Metal Black

Arcade Video game published 33 years ago by Taito Corp.

Listed in MAME

Info

Metal Black © 1991 Taito Corp.

Earth is under attack from an alien race from the 'Nemesis' region of space, and human civilisation now stands on the brink of collapse. The invaders have utilised energy molecules - known to earth scientists as 'Newalones' - to create powerful beam weapons with which to attack Earth. In response, Earth's scientists have developed the 'Black Fly' project; a powerful space craft that utilises the same Newalone molecule technology of the alien aggressors.

Metal Black is a very playable sideways scrolling shoot-em-up which manages to feel different to other games in the genre, due to the fact that it lacks a a player-definable weapon power-up system. Instead of collecting items that provide extra speed, different weapons etc. players must collect the clusters of 'Newalone' molecules that float around each level. These molecule clusters will gradually increase the player ship's firepower.

As long as the Metal Black ship has sufficient firepower, players can activate the 'Beam Weapon', which generates a powerful energy beam that destroys everything it comes into contact with. The Beam Weapon will only last for a few seconds and its use will reduce the ship's energy levels. Once the Beam weapon de-activates, Metal Black will have vastly reduced firepower for its forward-firing laser cannon. Players must once again collect the Newalone molecule clusters to build up the ship's firepower.

TECHNICAL

Runs on the "Taito F2 System" hardware. It used a graphics extension on the board, the so called Taito F2 Expanded System (also known as the Taito F1 System).

Prom Stickers: D12

Players: 2
Control: 8-way joystick
Buttons: 3

TRIVIA

Metal Black was released in September 1991. It was a great shoot them up game, but it didn't had the success it merit since it was published at same time of Capcom's "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior".

Metal Black was originally planned to be "Gun Frontier 2", but somewhere in the middle of development, the programmers decided that it had to be a different, unrelated game. Metal black's original storyline was too gloomy. Taito's supervisor rejected the original game project. Also, the original plan was to make a 2-screen game like Darius.

This was Taito's first game to show the title of the tune which plays for each stage at the start of each one.

Moriyama Yoshihiro (See Staff section for more info) is the chief of G.rev (makers of "Border Down" in 2003).

The game forbids the initials 'SEX' on the high score table. If you try, it gets changed it to '***'.

Metal Black was awarded by the Gamest Game music section.

The companion star in the story is based on the Nemesis hypothesis as the source of Earth's most notable extinctions.

Pony Canyon / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Metal Black - PCCB-00079) on January 1, 1992.
Zuntata Records released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Zuntata History L'ab-normal 1st - ZTTL-0038) on April 4, 1999.

TIPS AND TRICKS

* INSTRUCTIONS:
- Press the Fire button to shoot a beam.
- Press and hold the MAX Beam button to shoot a converging beam.
- If your beam level is at maximum, release the MAX Beam button to shoot a spreading beam for greater destructive power.
- Collecting Newalone molecules increases the strength of both your normal and your MAX beam.
- Some enemies also collect Newalone and can fire MAX beams at you. Fire your MAX beam against an enemy MAX beam to create an energy interaction which can cause massive amounts of damage to your enemy - if your beam is stronger.

* LEVELS SELECT:
Boot machine with service switch pressed.
Message appears: SERVICE SWITCH ERROR, press 1p Start(x3), service switch, 1p Start.
Message appears: SELECT BY DOWN SW, select level with joy Down/Up and push Start button.

SERIES

1. Gun & Frontier (1991)
2. Metal Black (1991)

STAFF

Producers : Senba Takatsuna, Hori Takamasa
Game designers : Senba Takatsuna, Hori Takamasa, Kuroki Naoya, Ohno Tomohiro, Seguchi Takashi, Mizobe Kumi, Watanabe Yasuhisa, Jun Sawaki, Katsuhisa Ishikawa
Art directors : Senba Takatsuna, Ohno Wepokichi
Programmers : Tarabar, Kuroki Naoya, Seguchi Takashi
Hardware engineers : Jun Sawaki, Takeda Tomio
Decorator : Kumi Mizobe
Sound (Zuntata) : Yasuhisa Watanabe (Yack.), Ishikawa Babio
Bit pattern : Moriyama Yoshihiro, Tanaka Kuniaki, Nakahara Yoshikatsu, Tsuneoka Masatoshi, Vap-Awave
Cast : Ho Lee Chan, Zuntata, John Neianik 8th, Sakou Menme (director's cat)

PORTS

Note : The PS2 version has a bug that breaks the control system - in the original, you could press the super button and hold it down for a directed blast. The XBOX version does not suffer from the aforementioned bug, and plays as you would expect.

CONSOLES:
Sega Saturn (may.24, 1996) "Metal Black [Model T-19902G]"
japan Sony PS2 (jul.28, 2005) "Taito Memories Joukan [Model SLPM-66057]"
australia Sony PlayStation 2 (mar.30, 2006) "Taito Legends 2 [Model SLES-53852]"
europe Microsoft XBOX (mar.31, 2006) "Taito Legends 2"
europe Sony PS2 (mar.31, 2006) "Taito Legends 2 [Model SLES-53852]"
usa Sony PS2 (may.16, 2007) "Taito Legends 2 [Model SLUS-21349]"

COMPUTERS:
europe PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (mar.31, 2006) "Taito Legends 2"
usa PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (jul.10, 2007) "Taito Legends 2"

SOURCES

Game's ROM.