YMMV / Blaster Master Zero

• Anti-Climax Boss:
  • The Skeleton Boss. Not only is it one of the largest enemies in the entire game, but it serves as Zero's counterpart to the Plutonium Boss from the original game, which was arguably the toughest boss in it and the Big Bad for the American version. Here, it's a joke that goes down easily from one shot of the Acceleration Blast.
  • The True Final Boss, Invem SOPHIA, despite the fact that it's the very same tank you've been fighting in for 98% of the game, is a complete pushover. For starters, its pattern is incredibly basic and easy to avoid, you're in the upgraded SOPHIA Zero which allows you to spam charged attacks, and it's not particularly tanky to begin with. Really, most of the impact from the fight comes from the fact that you're forced to destroy the tank you had become attached to for most of the game.
• Base-Breaking Character: Shovel Knight's addition was met with some pushback, with fans claiming that Shovel Knight has already appeared in dozens of other indie games and didn't really need to appear in more. On the other hand, there are also fans who are happy about Shovel Knight because he's a good character, and his gameplay looked very fleshed out and interesting when first revealed.
• Breather Boss: The Skeleton Boss. By the time you face it in Area 7, you should have acquired the Acceleration Blast, which takes it down in one fell swoop. Basically, the only way to die in this fight is to enter it with low health or mess up a jump while playing as Jason. The Skeleton Boss is then pretty much reduced to Memetic Loser status when he reappears in Area 9, as he can be defeated with 2 or 3 cannon shots from Sophia Zero. ^note However in Destroyer Mode this boss will survive the Acceleration Blast with plenty of health and its Area 9 version fought with Sophia Zero doesn't go down in a single shot — in fact, it has a ton of health.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • Hated the searchlight guards in Area 7? Play as Gunvolt in EX Characters Mode, get Voltaic Chains, then laugh in their faces as you proceed to One-Hit Kill entire swaths of them simultaneously.
    • Hell, if you've seen ProtonJon's LP, you'll know that Jason's Striker weapon works wonders on them as long as you can get some solid cover between them and you, thanks to their lousy pathfinding. The other EX characters will have a rougher time, though.
  • Similarly, it's cathartic to use Voltaic Chains against Ancient Freeze on the Area 9 rematch, as the mere press of a button proves to be enough to take down That One Boss in a single shot. Again, Jason's Remote Blast is also very effective, though it requires a little more effort.
• Demonic Spiders: The searchlight enemies in Area 7. The overworld enemies are normally docile, but if you walk into their cone of sight or attack them, they'll suddenly become aggressive and start leaping at you while firing lots of bullets. Not only are they crazy fast, they also have much more health than most non-boss enemies, which means it can take a while to kill them if you decide to confront them head-on. The dungeon versions are similar to the previously encountered soldier enemies, but if one spots you, every single one in the room will converge on your position and start attacking with a bullet storm. These guys also have ridiculous amounts of HP, and they can only be stopped by leaving the room or killing them all, which is easier said than done considering they're aggressive damage sponges.
• Game-Breaker:
  • The Wave Gun, which fires a wide triple shot that goes through objects and enemies and can be rapid fired as fast as you can mash the Shoot button. Most bosses can easily be defeated with it in only a matter of a few shots. Of course, if you take a hit (or get hit in rapid enough succession for the Energy Guard to not work), the situation can go out of control in a hurry... That said, made even more broken when you have the upgrade that gives your weapon gauge a regenerating shield that takes a hit before your weapon does. Of course, the devs planned around this and made the second form of the final boss immune to this weapon (the inverse holds true in Destroyer Mode; good luck maintaining that upgrade, though!).
  • While the Wave Gun is fantastic for enemies and many bosses, the Striker Gun two levels below it is also extremely good. Only one shot can be on screen at a time, but in addition to it going through walls and being pretty powerful, when it hits an enemy, it will also hit every enemy on screen and even a bit off screen for full damage. On top of that, it can be spammed at close range, and can tear apart many multi-segment bosses such as Ancient Freeze. Photophage units in particular die in one hit from the Striker Gun, meaning that if multiple are active at once, shooting one will kill them all.
  • Remote Blast trivializes dungeon bosses once you get it. Landing a full 15-hit salvo on a boss can burn through up to 4/5ths of the boss's health. Ekoro has a nerfed version of this ability that lets her repeatedly hammer her targets while they move in slo-mo, but the fact that they move means you can't just fire and forget.
  • Turret will also trivialize a ton of bosses, including the Mutant Overlord's second form (and its first form fares even worse). Not only can it draw aimed shots away from you, due to most bosses lacking Mercy Invincibility any boss on top of a turret will have their health quickly go down just from one turret.
  • Gunvolt himself is largely overpowered. The Prevasion mechanic means that as long as he isn't inside the SOPHIA III, he can pretty much never die while he still has EP and isn't Flashfielding, and SP charges fast enough that you can freely dump Luxcaliburs and Dragonspheres on enemies without worrying too much about downtime. His ability to Wall Jump and glide with Flashfield also makes the SOPHIA III nearly obsolete except for the Hover and Dive abilities, and Gunvolt can easily recharge lost hit points by hopping into a dungeon and using Galvanic Patch. The only thing Gunvolt doesn't have going for him is the lack of flexibility in his offensive options, which has the side effect of upgrading some of the bosses into That One Boss.
  • The Brainy Dance is the only transformation Shantae has to go out of her way to unlock, and for good reason. It can be obtained roughly halfway through the game and offers much more utility than the Mutant and Elephant Dances. The Brainy Dance transforms Shantae into Mother Brain, which allows her to move as fast as her untransformed running speed, gives her a powerful exploding projectile that can be used indefinitely and can be redirected while in use, and, uniquely, gives Shantae flight properties, which allows her to fly over holes, lava, and bodies of water, drastically cutting down travel time in later dungeons, especially in Area 5 and Area 7. The only drawbacks are the increased hitbox and the inability to move while attacking, but that's a small price to pay when everything on screen can be annihilated in seconds.
  • Shovel Knight in general can be called one for the most part as far as dungeons are concerned as he has no defense penalties, his attacks do hefty damage and he can reflect projectiles into equally damaging and piercing shots. He has an invincibility sub weapon, and can fish up more life/magic at low cost. And he can get an upgrade to give him a projectile (at max life), faster attack rate, and a wide arc charged attack. Navigation wise, his shovel can break through Area 4's special blocks and cracked walls (despite how the attacks may reach you have to hit the cracked wall from the proper side). People wonder if his damage output would get nerfed or not. What keeps him from being utterly broken is the hefty MP costs of his relics, but a cautious and/or skilled player can work around that. His Phase Locket is even more broken than it is in his own game, since it lasts much longer and allows him to walk through bosses and go to town on them (very useful on Hard Shell, but Gurnahide is immune to it because you can't walk through it to get to its weak spot).
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Eve's following line after she meets Jason and they go in search of Fred is this considering Jason's fate in II's endgame, made even worse in its Downer Ending, in which Eve couldn't save him and also dies. Turns into Heartwarming in Hindsight instead in the route to its Golden Ending.
  Eve: If you're in danger, I might be able to save you too.
  • Jason's final line in the Downer Ending, after Eve leaves him to fight the mutants on her own, implies a Love Confession, though it's left ambiguous whether they'll meet again for him to tell her. In the bad ending of III, it's implied (if not outright confirmed, thanks to the hints for its Golden Ending) that he was actually going to propose to her, but couldn't due to him letting her go, making sure they will never see each other again. Turns into Heartwarming in Hindsight instead in the route to its good ending, where they reunite and end up Happily Married.
  Jason: If I am able to see you again... There's something I need to tell you.
• Heartwarming Moments: The final scene of the Golden Ending. After defeating the Mutant Core, Jason, Eve, and Fred are back on the surface on top of SOPHIA Zero. Eve thanks Jason for being by her side and supporting her to the very end. He monologues about how beautiful her smile is, and proceeds with his implied Love Confession to her.
  Jason: Eve... I have something I need to tell you too...
• It's Easy, So It Sucks!: A common criticism is the lack of challenge, especially owing to the game breaking Wave Gun, which can be acquired very early on in the game, and easily defeat most bosses. Difficulty issues aside, it's revered as a well-done retro remake overall. The difficulty issue was remedied with the addition of a "Destroyer Mode", a Nintendo Hard variant of the game unlocked after beating the game, as of the version 1.2 update.
• Player Punch: Having to fight Eve and SOPHIA III at the end of the game is really sad. Sure, you can save Eve, but after spending the last 90% of the game with the SOPHIA III on your side, it can be heartrending having to destroy it. It gets even worse if you bothered to chat with Eve a lot in the various areas, especially after the end of Area 6 while on the way to Area 7, where you learn that SOPHIA III has been fighting to keep Earth safe for potentially centuries. One small mistake on Eve's part ended up with the destruction of humanity's greatest defender…
• Sequel Difficulty Drop: Zero is often considered the easiest game in the series. Autosaves and Retry Points are scattered almost everywhere, and Death Is a Slap on the Wrist, since you are no longer bound to a life count. In spite of this, Destroyer Mode is still aggravatingly difficult.
• Surprise Difficulty: Destroyer Mode is a significant step up from the standard mode, employing arbitrary rules to make the game excruciatingly hard.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Zero comes after a long, long line of sequels known only for either being awful or mediocre, and is considered a massive improvement for the series.
• That One Boss:
  • The bosses can mostly be trivialized by Jason with the Striker, Flamethrower, and Wave Gun, and Ekoro plays most similarly to him, meaning she can destroy enemies efficiently as well with charge shots and the Ekoro Kick. Shantae can't cheese the bosses with a single form, but between the Storm Puff's gradual damage, the Mutant Dance's piercing shots, the Elephant's invincible charge, and the Brainy Dance's mobility and explosive shots, she can handle things as well. Gunvolt and Shovel Knight, on the other hand...
    • Ancient Freeze is going to be hell for Shovel Knight, since the floor can be refrozen if it gets melted, and the Wall upgrade it yields is mandatory to getting the Ultimate Shovel Blade. This limits him to a melee attack, which means Collision Damage ahoy if he walks the wrong way; playing footsies with the nodes' lasers and bladed discs is the order of the day. The Phase Locket can grant limited invulnerability, but since it consumes magic, it won't last forever. The fight gets easier as the nodes get destroyed, but see about lasting that long first.
    • Gurnahide without the Ultimate Shovel Blade upgrade is pretty hard if tackled recklessly, as he can't keep it back at his normal attack rate and its head takes less damage. It boils down to keeping one wing alive as long as possible to whittle it down, strafing to keep the shots aimed as straight as possible, and when both wings go down, using the Phase Locket to dig away at Gurnahide's face hoping it dies before you do. It might be best to wait until you get the Ultimate Shovel Blade before challenging this one, since the item it drops is inert, so have fun with Ancient Freeze!
    • Hard Shell happens to be a Bullfight Boss that can only be significantly injured after a charging attack, and constantly sprays out bubbles that Gunvolt has problems punching through because his Tagging mechanic means he can only hit a few targets at a time without Skills; Gunvolt is the only DLC character without an at-will piercing option, meaning he has to fight the boss the hard way. Luxcalibur is thankfully long enough to hit his back when he's facing you (at the cost of 2 of his at most 3 SP), and Gunvolt can continue dealing damage to Hard Shell once he lands a Tag, but he has to restore Tags once they wear off, and Hard Shell can give you a hard time while you're trying to do that.
  • While most bosses are difficult to deal with in Destroyer Mode, one among them stands out: Venom Master. It is only vulnerable to the Reflector weapon which means you can only damage it by reflecting its shots or shots from its minions back to it. Not only does this make the fight drag on forever, you have to be very careful not to take too much damage and lose the Reflector or else the fight might drag on for even longer since you'll have to farm for energy drops and level up your gun again. Oh, let's not forget that your Energy Guard is useless, you're capped at 8 max health, and this boss will use the Acceleration Blast on you if you're not careful.
  • The Boss Blaster mode is awfully generous with its health and energy pickups, allowing Jason to keep his weapon level raised as much as possible on foot and keeping the others topped off on the energy they need. None of that matters against Invem Sophia, which makes very competent use of all of the Sophia III's weapons systems in ways that make the player want to scream. The player is capped at 8 life maximum, which wouldn't be so bad if you weren't stuck with the Sophia III yourself, meaning the boss is better at what you can do, and it starts the fight with the Acceleration Blast, putting you in a bind with having to manage your energy levels while avoiding getting yourself nuked into oblivion by its other weapons once it's done firing. Expect to die a lot to it no matter what you try.
• That One Level: Area 7. Upon entering it you're advised to use Optional Stealth instead of trying to blast through everything and you should really take this to heart. Searchlight Mutants are much bulkier and will rain bullets on you on the side view map and during the dungeons the Searchlight Mutants are no less dangerous being able to swarm your character aggressively. While brute force is still possible, in Destroyer Mode getting caught is practically a death sentence, especially if you're inside dungeons.