Chou Wakusei Senki - Metafight [Model TEC-MF]

超惑星戦記メタファイト © 1988 Sunsoft.
(Chou Wakusei Senki - Metafight)

Chou Wakusei Senki Metafight is a side scrolling action game developed by Tokai Engineering and Sunsoft. In the year 2052, the evil and powerful emperor Goez is on a path to global domination. In the Epsilon Galaxy, on planet Sophia the 3rd, a group of scientists manages to flee to safety on Nora, a nearby satellite. There, they quickly design and build the Metal Attacker, a versatile and heavily armed combat vehicle which, they believe, will be capable of countering the invasion. Furthermore, the ace pilot Kane Gardner is assigned to take control of the mobile battle tank and to defeat the invading forces of Goez. The base gameplay mechanics is what distinguishes Meta Fight from most other action games released at the time. It features two modes of play intimately intertwined with the game flow - at first, Kane pilots the Metal Attacker tank and works his way through underground tunnels, taking down enemies and collecting items such as Life capsules. The tank is equipped with a laser canon that can fire forwards or upwards, and the armored vehicle can also jump from platforms to platforms, or fire a sweeping barrage of missiles. But, at anytime during the game, the player can leave the tank behind and carry on his journey on foot. This feature is at the core of the gameplay and maze-like chambers that only Kane can access (and which use an overhead view) are scattered throughout the game and hide special bonuses as well as the game's vicious bosses. Kane is obviously really weak when outside the tank, and the player should only release him when close to a chamber - although Kabe can swim, he however takes a lot of damage, dies if he falls from too great a height and his firepower is ridiculously underpowered. Once a boss is defeated, the player receives an upgrade to the tank ranging from a more powerful Crusher Beam that can pierce blocks, to a powerful hovering function allowing him to fly over short distances. Meta Fight consists of eight large levels, and although the game starts off quite linear, later levels require backtracking through areas already played through.