MetaBurst: Cyber Defense Force

MetaBurst: Cyber Defense Force is a 2D side-scrolling run-and-gun action platformer developed and published by ACS. Released in 1998 for Arcade (ACS Supra³² System), PlayStation and Dreamcast.

MetaBurst takes place in the far future, where two officers of the Cyber Defense Force, Brad Hawkfield and Rie Fujisaki must stop the cyber-terrorist group B.R.A.I.N. from destroying the world using a highly destructive computer virus. The game features a heavy cyberpunk and anime influence, as evident with the setting, characters and mecha designs.

Gameplay
In MetaBurst, the player must traverse through five levels, refferred to in-game as “areas”, shooting constantly at a continual stream of enemies in order to reach the end of each scene, where they would then face off against the stage boss: a giant mech known in-game as a "Battle Meta". These Battle Metas range from giant tanks and planes to mechs, and are usually larger than the player characters. Each of these Battle Metas possess different unique ways to attack and methods to defeat.

The game features three buttons: one for shooting, one for jumping, and one for throwing bombs, which clears off swarms of weaker enemies and deals a signifcant amount of damage to stronger enemies and bosses. Each character starts off the stage with a basic phazer, with the player being able to pick up more powerful guns throughout the game, as well as 10 bombs, which they can refill and stack up by picking up bomb cases. Dying would revert their weapon and number of bombs back to its original state.

Pressing the Shoot and Bomb buttons together would perform a "Burst", unleashing a devastating attack with the current weapon in use, which may be capable of clearing out dozens of enemies on screen, or greatly diminishing a boss's HP. Performing a Burst typically costs 10 or 100 bullets, depending on the weapon currently used, and thus, cannot be performed with the standard phazer.

Unlike most run-and-gun shooters, where most enemies will kill the player just by touching them, most of the enemy characters in MetaBurst do not kill the player by way of contact, and the player can even take these enemies out with a quick melee attack. Correspondingly, many of the enemies also have melee attacks of their own. However, one hit is all it takes for players to lose a life. By default, each player starts off with three lives.

Along the way, players come across various items which add up to a player’s score, with each item granting a value between 10 and 100,000 points, as well as weapons that improve the player’s firepower in various ways, but have a limited amount of bullets before running out. At certain points in the game, the player can also ride on armed mecha armor suits, known in-game as Metas, which shields the player for three hits and allows players to move around the level much faster.

A good chunk of the game's scenery is destructible, and occasionally reveals extra items and weapons, although, most of the time, it simply results in collateral damage. The bulk of the games’ secrets revolves around finding the locations of these hidden items.

Weapons

 * Gatling Gun

Shoots a stream of rapid fire bullets. Using Burst, fires a spinning torrent of bullets.

Bullets: 200


 * Missile Launcher

Shoots rockets that deal major damage. Using Burst, fires missiles in three directions.

Bullets: 20


 * Shot Gun

Shoots short blasts that blow enemies away. Using Burst, fires one half-screen length blast.

Bullets: 20


 * Flame Thrower

Shoots flame puffs that burn enemies. Using Burst, fires a humongous burst of flame.

Bullets: 20


 * Plasma Cannon

Shoots a destructive plasma laser. Using Burst, fires a gigantic super-charged laser.

Bullets: 200

Story
In the future of 2200 A.D., mankind has fully embraced the advent of automation. Robots, computers and other machines have served widespread usage in everyday life, from households, to establishments, to the military. It seemed as if the bond between man and machine has become inseparable.

However, all of this would change when one day, the mysterious cyber-terrorist organization known only under the pseudonym B.R.A.I.N. would unleash what would become known as "Bellum", a highly contagious and destructive computer virus that caused nearly all computers to go haywire and turn against their own creators: the humans.

In only a matter of days, the Bellum virus began to spread throughout millions of machines all over the world, sparking a great war between man and machine as the machines grew more and more hostile each and every day, claiming to serve for B.R.A.I.N. as they continue their attack, leaving only destruction in its wake.

In order to put a stop to this war, a pair of agents from the Interpol's Cyber Defense Force, Brad Hawkfield and Rie Fujisaki, were sent out on a mission to take down the forces of B.R.A.I.N. and find a way to get rid of the Bellum virus once and for all, in hopes that it shall stop the war and restore peace.

Characters

 * Brad Hawkfield

Birthplace: 🇺🇸 USA

Age 24

Blood Type: A

Hot-blooded and headstrong, Brad Hawkfield a high-ranking officer in the Cyber Defense Force. Known for his incredible combat prowess, Brad is a master in the battlefield.


 * Rie Fujisaki

Birthplace: 🇯🇵 Japan

Age 19

Blood Type: O

Shy yet determined, Rie Fujisaki is a new recruit of the Cyber Defense Force. Originally hired for her hacking skills, Rie eventually impressed her superiors with her battle skills.

Areas

 * Area 1: The Front Line

Boss: BM-315: "Strong Tetsu-Jin"


 * Area 2: The War Zone

Boss: BM-273: "Tidal Riot"


 * Area 3: The Light Tunnel

Boss: BM-283: "Winged Aguilla"


 * Area 4: The Infinite Fortress

Boss: BM-634: 'Musashi" and SM-546: "Kojiro"


 * Last Area: The B.R.A.I.N.

Boss: BM-564: "The Death Knell"

Trivia

 * The game was initially developed as the third part of ACS’ Peacekeepers series of Wild West-themed run-and-gun shooters, before being retooled into a different game.
 * The Dreamcast port of MetaBurst was praised by critics as an arcade-perfect port of the original. By comparison, the PlayStation port suffers from cut animation frames due to the console’s RAM limitations, but includes several exclusive content missing from the Dreamcast port.
 * The main antagonists of the game, B.R.A.I.N., were named after "Brain", an early computer virus for IBM PCs, widely considered to be one of the first widespread computer viruses.
 * All of the serial numbers of the Battle Metas (BM) fought at the end of each level are based on Japanese number wordplay.
 * 315 = "saikou" (strongest)
 * 273 = "tsunami"
 * 283 = "tsubasa" (wing)
 * 634 and 546 = "Musashi" and "Kojiro" (Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro; famous samurai in Japanese legend)
 * 564 = "goroshi" (murder)