Power Blade, aka Power Blazer (パワーブレイザー, Pawā Burezā) Japanese platform video game commercial.
0Power Blade, known in Japan as Power Blazer (パワーブレイザー, Pawā Burezā), is an action platform video game published by Taito for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in Japan on April 20, 1990, North America in March 1991, and in Europe on January 23, 1992. The game spawned a sequel, Power Blade 2, released in 1992.
Power Blade takes place in the colony of New Earth in the year 2191 and follows NOVA, the Chief Security Officer of a supercomputer called the Master Computer. He must restore the Master Computer — which has been taken offline by aliens — by retrieving data tapes located in six sectors. The game features gameplay similar to the Mega Man series, in which players can select any of the six levels to play. Armed with a boomerang, players must complete all six levels, overcoming obstacles and defeating any enemies in the way.
The game's name comes from an item found in several levels; The Power Suit is an item that looks like a helmet. When collected Nova automatically equips the metal suit. This allows the player to shoot energy blasts known as "Power Blades" in any of the 8 directions and through most surfaces.
Power Blade is a reworked and localized version of the Japanese Family Computer game Power Blazer, which was released also by Taito on April 20, 1990. The original title for North America was Power Mission, after reworking the game they went with the name Power Blade. The reworking included a complete overhaul of the levels, a change of the look of the main character from a cartoon–like robot to an Arnold Schwarzenegger look–alike, and a significant improvement in gameplay controls. Other changes included the addition of agents who needed to be tracked down in each stage, power-ups that allowed you to throw multiple boomerangs, the ability to throw your boomerang in any direction, and a power suit that can be equipped by the player.
The title screen of the game features a picture of NOVA that closely resembles promotional images of Schwarzenegger in the 1984 film The Terminator. The box art, created by graphic artist Mike Winterbauer, also features a similar portrayal of NOVA. According to Winterbauer, "a certain movie star's lawyers" sent him a very unpleasant letter regarding the painting used for the cover. Winterbauer was able to prove that he had used a photograph of himself for reference and received no further unpleasant letters.
Power Blade first received coverage in the Western markets when it was first displayed at the Summer 1990 Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. There, the game was called Power Mission and featured different character sprites from the finished version; Nintendo Power magazine called the game "mega action in the tradition of Mega Man II."
Power Blade garnered generally favorable reception from critics. Readers of Family Computer Magazine voted to give the game a 17.13 out of 30 score in a 1991 public poll. In 2009, IGN placed the title on their "Top 100 NES Games" list at #82.
『パワーブレイザー』 (POWER BLAZER) は、1990年4月20日にタイトーより発売されたファミリーコンピュータ用アクションゲーム、および作品中で主人公が扱う武器の名称である。
1991年には、主人公のデザインが異なり、武器システムやマップなども大きく変更された本作の国外版『パワーブレイド（POWER BLADE）』が発売された。
横スクロール型のアクションゲーム。ゲームの目的は、暴走し世界を混乱に陥れた人工頭脳を止めることである。主人公の武器はブーメランであるため、飛び道具でありながら攻撃範囲の制限も大きい。 また、初期状態ではブーメランは敵に当たると跳ね返るため、敵の背後にブーメランを回り込ませることで耐久力の高い敵にも大きなダメージを与えることができる。パワーアップアイテムとして飛距離アップや、ブーメランが敵を貫通するようになるものがあるが、貫通ブーメランをノーマル状態に戻すアイテムも存在する。
全7ステージで、最終ステージ以外の6つは『ロックマンシリーズ』（1987年 - ）のように自由に選択して好きな順序で攻略することができる。それらを全てクリアすれば最終ステージに進むことができ、最終ステージをクリアすればエンディングが流れてゲーム終了となる。ただしロックマンシリーズのようにステージクリアで武器が手に入る事は無いので、どのステージから始めても大差はない。
サウンドはファミコン版悪魔城ドラキュラを手がけた山下絹代が担当しており、特に日本国外で評価が高い。
ゲーム誌『ファミコン通信』の「クロスレビュー」では合計23点（満40点）、『ファミリーコンピュータMagazine』の読者投票による「ゲーム通信簿」での評価は以下の通りとなっており、17.13点（満30点）となっている。
キャプテンセイバー - 上述の国外版『Power Blade』の続編として制作された作品（日本国外版のタイトルが『Power Blade2』）。