Metal Slug
Year Of Release: 1996
Studio: SNK
Description
Metal Slug is seen by many as the poster child for the Neo Geo. This first game in the series was released into arcades on the Neo Geo MVS hardware in 1996. The game at the time just blew gamers minds with its crazy sense of humour and its amazing graphics that made it looked like a hand drawn cartoon. The game was insanely popular and it made many people more interested in the Neo Geo.
Presentation wise, you really cannot say a bad thing about this game. The graphics even nearly 20 years later still hold up. The game uses hand drawn animation for its sprites and as a result the whole world the game is set looks like it is part of a high end animated movie. You see not only does this game look amazing in still pictures, the animation is just incredible with the characters all having their own little personalities that is sure to bring a smile to your face………. As you are watching them burn to death! The story of the game sees and evil general called, Morden lead his rebel army to try and overthrown the various governments of the world. He plans to do this with his all-terrain tank called, Metal Slug. You are part of an elite team than need to put a stop to him and this Metal Slug technology. For a side scrolling action game the plot is actually pretty darn good.
The game play of Metal Slug is that of a side scrolling run and gun game. The game play is actually very basic, but it’s also a great deal of fun and this fun is what kept people pumping in money to the arcade. You need to kill what feels like a never ending horde of enemies. You can shoot them, but you also have a melee attack as well. One of the things that makes, Metal Slug such a fun game is that while it is a challenging game. It is also very far. For example you do not die by just walking into an enemy, they have to actually attack you. As well as guns and knives, you also can jump in armoured vehicles as well which make you more powerful in attack and improve your defence as well. The levels are varied ranging from forests, to icy valleys to military bases. Once you make it to the end of the level you need to take on a much tougher boss. Metal Slug may not have rewritten the rule book on run and gun games, but the fact it is so much fun more than makes up for it.
Current High Score: 2,683,030 by Cliff Reese
Related Titles
Metal Slug is best known for being a Neo Geo game, but this first game in the series was actually also ported to the Sony Playstation, Sega Saturn and the Neo Geo CD as well.
As the game was a huge hit, Metal Slug would become a franchise which would see seven games in the main series be released. With the last game, Metal Slug 7 being released on the Nintendo DS in 2008.
The series would also get a few spin offs such as the enhanced remakes of Metal Slug X and Metal Slug XX. The Metal Slug “mission” series for the Neo Geo Pocket. An attempted reboot of the series as a 3rd person action game was attempted on the Playstation 2 in 2006, but was not very popular or successful.
Recently the first game in the series has picked up a whole new bunch of fans thanks to its release on the Nintendo Virtual Console, Playstation Network and the iOS store.
