Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness (サイバーボッツ フルメタルマッドネス), also known as simply Cyberbots (サイバーボッツ), is a 1995 two-dimensional fighting video game produced by Capcom. It is a spin-off of the beat'em up game Armored Warriors and consists of versus battles between mechas, each with their own human pilots. Built on the CP System II arcade board, it saw limited distribution in arcades outside Japan; the game was ported to the Sega Saturn and PlayStation home consoles domestically featuring additional content. With the exception of an untranslated PlayStation Network release in 2011, none of the console ports were released overseas. The arcade version of Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness was released as part of Capcom Fighting Collection (2022) on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. The game was succeeded by Tech Romancer (1998).

Gameplay

The premise in Cyberbots is similar to Armored Warriors, albeit it features a maximum of two playable characters on screen as opposed to three. Similar to the Armored Core series, different legs (which affect movement abilities), arms (which affect reach and melee capabilities) and weapons can be mixed and matched between the selectable robots available to the player. Gameplay in Cyberbots is similar to other Capcom-created fighting games, with a medium-sized command list of executing various attacks available to each individual robot. Battles are a duel-formatted affair with players and the computer fighting against one another to proceed to the next battle. Each robot also has a gauge which is charged with energy every time it hits an opponent or the attack buttons are pressed simultaneously. Once the gauge is fully charged, the player can execute a "super special".

Plot

In the game the player first chooses the pilot and then the mecha (Valiant/Variant Armor or VA for short) they'll use to fight. The mechas determine the gameplay of the game, but the pilot is what determines the storyline the player will see. Near the end of the 21st century Earth begins to become over populated leading to many people living in man made space colonies. The primary army of Earth, "Earth Force", has been conducting experiments and their work, along with the actions of the playable characters will determine the future of Earth.

Characters

Playable characters

Console-exclusive playable characters

Non-playable characters

Ports

The Sega Saturn version of the game uses the 1 MB RAM expansion cartridge and includes a code which makes the Akuma mech playable. Both PlayStation and Sega Saturn versions had voices for characters in the story mode.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness on their June 1, 1995 issue as being the thirteenth most-popular arcade game the previous two weeks, outperforming titles such as Virtua Fighter. Reviewing the arcade version, a Next Generation critic summarized that the game "lacks the charm, craze - and gameplay - for which [Capcom] is known." He particularly criticized the game concept and limited number of combo moves, and added that "when the bots do attack, it looks like a bad disco contest."