Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness

About Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness

Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness (1995) is Capcom's CP System II mech fighting game, a spin-off of Armored Warriors in which pilots mix and match robot legs, arms and weapons, and the origin of Jin Saotome and Devilotte.

Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness in Depth

Players first pick a pilot, who decides the storyline, then a mech, or VA (Valiant Armor), which decides how the game plays. As in the Armored Core series, legs that change movement, arms that change reach and melee, and weapons can be mixed and matched between the available robots. Fights are one-on-one duels, with fewer characters on screen than the three of Armored Warriors, and each robot has a medium-sized list of attacks. A gauge charges with every hit or when the attack buttons are pressed together, and when full allows a "super special".

Near the end of the 21st century, an overcrowded Earth has sent many people to live in space colonies, and the army Earth Force has been conducting experiments. The pilots include Jin Saotome, who wants to become the best VA pilot to honour his father, killed in an accident a year earlier; Santana, a narcissistic former leader of the Mars Revolution; Mary Miyabi, Earth Force's only female captain; the retired captain Gawaine Murdock; Arieta, a girl escaping Earth Force's experiments on children; and the siblings Bao and Mao. Home versions added the space pirate princess Devilotte and the cyborg SHADE, among others.

Making Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness

Capcom built the game on its CP System II arcade board in 1995, and it saw only limited distribution in arcades outside Japan. Game Machine listed it as the thirteenth most popular arcade game in Japan in its 1 June 1995 issue, ahead of titles such as Virtua Fighter. Next Generation was unimpressed, writing that it "lacks the charm, craze - and gameplay - for which [Capcom] is known" and criticising the concept and limited combos. Saturn and PlayStation versions followed in Japan, the PlayStation one on 25 December 1997, both adding voices to the story mode and extra characters. The arcade game was later included in Capcom Arcade Stadium and Capcom Fighting Collection, and its successor was Tech Romancer in 1998.