Metal Slug

     Metal Slug. Never before have two such incredibly unrelated english words slapped together sounded quite so good.

     One of the greatest 2-D platformer/shooter game series of all time is also, not surprisingly, one of the unsung titles. Like most Neo Geo titles (in my area, at least), Metal Slug is damn near impossible to find in arcades. Of course, it's probably worth pointing out our semi-local arcades keep a healthy stock of 19XX games and novelty pinball machines. Not to mention those bizarre yellow machines, decorated with flashing red lights and full of complex looking tubes and whistles with various prizes scattered across the floor.

     Anyway, Metal Slug pits one or two guys (or in the sequels, gals) against the godless hordes of Morden in a game that draws its gameplay styles from everything from Contra to Gunstar Heroes. Which might not sound like much, considering both examples involve lots of running and shooting, but hey, that's what MS does too. It actually takes quite a few cues from Gunstar, like the close-quarters knife attack and hyperkinetic mass destruction going on around you.

     Any game company can make a run and gun action title (and most have.) What sets Metal Slug apart from all of the riff-raff is the atmosphere the game projects. The heroes and enemy soldiers have a cartoonish look about them, which works nicely with the comic level of violence going on (torrents of blood/white censor stuff pouring from every gunshot wound, things exploding that shouldn't be able to...) The amount of detail in the animations is impressive, even in the first game. Before a downed tank in MS2 finally explodes off the screen, the dying soldier drops a grenade inside the turret. A sniper breathes heavily before popping up and squeezing off a quick shot. Whenever your hero is killed, the troops on screen laugh and point, then recoil in horror when he respawns. And it just goes on like that. Even the sound is terrific, with suitably-paced music for any given area and lots of voices. Contra didn't even give us death cries, let alone the psychotic, testorone-inducing voiceover who reads off the name of what ever weapon you pick up.

     As for where the goofy title came from, the titular Metal Slug would be an example of this game's 'gimmick.' It's a tiny tank that brings to mind Bonaparte from Masamune Shirow's Dominion. The secondary (or in the case of the game, main) weapon is a pair of side-mounted vulcans that fire in all directions, with the tank gun itself capable of launching shells about as strong as your hand grenade. You can even 'ditch' the vehicle into the enemy as a last-ditch suicide-style attack. The only catch to that being the 'ditch' command is hitting the attack and jump buttons at the same time, which one can easily do by accident in a heated battle. (Same goes for the down+jump 'dismount' command in battles that involve shooting below you.) There are other Slug-type vehicles available, all of which are pretty much the same deal, vulcans and secondary weapon. Also, vehicles take three hits to die instead of just one, like you. (The second game's Camel Slug [yes, a camel with Vulcan saddlebags] is the saddest of the lot since it doesn't offer you protection and makes you use your own grenades up)

     So, for a fast-paced, crazy-violent shooter packed with lots of sight gags and occasional movie references, scrounge through those used PSX racks for Metal Slug X (or any others you can get your hands on.) MS2/X is especially timely since it plops you down in the Middle East to do battle with the decidedly Saddam-like Morden.

Mummies... ALIVE! Or something.

You're probably waiting for me to draw some tenuous connection to the King of Fighters at this point, right? Well, suprisingly, for such a successful series, and in spite of the presence of the Ikari Warriors, the Slug team never appears directly in KOF. Which makes you wonder how winners like the USA Sports Team got in even more.

But seriously, I'm sure Marco or someone probably appears in cameo in some stage or another. KOF 2000 also features Fio (the girl with glasses) as one of the Another Striker characters. She dives from the top of the screen (presumably forgot to pull her parachute) salutes the enemy (or shoves them), and runs off.

Also, Marco appears in a shoot-the-aliens minigame in SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millenium for NGPC.