SNK's Neo Geo home and arcade console will gracefully leave gamers this July with the release of Samurai Shodown V Special, a sequel to my personal favorite game of all time. The latest game in the series and final game to ever appear on the console will run gamers over $350. That's three hundred and fifty dollars. One game....$350. This is why itís just awesome to get ports like this on cheaper and much more affordable consoles, stuff normal mainstream gamers can afford. Metal Slug 3 is widely regarded as the best of the series, and though I'm not sure I completely agree with that, it's still one of the greatest action games ever conceived. Shame the port has some issues that keep from complete greatness.
Metal Slug is an ADD patient's dream. Golden rule: If you go a minute without something blowing up, youíre doing something wrong. This is the ultimate twitch video game allowing you select from 4 separate characters (though all with the same abilities) and blast your way through five levels of absolute mayhem (with or without friend). Along the way you'll fight giant crabs, aliens, enemy soldiers, machines that fill up the screen, and zombies all in glorious 2-D. No need to worry about an inconsistent camera here.
The game's title comes from various machines you can enter into during the gameplay. From submarines to planes (a few exclusive to this port), you'll pilot it all. Oh, you may also come across an elephant or ostrich with guns attached to it. Yeah, it's goofy, but the sense of humor programmed into this one is uncanny.
Power-ups come in various forms and are usually received from rescued hostages. You'll get a nice variety of weapons from rapid-fire machine guns, shotguns, and flamethrowers. There are plenty of other extras as well, such as gold and food. Eat too much and you'll not only slow down, but also become grossly overweight in the process. It can be frustrating, but when it's this funny, you probably won't care.
Though you'll certainly hear plenty of people talking about how this one looks outdated, these people simply can't appreciate the work that goes into something like this. An entire review could easily be written simply about the stunning variety and small details crammed into this one. By far the best looking animation is when you turn into a zombie (by getting puked on of course). Press the bomb button and watch your player regurgitate and entire bodies worth of blood. The animation rivals the best 3-D games can offer, only here every single frame was drawn by hand. Though you'll only have a few opportunities, try and take it slow through a few segments and just watch everything that goes on in one screen and then you'll understand why this is such a lost art. Sadly (though it certainly wasn't expected), the game doesn't run in progressive scan for HDTV owners.
Article comments
1 - jadester
i thought the neo-geo had stopped production when SNK almost went bust over the Neo-geo pocket colour (which by the way is superior to the gameboy colour and only failed bcos snk didn't actually advertise it so almost no-one knew about it), or possibly before. Although i knew games were still being developed for it. In fact one time, by accident, i found some game shop site where they'd managed to produce a development version (i forget if it was the home neo geo or arcade version) so real enthusiasts could make their own games, and it wasn't alot more than a normal neo-geo. Stupidly tho i didnt bookmark the site and haven't managed to find it since
As for the price, you can get a bargain on ebay if you're willing to spend alot of time looking (and take the risk of course)
Metal Slug is one of those games that manages to prove beyond any doubt that gameplay IS more important than graphics. Anyway, the cartoony graphics are kinda cute...ish.
2 - Matt Paprocki
What happened it that a company called Playmore bought out SNK and started to release games again. For a while, there was nothing and a few of the final releases before the buyout aren't that easy to come buy. The company will now focus on the Atomiswave hardware which which is basically a Dreamcast in arcade form. Should be great especially when Kinf og Fighters and Metal Slug hit in high-res.
3 - Richter
in short:
- SNk went bankrupt
- CEO gave money to sister in law
- SNK auctioned off its properties
- the winner was a company called Playmore
- Playmore's funds came ffrom said CEO's sister in law
- so SNK bought themselves back