EDITOR'S NOTE:
First up, huge thanks to Ultra Powerful Pal of Gaming Hell HokutoNoShock for playing several online Cyberbots sessions on both Fightcade and Capcom Fighting Collection to figure the game out with my writer cohort- some of the screenshots in this article come from those very sessions. Next, we'll be linking to these multiple times but definitely check out Polar Bair's beginners primer and the Mizuumi Wiki pages if you want to learn more about playing the game. Finally, look at the time, we gotta dust off the ol' CPS-II resolution notice, huh? The native resolution of CPS-II is 384 x 224 which makes it look all wide, but they were never intended to be seen like that, instead meant for old CRT televisions that were usually less wide, explained here. So they've all been resized via HTML to 320 x 240 in this article, for your viewing pleasure. Surprisingly, the Playstation and Saturn ports of CPS-II games actually do the same trick, so they get resized via HTML too, but I never thought to point this out before. But I'm pointing it out now. I think that's it for this one.

Time, once more, to look at a '90s Capcom fighting game that's not Street Fighter.

Certainly not Slam Masters II: Ring of Destruction, and not even Red Earth!



First though, we have to go to the world of scrolling brawlers for just a moment.



The seventh release on Capcom's mighty CPS-II hardware according to its flyer, Armored Warriors (released in Japan as Powered Gear -Strategic Variant Armored Equipment-) continued the precedent set by Alien vs. Predator by expanding the scrolling brawler button layout from two to three, including a Weapon button alongside the genre-standard Attack and Jump. Picking one of four VA types from the standard Blodia, the lanky Reptos, the speedy Fordy and the bulky Guldin, it's a seven-round mission across both the planet Earth and Raia with a unique system replacing the grabbable weapons in other brawlers. As well as the shoulder-mounted and ammo-limited weapons you can find, arms and legs from defeated enemy VAs can be stolen and attached to your own mech to alter your attacks, movement and even allow for silly things like turning every jump into an attack on its own. Throw in three-player support and the absolutely absurd Enhancement Module system- where for certain boss fights you can combine with your fellow mechs to create a giant tank, giant mecha or giant flying fortress with each player operating a different limb or weapon- and you have a very chaotic beat-em-up with a unique theme and some excellent spritework full of lovely detail (most enemies can be split in half by Laser Blades, there's animations for tiny people getting inside their VAs, that sort of thing) yet has a 'lived-in' feel to its world, and almost feels more like a CPS-I or CPS Dash game, closer to the vibes of something like Varth: Operation Thunderstorm than the brighter games you saw on CPS-II, as we'll see shortly.

Perhaps another day I'll talk more at length about Armored Warriors, but for the purposes of this article, it seemingly isn't set in the same universe or timeline as Cyberbots but it shares a few key ideas. Specifically, both games use the concept of Variant Armors as mecha that have interchangeable parts, with the four 'base' VAs being the basis for the main playable mechs of Cyberbots using multiple arm, leg and weapon parts to differentiate them as well as four enemy VAs (the standard grunt Gaits as well as the bosses Warlock, Helion and Super-8 caled Agmiss here) as boss / secret mechs... Oh, and both games had Kinu Nishimura, famous Capcom artist, on pilot design duties, and they both get a brief mention in this translated interview from 2001 where she admits she was "young and still pretty bad" but that "[the designs were] the result of a lot of hard work, so even though I kind of want to avert my eyes when I see it, I can't completely hate it", bless. One thing to note is that overall, the tone and atmosphere of Armored Warriors is significantly muted compared to what followed, with a more realistic feel to its environments, a darker colour palette, a more explicit war-story vibe and, if you beat the game in as few continues as possible, an extra epilogue that reveals your mission was a stealth invasion rather than a rescue operation, which is surprisingly bleak for a Capcom game. They allude to it in the attract mode intro text, sure, but you probably forgot about that by the time you get to the end!



So about a year later, Capcom followed up on the idea of making a mech-centric arcade game with Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness, but decided to change up genres. In a move that almost feels like it's perfectly encapsulating the vibe of the arcade market at the time, they went from a scrolling brawler to a one-on-one fighting game, because as pointed out by Polar Bair's video on Cyberbots, they were on a hot streak- between Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter Alpha: Warrior's Dreams, they released no less than five other one-on-one fighters. They were busy! Sadly, a bit like Pocket Fighter, there's not much behind-the-scenes interviews or info on the development of Cyberbots beyond that Kinu Nishimura interview that I could find. There's at least the staff list to look at, with game design and art by Shoei Okano / SHOEI who worked on art design for arcade games from the CPS-I era, game design by Haruo Murata of Super Turbo and Street Fighter Alpha and programming by Kazuhiko Komori who'd later work on Strider 2, among many other staff members who worked during the CPS-II era, quite a few who also worked on Armored Warriors and some went on to work at Capcom for many years to come. Relying on just my observations though, I imagine that having the impressive sprite work and mecha designs of Armored Warriors ready to go, albeit with a lot of touch-ups, new sprites and a heavily-altered colour palette to make them brighter and less grungy, made the development process at least a little smoother than something like the first Darkstalkers where the developers and artists had to create an entire cast from scratch. That's not to say there still wasn't a lot of work involved- this has a whole new cast and setting, and adapting scrolling brawler movesets to fighting game movesets is a challenge unto itself- but having a basis to work off must've been a nice little breather from the norm.

The plot (as explained by the European flyer and the Saturn manual, as well as in-game cutscenes) takes place near the end of the 21st Century, although the English translation of the arcade game is a little muddled over the names of the various organisations so I'll try and make it clearer here. In this world that also has the Variant Armors of Armored Warriors, over half of the human race have taken to living in space colonies, having lived there for several generations now with each colony creating its own culture and society. Eventually, they form the Federation of Colonies (confusingly referred to as Earth Corps in the English version, despite being an alliance of colonies, so we won't use this term from now on) and start exerting their military powers to control the Earth, with tensions building between the two and even a resistance being formed, including many former Federation Forces members. In secret though, the Federation has been performing twisted scientific experiments in their laboratories, eventually developing a terrifying 'doomsday weapon' to completely obliterate any hope the Resistance may have... So for once, there's no grand fighting tournament setup to be had here (and this is reflected even in the announcer call-outs- it's not "Round 1, Fight", "You Win" or "Draw Game", it's "Phase 1, Proceed", "Target Damaged" and "Stalemate", so cool!), it's just a case of six playable pilots with their own take on the events that unfold, their destinies intermingling as the fate of the Earth is determined! And you thought '90s fighting games didn't have plots, bless your heart.

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As is tradition with our fighting game articles now, let's have a look at the character selection.



First up are the pilots, with the six selectable ones followed by the four CPU-only opponents (in the arcade game, anyway).

Character data taken from the Sega Saturn manual and English arcade flyer, with voice actors for the console versions corroborated with Behind the Voice Actors.

Some plot details are different between these sources and the English translation, so I've opted for the original info.

As a heads-up, pilot choice changes nothing beyond the order of story mode opponents and win quotes in versus mode:

"I'll make father proud."

JIN SAOTOME Age: 21 Height / Weight: 175cm / 72kg Blood Type: A (CV: Tōru Furuya) Ken, his father, was killed in a 'training accident' a year before the game's events, and he enters the VA battle circuit to uncover the truth.

"You were an unworthy opponent."

MARY MIYABI Age: 28 Height / Weight: 176cm / 58kg Blood Type: B (CV: Urara Takano) A captain of a Federation Forces VA unit, she's been tasked with retrieving an escaped prisoner from their labs, unaware of their horrors.

"You can't touch this machine."

SANTANA LAURENCE Age: 29 Height / Weight: 195cm / 97kg Blood Type: B (CV: Kiyoyuki Yanada) A free agent selling scrap VA parts for a living, he hears there's military-grade VA parts in Federation Forces colonies and heads out to make a killing.

"Youth is precious, cherish it!"

GAWAINE MURDOCK Age: 64 Height / Weight: 180cm / 84kg Blood Type: A (CV: Tesshō Genda) Former Federation Forces captain who left after the 'training accident' that killed Ken Saotome, he is brought out of seclusion by this crisis.

"I love our mean machine!"

BAO & MAO Age: 14 & 11 Height / Weight: 160cm / 52kg & 148cm / 32kg Blood Type: A? & A? (CV:Kappei Yamaguchi & Kae Araki) Two wild children from the forest, they find an abandoned VA and hop in for a ride, later finding Arieta on the run from the Federation Forces.

"Stop me, I'm out of control!"

ARIETA Age: 17 Height / Weight: 164cm / 48kg Blood Type: AB RH- (CV: Mika Kanai) A prisoner who escaped from a Federation Forces lab after being experimented on, is she the key to their doomsday weapon?

"I told you before we are not your enemy."

CHIYOMARU KAGURA & TESSAN HAGANE Age: 17 & 38 Height / Weight: 168cm / 60kg & 214cm / 147kg Blood Type: O & AB (CV: Ryō Horikawa & Banjō Ginja) Chiyomaru is the son of the now-deceased Resistance leader and Tessan is his bodyguard, fighting to stop the Federation Forces.

"At last, I can pay back some of the debt I owe my friend..."

SHADE Age: Unknown Height / Weight: 235cm / 508kg Blood Type: A? (CV: Shōzō Iizuka) Formerly human, he was turned into a killing machine by Federation Force experiments. He's responsible for Ken Saotome's death.

"Hahahahahaha! Another fine addition to my collection!"

PRINCESS DEVILOTTE DE DEATHSATAN IX Age: 13 Height / Weight: 158cm / 40kg Blood Type: O (CV: Etsuko Kozakura) The bratty princess of Helldorado, she leads a space pirate trio with Xavier and Dave who steal VAs and generally just stir up trouble.

"You human shall perish!"

G.O.D. Age: Unknown Height / Weight: Unknown Blood Type: Unknown (CV: ???) The final boss for several characters. What kind of horrifying monstrosity have the Federation Forces created...?

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And next, the Variant Armors they'll be piloting, with the twelve standard mechs followed by the four secret ones.

Mech data also taken from the Sega Saturn manual, that thing's really handy:

BX-02 BLODIA Height / Weight: 14.5m / 38.2t Arm: B•Power Knuckle Legs: B•Command Walker Weapon: Bit Boost: Eight-Way Dash

BX-04S B•SWORDSMAN Height / Weight: 11.2m / 53.1t Arm: Laser Blade Legs: Treads Weapon: Electric Net Boost: Eight-Way Dash

BX-07R B•RIOT Height / Weight: 12.5m / 70.5t Arm: Rocket Arm Legs: Turbo Jets Weapon: Vulcan Cannon Boost: Flight

RF-004 REPTOS Height / Weight: 16.0m / 31.6t Arm: R•Power Knuckle Legs: R•Command Walker Weapon: Laser Cannon Boost: Eight-Way Dash

RF-009 R•LIGHTNING Height / Weight: 11.2m / 41.2t Arm: Chain Spark Legs: Treads Weapon: Wide Range Missile Boost: Eight-Way Dash

RF-027 R•JACKAL Height / Weight: 11.8m / 39.6t Arm: Heat Rod Legs: Insectroid Weapon: Bit Boost: Jump

FZ-100 FORDY Height / Weight: 11.0m / 29.3t Arm: F•Power Knuckle Legs: F•Command Walker Weapon: Homing Missile Boost: Eight-Way Dash

F2-202 F•TARANTULA Height / Weight: 12.8m / 33.9t Arm: Force Claw Legs: Insectroid Weapon: Wide Range Missile Boost: Jump

FZ-900J F•KILLER BEE Height / Weight: 13.8m / 43.4t Arm: Laser Blade Legs: Turbo Jets Weapon: Mine Shooter Boost: Flight

GP-N1 GULDIN Height / Weight: 13.6m / 41.6t Arm: G•Power Knuckle Legs: G•Command Walker Weapon: Burner Boost: Eight-Way Dash

GP-V4 G•VISE Height / Weight: 12.3m / 46.1t Arm: Force Claw Legs: Treads Weapon: Homing Missile Boost: Eight-Way Dash

GP-D2 G•CYCLONE Height / Weight: 13.2m / 43t Arm: Death Drill Legs: Insectroid Weapon: Mine Shooter Boost: Jump

P-10033 GAITS Height / Weight: 13.2m / 34.1t Arm: Gaits Unique Legs: Gaits Unique Weapon: Gaits Spread Missile Boost: Eight-Way Dash

UVA-02 HELION Height / Weight: 17.2m / 34.5t Arm: Helion Unique Legs: Helion Unique Weapon: Helion Bombs Boost: Flight

S-008 SUPER-8 Height / Weight: 11.2m / 41.6t Arm: Super-8 Tentacles Legs: Super-8 Tentacles Weapon: Super-8 Homing Missile Boost: Jump

X-O WARLOCK Height / Weight: Unknown Arm: Warlock Unique Legs: Warlock Unique Weapon: Warlock Vulcan Boost: Flight

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That's a lotta mechs, huh? Before we get into what these mean machines can do, let's take a look at the controls. If looking at these non-Street Fighter, non-Darkstalkers Capcom fighting games has taught me anything, it's that Capcom weren't scared of straying from their six-button format as Cyberbots uses just four buttons- two Attack buttons, Boost and Weapon (the Attack buttons are officially referred to as Attack 1 and Attack 2 but as explained on Mizuumi, fans generally refer to these as Light and Heavy respectively). That's even less buttons than Ring of Destruction! This has a couple of immediate effects- obviously it reduces the amount of normals players have access to, but it also simplifies special move inputs ever-so-slightly as you only have to worry about the motion and not whether it's a punch or kick (only Vertical Gears owned by Treads users and one of Super-8's moves are specific to the strength level) and the Cyber EX super attacks also have a universal input, something I really appreciate so I don't have to learn a million different pretzel motions. There's simplifications in other areas too- pursuit / on-the-ground attacks as introduced in Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge, where you can attack a downed opponent, are technically here but are doubled-up as part of your jumping down + H move so you don't need to learn an otherwise-unused input for them (plus you can throw grounded enemies too, performed exactly like a normal throw) and there's no 'near / far' system for normals (the opposite of Galaxy Fight: Universal Warriors which had this for every normal!). It may seem intimidating at first with such a different control scheme from the Capcom norm, but the reduced number of normals makes this less of a learning curve on a basic level, even if it means you have less moves to work with overall.

The two buttons unique to this game are where things get really wild though, so let's start with one the game brings over from Armored Warriors, the Weapon button, with a pretty interesting implementation. These are mostly projectiles like lasers, bullets and the like with a few exceptions like Electric Field and Mine Shooter that lay a trap on the floor, working on a weapon gauge in your HUD that has to recharge before you can use it again (closer to Alien vs. Predator's weapon system compared to the limited ammo you get in Armored Warriors) and most of them allow for directional variants such as aiming in different directions or launching at different angles. While it sounds like giving everyone a projectile (some of which have homing capabilities!) is pretty over-the-top, they have some caveats- beyond waiting for the meter to recharge, the big thing is blocked weapon attacks (with very few exceptions, including Jackal's Laser Screen that uses its Bit) do no chip damage. These limits mean you can't just camp out and spam your armaments to guarantee a victory, but you can certainly use them to keep pressing at your opponent or lay traps to trip them up depending on your type of weapon, and always having some kind of projectile in your back pocket is a nice piece of your toolkit.



It's that second new button where Cyberbots really got its hooks into me, the Boost button. Mobility options are an element of fighting games I really like to see variety in- that's why I'm such a big fan of Vampire Savior, that has different movement styles for days with plenty of differences with each character- and here, the Boost function adds so much to the game as well as being thematically appropriate (they're mechs after all). You can use Boost as a shortcut for forward or backward dashing to save you from double-tapping the direction, but it's after a jump where Boost thrives, allowing for at-the-time unprecedented aerial movement to give to the entire cast of a fighting game, with only a few characters in X-Men: Children of the Atom having this sort of thing, and even then that required using up a finite resource, whereas here you just need to wait a second. Depending on your VA's leg parts (which we'll get to later), you either get an eight-way air dash, extra mid-air jumps that have the same movement properties of normal jumps or just full-on controllable flight, all of which rely on a meter that empties out once you hit your max amount of uses, recharging shortly afterwards. That's a lot of freedom and each VA even has variation within these groups as some get more dashes / jumps than others or get slightly less speed / distance out of them, meaning that while some of the basics are the same between VAs, the amount of variety gives you plenty to learn and adapt to for each one you try, and you'll eventually find one that compliments your own playstyle.

The Boost is also used for knockdown recovery, as a button prompt appears before you hit the ground- nail the timing and you'll scoot backwards as soon as you land, preventing your enemy from doing any on-the-ground stuff and giving you plenty of distance immediately, Leave it be and you'll be able to roll either forwards or backwards after a little delay like in Darkstalkers which might put you in a better tactical position, but leave you open for a pasting on the floor if your opponent's fast enough. Overall, the Boost button is an excellent addition to the game, and while it takes a little getting used to if you've been playing more modern fighters that use double-taps for air movement, once you do get to grips with it, it gives you a wonderful amount of mobility that encourages you to jockey for position and take your fight to the air, and you even have air-blocking here! This focus on air combat is a real defining feature and is probably the part that'll take you the most to get to grips with, but it means there's little out there at the time that's like it, plus it feels pretty good once you get the hang of it. The one downside to the air combat system is that not everyone has air throws, giving the VAs that do have them a bit of an advantage, but considering how early an example of a focus on air-fighting Cyberbots has, I'm not too bothered by it, it's just something you have to keep in mind.



I think the next thing to tackle is the approach to character design, as Cyberbots does something pretty unique and rather clever. Discounting the boss VAs for a moment, the default VAs have a 'base' form in Blodia, Reptos, Fordy and Guldin as they were by default in Armored Warriors with unique arms and legs (and for Reptos and Guldin, weapons- Blodia and Fordy use weapons shared by other VAs). From there, each has two variants using a unique arm (only the Laser Blade and Force Claw are shared), one of three leg parts (Treads, Turbo Jets or Insectroid) and a decent variety of weapons (only Electric Net and Vulcan Cannon are unique) for a total of twelve. You can't mix and match these, mind you, this isn't some Mortal Kombat 11-esque Custom Variations thing so arms, legs and weapons are all set to each specific VA variant, presumably to keep things at least slightly balanced- obviously, having flight as an ability would be a little much for every character. This does lose the customise-on-the-fly element from Armored Warriors, but I imagine implementing a system like that would've been a bit of a nightmare, so at least the spirit of the thing is still in the game. This also means that while you can lose your arm (it has its own meter that decreases as you take damage, especially from certain throws- this fills in for a 'dizzy' mechanic which is otherwise absent, a fact I'm glad for as I don't really like randomised dizzies!) and you have to grab it back, you can't grab your opponent's arm and swap it out, can you imagine the chaos that would cause? You'd have to go to Martial Champion with its weapon-stealing mechanic for that kind of thing. It's worth noting that aside from Gaits, none of the boss VAs can lose their arms, but that's fine, you gotta put a code in to play as them and good luck with that!

The thing is, just because parts and bases are shared doesn't mean they act completely the same. There's certainly shared normals and command normals, but they often have different properties- the VAs with Insectroid parts, for instance, all have the same down + H command normal in the air for stomping but some get more hits, and the crouching L shared between Jackal and Cyclone has different recovery frames, with Jackal's being incredibly quick and Cyclone's being a lot slower (Tarantula has the shared Fordy head-pop instead). This applies to a few shared special moves too- taking a look at VAs with Treads, the rushing attack Swordsman and Vise have differ wildly (Swordsman's version has near-full-screen range but only runs over once, while Vise has a shorter-range one that backs up over the opponent) and Lightning has an anti-air bouncing spike attack instead. There's little differences here and there, huge differences too, but it means that while you won't learn how to play as every character that has a specific part by using a VA with that part, it gives you a little base knowledge to start from as you learn the ins and outs of each machine. To be honest, it's hard to think of fighting games that have such a pool of explicitly-shared moves quite like this- the closest I can think of is the Mega Man-style weapon stealing system from Bloodstorm, or perhaps non-character-specific selectable mechanics rather than moves like the Infinity Stones in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite or the items in Dark Awake- so it's still something pretty unique to Cyberbots.



The last gameplay system to talk about is the Power Gauge at the bottom of the screen and the various mechanics that intersect with it. By this point in time, super meters were starting to get more solidified as fighting game staples but there was still room to experiment, and Cyberbots takes a few cues from Street Fighter, Darkstalkers and even Ring of Destruction and Armored Warriors for its meter. The Power Gauge, as you might expect, fills up as you land hits on your opponent and, when full, allows you to either use a Giga Crush (a 'get-off me' attack with invincibility taken straight from Armored Warriors) or a Cyber EX (a typical super move unique to each VA). Yes, this means Cyberbots has an early ancestor of a Burst mechanic from something like Guilty Gear, although the Giga Crush won't stop your opponent mid-combo, sorry. It's pretty interesting to think this mechanic is inspired by something from a scrolling brawler, seeing as it's usually the other way around with brawlers taking notes from fighters. Anyway, the rest of this system sounds pretty standard but there's a few wrinkles that make this really interesting! First, when you first fill your meter, your VA will flash for a short time, and until it ends you get an attack buff, incentivising you to hold off on spending your meter once you get it to squeeze some extra damage out of your non-Cyber EX moves. More importantly, you can charge your Power Gauge at any moment, The King of Fighters '94-style, by holding L and H- like taunting for a power buff in Ring of Destruction, this carries the risk of you losing your arm if you're hit during it but as explained on the Mizuumi's Mechanics page, you can use the Power Charge to cancel recovery time on attacks, giving you advantage and also allowing for certain combos that are otherwise impossible. The fact that trying to get your charge ready early and doing the cancel carries the possibility of losing an arm adds an interesting spin on the usual risk / reward of this kind of mechanic, and while it's tricky to master, for those who really get into the game it's an essential skill and can be very rewarding to pull off.

So... What kind of game does Cyberbots make with all of this? That's ultimately why I go over all the mechanics in detail when I'm talking about fighting games, they're interesting to talk about on their own but the real meat is what they end up creating. To me, Cyberbots is a game all about movement and mobility, about making swift moves in the air to get the drop on an opponent, keep pumelling them mid-air or to get out of harm's way quickly, and like I say, mobility options in a fighting game are what give me life. It's perhaps not as fast-paced as something like Vampire Savior or even Ring of Destruction, but this focus on moving in the air gives combat a feel quite unlike other games of the time, and it's a mechanic that gives you a lot of freedom to experiment. More importantly, it feels good and allows for lots of cool manoeuvres and close scrapes. Innovation and new ideas are grand in a fighting game just as long as they work (see also: Kaiser Knuckle's ideas that didn't quite work out) but in this case, Capcom definitely nailed it. In fact, Polar Bair's video primer highlights that Cyberbots feels like an 'anime fighting game' several years before such a genre would exist, so it's ahead of the curve for sure in that respect! I think the simplified elements from other fighting games like fewer attacks benefits the game in a way- it makes it feel even more distinct than the Boost on its own, far more its own thing, a bit like Pocket Fighter in that regard. While not as immediately accessible as that game, once you take the time to learn the Boost system and the other mechanics you can mess around with, you get into a groove with it and really start tearing those mechs up. It takes a little bit of effort and it's not going to be to everyone's taste, but once I started to understand the game better I really enjoyed my sessions with it!



In terms of presentation, Cyberbots just shows Capcom were once again at the height of their powers in this era with some incredibly detailed sprites for the VAs, all looking suitably chunky and hefty. The attention to detail with the mechs extends to even the UI, as each core type has a completely different set of meters and dials serving as your Weapon, Arm and Boost gauges which is such a cool touch, helping give these machines a little personality that can be lost a little from using mechs instead of living things. The fact it's all mechs might be a sticking point for some to be sure- there is personality here, it's just not as apparent- but the human pilots are so over-the-top that they're pretty endearing, and there's a reason so many people love Jin in the Marvel games. The backgrounds are also really worthy of praise, managing to be action-packed with something usually going on in the background but without being too distracting. One of the best is Megalopolis, a cityscape with skyscrapers getting ripped in half by your battle and a fire brigade showing up to put out fires you helped start! There's also the active volcano stage constantly spewing lava and the doomsday weapon stage where, as the fight progress, it gets closer to the Earth and your VAs start burning up on re-entry! OK, that last one might be slightly distracting to some but I think it pulls the effect off really well. The one thing I would say is that by brightening up the colour palette of everything and making the character designs more outlandish and wild (one of them is a big bearded knight complete with armour and, c'mon, Princess Devilotte de DeathSatan IX), it does lose a bit of that 'lived-in' feeling from Armored Warriors, but that's perhaps less a downgrade and more a step to the side, a different take on a similar concept. Also, similar to Pocket Fighter I wasn't feeling the soundtrack at first as it felt like it slipped into the background a bit too much, although unlike that game it did eventually grow on me, with Megalopolis and Volcano being particular favourites.

I think a way of wrapping this already-too-long article up and summarising Cyberbots is to talk about how I was feeling about the game before suggesting it for play in my weekly fighting game sessions with a close friend of mine- I was pretty intimidated by it, honestly! This was so completely different from everything else that I'd played by Capcom up to this point that I really wasn't sure where to start with this one. It took a little bit of time, some proper research into how the game is played and the available community resources, but once it started to click, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I was getting into it. There's a lot to master yet some elements that help make things slightly easier like the reduced button count, but the Boost button and all the mobility tech that comes with it make it a real delight to fight in, and the time spent honing your craft with the mechanic is worth it. Thankfully, in recent years people have taken Cyberbots to the lab, providing many of the sources I've linked to across this article, so the documentation of the game's systems and quirks is a lot better than it once was, plus the game's more available in the West than ever, providing a significantly lower barrier of entry than if you were just jumping in blind. I wouldn't say it's a game for everyone for definite- maybe you prefer having less mobility options so you know roughly where you stand in a fight, or perhaps mechs just aren't your thing and the whole premise doesn't appeal to you. However, to me it's a very solid fighter that really stands out from its contemporaries and pretty emblematic of the fact that, despite the common perception of rereleasing Street Fighter over and over again, Capcom really did branch out with their fighting games!

For being a boosting good time, Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness is awarded...

In a sentence, Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness is...
A mech-based slobberknocker with some real powerful tech in its engine.

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And now, it's that time, folks!
EXTENDED PLAY!

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Before we do anything else, let's have some links to other places to learn about Cyberbots!



First and foremost, Polar Bair's beginner tips for the game is a must-watch if you want to get a grip on the basics.

Polar Bair also did commentary on the Cyberbots tournament at EVO Japan 2024, well worth watching.

Once you're comfy with the game, you can head to Mizuumi Wiki for a more robust guide to the mechanics and moves.

Good luck, budding VA pilots!

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With that done, let's start with playing as the boss VAs in the arcade version, via arcade-history as usual.

Like other Capcom fighting games from the time, they're a real pain to enter so you'd better be quick on the draw for this.

In the short time while your VA does their victory pose after selecting them but before your character and VA appear, enter the following codes:

P-10033 Gaits - Light, Heavy, Boost, Weapon, Light, Boost
UVA-02 Helion - Up, Uo, Down, Down, Left, Right, Boost, Weapon
S-008 Super-8 - Up, Right, Down, Left, Up, Right, Light, Up, Left, Down, Right, Heavy
X-O Warlock - Left, Light, Up, Heavy, Right, Boost, Down, Weapon

The timing is pretty tight, so good luck! Also, Warlock is banned in tournament play, so don't be a dick.

One little quirk, due to how palettes work, is that P1 will always get the 'alternate' colour while P2 always has the original colour.

Sadly, the four pilots you usually see using these VAs- Chiyomaru & Tessen, SHADE, Devilotte and G.O.D.- cannot be selected in any way in the arcade game.

If you use MAME cheats to force it, the game will hang on a black screen if you try and play solo, and crash to the boot screen if you win a versus match.

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While we're still in the arcade, let's have a look at some regional differences.

Some of these I found myself, but a few were pointed out by arcade-history too.

There's not as many as you'd expect- certainly way less name changes than other Capcom games of the time- but there's a few, and this isn't counting the multiple backstory changes made that I can't really go in-depth on without getting a full translation of the Arcade Mode runs of everyone, so maybe another day (for now, the references to Santana being the leader of the Mars Revolution are definitely not in the Japanese version). One that's easy to point out is the sole name change, which is to Devilotte's lackeys- Dave was originally Dr. Stein and Xavier was Jigoku Taishi, both pop-culture references to Frankenstein and Kamen Rider respectively (as pointed out by Capcom Database).



In terms of presentaiton, the Vs. Screens went through some changes. While the Variant Armor and character names were kept the same, in the Japanese version they had fancy nameplates, all in a universal font but still nicely presented and with the code number too. All this was gone for the International versions with these being replaced by names printed in a much simpler font. Additionally, each stage when playing against the CPU has a specific title in the Japanese version, but these were removed from the International releases. Hover your mouse over the image above to see the differences for yourself. Also, the Japanese version has voice clips that play for the win quotes in player matches, and these were also removed from the International versions. That's why Santana and Bao have two voice actors listed on Behind the Voice Actors- they were replaced for the home versions!



Finally, there's an exclusive extra scene after the credits in the Japanese version titled the Powered Gear High Score Campaign, showcasing four players who submitted their scores for Powered Gear, one for each Variant Armor type. I can't really find any info on this, but from a guess it was probably some kind of competition in a Japanese game magazine- maybe Gamest?- where players would submit their scores. Those scores are now immortalised forever in its follow-up game, cute!

Oh, and contrary to popular belief, the game did not drop the Fullmetal Madness subtitle from the Japanese release.

Wikipedia used to insist the game was just called Cyberbots in Japan- this was changed as I was writing this. that wasn't me I swear!

However, the arcade and console releases show this is just not true.

Can't believe someone would just make this up, for YouTubers to repeat without fact-checking first!

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Moving on to the home ports, this is where things get interesting!

Similar to Pocket Fighter, Cyberbots was given fairly quick contemporary home ports with some nice added features, and then almost nothing for quite a while until emulated versions based on the arcade version a couple of decades and change later. Those contemporary home versions are really interesting though- they're not the most feature-rich ports but they add a significant-enough amount of extras to notice when they're gone. And yes, one of them is playable Devilotte.



Let's start with the Saturn port then, released early in 1997 exclusively in Japan.



This version was developed by... Well, this is a little confusing, because while GDRI identifies OeRSTED, a company made of ex-staff from Carry Lab and Alfa System, as the developer of the Playstation version and not the Saturn version, leaving one to assume the Saturn version was done internally by Capcom... But comparing the staff roll from both versions shows only very slight differences (Kazuhiro Komori and Mikio Kagawa in the Saturn port are listed as Kazuhiro Komori with Drill King and Okagawa Miki in the Playstation port). Of course, there's a very high possibility that Capcom simply didn't credit the non-Capcom staff in the Playstaton version, but fortunately the two ports are fairly close to one another so this isn't a huge issue, but I wanted to address it. It's just the kind of thing that bothers me, y'know?

Anyway, this Saturn port is similar to some of the earlier Capcom Saturn ports, with just Arcade, Versus (with handicap, stage selection and win / loss tracking) and Options on the main menu (not even Training!) but this adds a bit more than you'd expect. First up, the game is optionally compatible with the 1MB Expanded RAM Cartridge for better animation but is also compatible with the 4MB cart- slot one in and you'll get the option to enable 3MB RAM Mode in the Options menu, allowing for even closer-to-the-arcade animation (it's hard to see in the middle of the action, but moves like Blodia's crouching H sweep definitely look a lot smoother with 3MB RAM Mode on). Makes a change from 1MB-compatible games getting worse with the 4MB like Groove on Fight! Next, there's a fair bit of extra content, as Arcade Mode gets a voice acting added to every cutscene, additional portrait graphics and, more importantly, three new stories to play through- Chiyomaru Kagura & Tessan Hagane, SHADE and, of course, Princess Devilotte de DeathSatan IX, complete with their own voiced cutscenes and endings. The first fights in these stories even use characters not seen in the arcade game- Chiyomaru and Tessan fight each other using new art of Tessan on his own, SHADE's story kicks off with the oft-mentioned incident between him and Ken Saotome, and Devilotte battles against her own father DeathSatan the Great (in either a Warlock or a Zero-Gouki mech, more on that in a minute) as he doesn't approve of her infatuation with Gawaine. Beating these new stories unlocks that pilot's unique VA for easy selection (appearing on the VA Select screen as a separate little menu), beating all three unlocks the Warlock VA and beating any story on the default difficulty or higher without using a continue unlocks...



... G-13EX Zero-Gouki, a brand new playable VA not seen in the arcade game! Based on the Street Fighter demon known to us in the West as Akuma, it's just a gigantic mech version of the character with exactly the moves you expect with slight adjustments to fit Cyberbots (his Hadokens are just missiles that happen to look like fireballs and his Raging Demon is actually shown in full with no blackout, something not seen in the real series until Street Fighter V). Some sites like Wazap say you need to do this with Warlock or that you need to unlock the other secret VAs first, but that's not necessary- you can do it right from the start, although using Warlock sure makes it easier. It's a cute addition although Zero-Gouki isn't animated quite as nicely as the other mechs in the game and his appearance is a little strange, feeling slightly more CG than the other mechs (think Touki Densho -Angel Eyes- but not as severe). One element that the Saturn version really falls short on is the music, of all things- it uses Redbook audio for all the songs, which means that every song has to fade out before it loops, which gets a little weird in the cutscenes as you'll hear the same song fade in and out multiple times per conversation. I had to check this wasn't some bizarre emulator flub when getting screenshots but no, it happens on my real copy of the game too! Aside from that odd little blip though, this is a pretty good port that is only really superseded by later ones in terms of features arcade accurate animation.

This version also got a rather lovely big box version called The Limited Edition which included the game (with a unique manual cover), a pop-up standee of Zero-Gouki facing off against Super-8 and Cyberbots DX Secret File, a hardback book in the style of Capcom's Secret File arcade flyers. Capcom started doing these excellent flyers after Cyberbots' arcade release so it didn't get one then, but this makes up for it with 48 pages of all sorts of artwork and features (including a detailed look inside Devilotte's nap room and CG renders of Zero-Gouki). Not entirely necessary if you want to just enjoy the game on your Saturn, but for the Cyberbots connoisseur, it's a nice thing to grab if you can find one.



Next is the Playstation port which came a little later in 1997 and was also Japan-only, at the time anyway.



In terms of features, this is basically the same as the Saturn version- the extra Arcade Mode stories, the voice acting and Zero-Gouki are all present and accounted for. This actually has two slight improvements over the Saturn version- there's now a Screen Adjust option which lets you move the screen in case any of it gets cut off on your television, and the audio oddity has been fixed so music loops naturally rather than having to fade out. The main issues are, understandably, that the number of animation frames have been reduced, the sound effects are a lot crunchier and harsher and the loading times are quite a bit longer than the Saturn version. However, when it comes to animation frames, this definitely fares a lot better than some of the other CPS-II ports on the Playstation, it's certainly not in the same dire straits as something like Marvel vs. Capcom on the system. On the other hand, it doesn't have nearly as many extra features as other Capcom games had on the system- again, not even Training made it here- so it's a perfectly adequate version with a nice extra character but not a huge lot else to put it above the Saturn version aside from the music issue being fixed.

... Also, I don't know where else to put this so I'll just leave it here.

Both of these versions fix the spelling of GP-V4 G•Vise to Vice. No other versions do this.

The PS1 version also appeared on the Japanese PSN for PS3, PSP and Vita in 2011, and this was also released in the US, completely untranslated.

After that, it was pretty quiet for Cyberbots. Not much was doing, and no new ports would appear for 24 years...



... Oh, er, technically it's 22 years as the game was included on 2019's Capcom Home Arcade plug-and-play system.

That totally doesn't count, though. It also suffers from audio stuttering issues



Moving on to things that do count, in 2021, 24 years after the Saturn and Playstation ports, Cyberbots was included on Capcom Arcade Stadium for PS4, Xbox One, Switch and Steam.



This version got quickly outclassed in terms of features which we'll get to, but the aim of the Capcom Arcade Stadium series, as Gosokkyu explains, was focused on mass archival, prioritising number of games over curation. Compared to the next collection, Arcade Stadium feels more like it was designed for casual, lying-down-on-the-sofa play, which is fine too. Anyway, for this version of Cyberbots there's no online play but it has a few extra features, specifically score leaderboards, unlockable wallpapers and arcade cabinets, rewind and speed up / speed down, multiple save-state slots, special challenges like beating games on higher difficulties or higher speeds and both the English and Japanese ROMs. Additionally, Cyberbots lists the codes for the secret VAs in the manual but good luck entering them! No other fancy extras with this one I'm afraid, but it is a decent way to play some of these games, although if I understand correctly, the Playstation 4 version doesn't like arcade sticks, and introduces a little input lag when you're using them. Kind of a problem when playing fighting games but hey, Cyberbots is only four buttons, so it's not too rough to play on a modern pad!



However, if you're a bit more hardcore with your fighting games, Capcom Arcade Stadium probably isn't the version you want.

You'll want the Capcom Fighting Collection version, released in 2022 for PS4, Xbox One, Switch and Steam.



Here we go, this is the real deal. Included alongside most of Capcom's non-Street Fighter 2D fighting games (with Hyper Street Fighter II, as a treat), this emulated arcade version of Cyberbots has pretty much everything you'd want and maybe a little more. Options and features include the English and Japanese ROM, a Training Mode that was later patched to include a hitbox viewer (!), EX Options to reduce the intense flashing lights and enable easy codes the secret VAs (even with the option to specifically ban Warlock from easy selection if you want), a full gallery of key art, concept sketches, promotional material and the entire OST to listen to (with pre-order DLC including a remix of Megalopolis by CAP-JAMS, Capcom's official band) and, finally, official online play with settings to allow or disable secret VAs when creating the room. The online's not bad either! Basically, most of what you could ask for from an arcade emulation rerelease of the game.

I specify arcade here because, well, the main issue some might have with this version is something a few other games on this collection run afoul of, and it's especially noticeable here- this is the original arcade game, not the contemporary home ports. The arcade versions of these games are generally seen as the definitive ones for competitive play, and the ease of being able to select the boss VAs (and even having the option of banning Warlock!) makes this really ideal for playing properly... But you do feel the sting of the missing content with Cyberbots, with none of the extra pilots and their stories, no voice acting outside the Japanese version's win quotes and certainly no Zero-Gouki. I can understand disappointment with these features being omitted, but contrary to popular belief, adding new features to old games isn't a case of dragging files around and pressing a button, and that's not even taking into consideration balancing issues. I think the other issue I have here is that there's no proper manual on how to play the game, just a generic move list and VA-specific move list, but that's an issue I have with a lot of retro rereleases. Aside from that, until there's a rerelease that includes all the home versions as well, this is the ultimate version of Cyberbots, and definitely comes recommended.

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Ooh, this is a fun part, cameos in other games!

Cyberbots fits in a similar category to Capcom games like Red Earth and Star Gladiator for me, in that it gets references and cameos in a fair number of games but not too many. Trying to do this with something like Darkstalkers- or, heaven forbid, Street Fighter- would be way, way too much, but this series hits the sweet spot between 'there's barely any references to this' and 'there's way too dang many'. One of these nods is in fact how I learned that Cyberbots even existed in the first place! Isn't that neat?



That's the one we'll start with then, as it came first- 1996's Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. Among a roster consisting of Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge characters, Devilotte is the sole character not from either of those games, and she knows it, being a secret character accompanied by her cohorts, bringing with her a fairly overpowered Counter Gem pattern... But there's a catch, as the playable version has a handicap that reduces all of her attack power, as explained in ruyeyama's guide. Additionally, as explained in this interview translation on Shmuplations, her dropset displayed in-game isn't accurate to what she actually drops, with a developer joking that it's an allusion to Devilotte being a childish brat, literally lying to you in-game. Still, her actual pattern's pretty vicious so she might still give you an advantage over an opponent, so be sure to ask your friend very nicely if you'd like to play as her. By far the funniest part of her appearance is the fact that one of her win quotes, as seen above, seems to be making fun of the fact that Cyberbots was perhaps not the most successful game in the West. While this has the Capcom tradition of containing more win quotes in the Japanese version than the English translation, it appears from my testing that this joke is not in the Japanese version. It's a jab specifically included in the localistion. Ouch. I mean it's still funny but ouch.

Anyway... To play as Devilotte, via arcade-history, hold your Start button and move your cursor to Morrigan (P1) or Felicia (P2), press Down 13 times then when the timer hits 10, press either rotate button. As explained in this GameFAQs post, to fight against Devilotte in Vs. CPU mode, never lose a match, create at least one 20-block Power Gem, perform at least one four-chain, get at least one Super Combo Finish and win at least one round in under 60 seconds, all before Stage 7. If done correctly, as you start Stage 7, the intro will be interrupted by Here Comes a New Challenger! and Devilotte will grace you with her presence. Beat her and you'll fight whoever you were meant to fight in Stage 7 as normal. Home versions made it easier to select her- the Playstation, Saturn and Game Boy Advance versions have a 'hold a button' method unlockable in Street Puzzle Mode, the Dreamcast version lets you move the cursor off the screen to pick her, and the Capcom Fighting Collection version has an 'easy select' option that, when enabled, lets you move the cursor off the screen again.



1997's Pocket Fighter didn't bring Devilotte to its 2D fighting arena, but it had a couple of Cyberbots background cameos.

Blodia can be seen hanging out (with a Santa hat!) in the background of Toy Shop 'Dhalsim' in every version.

In the Playstation and Saturn versions, you can also see Devilotte and her crew running some kind of food stall in the background of Running Battle.

Make it to the eighth opponent to see them!



1998's Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes is almost certainly where a lot of people first learned that Cyberbots was even a thing, with Jin Saotome representing the series as a playable character and Devilotte showing up as a Special Partner. Similar to Fox McCloud in Super Smash Bros., Jin never really had much to work with in terms of moves when outside his mech and so Capcom decided to just make some stuff up, really going all-out on his hot-blooded persona with punches and kicks so hard they give off flames, a human tornado and a special 'last stand' mechanic where he gains super armour when he's the last teammate alive and down to low health. His Hyper Combos of course use Blodia, including Blodia Vulcan where he hops into the mech to shoot his opponents down and Blodia Punch where he screams Blodia's name as the mech just lamps the opponent. Great stuff. Devilotte, on the other hand, is a very useful assist as she appears with Dave and Xavier on top of a mini Super-8, poses dramatically, then explodes shortly afterwards, an attack which is unblockable. That's the power of Helldorado science!

Jin would also return for 2000's Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (by default on Naomi, unlockable on Dreamcast), but Devilotte had to sit it out. Aww.






Both 1999's SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash and 2001's Card Fighters 2: Expand Edition have the same Cyberbots cards.

Specifically, there's Character Cards for Jin Saotome (only found via Trade Machines), Blodia and Zero-Gouki (Zero-Akuma in the English version).

Also, Devilotte and her entourage appear on the Action Card Indulge and Mary appears on the Action Card Reparation.

While we're here, the DS sequel from 2006 / 2007 has the same Character Cards plus Devilotte and Mary as well as Santana on an Action Card.

(Sprite rips for the DS game taken from The Spriters' Resource.



2000's Tech Romancer port for the Dreamcast had Jin and Variant Armor Blodia II as unlockable characters- they're not in the arcade version!

Earn 50000G from the VMU Mini Games, then you can buy him. One of his specials has him throw Devilotte's Super-8 VA at opponents!



Tatsunoko vs. Capcom has a couple of Cyberbots nods in its endings in both versions of the game.

2008's Cross Generation of Heroes' ending for Doronjo has her meeting Devilotte and her gang with explosive results, while PTX-40A's ending features Blodia.



2010's Ultimate All-Stars would use similar concepts for these endings in still picture form, with PTX-40A's ending adding Santana as well.



Devilotte and her gang also make a small cameo in Joe the Condor's ending, exclusive to Ultimate All-Stars.

As our page explains, Zero-Gouki from the console ports was a potential character for the game too, but didn't make the cut.



As for 2011's Marvel vs. Capcom 3, just like Star Gladiator, you had to wait until the Ultimate update that same year for Cyberbots love.

The Heroes & Heralds mode, which has character cards to collect, has cards for Jin, Blodia and Devilotte.



Like other MvC2 characters dropped from this game, Jin has a cameo on a poster of slain and apprehended characters in the Days of Future Past stage (he was slain).



Jin also appears in Hawkeye's ending as part of the New West Coast Avengers and Devilotte gets to join some other Capcom villains in Dormammu's ending.



2012 / 2013's Project X Zone, the Namco / Capcom / Sega crossover strategy RPG, includes Devilotte (voiced once again by Etsuko Kozakura) as a Solo Unit who, when called in, attacks with weapons from her Super-8 VA as well as Mobilesuits Alpha and Beta from Side Arms, Armor Knight G Kaiser from Tech Romancer and, as a finisher, the Blodia Punch from Marvel vs. Capcom... Although Devilotte realises too late that the Blodia Punch takes her out of the fighting scene as well. She's fine though, she's tough! You can see this at 3:16 in the video above, but it should start at that timecode for you. A remix of the Super-8 theme from Cyberbots also appears as part of the soundtrack. She didn't return for the sequel, though- her role as a cameo-laden assist was filled by Captain Commando instead.



The last non-costume Cyberbots appearance to date is 2017's now-delisted Puzzle Fighter for iOS, and let's leave it at that.



If you want costumes though, 2016's Street Fighter V had a few based on Cyberbots, added throughout 2019 after the release of Arcade Edition.

Completing Extra Battles would get you a Jin costume for Ryu (January), a Devilotte costume for Menat (April) and a SHADE costume for Sagat (July).

You could also unlock the Super-8 and Helion themes from Cyberbots and Jin's theme from Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes for in-game music.

(This content was later made available as standard in the Champion Edition, so you didn't miss 'em).



When wearing the Devilotte costume, Menat's orb gets replaced with a mini Super-8 which is a cute touch.

Additionally, Ring of Arcade- a stage added for the 2022 Capcom Pro Tour- has a Blodia standee in the back as well as Jin and Devilotte cosplayers.

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Let's end with something very strange- was Cyberbots almost adapted into an anime?

Reader Jake brought this to my attention- long-standing internet rumours state the 1997 anime Next Senki Ehrgeiz was meant to be a Cyberbots adaptation.

Is this true though? I had no idea where to start looking into this, but fortunately Land of Obscusion has thoroughly looked into this subject.

The verdict is "No, but it's interesting to think about" and their analysis is worth a read if you're interested in the subject!

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Wait, no, one more thing! Cyberbots merch! Not much of it, mind, but here's what I have!



Just two Devilotte things, of course. There's a keychain based on her Puzzle Fighter appearance, complete with Dave and Xavier.

And there's also Devilotte reading the paper with a mini Super-8 from a Capcom Figure Collection series based on a Kinu Nishimura figure (images from this auction.

I put them in front of the pop-up thing you get with Cyberbots: The Limited Edition for Saturn. It's neat.

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If this was Steel Battalion, you'd have to hit the eject button before you lose your save data at this point.

Don't worry, I'm pretty sure this website won't explode. Right, Ed?