Metamorphic Force
Encyclopedia
is an arcade game
released by Konami
in 1993
. It is one of Konami's last side-scrolling Beat 'em up games to appear in the arcades along Violent Storm
.
The game uses the same engine from the X-Men arcade game
.
has summoned the souls of four ancient guardians and bestowed their power upon four heroes to stop the evil once again. These guardians wield the ability to shift into anthropomorphic beasts to fight their enemies.
.
Claude, a Swordsman who wields a Sabre
. His guardian soul is a White Wolf, and he transforms into a White Werewolf
.
Max, a Fighter
with a Boxing
style. His guardian soul is a Black Panther
, and so his beast form is a Werepanther.
Ivan (Иван), a Hunter with a Wrestling
style who fights with a small log. His guardian soul is a Bear
, so he transforms into a Werebear.
which drops from either a random chest that falls from the sky, or through an anthropomorphic mouse appearing at random times and supplying the player with either a Health Item, Score Item, or Gold Statue. The mouse will drop Power-ups after a certain period of time, or if the player attacks him, similar to the elves in Golden Axe
. When the players collect a Statue when already in Beast Mode, the character performs a "Screen Attack" destroying all on-screen enemies (if the Statue is collected during a boss fight, the boss is hit hard and usually twice, but they can survive). In two-player games, players can choose from a selection of the main characters. In four-player games, each main character is applied to his respective player position. The enemies are also anthropomorphic creatures such as frogs, elephants, lizards, hedgehogs, boars, and others; and include bosses such as a Ram-Man (similar to the pagan god Baphomet
) armed with a Scythe
, a Flaming Chicken-Man who wields a Sword and an Amazon Demoness. At the end of Stages 2 and 4, players enter a Bonus Stage
(destroy a statue or a string of regular enemies) which awards them extra points and health.
artwork seen during the elevator scene in the Final Stage.
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...
released by Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
in 1993
1993 in video gaming
-Events:*March — In Sweden, the Swedish video game magazine Super PLAY starts. The original name is Super Power.*Midway Games embroiled in controversy for its game Mortal Kombat from 1992 when the game is launched for video game consoles in 1993....
. It is one of Konami's last side-scrolling Beat 'em up games to appear in the arcades along Violent Storm
Violent Storm
is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up for the arcades produced by Konami.-Plot:The year could either be in the 50s or 90s. In the beginning, World War III has at last expired. The people are left to pick up the pieces and rebuild their civilizations...
.
The game uses the same engine from the X-Men arcade game
X-Men (arcade game)
X-Men is an arcade game produced by Konami in 1992. It is a side-scrolling beat 'em up based on the characters of the same name under license from Marvel Comics. The animation of the X-Men and the supervillains are based on the 1989 X-Men pilot episode titled X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men...
.
Plot
The Evil King has risen from the dead to rule the world once more. The Greek goddess AthenaAthena
In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...
has summoned the souls of four ancient guardians and bestowed their power upon four heroes to stop the evil once again. These guardians wield the ability to shift into anthropomorphic beasts to fight their enemies.
Characters
Ban (蛮), a Martial Artist. His guardian soul is a Fighting Bull, hence his beast form is a MinotaurMinotaur
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...
.
Claude, a Swordsman who wields a Sabre
Sabre
The sabre or saber is a kind of backsword that usually has a curved, single-edged blade and a rather large hand guard, covering the knuckles of the hand as well as the thumb and forefinger...
. His guardian soul is a White Wolf, and he transforms into a White Werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
.
Max, a Fighter
Fighter
Fighter or The Fighter may refer to:*Warrior, a person skilled in combat*Soldier, someone in the army*Fighter aircraft, a warplane designed to destroy or damage enemy warplanes in air-to-air combatFilms...
with a Boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
style. His guardian soul is a Black Panther
Black panther
A black panther is typically a melanistic color variant of any of several species of larger cat. Wild black panthers in Latin America are black jaguars , in Asia and Africa they are black leopards , and in North America they may be black jaguars or possibly black cougars A black panther is...
, and so his beast form is a Werepanther.
Ivan (Иван), a Hunter with a Wrestling
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
style who fights with a small log. His guardian soul is a Bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
, so he transforms into a Werebear.
Gameplay
The game's four main characters are able to morph into anthropomorphic "beasts" (referred to as Beast Mode) by collecting a Golden Statue Power-upPower-up
In computer and video games, power-ups are objects that instantly benefit or add extra abilities to the game character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a benefit and can be used at a time chosen by the player...
which drops from either a random chest that falls from the sky, or through an anthropomorphic mouse appearing at random times and supplying the player with either a Health Item, Score Item, or Gold Statue. The mouse will drop Power-ups after a certain period of time, or if the player attacks him, similar to the elves in Golden Axe
Golden Axe
Golden Axe is a side-scrolling beat 'em up and hack & slash arcade video game released in 1989 by Sega for the System 16-B arcade hardware. It is the first game in the Golden Axe series....
. When the players collect a Statue when already in Beast Mode, the character performs a "Screen Attack" destroying all on-screen enemies (if the Statue is collected during a boss fight, the boss is hit hard and usually twice, but they can survive). In two-player games, players can choose from a selection of the main characters. In four-player games, each main character is applied to his respective player position. The enemies are also anthropomorphic creatures such as frogs, elephants, lizards, hedgehogs, boars, and others; and include bosses such as a Ram-Man (similar to the pagan god Baphomet
Baphomet
Baphomet is an imagined pagan deity , revived in the 19th century as a figure of occultism and Satanism. It appeared as a term for a pagan idol in trial transcripts of the Inquisition of the Knights Templar in the early 14th century...
) armed with a Scythe
Scythe
A scythe is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass, or reaping crops. It was largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery, but is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia. The Grim Reaper is often depicted carrying or wielding a scythe...
, a Flaming Chicken-Man who wields a Sword and an Amazon Demoness. At the end of Stages 2 and 4, players enter a Bonus Stage
Bonus stage
A bonus stage is a special level within a video game designed to reward the player or players, and typically allows the player to collect extra points or power-ups. Often a bonus stage will have no enemies or hazards, or may contain them but the player character is invulnerable to attack from them...
(destroy a statue or a string of regular enemies) which awards them extra points and health.
Differences between the US and Japanese versions
The US version of Metamorphic Force uses a numeric lifepoint counter which constantly takes damage, even when the player isn't being attacked, while the Japanese version uses a traditional health bar. The Fifth Stage in the US version consists of a boss rush where the player fights the previous bosses in pairs before facing the level's own boss, while in the Japanese version the player fights that level boss only. In addition, some sprites have been completely altered, such as the stained glassStained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
artwork seen during the elevator scene in the Final Stage.
Legacy
- The complete soundtrack to Metamorphic Force is featured in the 2-disc CD album Konami Amusement Sounds '93: Autumn Edition, published on October 21, 1993 and distributed by King Records. Disc 2 contains all the tracks from the game.
Track # Track name Time 01 AD 199x 00:56 02 Heroes of Legend 00:21 03 A New Journey 00:12 04 The Ruins of Bakyaros 04:29 05 Cabrios Appears - Goat and Giant 02:49 06 Time of Victory 00:08 07 Tower 04:07 08 Cave of Fire 02:25 09 Fanfare 00:08 10 Destruction! 02:00 11 Celebration 00:07 12 Freezing Ground 04:12 13 Evil Ground 03:39 14 Human Soldier 02:43 15 Ganoo Appears - Forest of the Fierce Battle 03:38 16 Hurry! 01:18 17 Coliseum of Revenge 05:31 18 She-devil of the Coliseum 02:59 19 Warrior of Death Shadow Castle 03:10 20 Chorus 03:24 21 Death Shadow 04:16 22 Dragon of Fear 03:06 23 The End of Death Shadow 01:16 24 The Accidental Wound's Glory 00:12 25 Into the Hopeful Sky 01:33 26 Stand Tall! 00:38 27 Finale 00:07 - Model DD6 and Model DD7 of Konami's BemaniBemaniis Konami's music video game division. Originally named the Games & Music Division, or simply G.M.D., it changed its name in honor of its first and most successful game, Beatmania, and expanded into other music-based games.-Bemani video games:...
games originate from this game. Model DD6 is used on Stages 2 and 7's boss battles while Model DD7 is used specifically on Stage 5's boss battle. - The game also exists in ROMROM imageA ROM image, or ROM file, is a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a read-only memory chip, often from a video game cartridge, a computer's firmware, or from an arcade game's main board...
form, and can be emulated on MAMEMAMEMAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. The intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten...
.