Metamorphic Force is a side-scrolling beat-’em-up that Konami released to arcades in August 1993, one of the company’s last games in the genre. It’s set in a near-future 199X A.D. where the tyrant Death Shadow has risen to conquer the world, and the goddess Athena grants four heroes the power to fight back: Japanese judoka Ban, French swordsman Claude, American boxer Max, and hunter-wrestler Ivan. Each carries the spirit of a different animal — bull, wolf, panther, and bear — and can transform into a towering were-beast mid-battle to turn the tide.
How to Play
Punch and kick your way through waves of anthropomorphic enemies — frogmen, elephant men, lizardmen — and boss fights like a scythe-wielding ram-man and a flaming chicken-man. Defeating foes drops Golden Statues; grab one to enter Beast Mode and unleash your character’s inner minotaur, werewolf, werepanther, or werebear. Grab a second statue while you’re already transformed and you trigger a Screen Attack that clears every enemy on screen. Bonus stages break up the action at stages two and four.
Controls: Arrow keys to move, Z to attack, X to jump, Enter to start or insert a coin.
Tips
- Save a Golden Statue’s Beast Mode trigger for a packed room rather than a nearly-cleared one — the Screen Attack from grabbing a second statue is wasted on one or two stragglers.
- Match your fighter to your pace: Ban’s minotaur is a heavy grappler, Claude’s rapier gives his werewolf reach, Max’s werepanther balances speed and power, and Ivan’s werebear hits hardest but slowest.
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