Metal Slug: Snail's Pace

[Ascending Wordsmith]

Maybe it's just me, but I just played Metal Slug 4 & 5 and I'm really not receptive to the Metal Slug games as I once was. The first game of the lineage, which holds the name of series, was so thoroughly detailed and full of action and humor that it blew me away. Metal Slug 2 (and its rehashed version X) came along with a different story, but it kept the same winning formula from the first.


Metal Slug

Then comes Metal Slug 3. Despite taking a very sharp turn to the world of mutated sand crabs, zombies, yetis, and gatling guns strapped to animals, 3 was pretty damn sweet. I'm more geared to only having conventional enemies such as the standard grunts and their military hardware (likes tanks, helis, planes, and transports), rather than huge eels on leashes and bone-wielding sasquatches. But I think 3 and X are the two best in the saga.


Metal Slug 3

Then 4 is conceived... just without SNK. Compared to the others, it's hollow and without the detail or gameplay. Same goes for 5. There's a lot of new ideas in both, but the games fall short.

I have yet to play 6 but I hope it's worthy of the Slug name.

[roushimsx]

the level designs and enemy placements in 4 and 5 are terrible. 4 really hurt bad after the excellence of 3, and 5 cut a bit deep after the advance word of mouth that it made up for the disappointment of 4.

A lot of people shit on the rehashed graphics of the games, but they've never really bothered me. As far as I'm concerned, as long as the gameplay holds up then you can rehash the graphics as much as you want; just give me some more well designed levels. Sadly, they didn't do that for the last two games

[suppafly]

I may be off topic, but I never really caught on the metal slug craze.

Ive played it from time to time, but just a few levels at a time, and I didnt finish any of them....

Whats so cool about it? Personally I´d rather play contra or super c, or maybe gunstar heroes...!

just my 2 cents

[jajaja]

I like Metal Slug because of its own style. Very detailed, got humor, much bright colors, variation in weapons and vehicles. All the games are basicly the same imo. Some new stuff here and there, but nothing that are really new.

[roushimsx]

Whats so cool about it? Personally I´d rather play contra or super c, or maybe gunstar heroes...!

For the most part, it's run and gun perfection. The first game was a bit uneven in its difficulty (the machine gunner at the start of stage 3 was more difficult than most of the bosses, oddly enough) and the second game was hampered by massive slowdown, but X and 3 were lengthy, challenging, and pretty well balanced run and guns with fan-flipping-tastic animation/graphics/sounds/etc.

The key to really enjoying them is to limit yourself on the number of credits you feed them. Try playing on a single credit and you'll find it much more rewarding than credit feeding through the end.

Super C / Contra / and Gunstar are all great games, but they're much too easy and short

[KyleRXZero]

Metal Slug 3 is my personal fave. Sure it's ridiculously silly, but that's part of it's apeal. That last level feels like it goes on forever. I too was disapointed with 4/5 as well; especially 5.

[j_factor]

Has anyone played Metal Slug Advance? I wonder how that one holds up.

Metal Slug 6 looks awesome.

[jajaja]

Has anyone played Metal Slug Advance? I wonder how that one holds up.

Its ok, not that cool imo. I prefer to play Metal Slug on a TV instead of a small monitor

[Xexyz]

MSA falls flat on its face. It's not terrible by any means, but Playmore ripped out the scoring system and turned it into a mild adventure game what with the card hunting and all... Oh yeah, I don't mind it, but instead of having limited 1 hit lives, the lifebar from the NGPC titles made a come back.

[Push Upstairs]

I hated how enemies would re-appear if you moved forward then back to avoid other enemies.

That and the difficulty was easy until the last level, then it got really hard.

6 isnt coming out for XBOX is it?


Why does everyone look like midget porn stars in the 3D version?

[Darren870]

I think im one of the few that liked 4 ... a lot.

[BocoDragon]

Is Metal Slug 6 still runnning on the same classic Neo-Geo hardware?

[biscuitdough]

my personal favorite is ms3 and it's one of my top 5 arcade games.
by the way, what ever happened to metal slug 3d i heard it was anounced for the ps2 and i can find screens of it. but was it ever released, and was it any good?

[T2KFreeker]

Hmm, even though I thought that Metal Slug 4&5 could have been better, thay are still fairly good games! At least MS hasn't gone by way of 3D Contra yet, although I am sure that it will!

[CosmicMonkey]

Ah, the Metal Slug series. One of my favorite series ever. I'll have to agree with everyone else that, compared to the others, 4 and 5 are a bit lacking. Still good games in their own right, but after the greatness of MS3 they are a bit dissapointing.

I really like both NGPC MS games. 1st Mission was an excellent title to start off with on the Neo Pocket. Bit annoying having to use 'Select' to switch between gun/grenade but other than that it's a very good portable Run n' Gun. 2nd Mission fixes the annoying controls and adds multiple paths. Thrying to actually find and complete every level is a right mission. Absolutley cracking game.

I have played MSA. It was ok, but not a patch on 2nd Mission.

Is Metal Slug 6 still runnning on the same classic Neo-Geo hardware?

Nah, MS6 is running on Atomiswave hardware; which is basically a cartridge-based Dreamcast (without getting technical).

[Darren870]

Hmm, even though I thought that Metal Slug 4&5 could have been better, thay are still fairly good games! At least MS hasn't gone by way of 3D Contra yet, although I am sure that it will!

It already has...metal slug 3d hit the jap ps2 system a month ago about.

[Ed Oscuro]

I am tempted to say that the Contra series is flat-out better quality (over the lifetime of the series, and also given the hardware and dates the games were released), and MS certainly is losing points for using the same graphics after all these years.

I think it helps to be fair to the Metal Slug series and point out that the designers worked on the GunForce games and Ninja Spirit (of that I'm fairly certain). If you lock in at about 1995 with the original Metal Slug, the designers can be shown to have done pretty well.

On the other hand, after Treasure left Konami they went on to make some awesome games, some of which happen to be run & gun games Of course Hard Corps is an amazing game in its own right, and while I haven't played the PS2 Contra games (yet) it seems that originality wins out over rehashed graphics any ol' day.

To this day, the only MS game I have is a PC release of 5 (official, but you wouldn't necessarily know it unless you knew that Junnet was an upstanding company...the print quality on the box is a bit shaky, for example). I'd love to get the previous games, though, especially 1 and 3 (say what you will about 3's excellence, but the London stage from 1 is one of the best moments in the series).

[CosmicMonkey]

Indeed, and it would seem MS3D has been getting quite favorable reviews from what I understand.

But I don't count it as a 'proper' MS game. MS was and always will be a 2D Run n' Gun.

Certain games just don't work in 3D, with MS and Sonic topping that list.

[T2KFreeker]

Contra, Super C and the last Contra for the PS2 are the top of that series, although Super C is very much arguable. Metal Slug has just always had a heavy factor for me. I love these games. I have the first two for my Neo Geo CD, both of the Neo Geo Pocket games, which were awesome, I might add, and I also have 4 & 5 on the XBOX, I need to get 3. I liked the series, although I am sleptic about the 3D game . . .

[lordnikon]

I think im one of the few that liked 4 ... a lot.

Add another person to the few. I am a huge fan of MS4, and feel that it gets a lot of slack because people expected it to be all crazy with aliens and stuff like MS3.