Yet another banger by Nazca, and I had a hard time deciding if I like Metal Slug X or Metal Slug 3 more... but after a bit of thought, I think I decided I like X over 3 simply because I ended up liking the bosses more. 3 is pretty similar to X in how you play and that you play with the same cast of characters... it even has the same select screen! But I love how they drew the characters there, so I'm not complaining ♡(>ᴗ•)

The biggest differences that popped out to me were definitely the bigger variety in just... everything! There's so many more enemy types, diverting paths, more vehicles to play around in, gun types... you can even turn into a zombie and spray this awesome giant blood spray that knocks out most enemies on screen! I loved the last mission too, and how long and thematic it was. I'm sad I couldn't finish the game as my favorite character, Fio, though! But it's whatever, I love Tarma, too. I could understand the last mission being annoying to some, since there's no way you'd know it'd be that long, and every quarter is oh so precious, agh! But I played through... other means... so that wasn't an issue for me.

Overall, if someone told me Metal Slug 3 is the definite best of the original series, I wouldn't think anything odd about it, in fact I would probably even agree with them! But man, I just REALLY loved the bosses in X over 3, and especially loved the twist at the end that 3 seems to start with instead. Metal Slug is just such a fun series to play with friends, and I'm so glad my pal @handsomezack invited me to play 1, X, and 3 with him! I can't wait to force him to play it over & over with me until we're both sick ( ˘⌣˘)🕹️(˘⌣˘ )

4.5/5