Believe it or not, this game was made in South Korea, which I know more for PC games and the Pump It Up series by Andamiro than I do for console games (even though I've played the first three Super Boy games from Zemina, which was also from South Korea).
I later found out halfway through making this Let's Play that the game was not released for the South Korean version of the NES, also known as the Hyundai Comboy; the game was only ever released on the Famicom. Nevertheless, I do cover Samsung exporting all the Sega systems up to and including the Sega Saturn to South Korea and Hyundai doing the same for the Nintendo consoles up to and including the Nintendo 64.
Mission 1: Space Colony
Left and Right let you move left and right, Down ducks, B attacks and A jumps.
Some enemies will give you power-ups in the form of domes with spinning objects. The dome with the spinning chip will switch between the default wave attack and the boomerang attack. The wave travels to the end of the screen, but the boomerang has less range as the expense of being able to return to you after being thrown. The dome with the pill in refills 50% of your energy, which is at the top center of the screen. The dome with the lightning in it increases the amount of projectiles you can have on-screen at a time, up to four. The dome with "1UP" in it is an extra life. The dome with what looks like a bamboo rod in it is a continue that you can use in case you lose all of your lives. You can see how many weapon power-ups, lives and continues you have by pausing with the Start button.
Landing in spikes will cause you to lose half of a full health bar, so don't do it.
The orb enemies will shoot at you if you get close enough to them, and they are only vulnerable when they open up to shoot a bullet, so you'll want to be fast and shoot them. The humanoid enemies will jump at you for a flying kick or slide if you get close enough to them, so you'll want to hit them from a distance. Enemies have a brief period of invincibility when you hit them, but once you get used to the timing on the invincibility, you can easily take them out.
The boxes with the X on them contain power-ups, all of which we've mentioned earlier.
When you go down after the start, head to the right for an extra life.
To climb a ladder, jump into it, then press Up or Down to grab on. Up and Down will allow you to climb the ladder up and down, respectively. Unlike the [i]Mega Man[/i] games, you cannot attack while on a ladder.
The orb that keeps opening its mouth will slowly fly towards you, but it goes down in one hit. The robot enemy that stays still and blocks your shots with its shield will let down the shield and open up to shoot a bullet at you if you get close enough, and it is only vulnerable when it is open.
The white-and-orange discs are platforms that will whisk you away in a certain direction if you land on it. These platforms will be able to take you to places you normally wouldn't be able to go.
The small things that look like robot heads are fall-away platforms. You've seen one at the start, but you'll see more here. Be careful when on them, as you do not want to fall into spikes. They can come at you from seemingly out of nowhere, so be ready to hit them, especially when some of them can contain health or extra lives.
The tanks take two hits to defeat, and as they move back and forth, they will turn towards you and fire at you at regular intervals.
The domes with the two laser cannons that move across the ceiling will fire lasers downward if it is next to you. Once the lasers are out of the way, immediately move past it so you don't get shot.
The spinning spiked cylinders move up and down and cannot be destroyed; like all enemies, they can do contact damage if you run into them.
Near the end of the level, take the platform on the right so you don't have to deal with the spike pit below.
Each level has an end boss, and your first boss is this robot that looks like a Mouser from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Keep away from it, and when it stops to open its mouth, shoot at it as you jump over the projectiles and use the platforms above the floor to your advantage. After attacking twice, the boss will briefly move faster before returning to its regular speed. Once you know how it moves around, it's a pretty easy boss.
Mission 2: Under Ground
The stage starts with a ton of platforms you can jump on. To take out the small, yellow flashing things on the ground that hurt you when you run into them, duck down and attack. You'll want to do this, as they will jump upwards and hit you if you try to leap over them.
Be ready to attack anything that flies at you, as they usually carry power-ups. The first flying enemy you'll see here will have health, so make sure you kill it. It will look like a flying gray dragon, and it will try to home in on you, even doubling back to do so.
The yellow things with the white "eyes" that shoot missiles at you are vulnerable when their eyes are open.
In the next section, you'll meet the robot heads on small legs. If they have their white "tops," they will simply walk back and forth, and they will speed up if they hit you; if they don't, they will move around for a brief instance before self-destructing.
The subsequent long passage will have a few new enemies. The dragonfly enemies will track you if you try to run under it, while the white orb enemy with the porthole will shoot bullets around the room clockwise.
The helicopter enemies will try to descend into you to hit you from above. The gold flying enemies with the propellers will drop down when you are close enough, and they will always drop health if you destroy them.
To beat the boss, you'll want to jump up and hit it from the highest platform. The boss will occasionally drop down and cause debris to shoot down; you'll want to avoid the debris as you continue to shoot at the boss. If you know what you're doing, you can defeat this boss quickly.
Mission 3: Factory
All of the enemies from Mission 1 are back here.
You won't be able to walk through the bottom of the stairs at the start, so you'll need to go around them.
The big turret shoots out a three-way shot.
The lava will take off half of a full health bar, just like the spikes, so don't drop into it. Also, because lava exists, the falling platforms are back, and you'll need to get your jumps down pat and make progress without hesitation.
At one point, the circles in the wall spell out the word Open, a reference to the developers.
This level is the debut of the conveyor belts. Thankfully, you can easily tell which direction they are going by seeing which direction everything on them is rotating in.
The boss here is a cyborg enemy that can take multiple hits. He will walk back and forth for a bit before jumping up, shooting a projectile at your current location, and rocketing to the other side of the room like a fireball. He will also perform it if you attack him. You'll want to stay to one side, hit him, then get to the other side while avoiding both the boss' attacks, including the fireball. It is possible to hit him as he drops down, but getting that greedy for an extra hit is not exactly advised. After enough damage, it's on to Mission 4.
Mission 4: Planet Cave
The walker enemy at the start will turn and jump towards you and then attack whenever you attack. Sometimes, you can avoid a fight with them just by leaving them alone. You'll be avoiding a few enemies just to get through this mission more easily.
The orange humanoid enemies will shoot you when you are lined up with them. There is a delay between when they draw their guns and when they shoot, so you can get your attacks in before they do.
The rock droppers are much like the laser shooters from Mission 1. If you're on a higher platform, walk off the edge and keep walking to get onto the next platform.
To get to the window you can see in the lower-left corner at the start, you'll need to jump into the wall to the left of the rock droppers. You'll then find a ladder leading to a continue.
Avoid the smoke coming out of the pipes, as it will damage you.
The conveyor belts are back and in greater numbers. Pay attention to where they are going as you run across them to get where you need to go. If you need more time to figure out where they are going, pause the game and watch them, as the conveyor belts are still animated when the game is paused.
You'll need to fall into a wall while holding left to get a hidden 1-Up.
You'll be seeing lava near the end, and you'll want to avoid falling into it and losing half of a full health bar.
The boss here is a mech that just walks back and forth briefly before disappearing when the screen shakes. Keep shooting at it, and when the screen rumbles, pay attention to where the mech lands and stay on the opposite end of the room so that you don't get hit, as both conveyor belts in the boss room will push your towards the lava pit in the center. Also, watch for the smoke coming out of the pipes; you don't want to get hit by that and knocked into the lava below. From here, it's on to Mission 5.
Mission 5: Planet No. XIV
There's a plane enemy carrying a health pick-up that you can shoot down at the beginning of the stage. Be sure to do so.
The dragonfly enemy will fly towards you if you get close enough to it.
The 1-Up in this stage is in plain view in the second section; just climb up and go left at the start of it.
You'll be dealing with an upper path and a lower path, and you'll need to chose between them at the end of the second section. Regardless of which path you choose, you'll have to deal with the waterfalls that will drag you off to the side and off the platform that they land on. They're much like the waterfalls from Toad Man's stage in Mega Man IV, and it's pretty awesome that the developers were able to replicate them.
The UFO enemy will give you a 1-Up if you shoot it down.
The boss here is a robot panther that runs back and forth. Shoot it, then jump back to the left where the door is and avoid the rocks that come down from the top of the screen when it headbutts the wall.
Mission 6: Sky Maze
Shoot down the flying enemies that you see at the beginning when they come down for health, as you'll probably need it coming in. Be sure to duck while you're doing it so you don't get shot by the nearby turret.
For the first section, I take the high road the whole time, and keep shooting while riding the platforms to ensure that I don't get hit. I eventually have to get back down, though. Watch out for bottomless pits!
The second section has you climbing up a tower. Take care of all the enemies that you can on your way to the top, and watch out for the moving spike cylinders.
After that, you're in another maze. Not surprisingly, I take the high road most of the time and take out any enemies I can, including the turrets, and I'll have to get back to the bottom to reach the exit.
The boss is a combination of a rock dropper - which we've seen before in Mission 4 - and a mech that jumps up and rockets from one side of the room to the other. The mech boss is easy, as you can just shoot it and then jump over it, but the rock dropper complicates things a little bit. Remember that you have to be standing close to where the rock dropper is to get it to drop rocks.
Mission 7: Planet X
The flying enemy at the beginning will drop projectiles where you are at and will keep following you until you destroy it.
Some of the enemies from Mission 4, such as the rock dropper and the walking mechs, return here. The walking mech near the end of the first section has a 1-Up if you destroy it on a platform.
The second section has a lot of the enemies with the blasters. You'll need to avoid getting shot while climbing up a ladder, then hug the left wall on the subsequent pit to take out all the enemies carefully and get yourself a continue. Be ready to jump to the left off the platform near the end when you see the edge of the floor near the top so you don't get hit by spikes.
The UFO enemy has a five-way shot that we can finally see now that we have to get away from it in order to shoot down.
The pipes that shoot out the gas are back; avoid the gas/smoke/whatever it is that comes out of them.
You'll need to jump on the white parts of the wall at the end of the section with all the humanoid enemies to get to the ladder.
The boss is a flying purple ship that will shoot a five-way shot at you. Avoid the projectiles, jump and shoot, duck when it comes your way, then run to the side opposite the boss and repeat the process. If you know what you're doing, you can beat this boss easily.
When you beat the boss, you'll see the ending sequence. The hero escapes before the base self-destructs, and you'll have to return to base back on Earth in order to take care of things there. Unfortunately, the sequel never happened, as the publisher and developer of this game both stopped developing console games. Regardless, you just beat Metal Force!
