Metal Slug Anthology

Written by David Taylor  on October 04, 2006

First Impressions: One Disc. Seven Metal Slugs. One Unhappy Girlfriend.

Tweet

Comments

One can say without hesitation that SNK, now SNK Playmore, is a stalwart company that holds to its ideals. While other video game producers jumped on the 3-D bandwagon in the mid-90s, SNK stuck by its guns and perfected the art of 2-D gaming with its Neo Geo hardware. This gave the game playing public a great number of 2-D fighting series such as Samurai Showdown and King of the Fighters. Along with these, the other series SNK is most celebrated for are the action-packed Metal Slug games. These Contra-inspired Уrun and gunФ side-scrollers have compelled fans with their wanton carnage and challenge for years. In celebration of the Nintendo Wii's debut, SNK will release all seven games (Metal Slugs 1-6, plus X) for the system under the title Metal Slug Anthology. Coincidentally Anthology's release marks SNK's long-awaited return as a third-party developer for a Nintendo console.

The Metal Slug series' game play is simple. Enemies swarm toward you as you mows them down with a hefty arsenal of machine guns, grenades, and other Уcommunication devices.Ф In this case communicating the need to ventilate a mutant's skull. Each game featured two-player cooperative game play. Individual series installments featured their own style, additional weapons and characters, but kept this core game play the same. Don't let this simplicity fool you folks. These games are hard. Girly men need not apply.

There are a number of elements that make the Metal Slug series stand out from its Уrun and gunФ brethren. First off is the ability perform melee attacks. In Contra an alien would kill you upon contact. In Metal Slug said alien can have a knife firmly planted in their eye (or eyesЕdepends on the race) with a tap of the fire button. The УslugsФ referred to in the title are vehicles the player can hop into for increased devastation. These range from traditional tanks all the way to camels equipped with lasers (take that Osama!). The series is also known for its quirky and humorous elements. In addition to soldiers and evil aliens (are there any other type?), players must also contend with paranormal creatures like mummies and zombies. Certain phenomenon would also alter the player's character, making him or her obese or mummified for a period of time.

SNK has stated that the Wii versions of these games will be direct ports. This means each game will feature the great hand-drawn graphics complete with the over-the-top death animations that series' fans have come to love. SNK will utilize the Wii controller's features to some degree in the games though how this alters the game play is unknown at this time. Online features and unlockables will also be included.