Metal Storm is also a game for the
Nintendo Entertainment System, released by Irem America Corporation in 1990.
I love this game.
I want to marry it.
In the year 3521 the giant
space station Cyberg on
Pluto goes
haywire. It was designed to protect humans from
aliens, but now it's attacking the
Solar System with its Giga Laser.
Neptune has already been vaporized and Earth is most likely next (why the other planets are skipped, I know not). You, the
hero, pilot the
M-308 Gunner (which looks MUCH cooler than
a plumber) with the order to activate Cyberg's
self-destruct sequence.
Metal Storm looks like your basic platform shooter when you begin, but with exceptional graphics for the day. You move the
d-pad left or right to move, you guessed it, left or right. 'A' jumps and 'B' fires your gun, or as the game refers to it, your
fusion rifle.
Whatever. It is the future, I suppose. Your rifle can fire in the four cardinal directions. There is a timer on each stage, usually starting at 400 seconds (these are not
NES seconds, they actually last one second). The interesting and unique aspect of this game is the
gravity control device. Your
M-308 can reverse the gravity of the space station as it pleases, placing you on the top or bottom surface of the area you are in. This is done by holding up if gravity is "normal" or down if gravity is reversed and pressing 'A'. You can also crouch by holding down (or up, once again, if the gravity is reversed) on the
d-pad. As you can imagine, this allows for interesting game play. Be careful though; this is an
old school game. One hit and you're dead (Although the resulting
explosion does look pretty
nifty).
As with any good game, there are
power-ups. These resemble cookies (
IMHO) and are adorned with the one of the letters G, P, S, C, A, B, T, and 1-Up (so it's not a character).
G: This is the gravity attack, which envelops your M-308 in flames when it reverses gravity. It damages or destroys any enemies or projectiles which touch it, and renders the M-308
invincible.
P: This upgrades your fusion rifle to a plasma boosted rifle. This is stronger and wider than the standard
shots, plus it can destroy certain enemy projectiles and penetrate some structures that standard shots cannot. This purely offensive
weapon is best for those times when the M-308 simply has to outgun the opposition.
S: This generates a protective shield around the M-308. The shield absorbs certain projectiles and can
destroy some enemies on contact. When against a wall or floor, you can continuing holding the d-pad in that direction to push the
shield forward a bit, hitting anything that gets in its way.
C: C stands for
Crusher, which immediately destroys all enemies on screen. This is activated upon touching it.
A: This enhances your armor, allowing you to take one more hit. It makes the M-308 look a little bulkier than normal, in case you can't remember if you have it. Some enemies are destroyed if they touch you while you have this armor.
B: 5000 bonus points. Whoop dee doo.
T: This adds 120 seconds to your timer. You also get an additional 200 seconds if you die.
1-up: Duh. However, unlike other
power-ups, this one doesn't reappear if the M-308 is destroyed and you have to
plod through the area again.
This game gets
bloody hard, especially on
expert mode. To get expert mode, beat the game normally. Things are faster, shoot more things, and there are just plain more
things. The stages are also slightly changed; one in particular, the "cage stage," will make you tear your heart out and hurl it at the screen in a final moment of moronic
desperation.
If at all possible, play the
Japanese version. The colors are brighter (the M-308 is white instead of orange), stage 6 is much harder, there are more and better
cinema scenes, and the ending is better written. Most of it is still in
English, as well.
The game uses passwords to save your progress; here are a few:
131-DDFW-KSB: This is the first stage, but on expert mode. American version.
131-DDFW-KEB: Same as above, but for the Japanese version.
!F1-ZRJ9-TTK: This is the last stage, normal mode, American version.
YF1-ZRJ9-TTK: Same as above, but Japanese version.
9RS-LRR2-495: Last stage, expert mode, American version.
9RE-LRR2-495: Same as above, but Japanese.
"YOU WON! ADVANCE!"