What is Metal Hawk like?

[D]

http://klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=8673
Anybody ever play this? How does it work? You can fly low and high?
I tried searching, but found nothing. It almost seems like a flightsim control mechanism, but with shmup graphics.

[theevilfunkster]

Never played it but these might be helpful,

http://www.solvalou.com/subpage/arcade_ ... eview.html
http://www.solvalou.com/subpage/arcade_ ... eview.html

[D]

Thanks, I created this thread after checking those reviews out
I wonder if anybody ever played this emulated.
The screenshots remind me of Skull Fang.
This little kid apparently is sitting in a dedicated Metal Hawk cab.
http://www.arcade-center.com/Bilder/TV% ... 20Hawk.jpg
I ask him if he is sitting in a dedicated Metal Hawk cab and he says: "Duh!"
Is he taunting me?
A couple more images here: http://images.google.nl/images?ndsp=20& ... al+hawk%22

back of the arcade flyer: http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer&id=2074&image=2

[Thunder Force]

Anybody ever play this? How does it work? You can fly low and high? I tried searching, but found nothing.

I used to play this a lot in arcades when it was new. The dedicated version was a full hydraulic cabinet you could sit in that really shook you around. I think it's likely that this game inspired the special helicopter combat mission in the original SNES Pilotwings, since that played in much the same way. Gameplay is semi-shmup; a 2D shooter that provides full control of height, as well as free rotation at any angle (you always point and shoot upwards and the world spins around you).

A more recent similar game, is Konami's GBA shooter Airforce Delta Storm (also known as Deadly Skies in Europe) which is a very good example of this gameplay style. By contrast a bad example of this genre is Ace Combat Advance on GBA, which may look similar in screenshots but is horribly put together. Overall though, Metal Hawk is more action packed than the two mentioned GBA games.

Can anyone recall other games existing in this shooting game subgenre - where you always point and shoot upwards but the world rotates around you at will?

[CMoon]

Actually I'd been wondering how this sort of game play would work for dodging bullets (since you'd turn rather than strafe--much more realistic I suppose). It'd be interesting to give this one a whirl.

Did enemy bullets move at you only in a 2D plane or could they follow you up or down as you ascended/descended?

[gameoverDude]

It's somewhat like an aerial version of Namco's tank game Assault, complete with the mode 7 effect. The enemy bullets move in a 2D plane, but aircraft will home in on your altitude. Just changing altitude should be enough to not be shot down.

The soundtrack by Shinji Hosoe and Kazuo Noguchi (Assault BGM team) is nice.

KLOV has a picture of a Metal Hawk upright cab (apparently a conversion, since I've seen Twin Cobra in one of these style units). The dedicated MH cab is what Sega's Thunder Blade one should've been like, rather than the sorta blah one with the elevated swivel chair.

Assault would've been even more awesome in a sim cabinet that could spin as you turned the tank and tip left or right Out Run style to simulate rolling, while rearing backward a tad for the wheelie position. It would probably have been even more expensive than Sega's $1/200 yen per play sim cabs of that time (maybe $1.50 US or 300 yen) but surely worth it.

[Ed Oscuro]

The soundtrack by Shinji Hosoe and Kazuo Noguchi (Assault BGM team) is nice.

Short, but very nice! Has the same sort of movie-theater dramatic soundtrack feel of many of Namco's games, such as Tank Force.

I've tried playing the game, but it seems to require some precise sort of controller setup. Not certain it can be done with a 360 controller.

[gameoverDude]

The soundtrack by Shinji Hosoe and Kazuo Noguchi (Assault BGM team) is nice.

Short, but very nice! Has the same sort of movie-theater dramatic soundtrack feel of many of Namco's games, such as Tank Force.

I've tried playing the game, but it seems to require some precise sort of controller setup. Not certain it can be done with a 360 controller.

Thrustmaster's Top Gun After Burner II controller is good for it, if you set up the throttle controller as altitude control. Games like Thunder Blade, Galaxy Force II, After Burner, and maybe Lock-On (when that works) are suited well for it also.

[CMoon]

It's somewhat like an aerial version of Namco's tank game Assault, complete with the mode 7 effect. The enemy bullets move in a 2D plane, but aircraft will home in on your altitude. Just changing altitude should be enough to not be shot down.

Did a port of assault ever come out. I remember playing this one back in the arcade and loving it. It seems the psx dual shock controller would work well for this game.

Edit: there's a nice little clip of assault on youtube for those who long for a little nostalgia.

[gameoverDude]

It's somewhat like an aerial version of Namco's tank game Assault, complete with the mode 7 effect. The enemy bullets move in a 2D plane, but aircraft will home in on your altitude. Just changing altitude should be enough to not be shot down.

Did a port of assault ever come out. I remember playing this one back in the arcade and loving it. It seems the psx dual shock controller would work well for this game.

Edit: there's a nice little clip of assault on youtube for those who long for a little nostalgia.

Just on the PS1 in Namco Museum 4. I couldn't get dual shock to work with it, but the D-Pad and the 4 face buttons served OK as the 2 joysticks with the R1/R2 buttons used to fire. The dual joystick that was released for PS1 will support it though- but IMO the sticks on it are spaced a tad too far apart. Cannibalizing a plain old PS1 pad to make a twin stick controller sounds good.

[louisg]

Can anyone recall other games existing in this shooting game subgenre - where you always point and shoot upwards but the world rotates around you at will?

Seek and Destroy on Amiga was like this, and there was a game on Genesis where every other level looked to be the same style. I'm not sure how closely they play.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/genesis/r ... creenshots
http://www.mobygames.com/game/seek-and- ... creenshots

[Koa Zo]

It's somewhat like an aerial version of Namco's tank game Assault, complete with the mode 7 effect. The enemy bullets move in a 2D plane, but aircraft will home in on your altitude. Just changing altitude should be enough to not be shot down.

Did a port of assault ever come out. I remember playing this one back in the arcade and loving it. It seems the psx dual shock controller would work well for this game.

Just on the PS1 in Namco Museum 4. I couldn't get dual shock to work with it, but the D-Pad and the 4 face buttons served OK as the 2 joysticks with the R1/R2 buttons used to fire. The dual joystick that was released for PS1 will support it though- but IMO the sticks on it are spaced a tad too far apart. Cannibalizing a plain old PS1 pad to make a twin stick controller sounds good.

No need to cannibalize. Here's the requisite controller for playing Assault on PS1 Dual FlightStick Joystick SCPH-1110. It works splendidly. Playing Assult can get pretty rough on those joysticks (as evidenced by 99% of the janky arcade cabinets still out there with broken controllers). I've actually got two sets of the SCPH-1110. One stick actually became unseated from some rough play, but it popped back into place and works perfectly still. At that point I scoured eBay to find a backup.

I also have an Assult arcade cab and was supprised to discover that the Namco Museum version actually runs a bit slower than the arcade. Though otherwise it is a perfect port including the option to play with or wothout the "00" max time bonus. It also displays perfectly in TATE mode, both on the US and JPN releases.
btw, someone buy my extra copy. (I have 4 sets of Namco Museum Vol.4 2 Jpn, 1 US, and one US disc only ...don't ask). [and the official Namco Museum Vol.4 guide book with complete Assault level maps, and the VideoGameGraffiti Vol.3 (Assault)OST, and an Assualt keychain, and the Atari flyer.. and... (did I mention Assualt is my favorite game?)

I had no idea Metal Hawk was a Namco game, nor that it was anything like Assault! The screenshots at KLOV look like a sequel to Assault.
New arcade cab obsession! I'm going to have to track one down. Thanks a lot.

also check 1/4 down this linked page for pictures of the Dual Flightstick
SCPH-1110