Mutation Nation

• Title — Mutation Nation • Developer — SNK • Publisher — SNK • Producer — Eikichi Kawasaki • Designer — Kenji Ishimoto • Programmer — Akio Ooi • Artist — J. Mikami Masato Miyoshi R. Miyazaki • Composer — Masahiko Hataya • Platforms — Arcade, Neo Geo AES, Neo Geo CD • Released — Arcade16 March 1992 Neo Geo AES17 April 1992 Neo Geo CD • Genre — Beat 'em up • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Arcade System — Neo Geo MVS

• Illustration — Gameplay screenshot showcasing Ricky performing a charged special explosion attack against an enemy. One or two players (Player 1 as Ricky and Player 2 as Johnny) fight their way through the six levels of various mutated and mechanical enemies, each level containing one or more sub-bosses before an actual boss appears at the end of each stage. The game plays close to the usual beat 'em up mold allowing the player to utilize various combos, jumping attacks, throws and special moves to utilize on the opposition. Rather than the standard fare of allowing players to pick up objects to use as weapons against the enemy, Mutation Nation instead uses a system where the player can pick up one of four elemental spheres that allow the player the ability to unleash screen-filling super attacks. There are also neutral spheres that will give life back to the player and increase the number of super attacks that they can use.

These are the various elemental spheres that can be picked up by the player and used for special attacks. Each sphere is represented by a letter and color that helps the player tell them apart. If the players do not have any spheres available, they can instead sacrifice part of their life meter to unleash a flurry of attacks. • Light - yellow with the letter A written on it. The light sphere unleashes the fastest but also least damaging attack in the game. The player splits into two bodies of light that shoot out in opposite directions before coming back together to reform the body after the enemies have been knocked down. • Fire - this sphere is represented by the letter B and has a reddish color. It unleashes a large explosion from the player's hands which does heavy damage to everything on screen. • Lightning - the lightning sphere has a blue color and the letter C. The attack it produces is by far the slowest attack in the game, but the player is invincible for the duration of the entire animation. The character will jump up off screen and come down a few moments later hitting the ground to create lightning bolts that go off in all directions for moderate damage. • Wind - the last sphere is green and has the letter D on it. It unleashes the most powerful attack in the game where the player turns into a massive green tornado that will travel back and forth over the screen, mowing down everything in its path and often hitting more than once for massive damage.

In the year 2050, a mad scientist's superiors shut down his bizarre biological experiments. His lab later explodes, however, and the scientist himself mysteriously disappears. Several years later, new buildings exist within the forgotten slums where the experiments took place, and a genetic virus has suddenly started spreading among the tenants, turning them into vicious mutants. Two young locals, Ricky Jones and Johnny Hart, return to town after having been away for a long time, and when they see the chaos that's happening, they take it upon themselves to clean up the town before the mutants spread across the nation. Along the way, they come across not only the mutants, but also robotic foes that the mad scientist has created to stop them.