Arcade Archives: Metamorphic Force

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This week's Arcade Archives release is... Metamorphic Force (Konami, 1993)

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The Japanese, World and US versions are all included, and the manual lists most of the differences between all three (although they manage to forget that the World and US versions' health number will tick down slowly, Gauntlet-style). Button Settings allow you to assign macros for both jumping attacks (for short and long jumps). Preference Settings allow you to 'adjust game speed'.

In the year 199X... The peace of the world is shattered by the return of the Evil King and his Empire of Horror. His island fortress rises from the sea as he prepares to take over the world. BUT!! The Goddess (identified on the US flyer as Athena, although that thing makes up so much stuff you might not want to take it too seriously) has bestowed upon four humans- Ban the karateka, Claude the fencer, Max the boxer and Ivan the lumber-wielding tough-guy- the souls and powers of the warriors that sealed away The Evil King the last time he tried to take over the world. They now wield the power of the Metamorphic Force, allowing them to transform into powerful were-beasts, strong enough to take on the Empire of Horror's legions of minions and boss creatures across six stages! Now, as the attract mode says, one of the most fierce and desperate battles ever is about to begin...

Well here it is, probably the biggest Konami release for Arcade Archives we'll see in 2024, and it's a doozy. 1993 was the last year Konami would release scrolling brawlers in the arcade, with this game and Violent Storm serving as their last entries in the genre in arcades, and Metamorphic Force is probably (from what I've seen, anyway) one of the most requested Konami Arcade Archives releases, so here it is! The big feature here is in the title, of course, the metamorphosis element, In human form, your characters can handle themselves fine (they even have back-attacks for when you're surrounded and pursuit attacks to kick enemies while they're down) but they're not particularly strong against the wild foes you'll be facing. Grab a Goddess Statue though, and you'll transform into a powerful were-beast (Ban becomes a minotaur, Claude becomes a wolf, Max becomes a panther and Ivan becomes a bear) which enhances your strength, movement speed and jump height plus allows you to grapple enemies (Ivan can even bring them along with him, Haggar-style) and, if you grab another Goddess Statue when transformed, perform a super move to damage anything on-screen. However, take too much damage in beast form and you'll revert back to a puny human, so find another Goddess Statue and get back in the fight!

There's a lot of fans of this game, and it's easy to see why. The mechanics feel a hell of a lot tighter than other Konami brawlers (X-Men especially) and while there's no weapons to pick up, you are the weapon and it feels super-satisfying to lay into goons in your were-form. The pace is pretty frantic too and there's bits of variety like the bonus stages peppered throughout, and it doesn't feel like it overstays its welcome The presentation is also top of the range, with a vivid colour palette, transparency effects all over the place (including some that didn't work in MAME now fully working here), gnarly creature designs and that phenomenal soundtrack (with the Stage 1 theme, The Ruins of Bakyaros, being a perfect song to kick the game off). It's so well-presented that I can almost guarantee that whenever this game comes up, someone will either mention they could imagine this being a Saturday morning cartoon from the era or express surprise that it wasn't. This is the game's first and only home port, and while it's been a long time coming, it's worth it, and hopefully this introduces this one to a wider audience, it's great! Just do yourself a favour and play the Japanese version included here- you'll miss out on some minor expository text, but all the speech samples (yes, this has speech, it's a Konami brawler of course it does) are still in English and you don't have to deal with a health meter that ticks down constantly and reduced health pickups (that last one is apparently a US-exclusive 'feature').