Together Retro: Metal Slug

[ExedExes]

M2 has done a lot of compilation work, primarily for Sega but also for Konami, Namco, and SNK.

So back to MS Advance. It turns out I missed a lot of cards in the first few missions. These cards are important because they provide valuable power ups such as weapon power & capacity upgrades, reduced damage in the Slug, and special abilities such as being able to use your knife on enemy armor. If you die at any point in the mission, you LOSE the cards you already picked up, so you'll have to run through the mission with a perfect performance! Some of the cards also unlock areas in previous missions, so there really is a lot more to this game than I thought.

[samsonlonghair]

Played Metal Slug on my friend's MVS. Tons of Fun! We unlocked the coin mech so we could credit spam the heck out of it without reprecussion.

I love that the end boss is basically Saddam Hussein in all but name. Does he come back in later installments?

[BoneSnapDeez]

These cards are important because they provide valuable power ups such as weapon power & capacity upgrades, reduced damage in the Slug, and special abilities such as being able to use your knife on enemy armor.

I was totally unaware of this.

[alienjesus]

I played Metal Slug 1st Mission on the Neo Geo Pocket Colour at the weekend.

So, first things first, I actually played the sequel, 2nd Mission, quite some time ago. That game definitely has a lot of refinements from this 1st entry. The controls for bombs are better, the level variety was better and there were much more levels and routes to go through.

That said, 1st Mission was pretty great too. Like the sequel, you have a health bar in this one, but dying in a mission sets you back to a checkpoint. Some levels have diverging paths - finish the mission of the level and you'll go to one level, or fail and you'll experience something else.

One or two of the bosses can be a pain in the ass, I had trouble especially with the final boss of the game. Overall though, the game is great and a must-own for the system. I'll write a bit more in the Game Beaten thread when I finally get around to updating it - I have like 9 games to ass at this point

[BoneSnapDeez]

I have like 9 games to ass at this point

Get to assin' those games man.

Think I'm gonna attempt Advance soon. I've never finished it.

[fastbilly1]

I love that the end boss is basically Saddam Hussein in all but name. Does he come back in later installments?

If I remember correctly, he is in all but the fifth one.

I beat Metal Slug 1, X, and 3, over the last week (mostly to move them to my beaten game list in Steam), they were my first times playing them solo all the way through. 3 I have to credit feed, but 1 and X are usually beaten in less than 8 credits. This time through 1 took 10 and X took 8.

[alienjesus]

I have like 9 games to ass at this point

Get to assin' those games man.

Think I'm gonna attempt Advance soon. I've never finished it.

This typo is too good to fix.

[ExedExes]

These cards are important because they provide valuable power ups such as weapon power & capacity upgrades, reduced damage in the Slug, and special abilities such as being able to use your knife on enemy armor.

I was totally unaware of this.

Always check out your cards at the end of the mission. Some may be just character art and awards for rescuing prisoners, but some can be abilities that can be turned on or off. I picked up a Stealth card that will make the Slugs invisible, but you have to turn it on by selecting the card in the menu. The weapon and armor cards will always be enabled.

[Betagam7]

I played Metal Slug 1st Mission on the Neo Geo Pocket Colour at the weekend.

So, first things first, I actually played the sequel, 2nd Mission, quite some time ago. That game definitely has a lot of refinements from this 1st entry. The controls for bombs are better, the level variety was better and there were much more levels and routes to go through.

That said, 1st Mission was pretty great too. Like the sequel, you have a health bar in this one, but dying in a mission sets you back to a checkpoint. Some levels have diverging paths - finish the mission of the level and you'll go to one level, or fail and you'll experience something else.

One or two of the bosses can be a pain in the ass, I had trouble especially with the final boss of the game. Overall though, the game is great and a must-own for the system. I'll write a bit more in the Game Beaten thread when I finally get around to updating it - I have like 9 games to ass at this point

Yeah the grenade mechanic was a little silly in First Mission, having to use the option button to toggle between grenades and your regular weapon was cumbersome. Much better in Second Mission where the button itself fires grenades.

[retrosportsgamer]

So on the NeoGeo Station games with limited credits:

Metal Slug 1 - I can comfortably get to the third boss, the dude with the gatling gun, with maybe using up a credit (namely on the 2nd boss depending on if I am able to keep the slug for long) before he just wipes me out. I've enjoyed getting better on the first two levels after just a handful of playthroughs.

Metal Slug 2 - the second boss, as you scale the wall, has wiped me out, but I think that's due to just not exhausting my bombs before I die each time.

Other Metal Slug plays:

Metal Slug X (PSOne Classic) - a sneaky good version of the game imo. Played this on my PS3, and there are no credit limits on the arcade mode so I died a ton but fed through to level 5 before pausing, and then somehow resetting the game when i returned. Obv some added challenges upgrading from 2, but it def plays better. Fun.

Metal Slug XX (XBLA) - call me old school, but I prefer my Metal Slug with just three buttons, not this nonsense (get off my lawn!). Branching paths and a bunch of features are fine, it's solid but I prefer the simpler.

Next up: Metal Slug 4 & 5 on the oXbox. One of my better flea market finds from 5 years ago, sadly lacks the official double disc XBox case. Not rare or valuable, you can easily find it for a flat $20 complete.

I've avoided the Anthology so far (have PS2 and PSP), but will eventually break it out for the other titles before month's end (I hope).