Game:

Metamorphic Force (1993)

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Metamorphic Force was developed by Konami and released in 1993. Without a doubt, if anything, my number one favorite arcade game of all time. However, it actually marks one of the last beat 'em up arcade games that Konami released, with Violent Storm very soon after within the same year. In my opinion, any other game nowhere came close like it and when you think about it, it's kinda depressing in a way or two.

This game runs on the exact same hardware as Mystic Warriors and plays similar to their earlier title X-Men, released a year prior. Konami was cranking out the hits back then. I originally did not hear about this game until around the year 1998, because I was on a trip with family and I went to a terminal stop and discovered Metamorphic Force sitting at the very end of a small lineup of arcade machines. The intro drew me in and I couldn't play it due to time constraints, but it always stuck in my mind until I was able to play it on MAME a few years later. As you could assume, I was pretty stoked when the game was finally ported to modern consoles, releasing it from its arcade-only prison after about 31 years.

So what's the plot? The year is 199X A.D. (You already know my stance on damn near most games taking place at that time, so I'll spare you the details). The Empire of Horror has risen from the dead once more to rule the world, and it's leader, the evil king Death Shadow, is spearheading the takeover. It seems all is lost and there is no hope - BUT! The Greek goddess Athena, has summoned the souls of four ancient guardians and bestowed beastly special powers in order to have a chance at stopping the dreaded empire! Looks like we have a chance of saving the world after all!

Combined, these four heroes can transform into anthropomorphic beasts and together they are the... METAMORPHIC FORCE!

We have Ban, a martial artist and the black belt to back it up. He can transform into a minotaur and his soul is a fighting bull. Next is Claude, my favorite character, who is a blonde swordsman who uses a rapier. He can transform into a white werewolf, and his guardian soul is... well, a white wolf. Shocking. Next in line is Max, a boxing fighter, and he can transform into a werepanther - his guardian soul being a... wait for it, a black panther. Lastly is Ivan, a hunter/wrestler who uses a log to batter his enemies. His guardian soul is a bear, so therefore he transforms into a bear. Once your soul is tied to an animal, who'd have guessed you'd transformed into said creature?

You start out in human form, while you fight off enemies ranging from lizard men, boar men, and elephant men. Not too long in, you'll encounter an anthropomorphic rodent that carries a sack, who will drop statues that will either give you points or life, and most importantly, gold Athena statues will allow you to transform into beast mode, making you much more faster and powerful. If you already collect a gold statue while already in beast mode, you will perform a powerful full-screen attack destroying enemies in one hit, or dealing a ton of damage to bosses.

You'll fight a variety of bosses such Cabrios, a Ram-man, Flaming Chicken-Man, two different colored ogres who merge into one single taller and taller ogre, and even a skeleton man, which funnily enough, is the only NON-animal enemy you encounter the entire game. Of course, this is one of the few games where not too many official and unique names for some of the enemies are actually given, save for a few. There are at two bonus stages where you destroy a statue of Death Shadow in a certain amount of time, or where you dash across an elevated platform while ramming into a long string of differently placed enemies.

Since this is Konami, what would this game be without an obvious discrepancy between regional versions? The Japanese version is the easiest simply because of the life system - you have an actual life bar and it will only go down when you take damage. However, in the European and North American versions, your life is replaced with point counter that continuously goes down - you will take damage no matter what you do, the only way you can increase it is by picking up a life statue, but its moot in the long run, because you WILL die no matter what, it's inevitable - making a 1CC run impossible if anything.

The other difference is in the Japanese version, you'll only fight one boss, the She-Devil Amazoness, but in the EU/NA versions, you fight a gauntlet of the previous bosses before fighting the She-Devil herself. A third difference in the American version, the stained glass window in the final stage during the elevator ride was changed due to religious censorship. Censorship strikes again!

Regardless, Metamorphic Force is an excellent game for what it is - colorful and vibrant graphics, an extraordinary and memorable soundtrack, and just plain simple fun for a side-scrolling beat 'em up. See you in the next game...