It’s been a spell since I actually wrote something, damn. I’m also overdue for a catchup sketch dump, but tonight after a refresher run through Data East’s obscure mecha shmup Wolf Fang, this is what I feel like doing! So, let’s.
The road that led me to this game was a convoluted one, a certain Japanese artist page I follow had an entry in his ‘licensed’ gallery subsection of a couple cat-girls wearing skimpy powered armor with the parts labeled off to the side in what looked like a mock up of a game’s inventory screen. Unfortunately, not knowing how to read Japanese and machine translation being way worse back when that pic was even still in his gallery, all I could really do was shrug and figure it was from some obscure old game like a lot of his material tends to be. But, much like Speed Power Gunbike, part of my mecha-adoring brain filed that tidbit away for later use.
Cut forward several years- I have some PSN shop credit to burn and am craving mecha action. This was about the same time I also began my love-hate-love trek into Armored Core, incidentally, but the simple, breezy arcade action of Wolf Fang grabbed me from the word “go.” In something of an unusual move for a shooter, the screen moves forward steadily, but your machine is ground-bound with the ability to make pretty generous leaps into the air with its jump jets as well as turn around to fire to the rear. I almost want to class it as an auto-scrolling platformer, but the overall feel makes me lean more towards an unorthodox shoot ’em up. Of course, that’s not the only thing unique about Wolf Fang. Possibly the biggest innovation it brings is the option to custom-build your machine to your liking from a combination of Body (containing a heavy special weapon), Arms (with a melee weapon attached for heavy close range damage) and Legs, which both affect your mobility and the number of rescued troopers can ride on your machine and provide cover fire.
Another neat mechanic is that if your mech is destroyed, you aren’t simply dead, your little guy can eject and keep fighting with a jet pack and rifle along with any other soldiers you had riding your machine before. You’re extremely small and fast but one more hit will finish you off. Manage to survive long enough and collect 3 power ups and you will have your suit returned to you, but not at full health. You get a new one at the start of the next stage, too.
The game takes you through a branching series of presumably authentic Australian backdrops, like a city with giant concrete embankments to slide up and down, the ocean, and a lot of wastelands. The sound design is simply delightful. Catchy music in the vein of pumping 80s action synth, lots of explosions, and a gung ho narrator calling out when you pick up items or your backpack super weapon is ready for use. “MAXIMUM FIRE LAUNCHER POWER!!” is an underappreciated retro gaming voice bite and I will annoy someone into agreeing with me some day! I also really like the rescued soldiers letting out a cheery “ALROIGHT!” and the male pilot’s hammy “GOODBYE, FAITHFUL SUIT!” in an ending where he has to sacrifice the mech. I cry every time.
Wolf Fang/Rohga Armor Force has a handful of home ports at this point, but the arcade version via MAME is still my favorite way to experience it. The Saturn port (which seems to be the blueprint for the PS1 and later Switch editions) adds an arranged CD quality soundtrack that really just feels kind of feels like generic guitar riffing rather than the scratchy, punchy quality of the digitized track. They also all add load times that break the vibe just enough to annoy me a little, but the added voice acting is kind of cool. This seems like a good place to also wedge in the fun fact that Wolf Fang is actually the second in a trilogy of ___ Fang games- the first, Kuuga (Wind Fang) was localized as Vapor Trail and featured souped up fighter planes, some of which cameo in Wolf Fang, and the third game Skull Fang confusingly returns to being about planes, but the planes fight mechs too so they didn’t really give up the mechs entirely? I dunno, it’s pretty fun. Wolf Fang and Skull Fang are available in a bundle for consoles and Steam currently. As much as I prefer MAMEing it, I do support the official ports when a company is willing to put the effort in for such a niche little game. City Connection and Arcade Archives are really doing an oddly specific lord’s work out there for guys like me who refuse to have Fucking Normal taste in games.
Between the build options and branching paths, there’s really a lot of motivation to pick up the game and blast through it in an evening. The Big Robot factor and shmup… adjacent gameplay also tickle me pretty nicely. Wolf Fang remains one of my favorite classic arcade comfort food type games to this day, and you wanna know something wild?
I STARTED THIS DRAFT SEVEN FREAKING YEARS AGO AND STILL MEAN EVERY WORD
Screenshots taken from the Boosted Tribute on Switch because I was doomscrolling on the couch before I decided to do something productive and it was handy.
