Metal Storm

About Metal Storm

Metal Storm (1991) is Tamtex's NES action platformer built entirely around flipping gravity, in which a combat mech storms a rogue laser cannon on Pluto.

Metal Storm in Depth

In 2501 humanity has colonised the Solar System, and a robotic laser cannon on a Pluto outpost, built to defend Earth from aliens, malfunctions and turns on its makers, most recently destroying Neptune. With every attempt at triggering its self-destruct failing, the player pilots the M-308 Gunner, the most advanced combat mech available, to storm the base and set it off by hand. Pressing Up and Jump together flips the mech instantly between floor and ceiling. Other games, such as Mega Man 5 and Strider, had isolated reverse-gravity sections, but here every level layout, enemy pattern, hazard and boss is designed around it, turning corridors into puzzles of switching surfaces to dodge fire and get past barriers.

Six stages of two acts each lead to a seventh-stage boss rush. Hazards like laser emitters and crushing blocks switch on or off depending on which way up the mech is, and later stages wrap around the screen so that leaving one side brings the player back on the other. The arsenal is minimal: a Power Beam, a Shield and a Gravity Fireball that grants invincibility during a flip, only one held at a time, so movement and positioning matter more than firepower. Finishing the game unlocks Expert Mode, a complete reworking with most power-ups removed, new boss patterns and rearranged enemies and hazards, softened only by unlimited continues.

Making Metal Storm

Tamtex, which Irem often tasked with Famicom and NES games while it focused on arcades, developed it, and its steep but fair difficulty, pattern recognition and demand for precision reflect Irem arcade hits like R-Type. Released in North America in February 1991, it drew positive reviews: Computer and Video Games scored it 88 and called it a "slick, beautifully executed game", and Game Player's praised its large sprites and multi-scrolling backgrounds, calling it a "must-buy" for action fans. But as a new property on a waning console, with the Super NES about to launch, it was a commercial failure. Its reputation grew afterwards, first as an "unsung hero" in early-1990s magazines and later among internet-era retro gamers, who praised its innovation and technical feats.