Metal Slug: Super Vehicle-001(メタルスラッグ-Metaru Suraggu) is a run and gun video game for the Neo-Geo console/arcade platform created by SNK. It was released in 1996 for the MVS arcade platform. The game is widely known for its sense of humor, extremely fluid hand-drawn animation, and fast-paced two-player action. It is the first title in the Metal Slug series.
Story[]
From the Metal Slug Anthology manual:
At the beginning of the 21st Century, two military groups known as the Regular Army and the Rebellion are at war. The Regular Army is a government run military force used for various tasks such as peacekeeping and fending off terrorism. The Rebellion is formed by a group of people whose wishes are to change the world government into a military controlled one.
In 2026, the Rebellion Army launches an assault that pushes the Regular Army forces into the brink of destruction. No one expected this except for the Rebels who came up with these plans. The fault was mostly in the hands of the Regular Army commanding officers, who failed to realize the value of information that the Regular Army intelligence division had provided. With superior numbers of troops and weapons, the Rebels overwhelmed the Regular Army in all aspects.
Seeing their disadvantage to carry out direct attacks against the Rebellion, the Regular Army then decided to carry out numerous special operations and create certain vehicles to accompany their commandos. Not long after, a newly designed tank, code named “Metal Slug”, was forced into production. The war went on for two years. During those two years, the Regular Army has been stockpiling the “Metal Slug” tanks in their caches with hopes to launch a massive assault against the Rebels and end the war.
Things went well until 2028. The Rebellion forces found out and captured many of the caches, along with many of the tanks in them intact. Without those tanks the Regular Army could not even hope to win. And with those tanks under the Rebel control, it was just a matter of time until their demise.
With the government and the military in shambles, Lieutenant Rossi gathers up most of the scattered Regular Army troops he can muster to launch a desperate counterattack. Their mission objective: recapture the stolen vehicles and use them to destroy the opposition. If the vehicles can’t be captured, then destroy every last one of them.
Gameplay[]
The player has to constantly shoot at a continual stream of enemies in order to reach the end of a mission. At the end of each mission, the player must confront a boss who is often considerably larger than regular enemies and takes multiple shots to defeat. On the way through the mission, the player finds weapon upgrades and SV-001s for additional firepower and defense.
The protagonists can perform melee attacks by using a knife and/or kicking. The player does not die for simply coming into contact with most enemies. Correspondingly, many of the enemy troops have melee attacks. Much of the game's scenery is destructible. Sometimes this reveals extra items or powerups, other times it simply results in collateral damage.
During the course of a level, the player encounters POWs. If these are freed, the player can receive bonuses in the form of random items or weapons. The player receives a score bonus for freeing prisoners at the end of the level; at this point the game shows the name and rank of each POW freed. If the player dies before the end of the level, the tally of freed prisoners is deleted.
There are a total of six missions, with themes ranging from forests, garrisoned cities, snowy mountain valleys, canyons, and military bases.
Enemies[]
The vast majority of enemies encountered in Metal Slug are enemy soldiers, who are given weaponry that fits their specific role. There also a host of mechanized enemies: tanks, mobile artillery, fixed-wing aircraft, armored personnel carriers and technicals. Much of the game's humor comes from how the enemies portray themselves. The player encounters them at many times of leisure: sunbathing, roasting food over a fire, or just conversing amongst themselves.
Vehicles[]
SV-001: The title's namesake is the main vehicle found throughout the game. It can only be used by one player at a time. The SV-001 features a ball-turreted rapid-firing Vulcan cannon that can fire in any direction and a heavy main cannon. The main cannon uses ammo separate from grenades and other weapons and is much more powerful. Hand grenades can still be hurled out of the vehicle by crouching.
The vehicle can sustain three direct hits before destruction; health is restored by finding gas canisters. When vehicle health is completely depleted, the player has only seconds to vacate the vehicle before it explodes. The vehicle can also be used as a kamikaze weapon, which sends it on a suicide ramming attack as the player jumps out. From Mission 4 onward, the enemies can mount the Slug and remove its Vulcans, block the main cannon, or deal internal damage.
Finishing a mission with an SV-001 intact rewards the current pilot 10,000 points.
Weapons[]
The player starts every mission and life with a pistol with infinite ammo and ten grenades. Powerful weapons can be collected by rescuing POWs or opening crates.
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Heavy Machine Gun: Fires a rapid spread of bullets. While firing, the spread can be arced by moving the gun upwards and downwards. |
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Flame Shot: Fires a stream of fire that burns through infantry. It is weak to enemy defenses and vehicles. |
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Rocket Launcher: Fires a rocket with slight homing properties. The trailing explosion deals extra damage. |
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Shotgun: Fire a short ranged blast that deals massive damage to vehicles and sends infantry flying. |
Continuing a game drops a Heavy Machine Gun on the battlefield for the player to collect. In the battle against the Tani Oh, a Rocket Launcher is dropped instead.
Controls[]
| Button(s) | On-Foot | In the Slug |
|---|---|---|
| A | Shoot | Shoot |
| B | Jump | Jump |
| C | Grenade | Cannon |
| A + B | Metal Slug Attack | |
| Down + B | Exit Slug | |
| Down + C | Grenade |
Stages and Bosses[]
| Stage | Name | Mid-boss | Boss | BGM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Absolute Thick Forest | Tetsuyuki | Main Theme From Metal Slug | |
| 2 | A Wish For a Morning Glow | Mini-Bata | Hairbuster Riberts | Inner Station |
| 3 | Iron Cavalrymen in Hell | Allen O'Neil | Tani Oh | Assault Theme |
| 4 | Death Valley | Shoe & Karn | Ridge 256 | |
| 5 | The City Under Despotism | Iron Nokana | Gerhardt City | |
| 6 | The Memorial Sea | Hi-Do | Final Attack |
Exclusive Modes[]
- Combat School: Found in the Neo Geo CD, Sega Saturn, and PlayStation ports. The player attempts to rise through the ranks and impress the instructor Sophia Greenville by quickly running through missions and clearing the entire game under one life.
- Another Story: Found only in the PlayStation version. The mode takes place through the views of three other characters. The player plays through unique minigames in order for the Regular Army Special Forces to escape the Rebel Base and contact Marco's group.
Platforms[]
Originally, Metal Slug was available on Neo-Geo MVS arcade system and AES home entertainment system.
Later on, a Neo-Geo CD version of the game was introduced to help along with Neo-Geo's lagging sales, but it never caught on due to the lack of attention that the NGCD received.
Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation versions were also ported and distributed. The Saturn version was available in two different versions, 1.002 and 1.005, the latter with minor bug fixes, and are no longer in production. The PlayStation version is currently being distributed by SNK Playmore as a re-release version.
In 2007, Metal Slug Anthology (known as Metal Slug Complete in Japan) was released for the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. This compilation includes all the original Metal Slug games up to Metal Slug 6. The version of Metal Slug included is an emulation of the original Neo Geo AES release, with none of the additional game modes or content introduced in the other home versions. A downloadable version of this collection was made available on the PlayStation Store for PSP on October 1, 2009.
Metal Slug was also available on the now-defunct GameTap video game service, with a two-player online option. In 2008, it was released on the Wii's Virtual Console, and was also included as part of the SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 compilation for the Wii, PlayStation 2, and PSP.
An official emulated version of Metal Slug is also available on PSP and PlayStation 3, and in 2012, a wireless version was released for iOS and Android.
Metal Slug is also included as one of the 20 pre-loaded games on the Neo Geo X portable console.
There were plans to port Metal Slug to the Game Boy Advance (it was mentioned in the development section), however, as the official SNK website stated, "Due to the limited memory size of the GBA cartridge the plans for MS on GBA has been cancelled."
In 2006, according to a pamphlet being handed out at the Tokyo Game Show by SNK Playmore, a version of Metal Slug was being developed for the Xbox Live Arcade service. The text on the pamphlet translates to "the original". SNK Playmore did not list a release date in the pamphlet for the Metal Slug title.
Background Music (BGM)[]
- The Military System (How to Play/Final Results)
- Main Theme of Metal Slug (Mission 1)
- Steel Beast (Boss Battle)
- Inner Station (Mission 2 [Part 1])
- Assault Theme (Mission 2 [Part 2/Boss Battle]/Mission 3/Final Boss Battle)
- Ridge 256 (Mission 4)
- Gerhardt City (Mission 5)
- Final Attack (Final Mission)
- Gravestone (Game Over)
- Carry Out (Mission Complete)
- Ending Theme (Staff Roll)
External links[]
- Metal Slug at Neo-Geo.com (reviews) 1 2
- Buy Metal Slug iPhone Version here .
- GOG Store page
Screenshots[]
Flyers and covers[]
Study on Metal Slug 1
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