• As part of the relaunch of Skullheart, ALL previous threads have been archived. You can find them at the bottom of the forum in the Archives (2021) section. The archives are locked, so please use the new forum sections to create new discussion threads.

Metal Slug Series Thread

IIRC 4 is not considered an improvement over 5 actually. At least not in terms of gameplay.

4 has been likened to a "licensed romhack" aesthetically, but gameplay wise it's actually a pretty well paced and balanced game with solid level design. 5 on the other hand feels incredibly rushed with a lot of lazy stage designs (I frequently hear complaints about them being too wide open and sparse) and a slide that was kind of awkward to use.

A notable speedrunner said 5 is the worst in the series, and I know at least several 1cc fanatic arcade players I've talked to about the series concurred that 5 is pretty poor while 4 is actually surprisingly decent.

Of course that's by Metal Slug standards, which is really damn high. Honestly, I'd rather be playing the worst Metal Slug than some of the best Mega Man games.



As for more detail on the first 3:

1: Some consider this the best in the series in terms of design. However some disagree because it's also the easiest due to the fact that you can have a slug (which takes multiple hits) throughout almost all the most difficult parts of the game.

2/X: Slightly more slugless action than X2, and as a result generally a fair bit harder, though not as much as 3. I personally lean towards this one as being the best.

3: Very divisive. You either love it for it's EXTREME amount of content and fairly well designed action or you hate it for having a weird difficulty curve that ramps up the trial and error from the second stage boss onward and has a final stage that's nearly 20 minutes long by it's own (the pacing for an arcade game feels kinda off in this one).
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Mr Peck
Squire Grooktook said:
3: Very divisive. You either love it for it's EXTREME amount of content and fairly well designed action or you hate it for having a weird difficulty curve that ramps up the trial and error from the second stage boss onward and has a final stage that's nearly 20 minutes long by it's own (the pacing for an arcade game feels kinda off in this one).
Whoa, that's the exact reason why I don't like Metal Slug 3. I had no idea that other people thought that way too!

I haven't played 4 or 5 since I was a teenager, so I'll have to go back and give them another try sometime.
 
Mr Peck said:
Whoa, that's the exact reason why I don't like Metal Slug 3. I had no idea that other people thought that way too!

Yeah, it's got a good rep overall but it does elicit some mixed opinions. Personally I like it, though not without some reservations.

The difficulty isn't as hard as it seems, as a large part of it is trial and error. Once you have a plan for the stages and bosses, it becomes a lot more manageable and less "OmgWtfThisIsImpossible". One thing I do really like about it though is that there are a fair number of random elements in many stages and boss fights, so even if it becomes more playable after memorization it still feels exciting and rewarding, instead of the muscle memory fest that a lot of side scrollers get boiled down to once you memorize them.

The real killer for 3 is that last stage though. It's not that it's too hard, it's that it's way too damn long, making memorization incredibly annoying, and the shmup section goes on forever on top of being kinda repetitive. It also makes it so that once you get good enough to 1cc up to that point, you have to start clearing your schedule whenever you take a shot at the game because you're now in for the long haul.

Overall though it's still one of my favorite games. I would just cut that shmup section out of the last stage, personally.
 
when u say one Credit Clear, you mean 1 life or 1 continue?
 
Erreip199 said:
when u say one Credit Clear, you mean 1 life or 1 continue?
1 continue. It's pretty much the standard for a "true" clear of an arcade games since the vast majority of them erase your score (aka your measurement of progress) when you game over (Metal Slug actually doesn't in some of the games IIRC, but it keeps a tally of the continues you've used and subtracts from your end game score accordingly).
 
Big fan of the series. Memories of 2-player goodness w/my brother. I have MS Anthology, and have played through 1-6 & X.
Ralf & Clark being in a game (6, I think) is awesome. It's been a long time since I played one, but I have referenced some of the effects animation for my own work a few times.
 
Last edited:
indieanimator said:
Big fan of the series. Memories of 2-player goodness w/my brother.

Keep in mind both Steam versions have online co op! You could do the same with emulator netplay, but I find this a bit more convenient and worth owning the Steam releases for.
 
This should be on topic I hope.

I actually had a design of sorts for a Metal Slug 8. It basically takes place 1 year after everything else in the Metal Slug timeline(think last 1 timeline wise was 5).
Anyways, it would be the first to have real dialogue(going for the text box route here). How it starts is that the MS crew is on retirement on this island, when suddenly a surprise transmission is sent that the Ptolemaic has suddenly regained it's strength and is terrorizing the jungles of Africa. The team is sent there to investigate, which the 1st mission takes you through the jungle area that's after where you fought Metal Rear and a re-done version of the cliff base in MS 5.

At the end of the jungle segment, you fight Metal Rear again, though the cannon shoots only once per attack cycle but splits into 3 shots at once, the gun bullets go faster but aren't as many, and the health of the boss is lower. At the end of the base segment, you fight a giant bunker of sorts that spits out troops and has a mortar on top. When it's health gets 1/2 way, it spits out the mini metal rear from MS advance. Once it's health is low enough, rebel troops start showing up to assist, though they're clad in black instead of the usual green; but wait, weren't they pretty much gone by this time in the MS timeline?
Well, after you beat the boss, a several Ptolemaic and Rebel tanks and slugs show up and surround you, but are quickly destroyed by green clad rebel bombers. Modern(yes, him) shows up in the Huey from MS 1 and 3, and tells you that someone stole and remade his army and seems to have rebolstered the Ptolemaics too. He then tosses you a disk and says it's time to put the past behind us and flies off. A rebel supply truck then appears and you hop on, with the mission ending.

There were new features too but it's late for me so I'll just leave this as is for now.
 
i think 3 is the best in the series but not my favorite. 5 is pretty good too, has great music. My favorite is X i think every level is streamlined to perfection. If 3 didn't have the extra long last level then 3 would be my favorite. I've played x so many times yet I'm always happy to replay it. 3 is great until the last level where you are blasted into space then i loose interest.
 
Update: Somehow got the stupid idea of doing a "Metal Slug in Banjo-Kazooie" game, lol.
 
killercore007 said:
Update: Somehow got the stupid idea of doing a "Metal Slug in Banjo-Kazooie" game, lol.
I can just hear the intro now
Dun dun dun dun *RELOADING SOUNDS*
duh duh duh duh *MISSION 1*
Flute part *enemy scream*
 
A new Metal Slug game for consoles is in development!

4ef822b9efa498145c70ccff31988d1f.gif
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dunk and Jutsei
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back