ACA NEOGEO Metal Slug

Genre: Action-Platformer

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

Metal Slug (sometimes bearing the subtitle Super Vehicle-001) is an Action-Platformer released in 1996 in arcades and on the NEOGEO AES home console, shortly afterward released on the NEOGEO CD with new game modes. This is the first in a series that would come to be one of the pinnacles of the “run and gun”-style Action-Platformers, well-known for its unique art style with beautiful fluid animation and massive, complex war machines, with this release of the game on Nintendo Switch coming out in 2017.

The original Metal Slug is a strong start to the series, already bearing the series’ signature art style that is still gorgeous to look at even today, and with a good amount of gameplay variety and creative boss designs. There are a few criticisms I can point to here though – the difficulty is high even for the genre, with larger boss enemies often not leaving you much room to maneuver. Also, the controls for diagonal aiming are so finicky and unreliable that you’re better off not even trying to aim diagonally. Additionally, this game suffers some pretty severe slowdown on a regular basis. However, don’t take these criticisms to mean this game isn’t worth playing – it’s still a highlight of its genre.

This release of the game includes a new “Hi-Score Mode” that challenges players to score as much as they can in one run before seeing a game over screen. There is also a new “Caravan Mode” that does much the same, but with the limit being five minutes. In addition, this release of the game includes both English and Japanese versions, and gives players a decent array of options, including various display options, sound options, challenge modifiers, button mapping, and online leaderboards.

Overall, Metal Slug is an undeniable classic, and a must-play for fans of Action-Platformers, and although it has definitely aged badly in some ways, in others it is still a marvel even to this day. If you’re a fan of this genre, you should definitely check this game out.

tl;dr – The original Metal Slug is an Action-Platformer that is in many ways still impressive even to this day. It does have a few issues with its difficulty, controls, and frequent slowdown, but even despite this it is a landmark of the genre, well worth returning to even after all these years.

Grade: B

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