacks or limitations that need to be supported by the Blast Counter.
• Noodle Implements: Gonbei's Fetch Quest has Jason collecting 8 gold coins to upgrade his MA unit. It's not clear how the coins are connected to the upgrade, but Jason collects them nonetheless.
• Noodle Incident: The event that lead to the development of the Gaia System is never explained beyond being an "accident".
• New Work, Recycled Graphics: There are few graphics from weapons that were reworked from the first game into Zero II two of them being the Repulsion Upper (which uses sprites from Shield Mine) and Revol Buster (which uses nearly the same sprites of Cannon Shot). Energy, SP and Gun Level pickups also remain the same.
• Orphaned Etymology: Invoked with the Elegant Kanna form in Kanna Raising Simulator. She remarks the clothes are very Japanese, despite not knowing what that even means.
• One-Hit Kill: Late in the game, Jason and Eve encounter dimensional rifts, which take the form of black and purple pulsating blocks. Eve warns that touching one is instantly fatal (as one would expect from a corporeal tear in the fabric of space-time), and that Jason must steer clear lest the G-SOPHIA and its passengers be instantly vaporized. In case you have to ask, Mercy Invincibility will not save you. However Copen's Prevasion will work as long as he has Bullits ready to use it.
• Outside-Context Problem: At the game Jason and Eve faces one... Namely it's Planade-G is, after all how do you actually fight an entire planet that was corrupted into becoming a mutant? Jason and Eve answers by damaging it using the Gaia System, but this brings another which is the fact Planade-G is making the wormhole to Planet Sophia unstable and destroying it would cause a massive meltdown.
• Point of No Return: If you have the three MA Emblems, you are unable to return to the main map once you defeat Planade-G and enter Area Omega.
• Posthumous Character: Last Episode, New Character Elfie, who was the Support Droid for an equally dead MA pilot named Roddy. Elfie's ghost passes their ANDREIA personal SOPHIA unit onto Eve for the The Very Definitely Final Dungeon.
• Punny Name: The three-headed variant of Skeleton Boss encountered in Planetoid E-3 is "creatively" named "Cerbeboss".
• Recurring Boss: Hexa Biby and Mine Mite are two minor bosses who are fought several times over the course of the game, including their variations.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Clearly invoked with Leibniz's design. His blue armor and single helmet horn contrasts with Jason's red armor and two horns. They're opposites personality-wise, but Jason's the heroic and calm one while Leibniz is Hot-Blooded and driven by bitter, jealous rage. The opposite game extends to their Metal Attackers, as Garuda's a flight unit that drops different kinds of mines and has a wind blade as an ultimate attack, while G-Sophia is ground-based with a full complement of projectile weapons with a Spirit Bomb ultimate.
• Retraux:
  • The aesthetics are the same as the previous game, although there are visual effects that would not have been possible on the actual NES, and the framerate is pretty smooth as well.
  • Copen's reveal trailer is accompanied by a chiptune arrangement of Luminous Avenger iX's main theme, "Luminous Promise".
• Rescue Arc: Like in the first game the final area has you playing a character that has to rescue the other, however this time Eve herself becomes playable and she has to find Jason, Fred and G-SOPHIA in Area Omega, a nest of mutants.
• Revolvers Are Just Better: The Revol-Buster weapon effectively turns the G-SOPHIA's main cannon into a giant six-shooter. It outdoes the G-Crusher Shot in pretty much every way, with its only drawback being, well, the need to reload every six shots, costing some SP and leaving you unable to fire for a brief moment.
• Ridiculously Human Robot: Eve, again, this time joined by no fewer than four ridiculously human Support Droids belonging to other Metal Attacker units, though the others look more like Human Aliens. Eve is shown to at least be able to eat, given that Kanna gives her a medicine to help alleviate the ill effects of Stranga's atmosphere. The extent of their humanity allows them to have souls, which allows Elfie to persist after death and helps convince Leibniz of the humanity of Support Droids. The endgame of the sequel suggests this may be another reason for Eve's Fanservice Pack. Tesset has an older appearance in that game, suggesting that the Support Droids age like humans despite being androids. With that in mind, Eve may have simply had a growth spurt.
• Sdrawkcab Name: Flip Drolrevo's name around. For added points, its final form is quite similar to Interdimensional Overlord from the first game (not being fought on-foot notwithstanding).
• Sequel Escalation:
  • Zero, while freshening up the Blaster Master formula, stayed mostly faithful to its roots by maintaining a relatively small-scale plot and keeping the gameplay largely similar to the classic games. Zero II now features a galaxy-spanning story that has you jumping from planet to planet on a quest to save Eve, with a flashy new arsenal unlike any seen before in a Blaster Master game including a Counter-Attack for Jason and anything from drills, jacks, and homing rockets to a Spirit Bomb for the SOPHIA.
  • In Zero you fought a mutant that was eating Earth from inside out. Here you fight a mutant that has already converted an ENTIRE PLANET, Planade-G. To top it the final boss is a mutant explicit stated to be times more powerful than the previous Overlord. And the game is not exaggerating, it has similar attacks the Overlord used, but they're so much powerful that Jason wouldn't stand a chance trying to fight it without G-SOPHIA.
• Sequel Hook: In the Golden Ending... Jason and Eve reach Planet Sophia, but there is no true confirmation whether Eve has been healed from her mutant corruption or how her new purification powers work. Also Earth comes under a second invasion of mutants while Leibniz intercepts the distress call and heads towards it to fight the mutants.
• Sequence Breaking: An extremely easy feat for Copen; his kit can do basically everything short of solving puzzles on Stranga. This makes it possible to do things like:
  • Skip certain upgrades altogether (or at least render them completely unnecessary), such as Burn Spark.
  • Dungeon Bypass by using EX Weapons to break through walls from the unintended side.
  • Tank through hazards with Prevasion, which is even more potent than Gunvolt's version from Zero. He can even Reload while standing on or in a hazard, rendering him completely invincible as long as you continue Reloading.
• Shockwave Stomp: A core mechanic of the game. The Gaia System is activated by falling from high enough and its impact will be converted into SP for the G-SOPHIA. It's also the only way to damage Planade-G, an entire planet corrupted into becoming one massive mutant.
• Shout-Out:
  • Zero II gives Jason a Whip as a Gun upgrade, which causes him to lash out with a short beam of energy like a whip. When talked to while using it, Eve references Shantae.
  • The Stinger Gun fires an energy dart that goes through walls. Eve references Gunvolt when talking about it, and like Gunvolt's Darts, the Stinger will embed itself in targets that it hits; the Flash Striker also fries them if they're tagged in this way.
  • The True Final Boss also has a specific attack that has visual similarities with one of Desna's attacks from Azure Striker Gunvolt 2.
  • Impact, G-SOPHIA's third Subweapon, emits a round barrier made of ultrasonic waves that deals heavy damage to all targets in close range. Eve compares it to the War Horn from Shovel Knight, and indeed Impact has a similar visual effect.
  • Eve's sole Blast Counter is named the Unchained DDF, though no direct reference to Ekoro is made.
  • Zero II packs many, many, many references to Sunsoft's illustrious backlog of classic games from the 80's and 90's.
    • The protagonist of Ikki, Gonbei, is featured as an MA pilot on the planet Montoj. He wields several weapons from Ikki, including the sickle and bamboo sword (from the NES version). Both Tae, Gonbei's Support Droid, and Gonbei's modern design are based on the 2013 novelization of the game, Ikki: Legend of Takeyari Master, the title of which is also referenced by Gonbei's Boss Subtitles (The Legendary Takeyari Master).
    • The backstory of Montoj is similar to the Excuse Plot of Ikki, except the feudal warlord taxing the citizens is turned into a mutant and slaughters most of the population.
    • The dungeons on Montoj have a very similar design to Ikki's levels. You can even crush the crops by walking on them.
    • Zavira, the Mutant Overlord residing in the area, is based on the Big Bad of the same name from Sunsoft's 1986 Famicom game Atlantis no Nazo. Incidentally, Gonbei also appears in that game as a cameo.
    • Gonbei's Sidequest sees you collecting eight gold coins scattered around the area, which was the objective in Ikki's levels. The coins are needed for an upgrade that will take Gonbei and Tae to an island in the middle of the ocean, also referencing Atlantis no Nazo. In Zero III, he boasts to Kane that he and his team have been to Atlantis and back.
    • A Blackout Basement is featured as a level, which uses the same mechanic as certain rooms in Atlantis no Nazo.
    • Kanna's support animal Yacopu is based on the protagonist of Sunsoft's Game Boy platformer Trip World. The paralyzed mutants with flowers on their heads is another reference, as Yacopu could stun enemies in a similar manner after obtaining a certain power-up. The events in Zero III make the connection more obvious, outright calling Stranga a "trippy world".
    • Tesset is loosely based on Tesse, a robot maid appearing in the Sunsoft fighting game Waku Waku 7. The number on her hat is 1996, the year the game came out in arcades.^note In screenshots from the trailer, it instead read 1988, the year the original Metafight/Blaster Master game was released. Tesset looks more like Tesse in Zero III, right down to borrowing her HaraHara attack.
    • Leibniz's deceased support droid is named Lucia, after the protagonist of Sunsoft's 1986 Famicom game The Wing of Madoola. She was named such because Leibniz's support animal Jao (never seen or mentioned in the game) is based on Quetzalcoatl, who was on Lucia's head in that game.
• Sigil Spam: Downplayed. In the same vein as its predecessor hexagons are featured as important pick-ups that permanently increases Jason's and G-SOPHIA's health and SP capacity.
• Soft Water: Like before, Jason will not take Fall Damage if he lands in water. It's not all good news this time however, because as Jason points out, water neutering impacts means G-SOPHIA's energy bar won't replenish if it lands in it.
• Spoiler Cover: Steam's page for this game features the official wallpaper art that reveals some characters as they appear throughout the Golden Ending.
• Spring Jump: The Repulsion Upper subweapon. Using it causes the G-SOPHIA to spit out a small jack in front of it; any moving object that comes into contact with it will be launched high into the air. The G-SOPHIA can use this to gain instant height and regain SP from the fall, or lure enemies into it and attack while they're airborne. It also has puzzle-solving properties on Stranga.
• Starship Luxurious: The Immigration Ship L-229 fits this to a T. It's supposed to be a transport ship for Sophian immigrants traveling the stars, but even before the mutants took it over, one has to wonder why the starship needed massive open space between the floors and ceilings of the main halls. This only really enables Defend Them All to do its job as a security robot, which is suspect considering the ship is already full of fully functional turrets and other robots taken over by the mutants that take up a fraction of the space Defend Them All does and still protects the corridors of the ship. Even the maintenance shafts are eyebrow-raising, considering they're large enough to function as dungeons for Jason, and the wiring within is largely separated by large spaces and entire rooms that makes it impossible for mechanics to get to any of the other wires deeper within unless they destroy the wires in their way. In fairness, Jason never encounters any bedrooms within the ship, so he could be in an entirely different part of the ship where civilians aren't supposed to be in, anyway, but even that raises the question of what exactly the purpose is of all the gigantic rooms you visit while in the ship.
• The Stinger: While Jason and Eve were out searching for a cure for Eve's illness, Earth was left wide open for another mutant attack. The only one who notices is Leibniz, who decides it's his turn to be the savior and goes to save Earth.
• Sudden Name Change: The "Full Acceleration" and its variants had their names changed, or shortened, to "Full Accel" for some reason.
• Super Prototype: Zero II reveals the previous game's SOPHIA-Zero was also a Flawed Prototype. Despite its immense battle capabilities, SOPHIA-Zero degraded while Jason was searching for a cure for Eve between the games. Only the cannon was transferred to the G-SOPHIA, thus justifying Bag of Spilling.
• Super Mode: Jason's final on-foot Subweapon gives him temporary access to all Guns and accelerates fire rate for a limited time. The limiters on certain Guns such as the Wide Blaster are also disabled, allowing you to spam them without penalty.
• Super Move Portrait Attack: In between Eve charging ANDREIA's Acceleration Blast and unleashing it at Drolrevo we'd get a close up of Eve, accompanied with the three MA pilots in the background.
• Taken for Granite: When Eve finally confronts Drolrevo, she discovers Jason and G-SOPHIA along with it, both having been petrified by the mutant. Both boy and tank are cured when Eve uses the Acceleration Blast to blow Drolrevo to smithereens.
• Team Pet: Turns out, in addition to a Support Droid and Pilot gear, every dispatched MA comes with one of these. Beyond the established Fred, Gonbei is seen with the dragonfly Tappy, Kanna has her bunny Yacopu, and Stein has a stuffed bear named Mr. Mug. Beyond that, it seems each comes with their own special ability, such as whereas Fred can create wormholes, Yacopu can synthesize items with raw materials.
• This Is a Drill: The Drill Subweapon for G-SOPHIA, granted by Kanna in Stranga. Using it produces a drill from the tank's undercarriage that spits out debris, inflicting damage to nearby enemies. If used while airborne, you will plunge towards the ground at high speed. It can also be used to break certain rocks.
• Token Mini-Moe: Tesset, the Support Droid for Stein's MA unit, ATOM. She's so small, she has to literally pull herself up to her dialogue box to be seen as she talks.
• Trailers Always Spoil: The website for the Blaster Master Zero Trilogy spoils the existence of Elfie, a character introduced in the last 30 minutes of the game who plays a significant role in Eve's character development.
• Tragic Keepsake: The choker that Leibniz wears as a necklace. It belonged to his Support Droid, Lucia, who perished while fighting Planade-G.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: There's an achievement for trampling more than 40% of Gonbei's crops. Fighting Gonbei after this makes his attacks do double damage.
• Villainous RRoD: After the True Final Boss uses his big combo attack, he'll lose color and stand still, completely vulnerable for a few seconds. Fun fact: if you managed to keep a primed FA-Burst though said big combo attack, it will One-Hit Kill him in this state.
• Warm-Up Boss: Mockrantula can be dealt with in a traditional "shoot everything in sight" sense just like you'd do in the first game. It's also not particularly difficult either so its mostly there to make sure you are really comfortable with the controls.
• Wake-Up Call Boss:
  • If you don't get the hint that Blast Counter an important mechanic, the duel against Gonbei in Montoj will force it on you. Gonbei spends most of the battle hiding or shielding himself and the only way to reliably deal damage to him is by stunning him with a Blast Counter.
  • Whereas Mockrantula and its mooks treat the Blast Counter as a polite suggestion, Zavira upgrades it to a requirement; it moves around quickly, mixes up its attacks, and can even teleport across the arena, making it difficult to keep a steady aim on it. Given Jason can only have nine health at most for this fight, he will need the Blast Counter for consistent damage. And that's not getting into Gathervira, where you must face multiple Zavira at once on increasingly tricky terrain.
  • Even earlier you have the option to battle Mine Mite. Fighting it without Blast Counter is a tedious chore of waiting for it to stop at the right spot to get a few shots in... Eve herself suggests using Blast Counter in order to make it vulnerable and you really should take her advice.
• Wall Jump: In lieu of the standard "Wall" upgrade, Zero II gives the Recoil Jump upgrade, which allows the G-SOPHIA (not Jason) to cling to walls and jump off of them.
• Wave-Motion Gun:
  • Some enemies can use it, notably the fake Retry Points on Stranga.
  • Stein can continuously fire a massive beam while moving when he enters Boost Mode.
  • The Acceleration Blast, as in the first game. ANDREIA has it by default, but Eve can't use it due to damage to the tank's frame. She ends up overriding the safety lock during the fight against Drolrevo to finish it off, at the cost of permanently wrecking the tank.
• Wutai: Montoj, the second major planet, is basically rural Japan.

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