"An average, but fun, shooter."

Metal Fighter is your basic side-scrolling NES shooter, and just like most of the NES's side-scrolling shooters, it's pretty fun.

Gameplay: 7/10
In Metal Fighter you control what appears to be a round, metal ball with legs that shoots various lasers and missiles. At the beginning of the level, or after your death, your vehicle walks until you can destroy a weapon capsule. In the first weapon capsule you destroy you'll get the flight upgrade which enables flight, believe it or not. Once you gain the flight upgrade Metal Fighter becomes basically just like every other shooter around. There are only two basic differences between Metal Fighter and most other shooters. One difference is in some shooters you cannot turn around and fire behind yourself, but in Metal fighter you can. The other, more noticeable, difference is that in order to gain your ship an upgrade you have to fight for it. In Metal Fighter little weapon capsules will float onto the screen occasionally and when they do you shoot them and they will leave a weapon upgrade. When you touch the upgrade you are taken to a different area where you fight a mirror image of yourself. In order to gain the upgrade you must defeat the mirror image of yourself or be destroyed and lose all previous upgrades you have gained. Once you gain the upgrade, or are killed, you are taken back to the place you touched the upgrade. Overall the gameplay is pretty good. There are no major flaws, but it's just not perfect either.

Graphics: 5/10
The graphics aren't really bad but they aren't really good either. The main problem with the graphics is the backgrounds for certain levels. The colors they use for the backgrounds can sometimes make it pretty difficult to see the enemies who have similar color schemes. If I had to use one word to describe this game's graphics it would have to be ''average.''

Sounds/Music: 7/10
Again nothing too special or out of the ordinary here. The sound effects are just the basic explosions and laser blast sounds. They aren't anything to get excited about, but they definitely don't take anything away from the game. I really enjoyed the music in this game. Something about it just made it go really well with the game.

Difficulty: 6/10
Metal Fighter isn't too hard, but if it's your first time playing it may give you a little trouble. Some of the bosses can be pretty difficult until you get their pattern down, and the fights to gain your upgrades get harder as you go along. Overall though it's not a very difficult game. You could easily sit down and beat it in an hour or so.

Overall: 7/10
Metal Fighter is a really fun game. Although there is nothing that really makes it exceptional it has no major flaws. It may not get all the hype that the licensed shooters get, but this game shouldn't be overlooked just because it is unlicensed. So if you see a blue cartridge with Metal Fighter on it you can pick it up and you won't be sorry.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/13/03, Updated 05/13/03