There's really no way around it, Blaster Master's a hard game. And when you get through Area 7, the controls start to change and mess with you.

In Area 6 you acquire Wall 1, which lets your tank go up walls, and in Area 7 you acquire Wall 2, which lets your tank roll across ceilings.

Which is pretty great until you try to jump off a platform. Since you have these great new Wall attachments, your tank will go down the ledge instead of flying through the air.

Meaning that when you jump, you jump off the side of the ledge, potentially into Doom(tm).

So, instead, what you have to to is, right before your tank hits the edge of the platform, briefly let go of the direction that you're holding, then jump. Once in the air, you can start holding the direction again. Done right, you'll jump pretty much as far as you did before.

Yeah, and it's kind of annoying that you have to relearn how your tank handles 7/8 of the way through the game, but at least it's not in impossible feat.

Some time ago I mentioned a technique for defeating one of the bosses in Blaster Master that involved a maneuver known as 'strafing' (even though it's not really strafing). Strafing in this case means firing your weaponry in one direction while moving in another. Normally, this is impossible in Blaster Master.

Unless...

If you first fire a Grenade, and then hold down the A button, Jason will stay facing the same direction, no matter what you push on the Cross Pad. Observe:

Which is incredibly useful for flying enemies that attack in irregular patterns... and certain giant crabs.

The only downside is that while you're doing this you can't fire your grenades, but if you keep your gun powered up, that's not too much of an issue.

If you managed to get past the Crab boss in Area 5 of Blaster Master, you get to move on to the ice stage, Area 6, which features these blocks that you have to destroy from below to proceed.

But, say you need to check your status screen for some reason, or you just want to pause the game for a breather

Once you leave the status screen...

The blocks are back!

I sure hope you didn't need to go back down that shaft.

Also, as a bonus tip: the boss's room is to the right once you get to the top of this shaft. If you go left it'll lead you back to beginning of the stage, and some of these mysterious blocks will be back, making you take the long way around.

In Blaster Master's Area 5 you come across a boss that is not susceptible to the pause trick, a giant crab.

Making things tougher is that this crab shoots out a ludicrous amount of bubbles that keep you from pelting its weak spot (its face) with grenades and have a side effect of killing you pretty quickly.

So what I do is exit and reenter the corridor leading up to the boss over and over again picking up gun powerups from the square enemies that litter the area. It's kind of tough since, if you get hit, you lose some of your gun power. Once your gun is fully charged, it's pretty unstoppable.

Then you can go ahead and enter the boss's room and hold down the A button (your grenade button) while wailing away on the B button (your gun button). Holding down the grenade button will ensure that you keep facing the same direction while you move back and forth, allowing you to keep up the pressure.

Eventually the crab will explode somehow and the Dive attachment will be yours!

Which will make maneuvering underwater so much easier.

Blaster Master is a pretty tough game, but Jeff Rovin's How to Win at Nintendo Games #2 would have you believe that it's a lot tougher than it actually is.

In Area 4 you come across an area that is blocked by two doors, with a keyhole on the outside of each

And the strategy for getting on the other side is as follows from page 31 of How to Win at Nintendo Games #2

"Here's a special tip: When you come to Stage Five at the end of Four, there are two Doors , and you need a Key for each. If you only have the one you got for killing the long-tongued, fire-breathing Frog Mutant at the climax of Stage Four, don't despair! Open the first Door, get out of the ol' Rover, and climb the ladder all the way up. Take a mighty leap from the top, staying close to the wall on the right; if you land on the lock, you'll open the Door. You'll lose that Jason's life ... but it's better than standing around with your hands in your pockets, unable to continue!"

So, first you have to beat the boss of the Area to get a Key, no problem there.

Then you come back to the doors and open the first one.

Climb out of your tank, climb the conveniently-placed ladder to the top of the precipice.

Then jump off, hugging the left wall, and aiming for the lock.

It opens, you die. Totally right!

Except...

One could also just climb down the series of ledges slightly to the right, then walk over and unlock the door with the same key (it doesn't disappear after being used, which is different from a lot of games).

That way you can open the door to continue while not costing yourself one of your precious extra lives.

So it's totally true as presented, but there's a better way.

Blaster Master can be kind of a tough game. You have to take your little guy up against great big monsters that are way more nimble and way stronger than you are. But you have a secret weapon at your disposal: the Pause Button.

Make your way to the boss of area 2, 4, 6, or 7 (one of the frogs or one of the crabby things) and start chucking grenades at it. A successful hit will make it flash. Then, while it's taking damage, pause the game.

While the game's paused, the boss monster will continually take damage. Leave the game paused for about 30 seconds or so and you win! Pretty awesome!

Just be aware that this works both ways. If you're getting hurt when you pause the game, you'll keep taking damage until you unpause. And then you'll have to do the whole battle over again.