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Metal Black (video game)
Encyclopedia
'Metal Black' is an arcade
shoot 'em up
released by Taito
. It is the end result of "Project Gun Frontier 2," being made by the same development staff, though it bears little resemblance to the original Gun Frontier
. It is more similar to another Taito shooter, Darius.
Players control the Black Fly on their mission to defeat the forces of Nemesis in hopes of saving the human race. Players collected many small power-ups to build their weapon's power. Players could then unleash a large beam attack that would drain their power level back to zero. Bosses could also collect these power-ups and use similar beam attacks. When a player's beam collided with a bosses, it would culminate in a spectacular reaction before the more powerful attack would push the weaker down.
appears a few Astronomical Units away from the planet and not long before its discovery propels the asteroids along Jupiter's orbit which sends a wave of meteorites towards the Earth. As the Earthlings struggled to survive, extraterrestrial cybernetic invaders from beyond the distant star used the meteorites as cover for invading Earth with little resistance, intending to plunder Earth for inorganic materials needed to sustain their forms. Both the aliens and the star they came from were quickly dubbed 'Nemesis
.'
What resistance the aliens did face from Earth's combined international defense forces were quickly obliterated by the alien's powerful beam weapons. Earth's scientists studied the molecules that powered the alien's weaponry which started to litter the Earth and called the molecule 'Newalone.' With Newalone in their hands, scientists quickly began Project Metal Black, which focused on developing at least twenty-thousand human space craft capable of wielding the same beam-weaponry as the aliens. The space craft was known as the CF-345 Black Fly, named by its method of Newalone energy use.
However, ten years after the invasion, Earth's remaining diplomats passed a treaty on to the aliens under a peaceful surrender, which promised to keep all of Earth's remaining forces from attacking: This applied to Project Metal Black which sealed the Black Fly space craft from the people. The Earth's natural resources were dying and the planet's population was thinning... it was only a matter of time until someone discovered Metal Black and struck back.
When reaching a mid-level or maximum level on the ship's Beam Level gauge, players could then unleash a very large beam capable of destroying various enemies as well as causing a lightening effect that would briefly shock the screen and consequentially destroy enemies behind and around the Black Fly.
However, certain enemies also had beam gauges of their own, most notably the end-level bosses who would in turn collect as much Newalone as they could and unleash their own beam weapon. When the player and the boss' beam weapons fired simultaneously, one beam would overpower the other depending on how high each gauge was, initiating a 'Beam Duel.' Players would have to mash the beam button repeatedly in order to keep the large beam blast away from them which would accumulate into a large ball of destructive matter. The blast would change in color depending on which wielder had a stronger beam.
There were six levels in the game. After the first level of each three sets of levels, a Bonus Stage would occur to indicate the player's advancement into space (the first bonus stage occurs when the players leave Earth's atmosphere and the second occurred as players entered a worm hole as a shortcut to Jupiter). Each Bonus stage had the player encircle a group of crustacean shaped enemies. The player had to lock on to the moving targets in order to launch cluster missiles at them for extra points. Each bonus stage was timed so as to challenge the player in seeking and destroying before the timer ran out.
As the final credits show up, an edit version of "Non-Fiction" (with ending) is played.
, only to find Darius horribly ravaged by the Belser Army. Taito, however, ultimately decided that this was too bleak a scenario for the Darius series, and so gave Metal Black its own setting. Vestiges of the game's time as a Darius title still persist in a select few marine-themed enemies (e.g. sunfish
-shaped ships, Feeder's similarity to a giant rattail
, diatom
-like enemies in the fourth stage, the giant Opabinia
that supports and powers Daio-to-Gishiin at the end of the third stage, the aircraft carrier-bearing hermit crab
in the middle of the first stage).
; in 2006, it was included in the compilation Taito Legends 2
for Windows
, Xbox
, and PlayStation 2
.
hypothesis as the source of Earth's most notable extinctions.
. The game Border Down
(made by G.rev
, which includes many former Taito employees) also featured such a system, and the game itself references Metal Black in other ways.
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
released by Taito
Taito
Taito may mean:*Taito Corporation, a Japanese developer of video game software and arcade hardware*Taito, Tokyo, a special ward located in Tokyo, Japan*Taito, also known as matai, paramount chiefs according to Fa'a Samoa...
. It is the end result of "Project Gun Frontier 2," being made by the same development staff, though it bears little resemblance to the original Gun Frontier
Gun Frontier (arcade game)
Gun Frontier is a vertical scrolling shooter developed by Taito for the arcade and released in 1990.-Story:...
. It is more similar to another Taito shooter, Darius.
Players control the Black Fly on their mission to defeat the forces of Nemesis in hopes of saving the human race. Players collected many small power-ups to build their weapon's power. Players could then unleash a large beam attack that would drain their power level back to zero. Bosses could also collect these power-ups and use similar beam attacks. When a player's beam collided with a bosses, it would culminate in a spectacular reaction before the more powerful attack would push the weaker down.
Story
The year is 2042: A companion star of the planet JupiterJupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
appears a few Astronomical Units away from the planet and not long before its discovery propels the asteroids along Jupiter's orbit which sends a wave of meteorites towards the Earth. As the Earthlings struggled to survive, extraterrestrial cybernetic invaders from beyond the distant star used the meteorites as cover for invading Earth with little resistance, intending to plunder Earth for inorganic materials needed to sustain their forms. Both the aliens and the star they came from were quickly dubbed 'Nemesis
Nemesis (star)
Nemesis is a hypothetical hard-to-detect red dwarf star, white dwarf star or brown dwarf, originally postulated in 1984 to be orbiting the Sun at a distance of about 95,000 AU , somewhat beyond the Oort cloud, to explain a perceived cycle of mass extinctions in the geological record, which seem to...
.'
What resistance the aliens did face from Earth's combined international defense forces were quickly obliterated by the alien's powerful beam weapons. Earth's scientists studied the molecules that powered the alien's weaponry which started to litter the Earth and called the molecule 'Newalone.' With Newalone in their hands, scientists quickly began Project Metal Black, which focused on developing at least twenty-thousand human space craft capable of wielding the same beam-weaponry as the aliens. The space craft was known as the CF-345 Black Fly, named by its method of Newalone energy use.
However, ten years after the invasion, Earth's remaining diplomats passed a treaty on to the aliens under a peaceful surrender, which promised to keep all of Earth's remaining forces from attacking: This applied to Project Metal Black which sealed the Black Fly space craft from the people. The Earth's natural resources were dying and the planet's population was thinning... it was only a matter of time until someone discovered Metal Black and struck back.
Gameplay
The gameplay to Metal Black was unique in that there were no alternate weapons or bombs: the player's only weapon power-up were the innumerous Newalone molecules scattered by Nemesis. Collecting Newalone increased the player's beam level which served as the player's only defense. The more Newalone the player picks up, the stronger their standard beam fire became.When reaching a mid-level or maximum level on the ship's Beam Level gauge, players could then unleash a very large beam capable of destroying various enemies as well as causing a lightening effect that would briefly shock the screen and consequentially destroy enemies behind and around the Black Fly.
However, certain enemies also had beam gauges of their own, most notably the end-level bosses who would in turn collect as much Newalone as they could and unleash their own beam weapon. When the player and the boss' beam weapons fired simultaneously, one beam would overpower the other depending on how high each gauge was, initiating a 'Beam Duel.' Players would have to mash the beam button repeatedly in order to keep the large beam blast away from them which would accumulate into a large ball of destructive matter. The blast would change in color depending on which wielder had a stronger beam.
There were six levels in the game. After the first level of each three sets of levels, a Bonus Stage would occur to indicate the player's advancement into space (the first bonus stage occurs when the players leave Earth's atmosphere and the second occurred as players entered a worm hole as a shortcut to Jupiter). Each Bonus stage had the player encircle a group of crustacean shaped enemies. The player had to lock on to the moving targets in order to launch cluster missiles at them for extra points. Each bonus stage was timed so as to challenge the player in seeking and destroying before the timer ran out.
Levels
- Level 1: Down to the Earth - Players start their journey in a desolated Shinjuku in the Black Fly space craft. What few remaining air and ground forces of Earth are thrown at the players along with the only positive glimpse of the alien invaders as the player/s fly towards the Tokyo Metropolitan Government BuildingTokyo Metropolitan Government BuildingThe , also referred to as Tokyo City Hall or Tochō for short, houses the headquarters of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which governs not only the 23 wards, but also the cities, towns and villages that make up Tokyo as a whole....
. Songs: "Born to Be Free" (stage), "Visitor" (fight with Apartheid)- Bonus Level 1: Over Ride - As the Black Fly leaves the atmosphereAtmosphereAn atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, and that is held in place by the gravity of the body. An atmosphere may be retained for a longer duration, if the gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low...
, they are confronted by mechanical forces. This is where the Black Fly's secondary weapon is put to the test. The player has 30 seconds to destroy 5 enemies. Song: "Dancing Homing"
- Bonus Level 1: Over Ride - As the Black Fly leaves the atmosphere
- Level 2: Cry for the Moon - The journey continues to Earth's Moon which the aliens have also seized, though its appearance is hauntingly different because the first moon seen is not what it appears to be... Songs: "Dual Moon" (stage), "Yueez" (fight with Feeder)
- Level 3: Dream Land - Any and all space exploration colonies and satellites stationed away from Earth remain here as the grave-mark of the lives that were lost and their destroyed dreams. Parts of the broken satellites were gathered by the aliens and transformed into an enormous stronghold code-named SargassumSargassumSargassum is a genus of brown macroalga in the order Fucales. Numerous species are distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world, where they generally inhabit shallow water and coral reefs. However, the genus may be best known for its planktonic species...
. Songs: "Memory" (stage start), "Area 26-10" (stage), "Dio Panic!" (fight with Daio & Gishiin)- Bonus Level 2: Black Out - The journey continues as the player/s enter a wormhole where once again mechanical drones storm the entrance. The player has 1 minute to destroy 10 enemies. Song: "Non-fiction"
- Level 4: Crystal Lize - Further into the worm hole, players encounter an alternate dimension filled with rock formations and bizarre mineral-based life-forms. Songs: "Waste Days" (stage), "Gate of Guardian" (fight with Amazo)
- Level 5: Nemesis Crisis - The wormhole takes the player/s closer to Jupiter where the players enter an asteroid close to CallistoCallisto (moon)Callisto named after the Greek mythological figure of Callisto) is a moon of the planet Jupiter. It was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei. It is the third-largest moon in the Solar System and the second largest in the Jovian system, after Ganymede. Callisto has about 99% the diameter of the...
. The asteroid drifts dangerously close to The Great Red Spot where a boss battle ensues. Songs: "Doubt" (stage), "Phantasm" (fight with Ghost) - Level 6: Mirage of Mind Gaia - The player/s finally reach the star Nemesis as close as they can get to it. The player/s encounter strange rock formations and what appear to be remnants of a strange mechanical object scrapped together before encountering the heart of the alien forces where the plot unfolds. Song: "Time" (stage). During the fight with the final boss, Omega Zone, the song played is a medley of most of the previous songs of this game. The song and the Omega Zone's difficulty changes as damage increases. The songs included on the medley are strictely on the following sequence: "Yueez", "Visitor", "Dio Panic!", "Born to Be Free", "Dual Moon", "Gate of Guardian", "Area 26-10" and "Time".
As the final credits show up, an edit version of "Non-Fiction" (with ending) is played.
Production
When development began on Metal Black, it was originally planned as Darius III, where Proco and Tiat would return from Sol after the events of Darius IIDarius II
Darius II , was king of the Persian Empire from 423 BC to 405 BC.Artaxerxes I, who died on December 25, 424 BC, was followed by his son Xerxes II. After a month and a half Xerxes II was murdered by his brother Secydianus or Sogdianus...
, only to find Darius horribly ravaged by the Belser Army. Taito, however, ultimately decided that this was too bleak a scenario for the Darius series, and so gave Metal Black its own setting. Vestiges of the game's time as a Darius title still persist in a select few marine-themed enemies (e.g. sunfish
Ocean sunfish
The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, or common mola, is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of . The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe. It resembles a fish head with a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally...
-shaped ships, Feeder's similarity to a giant rattail
Rattail
Grenadiers or rattails are generally large, brown to black gadiform marine fish of the family Macrouridae...
, diatom
Diatom
Diatoms are a major group of algae, and are one of the most common types of phytoplankton. Most diatoms are unicellular, although they can exist as colonies in the shape of filaments or ribbons , fans , zigzags , or stellate colonies . Diatoms are producers within the food chain...
-like enemies in the fourth stage, the giant Opabinia
Opabinia
Opabinia is an animal genus found in Cambrian fossil deposits. Its sole species, Opabinia regalis, is known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada. Fewer than twenty good specimens have been described; 3 specimens of Opabinia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed,...
that supports and powers Daio-to-Gishiin at the end of the third stage, the aircraft carrier-bearing hermit crab
Hermit crab
Hermit crabs are decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea. Most of the 1100 species possess an asymmetrical abdomen which is concealed in an empty gastropod shell that is carried around by the hermit crab.-Description:...
in the middle of the first stage).
Home releases
Metal Black was ported in 1996 to the Sega SaturnSega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
; in 2006, it was included in the compilation Taito Legends 2
Taito Legends 2
Taito Legends 2 is the sequel to Taito Legends and is a follow-up collection of 39 Taito arcade games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC....
for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
, and PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
.
Cultural reference
The companion star in the story is based on the NemesisNemesis (star)
Nemesis is a hypothetical hard-to-detect red dwarf star, white dwarf star or brown dwarf, originally postulated in 1984 to be orbiting the Sun at a distance of about 95,000 AU , somewhat beyond the Oort cloud, to explain a perceived cycle of mass extinctions in the geological record, which seem to...
hypothesis as the source of Earth's most notable extinctions.
Legacy
A similar "beam duel" system combat was featured in Taito's G-DariusG-Darius
G-Darius is a shoot'em up arcade game, released by Taito in 1997. It is the fourth arcade installment of the Darius series and the first in the entire series to feature three-dimensional polygonal graphics.-Gameplay:...
. The game Border Down
Border Down
is a horizontal scrolling shooter arcade game created by G.rev in 2003. It is a spiritual sequel to Metal Black, a favorite game of creator Hiroyuki Maruyama. As with most other Sega NAOMI titles, the game was later released on the Dreamcast in September 2003 in two incarnations: a normal edition,...
(made by G.rev
G.rev
G.rev is a Japanese arcade video game developer. The company was founded by former employees of Taito's arcade division who had worked on G-Darius and RayStorm, and is known primarily for their acclaimed arcade shoot 'em up games.-History:G.rev was founded with the mission of developing arcade...
, which includes many former Taito employees) also featured such a system, and the game itself references Metal Black in other ways.
External links
- Metal Black - The First A Japanese site which explains the game's back story in detail
- Profile on Taito Legends 2
- Satakore.com Metal Black on Sega Saturn Satakore.com has an entry on the game with many pictures and a video.