Asics Megablast Review: The Superblast, Refined

Introduction to the Asics Megablast

ROBBE: The era of blast is upon us, in case you hadn’t noticed. Its beginning can be traced back to Japan (as all Asics shoes do), with the design of the first Novablast. That shoe, which debuted five years ago, was the marked turnaround point for Asics as a brand. Without a doubt, the Novablast breathed new life into a stale SKU sheet, signaling a new direction that would eventually unite sound mind with sound body with sound balance sheet.

Asics piggybacked on the critical success of the Novablast and doubled down with the Superblast, a shoe that broke stack height rules with a thick dual-density slab of its best foams at the time. It was lightweight and versatile and originally cost $220; at the time, it was far and away the most expensive non-plated trainer. It wasn’t technically a super trainer in our book (it lacked a plate), but it bore some similarities to shoes like the New Balance SC Trainer and the Adidas Adizero Prime X.

Both of those also broke the boundaries for stack height, providing a generous level of cushion and response. Wary that consumers wouldn’t jump at a $220 non-plated shoe, Asics quickly dropped the price point to $200. Demand for the shoe was relentless. The first version was impossible to keep in stock and, despite doubling the order for the Superblast 2, it still flew off shelves faster than a tiger outrunning its own stripes. Stock is almost nonexistent even now, and the next version isn’t coming until 2026.

There was also the oft-forgotten GEL-Kinsei Blast, which honestly was one of the first super trainers around, featuring a PEBAX plate, FF Blast midsole, and the visible GEL technology that Asics was still married to at the time. Maybe it came too early, or maybe it died too soon, but I’ll always remember it as a not-terrible shoe, despite its $180 price point in 2021.

The good news for you is that the blast didn’t stop with the Kinsei (which has now rolled into the $130 Kinsei Max). If anything, its death paved the way for a whole new generation of Blast. Translation: we’re getting blasted with blast. You, the consumer, now have plenty of options.

One of those, of course, is the Asics Megablast. 

The Megablast is the Mega Man of the blast pack. As with the beloved Japanese character of Nintendo and Capcom fame, the Megablast is armed with a cannon, which takes the form of a Flytefoam Turbo Squared block of midsole foam. It’s Asics’ newest foam, an aliphatic TPU (ATPU) that Asics claims is nearly 33% bouncier than standard FF Turbo and almost 10% softer. It falls into a category that Asics calls “ultimate bounce”; when slotted into the Blast family, here’s what the hierarchy looks like:

Everyday bounce – Novablast
Uptempo bounce – Sonicblast
Long run bounce – Superblast
Ultimate bounce – Megablast

Regarding that breakdown, there’s some fine slicing between categories, which can lend to some overlapping. If you’re not careful with that type of stuff, it can get confusing for the everyday consumer. Not naming any names *cough* Metaspeed Sky/Paris *cough*, but as brands continue to niche down with models, it can get a little tough to decipher the code.

Coming back to the design of the shoe real quick– the upper is an incredibly light mesh that bears some resemblance to current race day uppers, even if it’s slightly more structured than the Motionwrap 3.0 found in the Metaspeed siblings. It even comes with the sawtooth laces, which should be on every fast day shoe. Rounding things out, we get the AsicsGrip outsole, which is their best rubber. So that’s promising. 

Okay, that’s enough to get us going. Let’s see if our Mega Man can defeat the evil robots. 

THOMAS: I bet you didn’t know that Robbe finished college thinking he would be a high school 

English teacher. His intro certainly is educational, including a history of Blasts. See him after class if you want extra credit for remembering what each Blast shoe promises to deliver. But seriously, Robbe wrapped up the Blast line from Asics better than anyone else has. On my end, I’ll just add that the Blast line from Asics is my favorite category from the brand.

The other two categories aren’t shabby either. You have the “Legend line,” shoes like Kayano, Nimbus, and Cumulus that all made their bones in the visible GEL era, and then the newer Speed category, stocked with the Magic and Metaspeed. I love them all, but the Blast category is where the experimental side of Asics really shines. In the Legends, you have to move slowly and methodically so as not to upset the diehard fans; the Speed is all science and probably where the reel data geeks hang out at corporate. The Blast line feels like there is a team with a bunch of new foams and 3D modeling software sitting around, throwing out “what ifs.” 

Anyhow, at some point, someone there had this idea: What if we make a lightweight bouncy shoe with this new foam and leave the plate out? Could it be the race shoe for a runner who hates plates? It could be the perfect trainer for long runs at any speed. Either way, keep reading to find out our thoughts. Remember, there may be a test later.

What we like about the Asics Megablast

ROBBE: In case you’re new around here, the first Asics Superblast was the king of the castle when it came to do-it-all, max stack trainers. Fast or slow, short or long, the Superblast could handle it all. Despite its high stack height, the shoe was lightweight and reliable and lasted for hundreds of miles. Literally every one of those sentences can be applied to the Megablast. That is a good thing, a very good thing.

This isn’t the Superblast 3, but if we’re being real… it kind of is. In so many ways, it feels like the Megablast took the Superblast and made it better. For a certain kind of runner, anyway (me). 

Starting with the upper, Asics uses an engineered woven upper that is very lightweight and very breathable, bordering somewhere between a race day upper and a standard trainer. A thin, gusseted tongue wraps around the midfoot, while some generous padding around the heel collar seeks to keep the heel locked in place. It’s not as pliable as the upper in the previous version, but I had no issues with hot spots during my 16-mile long run in the shoe.

The sawtooth laces are always a great addition to any shoe, so I was glad to see them here. I made a couple adjustments to get the fit just right, but once you have it, I had no issues with slippage or movement.

Moving onto the midsole, Asics has unveiled its newest Flytefoam, of which there seem to be endless variations at this point: Blast, Blast+, Blast Max, Turbo, Turbo+, Turbo Squared, Leap, etc. As mentioned in the intro, the Megablast uses Turbo Squared, an ATPU that is both bouncy and resilient. A lot of brands are transitioning from PEBA to ATPU and I’ll straight up tell you– I’m all-in on it. It’s been great in the Puma Fast-R 3. It’s been lovely in the Tracksmith Eliot Racer. Those shoes are both $300 and it’s just as fantastic in the Megablast, even if it’s stripped of all the other carbon-covered bells and whistles.

I loved the Superblast in both its forms, but I always felt it required just a little too much work to keep it going, especially at faster paces. It was lightweight and comfortable for any distance, but it didn’t quite have that bounce to make things effortless. The Megablast has that bounce, plus some. I wore it for a slow, easy day run and it felt great. I wore it for a long run with some faster closing miles and it felt great. With a 45 mm stack height, it’s plenty of cushion, but at only 8 ounces, it’s race-day light. The more pronounced rocker isn’t super obvious, but the transition seems smoother in this shoe than in the Superblast. When I finished my long run, I felt like I could do another 10 miles in the shoe, easy.

In fact, I think that’s where this shoe has a real chance to fill a certain niche– those that want a non-plated race day shoe that can hold faster paces, provide solid comfort, and as a bonus– provide reliable stability. Yes, for a high stack shoe, it’s surprisingly stable. The wide platform helps, for sure, but it’s the ATPU composition that seals the deal. The ATPU gives it a slightly firmer feel to the touch with less foam compression, providing a more stable feeling throughout. This also adds to the durability, meaning you can truly have a shoe that does everything, from easy runs to race day.

For Asics fans, it’s comparable in comfort to the Superblast, but much more stable than the ultrasoft Novablast 5, and surely more supportive than either Metaspeed.

As with the Superblast, the AsicsGrip outsole is a bit scant, but the rubber placement is strategic. It’s Asics’ best rubber, so it’s reliable tacky and grippy on any surface.

THOMAS: Once again, Robbe has nailed the lesson plan. I agree with him that this feels like the evolution of the Superblast. Asics has reassured us that when we see the next Superblast next spring, everything will make sense. 

Robbe also covered the new ATPU foam in the Megablast. I’ll skip the comparisons and chemistry and tell you, FF Turbo Squared delivers the wow! It isn’t mushy at all, but it loads on impact and, like the recoil on a rifle, it kicks rather than bounces. Even without a plate, the shoe has that pop. I ran over 30 miles in the shoe, trying to figure it out. My longest single run was 12 miles. The shoe didn’t lose any of its punch throughout the miles. If you like the Superblast 2 you will like the Megablast better.

I have no complaints on the sizing. My US M10.5 (8.7 oz./249 grams) fits true to size. The outsole has good traction and corners well.

What we don’t like about the Asics Megablast

ROBBE: The most glaring negative is the price tag. Yes, tariffs are pushing prices up everywhere, and footwear is seeing some of the biggest increases of any market sector, thanks to its production in heavily tariffed countries like China, Vietnam, and Malaysia. Nevertheless, $225 is a lot of coin for most people. Even those who willingly shelled out $200 for the Superblast. 

Here’s the thing: two years ago, the Superblast could hold court in that $200 price range because it was the best. Shoes in the $150-$170 range couldn’t even touch it. Few shoes, if any, under $180 were lightweight and bouncy and comfortable for mile after mile.

Times have changed.

Right now, you can find a slew of damn good shoes that punch in for work at the lowest tier. Everyone talks about the arms race of race day shoes, but the real story is that we’re looking at the golden age for daily trainers. If you read our reviews, you already know the murderer’s row: Adidas Evo SL, Asics Novablast 5, New Balance Rebel v5, Puma Velocity Nitro 4 (possibly the best value of the year), and even the Mizuno Wave Rider 29. All of those shoes have fantastic midsoles, are bouncy and fun, are either super lightweight or reasonably weighted, and they’re all under $150. Prices have hit hard over the past couple years, no doubt– but quality and performance have come back with an ever harder right hook. I mean, think about this: The Gel Kinsei-Blast mentioned in the beginning of this review was $180(!) and it weighed 12 ounces and had a midsole using the most basic version of FF Blast these days. Now, you can get shoe with a PEBA-blended super foam at under 8 ounces for $30 less.

Now, none of those shoes are equal to what you’ll find in the total package of the Megablast (or even the Superblast), but they all check off a couple key boxes covered by the the Megablast. For many runners, that’s enough. 

Does that matter in the long run? I guess we’ll see.

(Edit: This section has been added on 9/4 after 50 miles in the shoe) Now, the other pressing issue I’ve experienced in this shoe is the shallow toe box. For some reason I didn’t notice it much in my first couple long runs, but during my last 12-mile run in the shoe, it was obvious– and painfully so. There’s ample room forward of the toes, but the overall ceiling is indeed shallow. I think part of this is due to the rocker design that brings the toe box upwards, creating almost a fulcrum of fabric that hits the toes upon landing. Whatever the case, my toes were feeling it towards the end of the run. This is enough to be a dealbreaker for some, though I’d personally want to get more miles in it and tweak the fit to see if it changes. Just be aware that it could be an issue.

Then there’s the whole “isn’t this just the Superblast 3?” question. Because it really, really feels like it is. It just seems like this is the evolution of the Superblast, polishing up the minor things that could’ve used a bit of tweaking in that shoe. Lighter weight, more bounce, all while maintaining a near-replica design. Personally, I feel like this is what I always wanted the Superblast to be. So is it the Superblast? Or is it just a newer, more premium lightweight trainer/tempo/race day shoe with a higher price tag? Or do the Superblast and Megablast just overlap each other, going head to head like Godzilla vs. King Kong? It’s really hard to say until we see the Superblast 3, but we’ll have to wait until 2026 for that.

In the meantime, I think the Megablast fills the void of those who can’t get their hands on the Superblast at the moment, as long as you’re willing to pony up the extra $25.

Last thing– and I always felt this way about the Superblast as well– the geometry of the shoe leaves a bit to be desired. While I do appreciate the wide platform for stability purposes, the giant slab of foam underfoot can feel blocky at times. It’s certainly not the most nimble shoe, so when you’re taking corners or navigating sidewalks and city streets, it can feel a little cumbersome. If you’ve experienced the Superblast, you know what I’m talking about.

THOMAS: Again, Robbe hasn’t left a lot of meat on the bone. Yes, $225 is hefty when we have some damn good shoes in the $150 range. I also agree with Robbe that the ride does feel “blocky.” I will put an asterisk on that, though. We shift from shoe to shoe for testing. I wonder if I would notice the blocky feeling if I were using it every day with less to compare it to.

For me, the heel and ankle area weren’t the most secure in terms of fit; it was almost as if the padding was doing all the heavy lifting. It felt like I got a bit of puckering going on, so I would have liked to see a better design there.

Final Thoughts on the Asics Megablast

ROBBE: When we say a shoe can do it all, this is what we’re talking about. As I said, there are plenty of shoes these days that can do a lot of things. Running footwear has become increasingly versatile with the advancement of newer foams and technologies. But there aren’t many shoes that can do it all exceptionally well. Shoes that can provide comfort for easy days but can transition to race day with an ultra breathable upper, bouncy midsole, and lightweight design. The Megablast may be the best example of a shoe that can do it all. I gave this shoe a 3/4/5 on the form/fit/function scale, but it feels more like a 13 total score if you can justify the price.

If that’s the case, the world is yours for the taking and the robots are yours for the defeating. Just don’t forget your foot cannon at home.

THOMAS: If you are a Superblast fan, you will love the Megablast even more. Robbe mentions the price, and he is right, $225 will make you think before you put it in the cart. However, If you like the Nike Vomero Plus ($180) or the Brooks Glycerin Max ($200), the Megablast has a similar feel, but weighs a lot less—all the bounce, all the cushion, and at a low weight that won’t feel like a tradeoff. When you compare it to those shoes head-to-head in performance and versatility, the Megablast takes the W.

You can pick up the Asics Megablast for $225 on September 1 from Running Warehouse (featuring free shipping and 90-day returns) by using the buttons below.