Play Metal Hawk Online

Metal Hawk is this rad old-school arcade shooter from Namco where you pilot a helicopter that actually feels heavy—none of that floaty nonsense. You’re scanning the radar at high altitude, then diving straight into the action to blast enemy bases before time runs out. The controls take a second to click (that altitude switch is weird at first), but once it does, there’s something satisfying about how deliberate every move feels.

The Arcade Archives version nails the original’s chunky pixel explosions and that faint hum of arcade cabinet noise in the background. You can tweak difficulty or even mimic the slightly blurry CRT screen if you’re feeling nostalgic. And yeah, there’s online leaderboards, but honestly? I keep coming back just to beat my own high score while pretending I’m dumping quarters into a machine circa 1988.

It’s in six languages, but you’ll probably just mash buttons until something blows up anyway.