Hamster has revealed that next week's Arcade Archives title will be the Taito arcade shoot 'em up Metal Black (as spotted by Gosokkyu). It will land on PS4 and the Nintendo Switch eShop on November 17th.
In case you're unfamiliar, Metal Black is a scrolling shooter that was released into arcades back in 1991. It was later ported to Sega Saturn in 1996 and has since appeared on a couple of compilations like Taito Legends 2 on PS2, PC, and Xbox.
The game features a dark plot about humanity on the brink of extinction after an alien attack. Ignoring a peace treaty between Earth's remaining diplomats and the invading force, a lone pilot steals a 'Black Fly' space craft, based on the enemy's weapons, and takes the fight to the aggressors once again.
Takatsuna Senba was the game's planner/designer. He was also previously the planner/co-planner for Taito's Gun Frontier and Darius II. In an interview with the Japanese magazine Continue in 2001 (as translated by Shmupulations), he gave a little more information about the meaning behind the game and the visual storytelling tricks he employed.
"The early draft of the story for Metal Black had more expansive lore and setting, but of course there should be a way to express that through visuals. That's why, the first stage of Metal Black, it doesn't really match the rest of the setting.
"However, in order to convey the sense of "dissonance" with reality that's found in the later stages, it was necessary to first show players the familiar Japan they know—Shinjuku being attacked by a giant monster, that kind of thing. By leading with that imagery, it makes the themes in the second half of the game hit harder."
We recommend checking out the rest of the Shmupulation translation for more insight into the Metal Black's creation. Though if you plan to pick up the game next week, it might be one to bookmark for now, due to discussing spoilers for its endings. Metal Black will be sold from respective digital storefronts from next Thursday.