Game Debate #184: Metal Slug

[Reed Rothchild | 9,526]

[Webhead123 | 675]

All the Metal Slug games tend to run together in my head, so my rating is more of the series on the whole. A great game with tons of character. You can tell the developers were having a lot of fun putting this one together. I need to spend more serious time with it/them because I've never sat down to actually finish one but it's also just the kind of game that you can turn on and enjoy yourself for a few levels and turn it off feeling satisfied.

[TDIRunner | 2,737]

I've played through this game many times and it never gets old.  However, I definitely need to play a version that allows me to "put in as many quarters as needed" to beat it.  Definitely one of my favorite run and guns.  

[mbd39 | 2,020]

Awesome run n gun. The graphics and animation are a work of art. It became like the de facto successor to Contra. 9/10

 

[Tanooki | 4,933]

Take what Contra did right early on, apply that SNK magic, and there you go -- Metal Slug.  A franchise that has been pretty consistently solid over the years (at least) on their arcade hardware.  Even some of those home editions on handheld have been fantastic too.  A really nice balance of high animated detail, cute but yet serious visuals, the weird moments mixed with the grittiness of what's going on.  Great spread of weapons and in time tanks from the Metal Slug to the oddball camel with mounted cannon.  One of the best run n gun games ever made, tops Contra easily in many aspects, not just a spiritual successor to that franchise but an improvement.

[wongojack | 214]

1 hour ago, Webhead123 said:

All the Metal Slug games tend to run together in my head, so my rating is more of the series on the whole. A great game with tons of character. You can tell the developers were having a lot of fun putting this one together. I need to spend more serious time with it/them because I've never sat down to actually finish one but it's also just the kind of game that you can turn on and enjoy yourself for a few levels and turn it off feeling satisfied.

This is my experience too.  I've never finished any of them, but I can tell they're good.  Still, that doesn't really make me want to play them anymore.  I feel like I've seen everything they have to offer in just a few levels - all of 'em.

 

--- Side Note ---

The Neo Geo came at a weird time for me.  I guess I was more into high school stuff when it came out because I had absolutely no idea it ever existed until the internet.  The system had no impact on me, and I wasn't going to arcades.  I never got the fighting game bug either.  I just beat SFII on my friends SNES and went back to . . . life.

Soo - I have no nostalgia at all for Metal Slug.  I MAY have seen one of the sequels much later at a restaurant or something, but I never really tried to play a Metal Slug game until I got MAME fully running with thousands of other games.  In the context of playing any arcade game in history, Metal Slug certainly stands out with its expressive characters, excellent sounds (soundtrack?) and smooth drop-in/drop-out gameplay.  However, without the pressure of needing to add quarters or having a friend at your side to play/compete with, I'm not sure I will ever revisit Metal Slug or this genre ever again.

 

Voted 6

Edited December 30, 2023 by wongojack

[rdrunner | 422]

8/10 - Really enjoyed playing this one.  Great extension of the Contra series.  Also the soundtrack continues to rule my playlist.  Only thing that baffles me: Why can't I shoot diagonally?

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

It's probably like 8/10 but I can't differentiate these games in my mind enough. I played a lot more Metal Slug 3 because of the Xbox port and Dolphin Blue at my local arcade, which isn't Metal Slug except it is.

[Brickman | 3,984]

I’ve been playing these recently with a friend and they’re alright. They all seem to blur into one and got really repetitive and boring. The art is amazing though and some of the boss designs are really interesting and fun.

I went with a 7/10. Run n gun games aren’t really my thing.

[Tulpa | 3,494]

On 12/30/2023 at 10:26 AM, wongojack said:

The Neo Geo came at a weird time for me.  I guess I was more into high school stuff when it came out because I had absolutely no idea it ever existed until the internet.  The system had no impact on me, and I wasn't going to arcades.  I never got the fighting game bug either.  I just beat SFII on my friends SNES and went back to . . . life.

I think that was most people's experience. The Neo Geo AES in 1991 was $400 for the console by itself, which is close to $900 today (the "gold" system with a pack in was $650, almost $1500 today.) Games were $200, which would be $450 per game in 2023. At those prices, very few had one. I think most people's exposure to Neo Geo was the MVS arcade system at their local pizza parlor or bowling alley.

Edited December 31, 2023 by Tulpa

[Tanooki | 4,933]

I only ever saw the things sitting (the box at least) on the floor at like Software Etc and other game dedicated stores.  They rarely moved, got dusty, then they made room for affordable stuff that actually moved.  A small space was kept as a select few games came in but even they knew wasting a lot of space on a AES cart was madness vs a SNES game given the good size difference in boxes and largely so the price.

NeoGeo I have had a care about since 1990 when it appeared as it happened to show up at the pizza place we always ate at, and another local burger joint too.  That's largely why I care more for the non-fighting stuff.  Between them you had Baseball Stars, NAM, Magician Lord, Bust a Move, Samurai Shodown, Fatal Fury, League Bowling, Cyber Lip, Art of Fighting, World Heroes, Eightman, and so on.  Always loved throwing a few dollars at the thing, also did at the one at my college rec room which had Bam, Samurai Shodown 3 and various other titles along with Metal Slug.  Even since the 90s I wished I could afford the home unit, then the arcade one on the front and well into the back end of that thing vanishing.  It's why when I had an opportunity in the mid 2010s I bought one.   And it came with metal slug 1 and 2.

[DarkTone | 984]

7.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

My only complaint is the inability to hold your aim diagonally; add that in and I'd give it a ten...

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

It's a damn good game.  One of my favorites when I boot up my MVS.  But it's a run and gun, not the type of game I like to revisit a million times, so I gave it a 7.

[NostalgicMachine | 235]

8/10 for me!

[fox | 1,667]

Fantastic animation, fun weapons and vehicles, cool stage gimmicks, non stop action.

I gave it an 8 but that is just because I played X and 3 more due to their ports.  But the original cannot be missed.

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

I gave it a quick 5 based on the description. It's not something I ever go out of my way to play. Honestly, I thought I would've enjoyed the metal slug games more when I got turned into them on the OG Xbox but I just never got into them. The whole run n gun genre is tough for me to really get invested in which is weird bc I like platformers and shoot em ups.

5/10  

Edited December 31, 2023 by RegularGuyGamer

[Sumez | 2,951]

Metal Slug is great. Considering how few great run'n'guns even exist if you ignore everything Contra, that by default puts Metal Slug right at the spot as the other major franchise of the genre.

The original three games made by the original team of course excel in their fantastic presentation, great graphics and music, and absolutely fantastic pixel art animation that's still unmatched even to this day when that has become a trend. Sure, Blasphemous looks pretty good but have you seen Metal Slug? But outside of that they are also really, really expertly made, with a good sense of detail that balances super snappy gameplay alongside the pretty artwork.

The first game is far from my favourite though. It still retains much of its design from when it was intended to be an all-vehicle game where you'd be riding the tank the whole time, like a spiritual successor to In the Hunt's submarine.

But the problem is that the tank segments in Metal Slug 1 are by far the worst part of the game - they last for a vast majority of your play time, and while you're in the tank you're pretty much invulnerable. You can take hits but will find a gas refill eventually. So once you get the tank in a stage, the rest is just literally tanking through the remainder of it, not really needing to play well. And in some stages you get it almost immediately.
In the sequels, tank sections are much less frequent, don't last the entire stage out, and are also much better balanced to remain challenging while you are piloting one.

The crowning moment of Metal Slug 1 is the final stage, which is a cut above the rest of the game. The bridge fight is some seriously intense run n gun action at the absolute top of its game, and even managing the tank once you do get it for the final stretch before the boss, becomes a challenge of its own, because you pretty much need to keep it alive in order to survive some of his attacks!

If this poll had been about Metal Slug X my rating would probably be a whole two points higher.

Edited January 2 by Sumez

[GPX | 1,369]

I feel it’s like a spiritual successor to both Contra and Ghouls n Ghosts. Good amount of running, gunning and jumping; mixed with a bit of dry humour, and a great co-op munching machine back in those days!

[G-type | 2,481]

I probably played this at the arcade before, but I don't remember.. looks like a cool game though.