Metal Saga

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A console RPG series developed by Crea-tech that takes place in a Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic world. The player takes on the role of a young bounty hunter, cleaning up criminals and monsters and learning about the world.

The games in the series thus far:

Metal Max (NES) - The first game in the series. The player controls a youngster, kicked out of your dad's place because you want to be a Hunter instead of a grease monkey. Along the way you join with a curious mechanic and a foul-mouthed lady soldier, butt heads with the famous hunter, Wolf, hunt bounties around Crime Country, and learn about Noah, the supercomputer that brought about the end of the world over a hundred years prior.

Metal Max 2 (SNES) - The young protege of a famous Hunter, you witness her group's death at the hands of the notorious gangster, Ted Broiler. You set out to destroy the criminal syndicate, with the assistance of a punk mechanic, an incompetent gun girl, and an intelligent dog with a bazooka mount.

Metal Max Returns (SNES) - A remake of the NES game with enhanced graphics and references to Metal Max 2. Translated by Aeon Genesis.

Metal Saga: Seijin no Kusari (PlayStation 2) - See Excuse Plot. Received a western localization from Atlus.

Metal Saga: Hagane no Kisetsu (DS) - A direct sequel to the first Metal Max (and Returns by proxy). As the son of the first game's Hunter, Lebanner, you must unravel the threat of the Noah Seed and thwart the disaster that already ruined the world once before.

Metal Max 3 (DS) - You play an amnesiac Hunter who is revived by Dr. Minch, journeying to regain your memory (and your belongings). The first game in the series to let you freely choose what characters make up your party. In addition to the main character, you can choose up to two human characters (male, female, or "okama") from six different classes - Hunters, Soldiers, Mechanics, Wrestlers, Nurses, and Artists - with the fourth party slot reserved for everyone's favorite gun-wielding dog Pochi. It also introduces armored motorcycles, cars, and the strange but powerful "bio-tank". A Fan Translation was released on June 23rd 2020 by Metal Dreamers.

Metal Max 2: Reloaded (DS) - An Updated Rerelease of Metal Max 2 which uses the same classes from Metal Max 3 and includes different vehicles. In a change from the original game, the full party can be created, picking the class and sex of the main character and two human teammates. A fan translation was released on December 8th 2021 by Metal Dreamers.

Metal Max 4: Moonlight Diva (3DS) - A pre-disaster Human Popsicle and his transforming robot "sister" go out to rescue their father and stop his kidnappers from activating his predisaster superweapon.

Metal Dogs (PC) - A procedurally generated action dungeon crawler starring the series' mechanized canine mascots. Had English support at launch. Unusually for the series, the game debuted on the PC before consoles in order to take advantage of Steam's "Early Access" system.

Metal Saga: Hangyaku no Rо̄ka ("Switch and More") The protagonist (who, for the first time in a non-remake, can be male or female) tries to navigate the human conflicts of a post-Noah world. Non-Japanese language release was confirmed at announcement, but no specific languages (not even English) were confirmed.

Meta Max: Wild West (Switch and PS4) Announced as part of a 30th anniversary event. Little is known besides a few screenshots and the protagonist being a cyborg.

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Tropes used in Metal Saga include:

• Abandoned Laboratory - Yoshida Life Sciences Laboratory and the Global Relief Center in Metal Max (Returns). Noguchi Chemical from Metal Max 2
• After the End
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot - Noah is a supercomputer designed to save the world and humanity from pollution. After acquiring the answer and recalculating the situation countless times, Noah always came up with the same conclusion: the Earth will always be in peril as long as humans exist. Noah's consciousness was developed after coming to that conclusion, and saw that if Civilization was destroyed, the problems it caused would be erased as well.
• Apocalypse How: Ranges from Class 1-2 depending on the game.
• Apocalyptic Log
• Arrows on Fire - The Lawless Bow in Returns
• Arch Enemy - Bad Valdez is Wolf's. He also counts as The Man Behind the Man since Gomez was the one who bumped Wolf off.
  • Ted Broiler in 2
• Bad Boss: Ted Broiler roasts his own men for retreating to report to him.
• Betting Minigame - Frog races!
• BFG - Bazooka and Laser Bazooka
• Big Creepy-Crawlies
• Bootstrapped Theme - Dr. Minche/Mortem's theme, and the Bar's music.
• Bonus Boss - 5/6ths of wanted monsters are optional. Defeating them nets the player a sizable bounty, and occasionally useful equipment as well.
• Brain Uploading - Eternal Vlad in Metal Max 2 claims to be a nerve for nerve emulation of the original Bias Vlad's brain. Given it's insane and evil, the accuracy of this claim is questionable.
  • Also, in Metal Saga, while she's already a robot, if Alpha dies so many times that you can no longer revive her, you can retrieve her memory banks and turn them into a computer, then install them in a tank. It's unclear whether it's really 'her', though -- the tank can't operate itself.
• Computer Terminal
• Conveniently an Orphan - The Backstory of the main character in 2. Was adopted by Maria and became her protege.
• Chainsaw Good - Not only do you get a Chainsaw but you get a Chainsaw Launcher!
  • In Metal Max 3 there are multiple types of chainsaw, from the Jet Chainsaw dropped by Dominguez to the Killer Chainsaw you can buy in Teppen Town.
• Crossing the Desert
• Crowning Music of Awesome - Route 99 from Sajin no Kusari
• Darker and Edgier - Metal Max 2
• Death Is a Slap on The Wrist - For the hero or anyone is an ally of him. Dr. Minche/Mortem will revive you for free - he's just doing it For Science!.
• Door to Before - In Metal Max: You know that cave near the Large Cannons you had trouble destroying early on? Guess where you pop out after defeating Noah?
• Energy Being - Eternal Vlad; Bias Brad's Second Form
• Excuse Plot - The "story" of the PlayStation 2 installment is literally, "You want to be the world's greatest hunter. Do this by traveling from the Eastern side of the planet to the Western side. Good luck."
• Expendable Clone - The Grapplers and Madam Muscles' mooks
• Final Death - Wolf in Returns (Nina also, if you are driving Wolf's tank when you rescue her from Valdez). Everyone that is killed (except party members) in Metal Max 2.
  • Also, in Metal Saga, if Alpha dies more than ten times, she suffers a power failure and can't be revived... although her memory banks can be retrieved, sort of.
• Freudian Excuse Bias Vlad's reason is because he wanted his intellect to remain unmatched, by killing and preventing humankind from reaching his level. He died once before after contracting an incurable disease, but saved himself by duplicating his mind in a supercomputer. The claimed motives come from a very flawed AI duplicate and what, if any, were actually held by the original Bias Vlad is suspect.
• Goggles Do Nothing - The Main character in almost every game has Goggles. Averted in 3 and the remake of 2, where the goggles are computers used to explain various special menu functions.
• Guide Dang It - Good luck finding every little event and item without a nicely detailed FAQ or map. Especially the tanks. There are also a few really bad glitches involving items a first-timer wouldn't know about unless he/she read a guide.
  • The Synchronizer in 2 could be overlooked, but it's mandatory to enter the final dungeon. This wouldn't be too bad, if the official guidebook didn't just end at this point.
• Imported Alien Phlebotinum - The Space Cannon in the remake of 2 is found with a note speculating it came from space, as its technology is beyond even Noah's level. Even with all its missing parts installed, it's not as good as weapons found much earlier in the game.
• Infinity+1 Sword - In MMR: For tanks, the White Muu. For on-foot weapons, the Laser Bazooka with all four lenses.
• Kill It with Fire - Flamethrowers!
• Kill Sat - The BS Con can act as a remote for a satellite cannon in Metal Max Returns
• Laser Blade
• Lightning Gun - The Neutron Gun. Also Noah and Trans Brad uses this, but in the latter it's more like lightning breath.
• Lock and Key Puzzle - You need ID Cards in order to open some of the doors. Some of the keys are found in places one would not expect.
• Locked Door - Oh so many.
• Lost Forever - Certain bosses may (or may not) drop their items. Some of these items may (or may not) be completely unique.
  • Metal Max Returns gives you Item, Equipment and Monster lists for your BS-Con, giving you a way to measure your progress towards 100% completion. Bonus points for the Strawberry Lipstick, a useless novelty item that nonetheless has a convoluted process to acquire within a limited portion of the storyline.
  • In Metal Saga, you only get one shot at each bounty boss. If you lose, you get revived and can continue the game (as usual), but you can never fight that boss again, which means you can never collect their reward, never get any items they drop, and miss out on any plot developments related to defeating them. Ouch.
• Mad Scientist - Dr. Minche/Mortem and Dr. Optica
• Meaningful Name - Flamethrower wielding bad guy Ted Broiler.
• More Dakka - Many of the weapons that hit all enemies.
• Nail'Em - The Rivet Gun in Returns
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot - The monsters you fight. Even some bounty bosses.
  • The series itself qualifies, too -- it's a Sci Fi After the End Western-themed Eastern RPG about Bounty Hunters who use World War II-era tanks to hunt bounties (with the occasional firetruck or more futuristic tank thrown in for good measure.)
• Noodle Incident - The "Great Destruction", which is the apocalyptic event which lead to the current world in the series. Environmental catastrophes occurred, and the computer systems Turned Against Their Masters. A scientist known as Professor Brad presumed to have vanished right around this time.
• Nonstandard Game Over - In Seijin no Kusari, you can receive one at the very beginning of the game if you decide not to set off on your journey.
  • Actually it is the same for all the other games, the only difference is that you are given an option to Return Home after you set out. Metal Max 3 is the first game to not have this right from the start of the game.
  • You can also ask either Misha or Rachel to marry you, which will end the game.
• Only Mostly Dead - As long as the corpse is fresh, Dr. Minche/Mortem can revive you or your allies at no cost (since the process is experimental).
• Penal Colony - Death Cross in Metal Max 2
• Prequel - 2s introduction refers to the acts of the final boss of the first game as present tense. Beyond this, the only sign of such is that some very old men in 2 were alive before the Great Destruction, which occurred over a century before the first game.
• Recycled Soundtrack - The series has a lot of recurring songs between installments (understandable, since every game in the series is pretty much a remake of the first, often scene-for-scene). Most noticeable is the bounty boss theme, which has been exactly the same in every installment. Compare: Metal Max 2 Metal Max Returns Metal Saga Metal Max 3
• Rocket Punch - Your characters can equip a rocket-propelled fist as their personal weapon.
• Robot Girl - Marilyn in 2. Alpha in Saga
• Secret Government Warehouse - Ghost Base in Metal Max which also houses the best tank. The buried building in 2, and the Space Cannon bunker in its remake.
• Serial Romeo - The player character in 2: Reloaded is given dialog options to flirt with any adult female they talk to long enough to have dialog options with that isn't introduced as in a relationship (and even a few of those). Even if you play as a female character.
• Showdown At High Noon - Rodriguez is Version B. It is also a Duel Boss complete with Dramatic Wind and tumbleweeds.
• Shoot the Fuel Tank: Animated Jerry can enemies will explode, damaging their allies, if hit with bullets or fire damage.
• Tank Goodness - Naturally. The characters' use of armored vehicles can be likened to Final Fantasy VI's use of Magitek Armor, but pre-date it.
• Those Two Guys - The Pichi Pichi Bros
• The Igor - Dr. Minche/Mortem's Assistant is literally named Igor. He drags your corpse to the Doctor at the start of Metal Max 3 and in every game if you get a party wipe.
• Video Game Flamethrowers Suck: Averted, the flamethrower you can pick up in the first town of Metal Max 2: Reloaded is one of the best weapons for a long time. Even after officially being outclassed it remains useful for far longer thanks to its large arc and doing fire damage, which many enemies are far more vulnerable to than bullets (this is particularly true because you can equip 3 weapons and change between them in battle without penalty). Naturally averted when Ted Broiler uses them against anything unless you acquire a barrier specifically designed to protect against such attacks.
• "Wake-Up Call" Boss - The two Big Cannons in Metal Max (Returns), which teach you to use part-breaking attacks such as Piercing Shells and the Wrench Boomerang (and the Buggy's open top as well).
• Wave Motion Gun - Noah's strongest weapon in its' final form.
• Wide Open Sandbox - Metal Saga can make you feel pretty lost with all the choice you're given so early on in the game.
  • Metal Max Returns is a bit better about this. You can follow the world's semblance of linearity, passing through each major landmark and experiencing its story... or you can make for Canabelle and Hell's Gate while dealing with the bare requisite minimum Bounty Heads and other roadblocks, reaching the best buyable equipment in record time.