Power Blade, known in Japan as Power Blazer (パワーブレザー, Pawā Burezā?), is an action platform video game developed by Natsume and published by Taito for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in North America in March 1991 and in Europe on January 23, 1992 (1992-01-23). 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.
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 (1990-04-20). 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. 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.
Famous quotes containing the words power and/or blade:
“Just what is the civil law? What neither influence can affect, nor power break, nor money corrupt: were it to be suppressed or even merely ignored or inadequately observed, no one would feel safe about anything, whether his own possessions, the inheritance he expects from his father, or the bequests he makes to his children.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“The symbol of perpetual youth, the grass-blade, like a long green ribbon, streams from the sod into the summer, checked indeed by the frost, but anon pushing on again, lifting its spear of last year’s hay with the fresh life below. It grows as steadily as the rill oozes out of the ground.... So our human life but dies down to its root, and still puts forth its green blade to eternity.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)