79. Wolf Fang (Data East, Arcade (PS3), 1991)

Wolf Fang (released in North America as Rohga: Armor Force) is a horizontally scrolling shooter featuring anime style giant robots that is focused on customization. You can select your robot's special attack, close range attack, and mobility from a set of 4 parts each for a total of 64 options. I fount the more mobile robots to fare much better, since I could dodge with more ease. I also found the beam sword to be the most effective close range weapon, but maybe that was just because it was the easiest to see. There are also weapon powerups and about 5 different main weapons that you can switch between by picking up supply drops.

Gameplay is decently similar to something like Metal Slug, though here isn't really much platforming and jumping is mostly used to avoid enemy shots. A really nice touch is that when you are out of health, your pilot ejects from your robot and acts as a last chance to keep your credit going. I actually had to eject toward the end of a boss fight and it felt great being able to finish the boss off as a tiny little jetpack guy, since you are naturally harder to hit in this form.

Wolf Fang offers you easy or hard levels to select a couple times, each leading to a branching story path. I chose all the easier levels, as the game is pretty difficult, even on easy mode. This lead me to what I assume is the worst ending, with my pilot abandoning his robot. The game is short enough and has enough variety to it that I can see myself coming back to play through a more difficult route, but this is not going to be a staple that I come back to repeatedly.

4/5, cool customizable robot shooter