Metal Slug (series)

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Metal Slug is a series of run and gun video games first released on Neo-Geo arcade machines and game consoles created by SNK. It was also ported to other consoles, such as the Sega Saturn, the PlayStation, the Neo-Geo Pocket Color and more recently, the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360. There is also an anthology of the first 7 games in the main series (including Metal Slug X) available for the Wii, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation 2.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

The gameplay of the series is characteristic of run and guns: The enemies come in hordes, the weapons have high fire rates. All of these characteristics come from the Contra series, which the gameplay is based on. Metal Slug however takes the concepts introduced in Contra and expands upon them. First and foremost is the ability to perform melee attacks. In most run and guns, contact with an enemy leads to immediate death. In this series, contact only results in either party's death if an attack is performed. This leads to the ability for the player to run in and use melee attacks to take down a number of troops.

The SV-001 is the main vehicle of the Metal Slug franchise. It is a small funny-looking, silver or gunmetal grey tank (SV is short for "Super Vehicle"). The tank is armed with one cannon and twin vulcan cannons. The vehicle can jump and crouch. Crouching opens a hatch on the top of the tank through which grenades can be thrown. The grenades are independent of the cannon's ammo system. The vehicle can run over infantry and perform a suicide attack, with the driver jumping clear and the tank ramming into and exploding upon the target. The vehicle can take three direct hits before it is destroyed. The enemy chaser variant has a shield that must be destroyed before the vehicle can be destroyed. It is propelled by caterpillar treads. Over time, these specifications changed into any vehicle armed with a vulcan cannon and a cannon variant suited to the role of the vehicle, and propelled suitably for that vehicle's environment. In Metal Slug 6 (and the home version of Metal Slug X, 3, 4, 5), Tarma can lock the vulcan cannons into one position and fire continuously. The "slug gunner" is considered the epitome of slug evolution.

[edit] Plot

[edit] Setting

The first game's story involved the Peregrine Falcon (PF) Squad, a small but skilled team of soldiers serving under the Regular Army's special operations division, who fight against the army of General Donald Morden in order to prevent a massive coup d'etat and the creation of a New World Order under General Morden. Later games featured characters from the Sparrows Unit, which is under the control of the Regular Army's intelligence division. In the games following the first, the PF Squad also battles an alien threat to Earth (the Mars People), as well as several other supernatural threats including yetis, zombies, ambulatory Venus flytraps, giant crabs and mummies. Outlandish elements were removed from the fourth game to return to the feel of the original title, which resulted in poor critical and commercial reception. The fifth moved to the motif of modern guerrilla warfare, leaving only traces of the series signature quirky humour and paranormal enemies (except for the final boss). Metal Slug 6 returned to the plot of the first three installments, bringing back Morden's Rebel Army and the Mars People.

[edit] Characters

Marco Rossi and Tarma Roving were the first playable characters, but each was reserved solely to the first and second player, respectively. In the second installment, Eri Kasamoto and Fiolina "Fio" Germi were added to the cast. These four are considered by fans to be the quintessential Metal Slug team. In the fourth game, Nadia Cassel and Trevor Spacey made their debut, replacing Eri and Tarma, respectively, but have not returned for later games. Eri and Tarma returned in the fifth game. The Game Boy Advance edition of the game features two new characters specific to that title: PF squad trainees Walter Ryan and Tyra Elson. King of Fighters/Ikari Warriors characters Ralf Jones and Clark Still appear in Metal Slug 6, released for the Atomiswave hardware in February 2006. They will also be playable characters in the upcoming installment, Metal Slug 7.

Marco Rossi
His full name is Marchrius Dennis Rossi. He is the main character and protagonist of the series, and has appeared in all the titles. He comes from the United States and has Italian ancestry. Born in Idaho, Marco is a computer expert who particularly enjoys writing computer viruses and programs; one virus he wrote managed to penetrate all of the US Military's defenses and nearly caused the launch of nuclear missiles. Marco graduated from Military's Special Technologies college and went on to serve in the Peregrine Falcon Special Forces Squad (PF Squad), starting in Metal Slug as First Lieutenant. As of Metal Slug 6, he is a Major. Marco is a gentle man but capable of falling into uncontrollable rages; the series' villain General Morden (who is responsible for the deaths of dozens of Marco's friends and colleagues in the PF Squad) will trigger these if he is even so much as mentioned.
Marco also appears in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, being the first time he is seen in a fighting game. In the history of this game, Marco joins to Battle Coliseum tournament to stop once again General Morden, who's now financed by WAREZ Corporation to make new plans to conquest the world.
Tarma Roving
His full name is Tarmicle Roving III. Born the son of a distinguished soldier in Hokkaidō, Japan, Tarma joined the army's training college for special tactics and combat straight out of Junior High. When he was 20 he rescued the president and used this to get himself transferred to the Peregrine Falcon Squad (PF Squad) where he became best friends with Marco Rossi and upon learning Marco was to go and fight in the Great War (a fictional battle in the future) he volunteered and fought and survived the war alongside his friend leading to his promotion to Captain, the rank he still holds as of Metal Slug 6.
Tarma is an expert motorcycle engineer and builds custom bikes for fun in his spare time. He had intended to retire and set up a shop, but relented to his superiors' pleas and stayed in the army.
Official Metal Slug 6 artwork for Fio
Official Metal Slug 6 artwork for Fio
Fiolina Germi
Fio is the only daughter of a wealthy Italian family. After she was born, her mother was unable to have any more children, making Fio the first heiress in the history of her family, as she had no older siblings. Throughout the generations, the Germi family has made a tradition of sending their eldest child into the military; Fio upholds this tradition willingly, though she has aspirations of becoming a doctor someday, having studied chiropractics, acupuncture, and moxibustion in college.[1] Fio is a Master Sergeant of the Intelligence Agency's S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S, which serves as a special forces group for the government. As with her comrades in Metal Slug 2 and beyond, she had risen through the ranks for her service against General Morden. She has also appeared in the King of Fighters series, first as a Striker in The King of Fighters 2000, and then being playable for the first time in KOF: Maximum Impact 2.
Eri Kasamoto
Eri is an orphaned, abandoned on the steps of a church. Once she was mature enough, she fled the church and became a leader of street kids. The Intelligence Agency of the Government Forces noticed her combat skills and recruited her. She went on to receive special spy training for those with special talent and successfully completed a number of missions as a first rate agent. But Eri, weary from the series of missions involving assassinations and plots that took a hard toll on her conscience, requested to be transferred to the Special Ops Squad S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S. Her request, which normally would go ignored, was specially granted given her achievements and superior abilities. She exhibited her abilities perfectly in the suppression of Morden’s second coup d’etat to stop it in its tracks. For her efforts, she received a promotion to sergeant second-class.
Allen O'Neil
Allen O'Neil is a sub-boss, who appears in all of the games except Metal Slug 5, and in Metal Slug 6 he appears as A in the 2nd level. He has been fighting the Regular Army High Command since the first game. He taunts the player with the phrases "C'mon, boy", "Go home to mommy", and "you're mincemeat" (or minced meat), as well as maniacal laughter. Upon defeat he always utters "See you in Hell!" He uses an M60 machine gun, a knife, and blue grenades that erupt in an angry red flame upon detonation. Despite the fact that Allen clearly meets his end at the conclusion of every encounter, usually in a gruesome manner, the game makers have humorously brought him back in each new iteration of the series. An interview with the game-makers, which is unlockable in Metal Slug Anthology, reveals that the only thing that keeps Allen alive besides his muscles and guts is his devotion and will to return home to his wife and son after a hard day of fighting.
Allen aids the player aboard the Mothership in MS3 (unless the Metal Slug employed earlier is still surviving and in current use), laughing all the while. It should be noted that despite how strong he is against the player(s) in MS3 and before, his strength is much less on the Mothership than usual. One burst shot from his M60 cannot kill a clone by itself. He also has less "Life", and stands still against the hordes of clones. Thus, it does not take much for the clones to finish Allen, even by melee attacks. Because of this vulnerability, it can be assumed he's more of a decoy while the player assaults the clones.
Allen appears for the final time in MS4, as a boss in Mission Two and during the Final Mission, where it is revealed that this Allen is in fact a Terminator-like android possibly built by the rogue scientist who is the main villain in MS4. It should be noted, however, that using a similar process, the same scientist was successful in creating a mass produced Robot Morden Army that led people to believe Morden was behind the Amadeus Syndicate. Possibly to frame him for the scientist's crimes. Unfortunately these mechanical incarnations were even weaker than their flesh & blood counterpart, having the weakness of falling after a few well placed shots from a simple handgun.
Mars People
The Mars People are aliens from space that are in a plot to take over Earth in the Metal Slug universe. They are similar to squids, using their tentacles as a form of movement, and a strange fighting style which involves gas and a laser pistol. In Metal Slug 2, they appeared as enemies near the climax of the game, but they were defeated by the alliance consisting of the Peregrine Falcon Strike Force and General Morden's army. They tried again in Metal Slug 3, abducting Morden and one of the members of the Peregrine Falcons, only for the Peregrine Falcons and Morden's army to take the fight to their mothership and defeat them. In Metal Slug 6, the Mars People, Morden, as well as his rebel army and the Ikari Warriors, join forces with the Peregrine Falcons to fight a new alien invader who, ironically, feed on the Mars People. In the game, after Stage 2, the Mars People become the players' allies; some are even hostages.
General Morden
General Donald Morden is the main antagonist (villiain) of the Metal Slug franchise. He is described as "...the Antichrist..." by the Regular Army High Command. He is depicted as a bumbling madman wearing a beret, eyepatch, and bomber jacket, and carrying a bazooka, not to mention bearing a resemblance to Saddam Hussein. He is only not shown in Metal Slug 5. He apparently mends his ways by the end of Metal Slug 6, as he rescues the player(s) after s/he is knocked off a wall by an explosion caused by the huge enormous alien end boss. His army is the main force of opposition in the Metal Slug games, with the exception of Metal Slug 5 and 6. He commands the ever loyal Rebellion, and in Metal Slug 4 he was thought to be behind the Amadeus Terror Syndicate.
He is quite ill-fated, with problems ranging from major injury, such as having a steel table crush him (to the dismay of his soldiers) and being dropped from his Chinook helicopter to minor embarrassment, such as being hung out of a flying saucer donned in only his ever-present hat, eyepatch, and a pair of pink boxer shorts and having his pants torn off.
In Metal Slug 2 Morden makes an alliance with the Mars People to help achieve his goal of world domination. Unfortunately he was betrayed and on that occasion and one other was abducted, abused and thoroughly humiliated by the Martians.

[edit] Development

The aspect of the Metal Slug series was to create a simple, but exciting side-scrolling shoot-em-up game with a very easy control scheme (one joystick and three buttons). The same team that created Metal Slug for the Neo-Geo previously created a handful of games for Irem which have very similar graphics and gameplay. Cyber Lip (1990) had some of the core developers as the original Metal Slug. Gunforce (1991) and In the Hunt (1993) had noticeably similar gameplay, with graphics that have a slight resemblance to Metal Slug. Gunforce 2 (1994) not only had similar gameplay but the sounds of dying soldiers were almost exactly the same as Metal Slug. Because of this, some fans refer to Gunforce 2 as "Metal Slug Zero".

[edit] Games

Screenshot from Metal Slug 3
Screenshot from Metal Slug 3
  • Mobile platforms
    • Metal Slug
    • Metal Slug Mobile
    • Metal Slug Mobile: Impact
    • Metal Slug STG
    • Metal Slug: Allen's Battle Chronicles (Part 1)
    • Metal Slug: Allen's Battle Chronicles (Part 2)
    • Metal Slug Survivors
    • Metal Slug Soldiers
    • Metal Slug Warriors
    • Metal Slug Mars Panic

[edit] References

  1. ^ SNK Playmore. Fiolina Germi's Official Character Profile (English). Metal Slug 10th Anniversary Official Website. Retrieved on February 27, 2008.

[edit] External links

[edit] Official homepages

Site Creator Language Comments
Metal Slug Project SNK Japanese / English Contains original homepages of Metal Slug X, 3 and 2nd Mission. Now archived at Metal Slug Database
Metal Slug 1st Mission SNK Japanese Now archived at Metal Slug Database
Metal Slug 2nd Mission SNK Japanese Now archived at Metal Slug Database
Metal Slug X Agetec English Now partially archived at Metal Slug Database
Metal Slug 3 SNK Playmore USA English N/A
Metal Slug 3 Ignition Entertainment English N/A
Metal Slug 4 MEGA Enterprise Korean First version of www.metalslug4.co.kr. Now archived at Metal Slug Database.
Metal Slug 4 MEGA Enterprise Korean / Japanese / English New version of www.metalslug4.co.kr. Now archived at Metal Slug Database.
Metal Slug 4 SNK Playmore Japanese N/A
Metal Slug 4 Ignition Entertainment English N/A
Metal Slug 5 SNK Playmore Japanese N/A
Metal Slug 5 Ignition Entertainment English N/A
Metal Slug 4/5 SNK Playmore USA English N/A
Metal Slug 6 SNK Playmore Japanese N/A
Metal Slug 6 SEGA Japanese N/A
Metal Slug 3D SNK Playmore Japanese N/A
Metal Slug Advance SNK Playmore Japanese N/A
Metal Slug Advance SNK Playmore USA English N/A
Metal Slug Advance Ignition Entertainment English N/A
Metal Slug Type-A SNK Playmore Japanese Homepage for Metal Slug Pachinko machine
Metal Slug 10th-year anniversary site SNK Playmore Japanese / English N/A

[edit] Publishers, developers, & distributors

Site Language Comments
SNK Playmore Japanese Developer & distributor of the Metal Slug franchise, as well as the main license holder
MEGA Enterprise Korean Developer & distributor of Metal Slug 4
I-Play English Publisher & distributor of Metal Slug Mobile
Agetec English Former distributor of the discontinued Playstation version of Metal Slug X
SNK Playmore USA English Distributor of SNK Playmore titles within Northern Americas
Ignition Entertainment English Distributor of SNK Playmore titles within European Union
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Metal Slug video games