Back in the day, arcade cabinets were in the best position to compete against each other. An interesting sounding title, or a bunch of screenshots in a magazine, or some features advertised on the back of the box could've sold you on purchasing a game, but there's no actual guarantee what you'd get is as good as you expected. The same goes for those 90's game commercials that spent 85% of their runtime grossing you out, and the remaining percentage on showing like, 4 seconds of the game. Compared to all that, an arcade cabinet felt more confident. As you walked throughout the room, each cabinet would commonly display an uninterrupted slice of what you're in for, and properly convince you that THIS is what you wanna spend your allowance on, not that loser's game. To that end, these sorts of games had pressure on them to not only look state-of-the-art, they had to play real good too.
Now, Metal Slug heeded this advice, and pulled out all the stops as far as visuals go. Like, god damn, this is a fine looking run 'n gun, far beyond anything its competitors had to offer. The extreme detail on these sprites is so on point, you could look at an explosion graphic and immediately recognize it as being from Metal Slug. Some influence from Hayao Miyazaki's films was taken too, I especially recognize it around the way the enemy soldiers were designed. This is the sort of game where its short length was utilized to cram in an intense amount of visual detail and variety across the whole board.
These sorts of graphics also help to contribute to a better game feel, which considering the simplicity of the first Metal Slug, it desperately needs it. When compared to the later entries, it can't be denied that Metal Slug 1 feels very understated. It lacks the sequel's surreal enemy encounters, or the third game's crazy weapon variety, but in the very least, what is here is loud, fast, and frantic. With some practice, stages are built to be charged through, guns mowing down dozens of enemies, getting in close-range to take out opponents with your knife, and grenades utilized to viscerally blow up the larger tanks. While I'm not too fond of riding the titular Metal Slug vehicle, one huge advantage it does have is when you hold the down button while riding it, you can start chucking your grenades at an insanely rapid pace, and it makes absolute mincemeat out of the bosses. Arcade difficulty still hits like a truck of course, but considering I reached a point where I can clear the first two or three stages without dying once, there's plenty of opportunity to hone in some skills 'n strategies here.
If I were to recommend Metal Slug to anyone, a part of me feels the urge to start them off with Metal Slug X & Metal Slug 3 first, just to give an immediate good impression of where it really honed its identity. But the first game takes half an hour to beat anyway, so there's really no reason why you couldn't blast your way through this one, then play the later ones right after. The modern conveniences of being able to use as many credits as you want via emulation makes these sorts of games as difficult or as accessible as you want them to be. And though a lot of Metal Slug 1's quality rides on its spritework alone, if you were to take it out, you'd still be left with a pretty polished combinatination of platforming and shooting action. It may not be as good or as inventive as the other entries. But it's still fun, and that's that.
Now, Metal Slug heeded this advice, and pulled out all the stops as far as visuals go. Like, god damn, this is a fine looking run 'n gun, far beyond anything its competitors had to offer. The extreme detail on these sprites is so on point, you could look at an explosion graphic and immediately recognize it as being from Metal Slug. Some influence from Hayao Miyazaki's films was taken too, I especially recognize it around the way the enemy soldiers were designed. This is the sort of game where its short length was utilized to cram in an intense amount of visual detail and variety across the whole board.
These sorts of graphics also help to contribute to a better game feel, which considering the simplicity of the first Metal Slug, it desperately needs it. When compared to the later entries, it can't be denied that Metal Slug 1 feels very understated. It lacks the sequel's surreal enemy encounters, or the third game's crazy weapon variety, but in the very least, what is here is loud, fast, and frantic. With some practice, stages are built to be charged through, guns mowing down dozens of enemies, getting in close-range to take out opponents with your knife, and grenades utilized to viscerally blow up the larger tanks. While I'm not too fond of riding the titular Metal Slug vehicle, one huge advantage it does have is when you hold the down button while riding it, you can start chucking your grenades at an insanely rapid pace, and it makes absolute mincemeat out of the bosses. Arcade difficulty still hits like a truck of course, but considering I reached a point where I can clear the first two or three stages without dying once, there's plenty of opportunity to hone in some skills 'n strategies here.
If I were to recommend Metal Slug to anyone, a part of me feels the urge to start them off with Metal Slug X & Metal Slug 3 first, just to give an immediate good impression of where it really honed its identity. But the first game takes half an hour to beat anyway, so there's really no reason why you couldn't blast your way through this one, then play the later ones right after. The modern conveniences of being able to use as many credits as you want via emulation makes these sorts of games as difficult or as accessible as you want them to be. And though a lot of Metal Slug 1's quality rides on its spritework alone, if you were to take it out, you'd still be left with a pretty polished combinatination of platforming and shooting action. It may not be as good or as inventive as the other entries. But it's still fun, and that's that.