have been more prepared for battle. His job is to eliminate the Plutonium Boss once and for all. Jason's equipment is fairly simple in Blaster Master 2. He is wearing body armor that has moderate protection from heat and impact. Jason also comes with his usual blast cannon that is equipped onto his left arm brace. It does not overheat, and has unlimited energy. In Blaster Master 2, Jason is mostly seen inside SOPHIA's canopy, but can easily hop out at any time in the game when in the sidescroll view. Jason does not take impact from falling too well in BM2, but when in the "Jason view" he does not take damage from falling impact. Jason is more easily seen in detail when challenging a boss or even an underboss. He is approximately ten times larger in this view. S.O.P.H.I.A. (sometimes referred to as SOPHIA) - The robotic, combat tank-like vehicle used throughout the Blaster Master series. SOPHIA comes in many different models, and the one that is seen in Blaster Master 2 is SOPHIA 4th (2000). The model has been rebuilt by Jason and has many new and helpful features from the previous models of SOPHIA (SOPHIA Nora MA-01, SOPHIA Nora MA-02). Gameplay Under the development team of Software Creations and the marketing team at Sunsoft of America, several things were altered in the new Blaster Master 2 game, such as the name of the vehicle (now "S.O.P.H.I.A."), as well as significantly expanded gameplay. There are now 8 levels to play through, and each level containing a power-up or new obtainable weapon in which Jason or SOPHIA can use throughout the game. The platform-jumping characteristics that made the original NES game so popular among fans were preserved, while other viewpoints provided an additional level of gameplay unique to BM2 alone. There were now three ways to play: sidescroll view (S.O.P.H.I.A. and Jason), overhead view (S.O.P.H.I.A.), and Jason running through rooms (with a large view, and a small view with Jason running through certain parts of the stages). Sidescroll view In the sidescroll view, players battled through levels just like in Blaster Master, except in 16-bit graphics. Jason could get powerups such as homing missile, three-way missiles, bubble shield, and lightning spread. Overhead view In the overhead view, S.O.P.H.I.A. can not use upgrades, but instead could rotate the turret 360 degrees while the player runs through obstacles and gunfire.