Welcome back to A Look Back With Oscar where we take classic video games and movies to see if they truly are classics or actually garbage.
This time, let’s go back to the late 90s and talk about one of the most popular run and gun games to hit arcades: Metal Slug.
The story of the game is a simple premise. The Peregrine Falcon (PF) Squad is a small but elite group of soldiers dedicated to fighting General Donald Morden and his massive army who is hell-bent to create a massive coup and establish a new world order.
In the first game, the main characters are Marco, the Squad leader, and Tarma, the Captain. Those were the only characters that were playable in the original, while the 2nd and 3rd installments added Eri and Fio to the list.
The gameplay is pretty simple, one or two players run around in a linear path shooting down enemy soldiers using a multitude of weapons and vehicles and defeating the boss at the end of a level.
It’s easy to play but hard to master as players will be dying a lot from an abundance of enemy projectiles and obstacles.
It can take days to remember the level layout and enemies it has. The best part in console versions is that there’s no risk in game overs.
If it was in an arcade machine then a lot of quarters would be used. Putting more quarters in means the player gets further into the game.
For the arcade archives digital version of these games, press the shoulder button on the left and it inserts credits meaning no more wasting quarters
Granted, this makes the game a ton easier but it can still be hard for first-timers.
The second game in the series was “Metal Slug X,” a remake of the original complete with better graphics, framerate, new levels and bosses.
“Metal Slug 3” is by far the best game out of the trilogy, including so many new features like new vehicles, more transformations, more enemy variations, more bosses and an abundance of alternate levels to take.
This makes the game have tons of replayability, so no game session will be the same.
The games are a ton of fun with the gameplay being smooth and easy to control but the best part of the games is the music.
The music is both action-packed and fast pace. SNK knows how to make amazing music and it shows.
Overall the Metal Slug trilogy is by far one run and gun game that should be remembered as one of the best arcade games of the 90s.
The Metal Slug trilogy gets a perfect five out of five. An instant classic that everyone should own on either the PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo consoles.
