Metal Slug Anthology - Functional differences between PSP and PS2 versions?

[Shulamana]

So I got Metal Slug Anthology on PSP a few weeks back, and I love the games themselves, but there are some issues I have:

1) The games encourage me to be a bit more rough with my PSP than I would prefer.

2) The game pauses to load from the UMD constantly, making the screen go dark and really interrupting gameplay a lot, for example every time you change your choice of character from the menu when you die in the games that allow you to play as different characters.

Does the PS2 version of this collection have similar issues with loading? If not, I'm probably going to sell my copy for the PSP and buy the PS2 version instead.

[markusman64ds]

I heard the Wii version was the best version. I have the Wii version and it has none of this loading you speak of. There is also no slowdown.

EDIT: I thought you were talking about SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1.

[Kitsune Sniper]

So I got Metal Slug Anthology on PSP a few weeks back, and I love the games themselves, but there are some issues I have:

1) The games encourage me to be a bit more rough with my PSP than I would prefer.

2) The game pauses to load from the UMD constantly, making the screen go dark and really interrupting gameplay a lot, for example every time you change your choice of character from the menu when you die in the games that allow you to play as different characters.

Does the PS2 version of this collection have similar issues with loading? If not, I'm probably going to sell my copy for the PSP and buy the PS2 version instead.

The PS2 version has input lag AND it has the same load issues. Terminal Reality can't code for shit.

Just get the Wii version, folks here think their SNK compilations there are decent.

[Leo_A]

The Wii version I believe has no Classic Controller support (Nintendo wanted that controller limited to the Virtual Console early on to force support for the Wiimote). And the only controller option with no motion implimentation was GameCube controller support. Yet only the analog stick works. Something to keep in mind.

I don't recall any discussion about the Wii version being superior, but SNK Arcade Classics 1 was much better done on the Wii so I wouldn't be surprised if it's true. All were done by Terminal Reality, but in SNK Arcade Classics 1 case at least, they did a better job on the Wii by far (I assume the extra power of the Wii helped their shoddy programming to not be so troublesome).

Not being a huge Neo Geo fan or a huge fan of Metal Slug, the PS2 version has met my needs pretty well as a casual fan of both (Unlike SNK Arcade Classics 1 on the PS2 which disappointed me at every corner, such as when I first loaded up Shock Troopers which was the main reason I wanted it in the first place...was so poorly done that it was obvious even if you had never played it before that it wasn't right). I don't really notice the input lag, the games control, look, and sound fine to me, I'm able to use a nice d-pad or arcade stick, and the loading doesn't really negatively affect them for me on the PS2 (And I assume is much less than the PSP port).

Instead of going out later and buying the Wii version like I did with SNK Arcade Classics 1, the PS2 version has sufficed for me for Metal Slug Anthology.

Edit - Just ran through stage 1 of Metal Slug and stage 1 of Metal Slug 3. Metal Slug had about 5 seconds or so of loading before the splash screens, no slowdown, and 2 or 3 seconds of loading after the stage ended while it loaded the next stage.

Metal Slug 3 had about 7 seconds of loading before the NeoGeo screen showed up, a second load that was a bit over 10 seconds before the title screen loaded, and switching between characters sometimes caused no load and sometimes was a quick 1 second or so load. No loading or slowdown during gameplay and no more load screens encountered until it had to load the next stage after finishing stage 1 which took about 5 seconds.

Most any classic compilation has load times when selecting games, even 2600 compilations with 2K, 4K, and 8K games. While it's too bad there has to be loading after the initial load when you start up a game, it isn't so much as to be bothersome in the PS2 version I think. Nothing that interrupted gameplay.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I personally found the Wii version to be uncomfortable to play in every single control variation.

No classic controller support and no d-pad support on Gamecube controller was a deal breaker.

I've always had a hard time detecting micro-lag, so I'd say the PS2 version is the way to go.

[Shulamana]

Unfortunately I don't own a Wii, and have no plans to get one any time soon, the controllers just kill it for me. :(

Edit 1:


I've always had a hard time detecting micro-lag, so I'd say the PS2 version is the way to go.

Although I sometimes imagine lag where it doesn't exist, I don't think I really notice input lag unless it is truly atrocious. So I may still go with that then.

Edit 2:

Just to clarify, my issue is really the loading during a stage, as in that stupid character selection issue where every time you press left or right and choose a different character the loading screen pops up for a second or two.

[Leo_A]

Unfortunately I don't own a Wii, and have no plans to get one any time soon, the controllers just kill it for me. :(

I'm not a motion fan and have found a lot to love on the Wii. I'd reconsider it someday if I were you since there are a ton of excellent options that don't rely on you flailing your arms around while you play.



Just to clarify, my issue is really the loading during a stage, as in that stupid character selection issue where every time you press left or right and choose a different character the loading screen pops up for a second or two.

I didn't change characters during Metal Slug 3 when I tried it earlier to edit my earlier post with some loading times for you.

But when I was selecting my character before the game started, it did have those minor load times as you moved left or right on the character selection screen. So I assume it's present when you switch in-game as well.

Other than that (Which really didn't seem like much of a problem to me, particularly since how often would you switch away from the character you started out with anyways?), I only encountered very short load-times at the end of stages that were 5 seconds or less. No interruptions during gameplay and the end stage load times were nothing objectionable.

Edit - For what it's worth, I just fired up Metal Slug 1 on SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1 on the Wii from the same developers which was released in 2008 (Which incidently did have Classic Controller support). I didn't notice any differences in gameplay, although I didn't think to play to the end of stage 1 to see if the end level loading that lasted 3 seconds or so on Metal Slug Anthology for the PS2 was still present. I would think they'd of reused their code from their Wii release of Metal Slug Anthology here yet I don't see much of a leap, if any.

I suppose maybe it becomes more noticeable with some of the later Metal Slugs.

[Shulamana]

I might still get it just to reduce the wear on my PSP, I've had that thing 2 months now and still treat it like a baby.

[MarioMania]

When I heard Metal Slug Anthology for the Wii wll have Analog Stick Contols, not D-pad..it really turned me off

I wanted to play it with the SNES/Hori Pad..But no Nintendo had to be dicks

[Mr Mort]

I used to have the Wii version, but none of the control schemes were intuitive, and none of the bosses or sub-bosses had any hit-flash. (hit-flash is where the boss flashes as you shoot it to let you know your shot registered as a hit). The lack of hit-flashes really changed the feel of the boss battles for the worse for me. Couple that with the aforementioned control issues, and I got rid of it. The PS2 version is decent, but the emulation is not great either. I found the emulation on the PSP version to be slightly better.

[Parodius Duh!]

They all have their flaws, so take your pick with whichever flaw bothers you the least!

[The 1 2 P]

I would pick the PS2 version just because you can play it on your big screen. I've never played the Psp version but I don't remember much lag when I played thru all the games in my PS2 version. I mean, if it were that bad I would have remembered it.

[Shulamana]

Traded up to the PS2 version, definitely still has many of the same silly loading issues, but being able to play it with a PlayStation analog stick (I'm using an old Dual Analog controller) is a pretty good upgrade in control.

[wingzrow]

I found the wii version to be garbage. The control schemes are all uncomfortable, and worst of all some bosses don't even blink when you shoot them making bosses that have to be hit in one place no fun at all to play against.

I've never noticed any problems with the PS2 version at all. I've never played them on original hardware (who owns a neo geo these days) but i do play it off the ps2's hard drive so maybe that's making the input lag or load times you guys complain about disappear.

[Leo_A]

The loading is never terribly long and never interupts gameplay. He's just apparantly far more sensitive to it than most people.

It's not like the games are stopping midstage for loading. They have a few seconds of loading when you start the game up and a few seconds between stages. Nothing unreasonable for a disc release on a console with limited RAM.


and worst of all some bosses don't even blink when you shoot them making bosses that have to be hit in one place no fun at all to play against.

Thank Nintendo for that. They demanded that hit flashing be removed out of fear it could cause seizures.

It shouldn't be there for any of the bosses.

[Shulamana]

I wouldn't say I am "far more sensitive" to loading in general than most people. I don't mind the loading when you start the game. I don't mind the loading in between stages, even if it were or weren't there in the original version. I don't even mind long loading times on early disc-based systems.

But if the game in question (not counting emulation and PS2/PSP overhead) would fit inside the console's RAM space more than three times over, and still has to make the screen darken and pop up a "Loading..." message every time you press left or right on the d-pad to select your character, is just like a repeated slap in the face along with the words "we couldn't be bothered to do a good job on this". It's something that I haven't come across anything similar to compare with in any other compilation disc I have ever played.

Can I try my best and ignore this and just enjoy the games? YES.

It was not my intention to start a thread to rage about a 5 year old compilation as if somehow that is going to change anything. It is what it is, and all we can do is either deal with it or not play it at all. However, the intention of my previous post was more to bookend the rest of the thread, to follow up with my own experience comparing the two. I did not expect the PS2 version to be better, people already said that it wouldn't be, but having played both I would definitely recommend it over the PSP version.

[Leo_A]

But if the game in question (not counting emulation and PS2/PSP overhead) would fit inside the console's RAM space more than three times over, and still has to make the screen darken and pop up a "Loading..." message every time you press left or right on the d-pad to select your character, is just like a repeated slap in the face along with the words "we couldn't be bothered to do a good job on this".

While I certainly echo your statement that it screams of lazyness and sloppy work, it's still just a character selection screen.

And for some reason it only pops up about 1/3 of the time for me rather than everytime. I usually have to switch between 2-3 characters (Out of what, 4 or so?) before it pops up for the first time moving between characters. And when it does pop up, it's extremely quick and barely even there.

So unless someone is constantly switching between characters as they play, it never gets a chance to annoy. I think most people stick with the same character during a play through rather than switching everytime they insert another credit to continue. And even if they do switch constantly when presented with the opportunity, it's so quick that a quick load or two as you move around the character selection screen is still something I think most would categorize as an extremely minor issue.

Anyways, not out to say that you're wrong to be annoyed by it (Sometimes minor issues can be the most nagging ones) or suggest that it isn't there. I just wanted it made clear for others that may read it that it's something most would classify as a pretty minor issue. A quibble instead of a significant problem.

[Wraith Storm]

I thought I would ask here instead of starting a new thread.

I have a sealed copy of Metal Slug 4 and 5 (PS2) that I bought years ago. Right after the Metal Slug Anthology (PS2) came out, so naturally I snagged a copy of that as well and tossed MS 4 and 5 aside.

My question is; Does Metal Slug 4 and 5 have anything to offer over the Anthology (Better emulation, extras, easter eggs) or can I just sell it off? I hate to open my sealed copy if I don't have to.

[Leo_A]

I'm pretty sure that release is held in much higher regard than the Anthology versions.

[WCP]

Kinda off topic, but just wanted to say that I tried this game on a friends Vita, and it looked absolutely gorgeous on that Vita screen. I was pretty shocked by how good it looked.

[Wraith Storm]

I'm pretty sure that release is held in much higher regard than the Anthology versions.

Cool! Do you remember why?

If its just better emulation then I will probably sell it. I always thought Anthology was good enough. But if it has some extras that the Anthology lacks then I might just have to open and play it.

[CRTGAMER]

Traded up to the PS2 version, definitely still has many of the same silly loading issues, but being able to play it with a PlayStation analog stick (I'm using an old Dual Analog controller) is a pretty good upgrade in control.
You can get HDAdvance and a hard drive arrangement for your Fat PS2, that should take care of the loading issues. Metal Slug for the PS2 works beautiful with an Arcade stick.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Kinda off topic, but just wanted to say that I tried this game on a friends Vita, and it looked absolutely gorgeous on that Vita screen. I was pretty shocked by how good it looked.

Now that you mention that, I just wanted to address my findings that having the texture smoothing and Vita color depth features can cause some instability in some PSP titles. (crashing, etc.)

I didn't want to make a whole thread about it, but as long as we're mentioning how nice PSP games look on Vita (they do!) know that it's probably best to run them in standard mode if, like Metal Slug, it's not a game that auto-saves.

[Leo_A]

Cool! Do you remember why?

If its just better emulation then I will probably sell it. I always thought Anthology was good enough. But if it has some extras that the Anthology lacks then I might just have to open and play it.

Mostly it's better performance (And they're actually ports from the original source code, unlike these Anthology versions).

Some things I recall reading though besides that for the standalone Metal Slug releases on last generation consoles are that Metal Slug 3 on the Xbox sends you back to the beginning of a stage when you continue (Making the game basically impossible for most people) and has extra content.

The subject of your question, Metal Slug 4/5 on the PS2, doesn't have any additional modes. Only additions I've ever seen mentioned are that it has a achievement/trophy system and level select options. And it returns to a more conventional continue system.

Considering picking these up myself one of these days. Thanks to this thread, I'm really getting into this series for the first time and becoming much more fond of it.