Metal Max deserved so much better

destructoid.com:

I fell hopelessly in love with Metal Max Xeno Reborn. It was my first time with the series, which has been running in Japan since 1991. It was quite the roller coaster for me. I immediately jumped online and placed an order for some of the series’ early games. I felt the heartbreak of Metal Max: Wild West getting canceled. Then I found love again in Metal Max for the Famicom. Then I reminded myself that Metal Max: Wild West was canceled, and now I’m sad again.

Metal Max has largely stayed in Japan, outside of Xeno and its Reborn cousin. We got Metal Saga on PS2, but that went by without much notice. Maybe we’ll get a re-release on PS5 now that Sony is doing that again. There were many titles that flitted by without our anglophone notice, and I plan on delving through as many as I can get my nimble fingers on. Metal Max is one I can communicate via Famicom Friday, so allow me to share it with you.

I love Metal Max. Famicom RPGs can be a struggle, whether or not they’re a Dragon Quest or a Mother. It was kind of a crappy era for console RPGs. No, maybe that’s inaccurate. It was an awkward era for console RPGs. A great era for PC RPGs, but console RPGs were kind of lopsided. Regardless, I ate Metal Max without any discomfort. Without any boredom.

It helps that a lot of what I loved about Metal Max Xeno Reborn was already true on the Famicom. It’s a post-apocalyptic JRPG that focuses on tanks. The plot is light, instead getting out of your way so you can hunt monsters. The focus is mainly on finding vehicles and accumulating enough money to make them over-powered. The monsters are ridiculous, and there’s this sly, dark sense of humor underlying all of it.

It’s also rather polished for a JRPG of this vintage. I had the option