Metamorphic Force

Metamorphic Force is an arcade beat 'em up video game released by Konami in August 1993. It is one of Konami's last side-scrolling beat 'em up games to appear in arcades, along with Violent Storm.
The game mechanics are similar to those of Konami's earlier arcade hit, X-Men, and runs on the same hardware as their ninja-themed game, Mystic Warriors.
On October 24, 2024, the game got ported as part of the Arcade Archives series.

Plot

The year is 199X A.D. and the Evil King Death Shadow, ruler of the Empire of Horror, has arisen from the dead to rule the world once more. The Greek goddess Athena has summoned the souls of four ancient guardians and bestowed their power upon four heroes to stop the evil once again. These guardians wield the ability to morph into anthropomorphic beasts to fight their enemies.

Protagonists

Ban, a martial artist. His guardian soul is a Fighting Bull, hence his beast form is a Minotaur.
Claude, a swordsman who wields a rapier. His guardian soul is a White Wolf, and he transforms into a White Werewolf.
Max, a fighter with a boxing style. His guardian soul is a Black Panther, and so his beast form is a Werepanther.
Ivan, a hunter and wrestler who fights with a small log. His guardian soul is a Bear, so he transforms into a Werebear.

Gameplay

The game's four main characters are able to morph into anthropomorphic "beasts" by collecting a Golden Statue power-up which drops from either a random chest that falls from the sky, or through an anthropomorphic rodent appearing at random times and supplying the player with either a Health Item, Score Item, or Gold Statue. The rodent will drop power-ups after a certain period of time, or if the player attacks him, similar to the elves in Golden Axe. When the players collect a Statue when already in Beast Mode, the character performs a "Screen Attack" destroying all on-screen enemies.
The enemies are also anthropomorphic creatures such as frogmen, elephant men, lizardmen, hedgehog men, boar men, and others; and include bosses such as Cabrios the Ram-Man armed with a Scythe, a Flaming Chicken-Man who wields a Sword, an Amazon Demoness, and the Dark Dragon. At the end of Stages 2 and 4, players enter a bonus stage which awards them extra points and health.

Differences between the US and Japanese versions

The US version of Metamorphic Force uses a numeric lifepoint counter that doubles as the timer, going down by one lifepoint each tick, while the Japanese version uses a traditional health bar. The Fifth Stage in the US version consists of a boss rush where the player fights the previous bosses in pairs before facing the level's own boss, while in the Japanese version the player fights that level boss only. In addition, some sprites have been completely altered, such as the stained glass artwork seen during the elevator scene in the Final Stage.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Metamorphic Force as the 17th most successful table arcade unit of September 1993. In North America, RePlay listed the game as the 19th most popular arcade game of December 1993, and Play Meter listed it as the 54th most popular arcade game of January 1994. In Europe, the game was selling well through January 1994.

Legacy

The complete soundtrack to Metamorphic Force is featured in the 2-disc CD album Konami Amusement Sounds '93: Autumn Edition, published on October 21, 1993 and distributed by King Records. Disc 2 contains all the tracks from the game.

Track #	Track name	Time
01	AD 199x	00:56
02	Heroes of Legend	00:21
03	A New Journey	00:12
04	The Ruins of Bakyaros	04:29
05	Cabrios Appears - Goat and Giant	02:49
06	Time of Victory	00:08
07	Tower	04:07
08	Cave of Fire	02:25
09	Fanfare	00:08
10	Destruction!	02:00
11	Celebration	00:07
12	Freezing Ground	04:12
13	Evil Ground	03:39
14	Human Soldier	02:43
15	Ganoo Appears - Forest of the Fierce Battle	03:38
16	Hurry!	01:18
17	Coliseum of Revenge	05:31
18	She-devil of the Coliseum	02:59
19	Warrior of Death Shadow Castle	03:10
20	Chorus	03:24
21	Death Shadow	04:16
22	Dragon of Fear	03:06
23	The End of Death Shadow	01:16
24	The Accidental Wound's Glory	00:12
25	Into the Hopeful Sky	01:33
26	Stand Tall!	00:38
27	Finale	00:07

Model DD6 and Model DD7 of Konami's Bemani games originate from this game. Model DD6 is used on Stages 2 and 7's boss battles while Model DD7 is used specifically on Stage 5's boss battle.
The game was released by Hamster Corporation for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 as part of the Arcade Archives series on October 24, 2024.