Lost Classics: Metal Combat – Falcon’s Revenge (Super Nintendo)

Like beat-em-ups, the light-gun shooter is a genre that gained most of its popularity during the 8 – 32 bit generations of gaming. However, as the mechanic is quite simplistic, the shooter genre has slowly been losing its appeal since its arcade heyday, just like the beat-em-up. Moreover, most light gun shooters can be completed in less than half an hour, making them shallow and light on content. To truly gain the attention of gamers, light gun games have to do something innovative and eye-catching. House of the dead featured zombies and showers of blood. Time Crisis featured a duck pedal, allowing players to seek cover and catch their breaths. Silent Scope featured a sniper rifle, and relied on precision and calculation rather than being a simple blast-a-thon. Police 911 (which really should be bought to Wii using the Wiimotion plus and maybe the balance board) translated player’s motions into onscreen action, getting the player’s body involved in the game.

The SuperScope, probably the most beloved of the home console light guns, demonstrated plenty of potential for innovation in the light gun genre. Heck, the 6-game pack that came with it featured a puzzle game and a variation on whack-a-mole. It’s buttons and unique shape gave developers some unique options on to use for gameplay. While most games for the SuperScope never moved far away from the usual Operation-Wolf format, there were a few unique games using the peripheral. One of these games is Metal Combat: Falcon’s revenge.

Metal Combat (not to be confused with Mortal Kombat) was the sequel to a game called Battle Clash. Like its predecessor, Metal Combat is a mech fighting game in which the player takes control of the mech’s gunner. Metal Combat features many improvements over Battle Clash, such as a ranking system, a training mode, and a few unlockable features. The main hero of the game is Mike Anderson (you play as his gunner). Three years after the events of the original Battle Clash, Anubis, the mech pilot that Mike defeated to avenge his father, has returned and is threatening the peace of the world. He has gathered a group of mech pilots to stand as his lieutenants, and is en route to resume his reign of tyranny. Thus, Mike jumps back into action, ready to once again defeat Anubis and his men. You’ll battle through a parade of mechs in one-on-one battles, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. You’ll blast them apart and gain access to special items that give you an edge in battle. A two-player versus mode allows a second player to play as the bosses, and there is an additional character who is unlocked after beating the game once.

You’ll have to do some searching to find the original cartridge, as it is probably not likely that Nintendo will release this on virtual console due to the fact that it used the SuperScope. While once could use the Wiimote in place of the SuperScope, don’t keep your fingers crossed. Be that as it may, Metal Combat is one of the best games to make use of the SuperScope. It might not have been the end-all and be-all of light gun games, but it managed to offer something different and fun.