Blast Corps

File:Blast-corps.jpg

"Time to get movin'!"

A big truck is hauling two defective warheads to a safe location. They started to leak, however, so they had to set it on an automated course. The Blast Corps has been called in to clear the way for it, because if this truck hits anything, the warheads will go off and start a nuclear winter.

So you, a pilot of the Blast Corps, have to do the destroying. You have various vehicles at your disposal to get the job done. So, get started before that truck destroys everything!

Blast Corps (BlastDozer in Japan) was released for the Nintendo 64 by Rare in 1997.

Tropes used in Blast Corps include:

• Awesome but Impractical: The American Dream, Muscle Car, and Police Car for the most part can't tear down any of the buildings, but only get you to a location faster. However, this is averted in the side missions that involve timed races, as you'll need to have some fast vehicles in order to complete the times for gold and platinum medals. Nearly all of the main mission vehicles in this game are like this. Ramdozer and J-Bomb are really all you need. Hell, J-Bomb is all you need. The other vehicles are pretty cool, but so impractical in comparison. Yes, having a 25-ton earth mover that you can drift is very satisfying, but you can't hit anything with it. Really, the later levels just turn into "here's Backlash, good luck with this".
• Boring but Practical: The Ramdozer for the most part; although not as good as the mechas, it can still clear through a lot of buildings. Also, bonus points for not being the Backlash.
  • The A-Team Van, because while all vehicles do damage it seems to be on par with the Skyfall.
• Collection Sidequest: RDUs, satellite beacons, survivors and scientists. Technically, you never actually collect survivors; the phallic helicopter is supposed to do that. All you have to do is destroy their homes. They're only "survivors" after their houses have been crushed by a 30 foot mech, right?
• Cool Car: Any of them. Ballista and Skyfall take the cake though. But never the Backlash. At least until you get to space, and discover in the planet races Backlash suddenly gains a speed boost and ends up being faster than the Ramdozer and the Skyfall combined.
• Did Not Do the Research: Venus, Neptune. All the other planets you play on have the same gravity as the Moon, but the real-life Venus in fact has about 90% of Earth's gravity, while Neptune has slightly more gravity than Earth. Not to mention that Neptune is a gas planet.
  • Not to mention that the Blast Corps' equipment would never survive Venus' environment.
• Everything Is Smashable Area: ...Uh, pretty much the entire main game.
• Excuse Plot: If the truck hits anything, the warheads will go off, so it's been set to go to its destination straight through anything in its path. What?
  • After that, the government hires you to destroy their space stations on the moon, for fear of... space pollution or something. Even the game says your team is playing along with this "ridiculous plot".
• Humongous Mecha: The J-Bomb, in which you fly up and stomp on the obstacles to get rid of them.
  • The Thunderfist is also a Mecha. Instead of stomping buildings, it rolls through them and then uppercuts. For some reason, its other arm is missing. Word of God states that the reasoning to why Thunderfist has no left arm is simple: because they ran out of memory on the cartridge.
  • Similar to Thunderfist is the smaller, faster Cyclone Suit, which somersaults through buildings.
• It's a Wonderful Failure: Let the truck hit something, and you get to witness a nice big explosion. Oddly enough, you don't get vaporized. To make things worse, the game will show a replay of your previous run from the view of the carrier, including the explosion.
• Lampshade Hanging: The game stops taking itself seriously after the shuttle rescue.
• Made of Explodium: Your task is greatly facilitated by the fact that buildings can explode due to things as small as you getting out of the car. Don't forget the explosions are pretty! So many colors coming out of that donut shop...
• Musical Nod: The music for Jade Plateau is a remix of the boss battle theme from Donkey Kong Land.
• Nintendo Hard: Getting the platinum medals for the most part is the hardest thing to do. In fact, it's been said this is the hardest game to get entirely completed.
  • Any level that requires the Backlash is going to suck. Diamond Sands. It requires the Backlash and you have to get rid of buildings ON FUCKING TRAIN TRACKS.
  • Platinum on Jade Plateau feels like this combined with Luck-Based Mission.
  • J-Bomb Circle. J-Bomb's chief attack involves touching the ground. J-Bomb Circle is a set of mini-levels that asks what if you CAN'T touch the ground? N64 controllers will be broken. And just as a nice "fuck you" from the developers, the last level is the aformentioned Camera Screw Baboon Catacombs. That is your reward.
• Nitro Express
• Not a Scratch on It: Named after a victory line. Also no matter how much destruction they cause, the vehicles you control never even slow down.
• One Hundred Percent Completion: After you get all the gold medals on Earth from all the missions and side missions, you then can play a mission some of the other planets. Upon getting all gold on those, you get the chance to go for platinum medals. Bronze medals are worth 1, silver 2, gold 3 and platinum 4. Every twelve points, you get a rank. The final rank you can earn is "You Can Stop Now".
  • Word of God says that the game is supposed to be impossible for one person to get ALL of the Platinum Medals, although determined players have completed the entire game.
• Recurring Location: Several of the main levels lend themselves to the bonus levels.
• Recycled in Space: Literally, and in the same game as well!
• Rewarding Vandalism: Part of the requirement for getting the second gold medal on any regular stage is destroying all the buildings within a stage. Wheeeee, demolishing whole cities for no justifiable reason! You get paid to blow stuff up!
• Rule of Fun: Don't worry about the survivors that need to flee, or the fact that everyone is freaking out about the truck rolling through town, just clear a path!
• Shout-Out:
  • There's the Pac-Man inspired side missions.
  • That muscle car.
  • that black van, which has Mr T shouting "Outta my way!" for the horn.
  • The American Dream car horn mimics that of the Dukes of Hazzard.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Pretty much the whole point.