Japonese Infantry

Japonese Infantry
Information
Origin	Japan
Attacks	Slashing with their sword Throwing bombs Doing a Kamikaze Throwing sticks of dynamite (Unused)
Factions	Japonese Army Rebel Army (Allies in MSAdv)
Health	Very Low
Game Appearances
First Game	Metal Slug 3
Last Game	Metal Slug Attack
Game(s)	Metal Slug 3 Metal Slug Advance Metal Slug Defense Metal Slug Attack
Sprite(s)

The Japonese Infantry [sic] (or the Samurai Infantry) is the primary and only remaining infantry of the Division 6. They are introduced in Metal Slug 3.

Information

These soldiers have been trained by the Japonese Army to never flee the battlefield and to fight their enemy until their dying breath, and thus they act far differently than any other human enemies in the series.

They all attack and follow the player until the latter is out of their reach, whereas other human enemies will eventually stop following the player or leave the screen after they tried to attack them a number of times.

They are also pretty crafty opponents; they can drop down from the ceiling to surprise the player, toss bombs from a higher platform to hit the player where the latter can't, performing a Kamikaze as a last resort to kill the player and many other tactics.

Engaging these enemies at a close range is a poor idea, since they can attack more quickly than the player at that range. But since they rely almost solely on close quarter combat, engaging them at a mid to long distance is the safest way to get rid of them.

According to artist Max.D, "With fighter aircraft hanging down from the ceiling and tanks running on manpower, the Japanese soldiers' base looks like something out of a Japanese SFX-heavy movie. They are still fighting, not knowing that their war has ended... Well, whether or not they know isn't clear."

Appearance

Due to their stay of almost two years in the hideout without any materials to produce clothing, the soldiers now have practically nothing left to wear: tropical caps with single piece neck flaps, shorts held up with a cord, two bracelets on their wrists and one-strap self-made sandals. They all have crudely-shaven beards and long hair. They are also all carrying their own swords (except the soldiers in the Japonese Tank Soldier and Null Fighter).

Soldiers

In Metal Slug Advance, the soldiers will all perform a Kamikaze upon death, regardless of their uniforms.

	Japonese Soldier: Soldiers with the abilities of a Sword and Bomb Soldier. Only one soldier is part of this group, who is the first soldier of the Division 6 to be seen in the hideout.
	Sword Soldier: These soldiers have two attacks: They will slowly shuffle near the player and will pull out their Sword for a quick attack. Once their attack done, they will put their sword back in its sheath. They will pull out their sword, run up to the player to attack them and will afterward put it back in its sheath. They are the most common soldiers.
	Banzai Soldier: The most determined soldiers. They will shuffle a bit with their sword raised, run up to the player and will quickly attack them with their sword without putting it back in its sheath. They will not stop following the player after spotting them.
	Bomb Soldier: These soldiers are equipped with bombs that seem to be hidden somewhere in their pants. When they spot the player, they will attempt to launch the bomb towards the player. They have a limited stock of bombs, and once they run out of them, they will simply stay idle and oddly not harm the player with their sword if they're too close. In Metal Slug Advance, they can now slightly move by jumping.
	Guard Soldier: These uncommon soldiers are found near prisoners, entrances and supplies. They are stationary and will use their sword to defend themselves and what they are defending.
	Japonese Assault Force: Supposedly a high-ranked soldier, they are a variant of the Sword and Guard Soldiers wearing red clothes. When hit, they will take out a stick of dynamite, killing themselves and the player character if they are close enough. They can also drop down from the ceiling for a surprise attack. When fighting alongside a Japonese Tank Soldier, they will Kamikaze themselves after attempting to attack the player twice.
	Samurai Infantry (Wrath): Japonese soldier with wrath power bestowed by the Sol Dae Rokker. They possess faster attacks and toss multiple bombs. They appear in Metal Slug Attack.
	Grudge Soldier: A dead Japonese soldier embodying the grudge of their allies who died in battle and continues to attack the living in an attempt to win the war. They attack by tossing homing explosive flying skulls and summoning blue fiery pillars. They appear in Metal Slug Attack.

Unused Content

The soldiers have a bunch of unused animations in the Metal Slug 3 data. Each set of frames can be found here.

A soldier going on all fours

Crawling

Throwing

Idle

Turning

Unused idle animation

Trivia

• Statistically:
  • The Banzai Soldier is the fastest attacking enemy in the whole series: two slashes with its sword per second.
  • They are the fastest moving human enemy, due to their extremely light-weighted equipment.
  • The Japonese Infantry are the enemies with the highest number of burning animations: four in total, two from the ground and two from the air. They are one of the few enemy groups with "burning while falling" animations (the others being the Rebels and the Man Eaters).
• Judging from the Metal Slug Attack descriptions, the soldiers use Katanas. Though the fact that they were used in wars suggest that they are actually Guntōs.
• The bombs used by the Bomb Soldier are based on the Type 4 Grenade.