Metal Black (メタルブラック, Hepburn: Metaru Burakku) is shoot 'em up video game originally released in 1991 for Arcades. It was later ported to the Sega Saturn and, as part of Taito Legends 2, to Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.
Story[]
The year is 2042: A companion star of the planet Jupiter appears a few Astronomical Units away from the planet and not long before its discovery propels the asteroids along Jupiter's orbit which sends a wave of meteorites towards the Earth. As the Earthlings struggled to survive, extraterrestrial cybernetic invaders from beyond the distant star used the meteorites as cover for invading Earth with little resistance, intending to plunder Earth for inorganic materials needed to sustain their forms. Both the aliens and the star they came from were quickly dubbed Nemesis.
What resistance the aliens did face from Earth's combined international defense forces were quickly obliterated by the alien's powerful beam weapons. Earth's scientists studied the molecules that powered the alien's weaponry which started to litter the Earth and called the molecule 'Newalone.' With Newalone in their hands, scientists quickly began Project Metal Black, which focused on developing at least twenty-thousand human space craft capable of wielding the same beam-weaponry as the aliens. The space craft was known as the CF-345 Black Fly, named by its method of Newalone energy use.
However, ten years after the invasion, Earth's remaining diplomats passed a treaty on to the aliens under a peaceful surrender, which promised to keep all of Earth's remaining forces from attacking: This applied to Project Metal Black which sealed the Black Fly space craft from the people. The Earth's natural resources were dying and the planet's population was thinning... it was only a matter of time until someone discovered Metal Black and struck back.
Levels and Bosses[]
Similarities with Darius series[]
Metal Black shares elements with Darius series; and it's subsequent influences on later Darius installments, can be seen throughout the game. These include:
The hermit crab from Level 1 has a striking resemblance of Darius' Yamato
- The shark jaws on the logo are a reference to the marine life forms featured on the Darius series.
- The conflict between Earth and Nemesis closely parallels that of Darius and Belser.
- Like in the Darius series; the enemies in Metal Black consist, for the most part, of cybernetic animals.
- Thought they visually are rather different, the shape and size of Metal Black final boss Omega Zone is close to that of recurring Darius final boss Great Thing.
- The beam battles used in Metal Black are later used in the same manner in G-Darius.
- The explosion animations shown when defeating a boss is similar to those in Darius Gaiden.
- The origin of the Black Fly and the Silver Hawks are close in that the both are one-pilot, air-plane-like ships created using enemy technology and energy-sources, and later are used by the protagonists to defeat that enemy.
- The Black Fly and Silver Hawk are both named after a color and an animal, in that order.
- Metal Black has mid-bosses/Captains similar to those first used in Darius II.
- In both Metal Black and the Darius series; sirens are heard as harbingers for every boss-battle.
- The in game sprite for the Newalone is almost identical to that of the Tricolor Power-Up in G-Darius.
- The mid-boss on the first stage is very similar to Yamato from Darius II.
- The Ocean Sunfish on stage 2 and stage 4 and the ranking screen are similar to Heat Arrow from Super Darius II and precursors of Odious Trident from Darius Gaiden.
- Feeder is the successor of Driosawm from Darius II.
- Amazo is the precursor of Titanic Lance from Darius Gaiden.
Tarabar Edition[]
The Tarabar Edition is an ultra rare prototype version of "Metal Black". Only one unit exists and was saved by the programmer itself. Here are the differences with the final game:
- The Copyright Notice says "For Use in Tomo Only".
- In the first stage, there strange characters.
- Capsul items exist (A sort of Speed up)
- There is no third and fourth stages.
- The second stage title is 'Extra Stage' and the BGM used is 'Happy New year'.
- In Final stage (third level), a different pattern and different enemies are used.
- The ending is different.
Arcade Archives[]
On November 17, 2022, Arcade Archives released the game for the Nintendo Switch, Playstation4 and Playstation5 consoles, containing three versions of the game.
- Japanese version
- International version
- Caravan mode
S-Tribute[]
On February 1, 2023, they released an S-Tribute version for consoles, Steam, XBOX One and XBOX Series X/Series S. The S-Tribute series are developed by City Connection with Zebra Engine. This version contains some features and option configuration only available in S-Tribute. There was plans for PlayStation 4 and Switch versions but were cancelled due to the release of the game as part of Hamster's Arcade Archives series.
- Rewind
- Quick save/load
- Online raking
- Unlimited credits
- Stage select
- Scan lines
All Steam and Xbox One chievements[]
| Image | Tittle | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Stage 1 completed | Complete stage 1 |
 |
Stage 2 completed | Complete stage 2 |
 |
Stage 3 completed | Complete stage 3 |
 |
Stage 4 completed | Complete stage 4 |
 |
Stage 5 completed | Complete stage 5 |
 |
Final stage completed | Complete the final stage |
 |
Bonus Stage Perfect 1 | Get a perfect in the first bonus stage |
 |
Bonus Stage Perfect 2 | Get a perfect in the second bonus stage |
 |
300 000 points | Make a score of 300 000 points |
 |
500 000 points | Make a score of 500 000 points |
 |
Bad ending | Get the bad ending |
 |
True ending | Get the true ending |
 |
Energy released | Release an Energy beam when the energy gauge's level is MAXed. |
 |
10 times | Play the game 10 times |
Gallery[]
disc.png "MetalBlack(Japan)disc.png (414 KB)")
Media[]
