Namco's Japan-only 1988 multi-directional shooter arcade game Metal Hawk is divided into eight different areas: The First Point, Canal Zone, The Taskforce, Fortress in the Sky, Tank Buster, Attack the Airbase, Cross Fire and The Last Target. The image on the right is of the game's overworld map, which appears between each area to show you which area you will be visiting next. You must score a certain amount of points in each area within a preset time limit in order to move on to the next area - and the amount of time you will have to clear each area depends on what the arcade owner has set the "Timer Table" option in the dip switch menu to. A - 130 seconds, B - 120 seconds, C - 110 seconds, D - 100 seconds. The game will start automatically as soon as you have inserted your coin - but just before you do so, there are a few things you should know:
- If you are using MAME to play this game (which you almost certainly will be unless you are a native inhabitant of the "Land of the Rising Sun"), you will not be able to control Metal Hawk through the game's default settings. You must put the game into Service Mode by pressing F2 and set the "Motion of Cabinet" dip switch to "Off" in order to fix this problem.
- Also, if your version of MAME is lower than 0.89u2 (released on 3rd December 2004), the game will display the text "2C" after its startup tests have finished instead of the "legal notice" that is typical of Namco's Japan-exclusive arcade games.