Heavy Metal Thunder (video game)

The game pits futuristic robots against one another in wrestling matches. The player controls a robot during battles using a four-icon menu. Three actions—strike, guard and grapple—can be executed at any time and augments the player's "beat meter". The fourth action, called "beat attack", can be performed once the beat meter is filled and inflicts special damage according to how hard the button is pressed.{{cite web | url=http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/heavymetalthunder/news.html?sid=6130155 | title=Heavy Metal Thunder Hands-On | accessdate=2008-07-10 | publisher=GameSpot | author=Hirohiko Niizumi | date=2005-08-01}} Icons sometime shake to indicate that they are recommended, but the player must react quickly as each turn is timed. A rock-paper-scissors set of rules determined the winner of each pair of actions.{{cite web | url=http://uk.ps2.ign.com/articles/638/638020p1.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929231506/http://uk.ps2.ign.com/articles/638/638020p1.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 29, 2011 | title=Square Enix 2005: Heavy Metal Thunder Playtest | accessdate=2008-07-10 | publisher=IGN | author=Anoop Gantayat | date=2005-07-31}}

Anime cutscenes and fictional sponsor information are displayed before the start of each match. The player's robot can be customized to alter its appearance.

The game is set in a fictional Japan in the year 2980, in which competitive fights between radio-controlled robots has become a popular sport called "Robot-ress". The player takes on the role of Denki Akihabara, a high-school student whose family runs a butcher shop. Denki decides to become a Robot-ress master after learning about Heavy Metal Thunder, the world's strongest robot. At the beginning of the game, he receives a robot and an invitation to the Titan Fight tournament from his father, who is actually the world champion and owner of Heavy Metal Thunder. The Titan Fight is a competition in which losing robots are destroyed and their owners buried on Death Island. The plot spans roughly thirty years in total, with Denki over forty years old at the end of the game.{{cite web | url=http://uk.ps2.ign.com/articles/614/614255p1.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929231533/http://uk.ps2.ign.com/articles/614/614255p1.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 29, 2011 | title=Heavy Metal Thunder Revealed | accessdate=2008-07-10 | publisher=IGN | author=Anoop Gantayat | date=2005-05-14}}

Heavy Metal Thunder was announced at a special event held by Square Enix in Shibuya, Tokyo on March 2, 2005, with the presence of Japanese band Sex Machineguns.{{cite web | url=http://uk.ps2.ign.com/articles/592/592634p1.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209031543/http://uk.ps2.ign.com/articles/592/592634p1.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=February 9, 2012 | title=New From Square Enix: Heavy Metal Thunder | accessdate=2008-07-10 | publisher=IGN | author=Anoop Gantayat | date=2005-03-02}} It is loosely adapted from Heavy Meta-san, a metal/hard rock show broadcast on TV Tokyo, hosted by gravure idol Yoko Kumada and sponsored by Square Enix.{{cite web | url=http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=58106 | title=Square Enix launches 'variety' show | accessdate=2008-07-11 | publisher=Eurogamer | author=Rob Fahey | date=2005-03-02}} The characters of the game were designed by Harold Sakuishi, creator of the Beck manga series.

The game was showcased in playable form at the Square Enix Party 2005 in Japan.{{cite web | url=http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/heavymetalthunder/news.html?sid=6126772 | title=Square Enix to showcase FFXII this summer | accessdate=2008-07-10 | publisher=GameSpot | author=Hirohiko Niizumi | date=2005-06-01}}

Image:HMTTR.PNG

The music of Heavy Metal Thunder was composed by various heavy metal bands and musicians, including Michael Schenker and ex-Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman. The eponymous song "Heavy Metal Thunder" written by Sex Machineguns serves as the theme song of both the game and the Heavy Meta-san TV show. The soundtrack of the game was published in Japan by Toshiba EMI on September 7, 2005.{{cite web | url=http://www.chudahs-corner.com/soundtracks/index.php?catalog=TOCT-25765 | title=Heavy Metal Thunder -The Recordings- | accessdate=2008-07-10 | publisher=Chudah's Corner | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070909130150/http://chudahs-corner.com/soundtracks/index.php?catalog=TOCT-25765 | archive-date=2007-09-09 | url-status=usurped }}

{{track listing

| headline = Heavy Metal Thunder: The Recordings track listing

| total_length = 45:25

| title1 = Heavy Metal Thunder

| music1 = Sex Machineguns feat. Michael Schenker

| length1 = 5:22

| title2 = Robot's Ballad

| note2 = #ロボットのバラード

| music2 = Garlic Boys

| length2 = 4:03

| title3 = The Beauty Power

| music3 = Rolly Teranishi & Komikurimo Pichnskey

| length3 = 3:58

| title4 = Wandering the Byways

| note4 = 流離い裏街道

| music4 = Saburō Tokitō with Marcy & Shara from Earthshaker

| length4 = 4:21

| title5 = We are...

| music5 = Delta Throb

| length5 = 5:10

| title6 = A Straight Shot to the Caterer's

| note6 = 出前道一直線

| music6 = Sex Machineguns

| length6 = 4:12

| title7 = Madness

| note7 = 狂気

| music7 = Kow Otani & Hiroko Shigezumi from Smooth Ace

| length7 = 4:31

| title8 = Love Terrorist

| music8 = Nanase Aikawa with Marty Friedman

| length8 = 3:48

| title9 = Mask of Glory

| note9 = 栄光のマスク

| music9 = Michael Schenker with Hiroyuki Namba

| length9 = 5:36

| title10 = Riding a Dolphin

| note10 = イルカに乗って

| music10 = Sex Machineguns

| length10 = 4:24

}}

Heavy Metal Thunder sold 3,367 copies in Japan the week of its release.{{Cite magazine|author=Famitsu staff | date=16 September 2005 | url=https://www.famitsu.com/game/rank/top30/2005/09/14/120,1126691215,43370,0,0.html|title=ゲームソフト販売本数 TOP30(集計期間：2005年8月29日～2005年9月4日 ) | trans-title=Top 30 Game Software Sales (aggregation period: August 29, 2005 - September 4, 2005) | publisher=Enterbrain|magazine=Famitsu|accessdate=11 April 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023130157/https://www.famitsu.com/game/rank/top30/2005/09/14/120,1126691215,43370,0,0.html | archive-date=23 October 2012 | language=ja|url-status=dead}} Regional sales topped out at just 18,443 units by the end of 2005, according to Media Create.{{cite web | title=2005年テレビゲームソフト売り上げTOP500 | trans-title=2005 Weekly Famitsu Top 500 | url=http://geimin.net/da/db/2005_ne_fa/index.php | publisher=Geimin.net | language=ja | accessdate=28 November 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090127020408/http://geimin.net/da/db/2005_ne_fa/index.php | archive-date=27 January 2009 | url-status=dead }} The game's producer, Takehiro Ando, stated that although he was proud of the work that was done on the project, he would accept the blame for its commercial failure due to his own inexperience in the field at the time.{{cite web | author=Sato Kazuya| date=29 December 2012 | title=スクエニ「特モバイルニ部」に聞く--スマホゲームのこれまでとこれから | trans-title=Interview with Square Enix's "Special Mobile 2 Department"--The past and future of smartphone games | url=https://japan.cnet.com/article/35026013/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230620132929/https://japan.cnet.com/article/35026013/ | archive-date=20 June 2023 | publisher=Red Ventures | website=CNET | language=ja | accessdate=28 November 2023}}

Critically, it received a score of 30 out of 40 by the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu. American multimedia website IGN considered the gameplay simple, but praised the amount of animation used and called the theme song "catchy". American website GameSpot echoed the comments, stating that the game relies on its atmosphere and cut scenes more than gameplay. IGN noted that the game would appeal to fans of Heavy Meta-san and hard rock in general.

{{reflist}}

• {{Official website|http://www.square-enix.co.jp/hmt/}} {{in lang|ja}}
• [http://www.media-vision.co.jp/soft/hmt.php Official page] at Media. Vision {{in lang|ja}}

{{Satelight}}

{{Media.Vision}}

Category:2005 video games

Category:Action games

Category:Japan-exclusive video games

Category:Media.Vision games

Category:PlayStation 2 games

Category:PlayStation 2-only games

Category:Single-player video games

Category:Square Enix games

Category:Video games developed in Japan

Category:Video games scored by Kow Otani

Category:Video games set in Japan

Category:Video games set in the 30th century