POW

Prisoner of War
Gender	Varies
Origin	Varies
Occupation	Regular Army personnel, civilians
Misc. Information
Special Skills	Storing an assortment of items and weapons

POWs (or Prisoners of War) are non-playable characters from the Metal Slug series.

Information

POWs can be found anywhere on the level, some even hidden from view. Rescuing them will leave them walking about; tagging them often yields various bonus items and weapons. Some POWs even lend a hand to aid the player, which is mostly directly engaging the enemy. POWs are invulnerable to enemy and environmental damage.

Tagging a number of prisoners gives the player a score bonus at the end of a mission. However, dying resets the counter back to zero and any support POWs will run away. POWs tagged throughout the game are counted for the Mission All Over screen.

Regular Army POWs are typically seen as scrawny, bearded men with tattered clothes regardless of age and gender. Some soldiers even disguise themselves as POWs as a means to enter enemy territory. Every Regular Army soldier is taught how to hide objects and living beings in their pants, an ability not replicated in other armies.

Neutral POWs

Prisoners of War: These are the most common POWs throughout the entire Metal Slug series. When rescued, they pull out an item from their pants to aid the player. Such drawn items include special weapons.

Pink Underwear POWs: Prisoners wearing bright boxers. Must be tagged twice as the first time has them running away from the player. Found in Metal Slug: Awakening.

Rumi Aikawa: A wandering absent-minded supply sergeant with a backpack, packed full of goodies. When the player encounters her, she provides an item. If the player damages her backpack it will drop various food items.

Madoka Aikawa: Rumi's elder sister and a Regular Army private. Same job, same role, and same mindset.

Executives: These POWs act the same way as the regular POWs do. When rescued, they each give one random item from a briefcase. These POWs can be in Mission 3 and Mission 5 of Metal Slug 5. In Metal Slug Attack, they serve as the Extra Shop's salesman.

President: A POW that looks like a caricature of Bill Clinton. When rescued, he calls two bodyguards to each provide an item for the player. He also provides a higher bonus score at the end of the mission. In Metal Slug Attack, a bodyguard serves as the Rare Shop's salesman.

Regular Army Recruit: These POWs are essentially the same as regular POWs. They provide the player an item or card from their backpack. These POWs replace normal POWs for the first mission in Metal Slug Advance.

Support POWs

 

Utan: A chimp who supports the player in combat, armed with a MAC-11 machine-pistol. First appears in Metal Slug 3.

Hyakutaro Ichimonji: A 2nd lieutenant who takes disguise as a POW. When rescued, he supports the player in combat by charging a homing projectile similar to a Hadouken (but with a burst similar to Andy Bogard's Hishouken). He also performs melee attacks with a spin kick. He first appears in Metal Slug 2.

Pupipi: A Martian POW who supports the player in combat for some time with a mini-UFO. He shares the same role as a Mobile Satellite, shooting lasers from his mini-UFO until it runs out and leaves. He is only seen in the final mission of Metal Slug 6.

"Enemy" POWs

 

Frozen Rebel Soldier: When rescued, they count towards the player's bonus score at the end of the mission, but do not provide any items.

  

Captured Rebel Soldier: These POWs share the same function as the Frozen Rebel Soldiers. When playing as Allen O'Neil in Metal Slug Mobile 3, these soldiers fight alongside the player.

 

Captured Mars People: They are kept in stasis tubes in the Invaders' Hive. They bring one item with a mini-UFO. They appear in Metal Slug 6.  A barrier variant called 14000000MARS PEOPLE was introduced in Metal Slug Attack to celebrate the game's 14 million downloads.

Unused POWs

Sailor: A POW from Mission 5 of Metal Slug 4. These POWs are in a cargo ship overrun and captured by Amadeus troops and Pirates. The idea of them being prisoners was scrapped and instead they are only seen running away and jumping overboard like the civilian NPCs in urban levels.

"Achilles": A POW from Metal Slug 5 originally intended to support the player in combat with exploding pistol fire. He is only found in an unused debug area of Mission 3. He has no official name; rescuing him will give out a random name.

Gallery

A POW seen in Metal Slug 3D.