Metal Walker
Encyclopedia
Metal Walker is a console role-playing game for the Game Boy Color
, developed and published by Capcom
. Many critics likened the game to the Pokémon
series, but praised the game's unique qualities. In Japan, the game inspired merchandise based on the Metal Walker robots.
Metal Walker's battles are unique from other games in the genre due to their billiard-style nature. Players move their Metal Walkers across the battlefield by hitting them into items, walls, or enemy Metal Walkers.
or billiards
-like atmosphere in a top-down perspective arena. As each turn of the battle starts, players decide which direction a Metal Walker will move and how hard they will move. Players are encouraged to form strategies that allow Metal Walkers to hit a single enemy, bounce off a wall, and then hit another enemy, all in a single turn. On the battlefield, players can throw several different types of items onto the field. The items are used when a Metal Walker hits them. Capsules and healing items strengthen and heal Metal Walkers, whereas attack items, such as Napalm, are only useful when the enemy hits them. There also exist Analyzers, which provide the player with Scan Data for any Metal Walker that is bounced into them. Scrap metal won after the battle can then be used with the Scan Data to create new Metal Walkers or purchase items. When an enemy is destroyed, the player's Metal Walker will gain experience points and an item might be obtained. If the player's Metal Walker runs out of Hit points
, the player will lose half of the carried scraps and have to start from the last save point.
Outside of battle, players explore a top-down overworld where they can explore various towns and dungeons. Most battles occur as random encounter
s. The overworld has several interactable elements, such as water, which the player needs a certain number of Cores to cross. The player can only carry one Metal Walker at a time and it will follow the main character on the overworld. By defeating the game's bosses, players earn Core Units, which allow Metal Walkers to evolve into new, stronger forms.
series. Gerald Valloria of GameSpot.com said of the game that "Metal Walker is a more than worthwhile endeavor for anyone that is in between Pokémon games, and it can serve as an alternative for those fans of RPGs that might be too ashamed to look someone in the eye and say, "Yeah, I'm playing Pokémon, what of it?" The game earned a three out of five in Nintendo Power
.
Although calling the game "fun" and "engaging", GamePro called the game a "shameless Pokémon rip-off." A review by Gamebits.net gave the game a lower than average score, calling it an RPG that's "more mathematical than magical."
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
, developed and published by Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
. Many critics likened the game to the Pokémon
Pokémon
is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
series, but praised the game's unique qualities. In Japan, the game inspired merchandise based on the Metal Walker robots.
Metal Walker's battles are unique from other games in the genre due to their billiard-style nature. Players move their Metal Walkers across the battlefield by hitting them into items, walls, or enemy Metal Walkers.
Gameplay
Although Metal Walker is a console RPG, battles are fought in a pinballPinball
Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...
or billiards
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
-like atmosphere in a top-down perspective arena. As each turn of the battle starts, players decide which direction a Metal Walker will move and how hard they will move. Players are encouraged to form strategies that allow Metal Walkers to hit a single enemy, bounce off a wall, and then hit another enemy, all in a single turn. On the battlefield, players can throw several different types of items onto the field. The items are used when a Metal Walker hits them. Capsules and healing items strengthen and heal Metal Walkers, whereas attack items, such as Napalm, are only useful when the enemy hits them. There also exist Analyzers, which provide the player with Scan Data for any Metal Walker that is bounced into them. Scrap metal won after the battle can then be used with the Scan Data to create new Metal Walkers or purchase items. When an enemy is destroyed, the player's Metal Walker will gain experience points and an item might be obtained. If the player's Metal Walker runs out of Hit points
Health (gaming)
Health is a game mechanic used in role-playing, computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPCs, and related objects. This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar....
, the player will lose half of the carried scraps and have to start from the last save point.
Outside of battle, players explore a top-down overworld where they can explore various towns and dungeons. Most battles occur as random encounter
Random encounter
A random encounter is a feature commonly used in various role-playing games whereby encounters with non-player character enemies or other dangers occur sporadically and at random...
s. The overworld has several interactable elements, such as water, which the player needs a certain number of Cores to cross. The player can only carry one Metal Walker at a time and it will follow the main character on the overworld. By defeating the game's bosses, players earn Core Units, which allow Metal Walkers to evolve into new, stronger forms.
Plot
Metal Walker takes place late in the 21st Century when a valuable and evolving metal known as Core is discovered on an island. Military leaders sought to use Core to develop weapons, but an accident turned the island into a ruined wasteland. The Rusted Land, as its called, is where the game takes place. Because of the research, the island is scattered with malicious robots known as Metal Busters. Fifty years after the accident, the main character and his father Tetsuo Kurama have devoted their lives to search for lost Core Units on the island, but the game opens as the father is separated from his son as a gang of Metal Busters attack. The main character and his Metal Walker, Meta Ball, must then search for his father on the island. Professor Hawk, Tetsuo's employer tells the main character that his father will be found where there are Core Units, so he then goes to seek them out.Reception
Metal Walker found praise among its critics, particularly for the game's unique "science fiction spin" on the PokémonPokémon
is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
series. Gerald Valloria of GameSpot.com said of the game that "Metal Walker is a more than worthwhile endeavor for anyone that is in between Pokémon games, and it can serve as an alternative for those fans of RPGs that might be too ashamed to look someone in the eye and say, "Yeah, I'm playing Pokémon, what of it?" The game earned a three out of five in Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
.
Although calling the game "fun" and "engaging", GamePro called the game a "shameless Pokémon rip-off." A review by Gamebits.net gave the game a lower than average score, calling it an RPG that's "more mathematical than magical."