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Metal Warriors' American box art

Metal Warriors is a game developed by LucasArts and published by Konami in 1995 for the Super Nintendo.

The game is LucasArts's take on Assault Suits Valken, another 2D mech action game (also published by Konami), but with a slower and less arcade-y gameplay. The game has more emphasis on piloting multiple types of mech suits either for combat or exploration, this is done thanks to the ability to exit your suit mid-gameplay.

The story takes place in the year of 2102 with the United Earth Government fighting a losing war against the Dark Axis. With the Earth forces exhausted and the Dark Axis taking over Earth, a group of elite pilots have become Earth's last hope and they are known as... The Metal Warriors.

Tropes:

  • Animesque: The first cutscene's style and some of the Mech Suits are inspired by old mecha anime such as Mobile Suit Gundam. Since the game's conception was inspired by that of Assault Suits Valken (a Japanese game with similar Mecha designs and motifs), this makes sense.
  • Ambidextrous Sprite: A problem with the humanoid mechs is that they're predominantly right-handed; They hold and shoot a hand weapon with their right hand which, due to program limitations, goes to their left hand when they face the left side of the screen.
  • Be the Ball: There's a rare variant of a Mini-Mecha that is, by default, a Spider Tank. However, it moves around by retracting all its limbs to roll in sphere form.
  • Checkpoint Starvation: There are no checkpoints in any of the stages and the game only allows you five continues for the entire playthrough. Some of the later missions (particularly the sixth, which also has a high difficulty level) make this a major concern.
  • Container Maze: The first two missions have Stone make his way across a space vessel's depository, and to this end he has to shoot the many containers that stand in his way to destroy them and move forward.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: The Prometheus has extremely powerful weapons but moves slowly and can't jump at all.
  • Critical Existence Failure: Oddly enough, your mech and that of others will start deteriorating as it loses (invisible) hit points, first losing its luster and taking cosmetic damage before its ability to use accessories is lost (signified by sparking from the shoulders) and, soon before it explodes, loses its arms and/or the ability to use its built-in weapons anymore.
  • Epic Flail: The Final Boss uses one that is larger than your mech.
  • Eternal Engine: Though all missions take place in stages themed around highly-advanced machinery, the third mission stands out the most for featuring elevators that are large and strong enough for you to use them while piloting your Mini-Mecha, as well as iron gates that have to be opened by activating switches you can only trigger when you're not piloting it.
  • Everything Breaks: Levels are filled with destructible walls and floors, some of which require heavy weapons to destroy and others will break under your weight.
  • Evil Tower of Ominousness: The eighth mission takes Stone into the Axis Communications Tower, a very tall building that serves as the base of operations of the enemy forces (though it's only the penultimate level). Save for a high spot having a brief switch Stone has to activate to open a passageway found within, the whole level has him enter the tower without being able to take his Mini-Mecha with him, so he has to make it alive on foot (he does has a Jet Pack to hover, though) until he finds another mech inside, and then proceed to go up until he meets the level's boss.
  • Excuse Plot: The United Earth good, The Dark Axis bad, go kill them. There aren't even characters outside of Stone the player character, Mission Control, Marisa and Venkar Amon; the main antagonist.
  • Fighter-Launching Sequence: The game features this for the player's Giant Mecha as part of the first mission's opening cutscene, complete with dramatic switch-flipping.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: After every briefing before a mission, you are deployed alongside two or three squadmates, yet they never appear in gameplay.
  • Grand Theft Prototype: Mission Six involves infiltrating an enemy base to steal the prototype Drache.
  • Gray Is Useless: Undamaged mech suits are brightly colored, but when they get more and more damaged, their color fades. Empty mech suits are gray, and change color depending on which player enters one (players are either red or blue in multiplayer, and AI enemies in single-player mode are purple).
  • Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The player character can be named, with its default name being Stone.
  • Hyper-Destructive Bouncing Ball: The game features the Ballistic. A spherical mecha that can do a charge attack.
  • Jet Pack: When not piloting a Mini-Mecha, Stone can move around airborne thanks to a jetpack with unlimited fuel, though his standard human size makes him an easy target for all enemies except the ones who are also outside their mechs (even then, said enemies luckily don't wear any jetpacks, so they always attack from the ground).
  • Joke Level: Completing the game or entering a code during the start screen opens a special multiplayer mode that must be seen to be believed.
  • Jungle Japes: The first half of the sixth mission takes Stone into a coastal jungle located in Chile. It's a biome with dense flora that has been occupied by the Dark Axis, so Stone has to reach a mossy plateau where the enemies built their base and installed turrets. To take his mech to the inside of the plateau's caverns with his mech, Stone has to press switches along the way to open trapdoors, and as well as destroy weak rocky walls and shimmering landmines.
  • Metropolis Level: The seventh mission takes Stone into Dorado City, an important urban city that is being ravaged into fire by the Dark Axis, who by that point are on the losing side. Much of the level goes through the badly-damaged buildings, and some parts are burning while others simply crumble. At one point, Stone has to destroy three Dark Axis units who plan to eradicate the city in one last-ditch attempt.
  • Mission Control: Prior to each mission, Stone and his companions have a plan discussion with their Mission Control so everybody knows what's the next objective and how to meet it.
  • No Power, No Color: Damage taken will make a mech suit's color fade, getting a dark gray color when it's only one hit away from exploding. Also, Empty mech suits are entirely gra until player enters one.
  • On-Ride/On-Foot Combat: There are several sequences in which the player must exit their mecha in order to access a narrow space (usually a control panel which unlocks a door or controls a spaceship).
  • Obviously Evil: The invading forces are called the Dark Axis, and are led by an openly-declared dictator.
  • Protection Mission: The fourth mission revolves around Stone protecting his fleet's spaceship from the incoming enemies that aim to destroy it. The background Shows Damage, so defeating each enemy ASAP is important (and when none remains, the mission is cleared).
  • Shows Damage: Instead of a health bar your mech becomes darker with damage, eventually producing smoke and flames and missing arms, which prevents you from attacking. Most larger enemies also go through multiple stages of damage before being destroyed.
  • Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The fifth mission takes Stone into the topmost area of a cold highland, onto which he lands after having traveled from his fleet's vessel in outer space and gone through the Earth's upper atmosphere. The snowy terrain is dense, but a part of it can be removed with the projectiles of the character's Mini-Mecha, allowing him to storm the enemy facility located within the icy caverns beneath. It later transitions into Eternal Engine, as Stone goes deeper into the facility and has to make use of elevators large enough to transport his mech, press switches that open metallic doors, and finally destroy an energy cannon.
  • Spider Tank: There's one of these hidden in the first and sixth levels; it can throw energy webs, roll around as a sphere as a melee weapon, and climb on ceilings and walls.
  • Underground Level: The second half of the sixth mission takes Stone into a deep underground base located beneath the plateau found in the jungle where the first half took place. On top of its maze-like design, there are passageways that periodically unleash electrical discharges which are harmful upon contact, as well as a pool of magma that frequently unleashes geysers.
  • The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The ninth and final mission takes Stone into the Axis Central Command, the last bastion of the Dark Axis forces and the place where a devastating superweapon is being built. Stone has to storm the area, dismantle the superweapon and kill the chief figure of the Dark Axis to save the world. The level has areas where Stone has switch between going on foot and piloting his Mini-Mecha, as well as large moving machinery that makes navigation more difficult.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: In the later stages, bosses with portraits and pre-battle dialogue will appear at the end of the stage, and then you kill them.

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