The Fictional History of Metro City!

 

As far back as I can remember, for centuries, for millennia, for many years, in the world of fiction, every comic, cartoon, anime and even video games always have a setting. Sometimes, our stories take place in real cities like New York City or Los Angeles, or taking place in fictional places like Metropolis, Cybertron or Equestria. But, there is one place that have existed for quite a long, yet confusing, time. No matter what genre we like, or what games we play or comics we read or what type of animation we watch, the one place that has such a confusing history is the fictional town known as Metro City.

No one knows who came up with the name Metro City. But for a long time, the setting of this similarly named town was used in any shape or form in all forms of media, such as gaming and in animation. Here are some examples of this similarly named town in all its forms.

Inspector Gadget: The very cartoon, if I remember correctly, was the first of many that carries the name, Metro City. In this continuity, Metro City was the home of Inspector Gadget, along with his niece Penny and their family dog, Brain, where Gadget does his usual activities like a parent (or legal guardian) would do before being called away on an assignment by Chief Quimby. Although his cases take him all over the world, but some of them take place in Metro City itself. But since then, no thanks in part by the live action films (which I elected to ignore), Metro City was renamed Riverton, OH. Moving on, from one DIC cartoon to another, I give you...

Double Dragon: We all know the history of this beat'em up series. Two brothers, fighting a group of thugs in a city to rescue the girl. Aside from the first episode (which was based on the first game), not in this cartoon adaptation. Other than Billy and Jimmy Lee getting magic swords and all, this video game-based cartoon took place in their version of Metro City. While the original game series took place in real life places (sometimes in a post-apocalyptic New York like Mad Max, and sometimes a worn-down city, riddled with crime), this version of Metro City is mostly clean and just, but does look worn out in some places, especially with the Shadow Master trying to cover it into eternal darkness. Speaking of beat'em ups, this leads us to our next one...

Final Fight: One of the crown jewels of Capcom, and one of the crown jewels of beat'em ups to come. Just like Double Dragon, this version of Metro City was riddled with crime, perpetrated by the ruthless Mad Gear Gang. But unlike Double Dragon, in this universe, Metro City had a mayor who vowed to clean up the streets, in more ways than one, in the form of retired pro-wrestler, Mike Haggar, who, along with Cody and Guy, vowed to put the beat down on the Mad Gear Gang, especially when they crossed the line when they kidnapped Haggar's daughter, Jessica, who is also Cody's girlfriend. Now, let us fast forward into the future with...

Captain Commando: Unlike Inspector Gadget and Double Dragon, this beat'em up, which features Capcom's original mascot before Megaman, has ties with the aforementioned Final Fight and takes place in Metro City in the year 2026, further in the future. In this future, Metro City has been overrun by an evil entity known as Scumicide and his pack of super-powered criminals and it's up to Captain Commando and his teammates, Baby Head, Mack the Knife and Ginzu the Ninja (Hoover, Jennety and Sho in the Japanese version) to stop them.

In short, no one knows how the name or city of Metro City came to be. All I know is, if Metro City wasn't that confusing and since we got a big imagination, this fictional town would've been a haven for all the aforementioned titles I have mentioned. Almost in a style of crossovers. No one knows what the future holds for this fictional city. Only time will tell, if the next cartoon, anime, comic or video game has another town with a familiar name...like Metro City. Until next time, stay frosty.

Saraba da (Farewell)...for now.