Mad Stalker: Full Metal Forth

Did You Know?

• Former Treasure designer Tetsuhiko Kikuchi cited Mad Stalker: Full Metal Forth and Capcom's Alien vs. Predator as main inspirations for Guardian Heroes on Sega Saturn.
• Animation cels from the PlayStation version's cutscenes were sold on Mandarake between 2015 and 2017.

Gameplay

Mad Stalker: Full Metal Forth is a side-scrolling beat 'em up played on a single plane field. The player controls a SlaveGear mecha called Hound Dog through six linear stages set in Artemis City, moving left or right with an eight-directional joystick and using two attack buttons that differ in strength and speed. The joystick also allows jumping, double jumping, crouching, and moving toward or away from enemies. Basic moves include grabbing and throwing attacks, while special moves require directional and button combinations. A dash attack can be cancelled by guarding. Defeating minor enemies leads to a boss fight at each stage's end. If Hound Dog takes too much consecutive damage, it becomes dizzy and vulnerable; an empty health bar causes an explosion and game over, though players can continue from the title screen. The game also includes a versus mode for two human players or one human against a computer opponent, where each selects a mecha and fights one-on-one until one fighter's health is depleted or the timer runs out.

Plot

The plot summary varies between versions. In the year 2142, a warship built during the last moments of a war is discovered by the military, containing hundreds of SlaveGear mecha robots. Two units, Hound Dog and Rising Dog, are placed under police management for experimental use. The warship's on-board computer, Omega, becomes operational, accesses military networks, freezes Artemis City, and commands Rising Dog to exterminate enemies. After the research facility is destroyed and Rising Dog escapes, the police deploy a SOS signal to Hound Dog to protect the city by destroying all enemy robots.

Development

Mad Stalker: Full Metal Forth was the fourth title Fill-in-Cafe developed for the Sharp X68000, following PitaPat. A small team handled the project, with producer Sōichirō Miyakawa and director Masaya Konya. Masaki Ukyo and Masatoshi Imaizumi shared duties as artists, designers, and programmers alongside Takumi Amano. Umihara Kawase illustrator Toshinobu Kondo served as an advisor. Kondo stated the team wanted to create a game featuring robots, as members were fans of the mecha genre, with anime series such as Gundam and Zoom's 1989 Genocide as inspiration. The music was composed by Keishi Yonao, who cited Earth, Wind & Fire and Sega's 1988 Galaxy Force as inspirations for the funk-styled soundtrack.

Release

Family Soft published Mad Stalker: Full Metal Forth for the Sharp X68000 in Japan on 14 January 1994, retailing for JP¥7,800. A port to the Fujitsu FM Towns home computer followed in July 1994 under the title Mad Stalker: Full Metal Force, featuring arranged Redbook CD Audio and redrawn visuals. On 15 September 1994, Kogado Studio released a substantially reprogrammed conversion for the PC Engine Arcade CD-ROM², published by NEC Interchannel, which added exclusive animated cutscenes, two additional characters, and Redbook CD Audio. A mini manga series by Tatsumi Minegishi promoted the X68000 and FM Towns versions in Japanese publications. Keishi Yonao composed an album titled Mad Stalker 2142, published by Polydor Records on 24 September 1994. The original X68000 soundtrack was released in MP3 format on 18 December 2006 via D4 Enterprise's Project EGG service, and the X68000 version itself was re-released digitally for Microsoft Windows through Project EGG on 21 February 2004.