Blog:Metal Fangs (Mega Drive)
CRV (talk) 03:59, 25 March 2018 (UTC) [permalink]
In this combat racer from publisher Victor, you assemble a team of cybernetic cyber punks, then drive around a track and earn points by hitting and wrecking your opponents and just not bumping into stuff. Afterwards, you can upgrade your vehicles' parts and weapons. And every character looks like a cyber version of a bonafide celebrity.
If you dig that cyberpunk aesthetic, you might enjoy the presentation of Metal Fangs. But once you get past the title screen and menus, it becomes apparent that the game can't possibly live up to all that. (What could?)
Then there's the fact this was delayed for well over a year. It wasn't released in Japan until December 1993, yet the ROM build date is June 1992. It doesn't seem like that time was used to improve the game.
Further digging hints at what might have caused the long wait — a change of format. JVC, Victor's American counterpart, was planning on bringing Metal Fangs over on CD. It was even on display at Sega's big press event for the launch of Sega CD in October 1992. It was also listed for Sega CD in a Sega newsletter. In the end, it was not released outside of Japan in any form.
The development of Metal Fangs is commonly attributed to Sega or Sega AM2. One reason for that may be the music, which sounds like it was crafted by Sega maestro Hiroshi Kawaguchi né Miyauchi (see also Sword of Vermilion and Rent A Hero). Sound is credited to an "H.M". Programming appears to have been done by a former AM2 programmer and founding member of Genki by the name of Tomoharu Kimura, credited as "T.K". Following that track, the graphic designer is "M.T", who could be Genki founding member/graphic designer Manabu Tamura (Burning Soldier, Robotica).
So might Genki have been the developer? The company was started in late 1990, and the game was supposed to come out in 1992, which would mean development probably started in 1991. However, it was never listed on their website.
One other hypothesis is that Metal Fangs was originally a Sega game that they dropped at some point. Maybe members of Genki took it with them when they left Sega? That would mean development started in at least 1990, but there's no evidence Sega was ever involved.
UPDATE: An unused Yonezawa copyright notice was found in the game's graphics. Yonezawa was a toy company that, under the Party Room 21 label, published games for Famicom, Super Famicom, and Game Boy, but not for any Sega systems. In 1994, it was taken over by Sega.
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