Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals (N64)
| This article is about the Nintendo 64 game. For the PlayStation game, see Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals (PS). |
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ビーストウォーズメタルス64
(Beast Wars Metals 64) | |||||||
| Developers | Takara, Locomotive | ||||||
| Publishers | Takara (JP) BAM! Entertainment (NA) | ||||||
| Platform | Nintendo 64 | ||||||
| Release date | 1 October 1999 (JP) July 12, 2000 (NA) | ||||||
| Rating | ESRB: T | ||||||
Transformers Beast Wars: Transmetals is a Nintendo 64 video game, released in 1999 in Japan and 2000 in North America. It and its PlayStation counterpart share a primary theme; characters from the second season of the Beast Wars television series duking it out in one-on-one combat, but the games differ in character selection and bonus features.
Plot
When the Maximals captured Megatron, the Predacon commander, it was believed that the Beast Wars were over. The survivors of the war began their journey back to Cybertron aboard an ancient Autobot escape ship. As they traveled through time and space, Megatron succeeded in delivering a message through transwarp, back to himself during a critical chapter in the Beast Wars...
Now, the timeline is destined to be rewritten! But how?
Synopsis
Transmetals features an all-out battle between the Maximals and Predacons. The player's character must fight through all possible enemy forces in order to beat the game. There is a final battle with an upgraded version of Megatron, called "Megatron X". Megatron X is identical to Transmetal Megatron, except chromed and outfitted with a pair of dragon-like wings. The player must fight Megatron X even if said player is using Megatron as their character.
While the PlayStation game has a very vague ending for either faction that generally upholds the status quo, the Nintendo 64 game features individualized text stories for each character, the vast majority of which involve somehow finding the Ark and fiddling about with the timestream.
Endings
Maximals
- Optimus Primal: Primal's leadership skills eventually result in the destruction of the Predacons and the capture of Megatron. The Maximals attach Megatron to the exterior of an Autobot shuttle and fly back to Cybertron. Little do they know that Megatron's arm has gotten free of his bonds and he's about to send a message back to himself in the past... (Whoa, deja vu!)
- Rattrap: Rattrap's resourcefulness eventually results in the complete destruction of Megatron. Back on Cybertron, he's enjoying his return home by hopping between all the local restaurants and pubs, saying, "We're all gonna di-...dine!"
- Cheetor: When Optimus was damaged in battle, an enraged Cheetor charged into battle and swung the tide in the Maximal's favour. With the war over, Primal remarked that Cheetor showed the makings of a great leader; the kid joked that was Optimus's department but who knows, maybe in another universe...
- Tigatron/Airazor: While they played critical roles in the victory, Tigatron felt his true place was on Earth and Airazor, in love with him, decided to join him there. They lived on Earth for many centuries, watching the war damage heal, and wondering about their comrades and if Maximal and Predacon could ever live in peace. They felt that someday they would go to Cybertron, as visitors from a distant world almost forgotten...
- Blackarachnia (sorta): Originally a Predacon, Silverbolt convinced her to switch sides: her defection brought down Megatron and ensured victory! However, on peacetime Cybertron, she began to wonder what it'd be like if she'd stayed a villain, and started working as a double agent for both Tripredacus Council and the Maximals, loyal to neither faction.
Predacons
- Megatron: Megatron successfully destroys all of the Maximals. After achieving this, he enters the Autobot Ark and destroys the legendary Optimus Prime, ensuring a definitive victory for the Decepticons. In 2005, the horrible transformer Unicron attacks Cybertron. With the Matrix destroyed with Prime, can anything stop Unicron?
- Terrorsaur: He bludgeoned both sides into submission, obliterating the Maximals and finally dethroning Megatron! Unfortunately, Terrorsaur was so busy enjoying being a tyrant that he failed to devise a plan to leave Earth and the whole Predacon force was frozen alive in the Ice Age! Perhaps a hundred thousand years will teach Terrorsaur a thing or two about leadership!
- Ravage: He betrayed Megatron, seized the Ark, and began cloning all the dormant Decepticons into new forms. Now he plans to take this army back to future Cybertron: it's time for the Decepticons to conquer time itself!
- Waspinator: The bug finally snapped, deciding he wasn't going to take it anymore, and beat up every single Transformer. He then quit the Predacons and the Beast Wars, and after both sides departed Earth he remained as the benevolent god of a tribe of protohumans. "Waspinator happy now!"
- Starscream: After achieving success in battle, Starscream enters the Ark, the ancient Autobot battle cruiser in which his original body rests in stasis lock. Starscream then infuses himself with the power of his old body, the same way the Predacon Commander Megatron and Optimus Primal increased their power. The result is incredible, and the revived Starscream headed back to Cybertron...
- Tarantulas: Turning on both sides, Tarantulas battered everyone in pursuit of what he'd need to escape Earth. He then left the Beast Wars, returned to his time, and reported to the Tripredacus Council about the Ark's discovery. Now promoted, Tarantulas is in command of a hundred transwarp battle cruisers heading for Earth: "If the Beast Wars aren't over yet, they will be soon! Ha ha ha hee hee hee hee!!"
Characters
| Maximals | Predacons |
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Cheat codes
| Code | Effect |
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| Highlight Cheetor at the character select screen and press Z and A. Then move left or right to cycle through Cheetor's alternate color layouts until you reach the desired character. | Play as Tigatron or Ravage. |
| Highlight Waspinator at the character select screen and hit Z and A. Then move left or right to cycle through Waspinator's alternate color layouts until you reach the desired character. | Play as Starscream. |
| Highlight Tarantulas at the character select screen and press Z and A. Then move left or right to cycle through Tarantulas's alternate color layouts until you reach the desired character. | Play as Blackarachnia. |
Notes
- The game includes a bonus feature where images of various Beast Wars toys can be unlocked.
- The English version of the game features the voices of Garry Chalk, Ian Corlett, David Kaye, Doug Parker, Scott McNeil, and Alec Willows.
- The game features several mini-games, mostly involving timed button-mashing.
- The English version of the game had its gameplay altered from the original Japanese release. In the English edition, both player combatants are much more limited in terms of how far the characters can move away from each other. This, whilst keeping the players' combatants in closer and clearer view, severely limits the gameplay mechanics.
