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[Peltz]

Yep, I'm making this thread right now just for the hell of it. Read the rules.


Rules:
1. Limit 3 images per post to keep the pages loading fast. Double posts are fine.

2. Keep the topic about Metal Slug, but that doesn't mean every image has to from things within Metal Slug. Related images are totally cool too.


This thread was created because, quite frankly, there's nothing quite as fucking awesome as the animation in the Metal Slug series. I think it's time the series got it's own thread devoted solely to the insanely detailed animation that goes into these games. Let's fill this thread by posting some of that insane detail.


Enjoy and post your favorites:

 

[Shadow_Lord]

 

[ViewtifulJC]

 

[Hierophant]

 

[Sword Of Doom]

I will sit back and enjoy

OP I can't get over the jet blast effect in that second GIF

 

[73V3N]

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

this series is fucking timeless.

 

[Peltz]

 

[Darrenf]

I played through Metal Slug 3 on the PS4 today. It still holds up, but man it's fucking difficulty is butal.

 

[sixteen-bit]

This series has some good looking art.

 

[BadWolf]

I played through Metal Slug 3 on the PS4 today. It still holds up, but man it's fucking difficulty is butal.

Try the first one if you can, its difficulty is more manageable than the rest.

Still my fave in the series.

 

[Barkley's Justice]

Is the 56k warning tongue-in-cheek at this point? Or is that still some valid shit around here?

 

[Peltz]

Is the 56k warning tongue-in-cheek at this point? Or is that still some valid shit around here?

Tongue in cheek unless you're name is missile.

 

[nadozza]

Tongue in cheek unless you're name is missile.

It's probably handy to those with limited mobile data plans.

 

[Evilisk]

Got no clue where to find Metal Slug gifs, so have some NGBC gifs instead

(If I knew where, I'd post the other alien robot using its beam attack, that Turret Boss [the one from MS2] using its flamethrower attack and that land battleship using its main cannon)

 

[Platy]

no wait a minute this is not from a metal slug game !

Now this is MUCH better !

 

[Adnor]

I especially like how there's a reload animation when it's completely useless. Sorry for the bad quality of that gif, but it's hard to find.

 

[Darrenf]

Try the first one if you can, its difficulty is more manageable than the rest.

Still my fave in the series.

Will do. Thanks for the recommendation. I really enjoyed playing it so I'm definitely checking out other games in the series.

Edit: Turns out I have some Metal Slug games on Steam that I forgot about from an old Humble Bundle. Nice.

 

[Big Brett]

W... wow. How do I start playing these games on a PC or modern console?

 

[xir]

naughty monkey

 

[deriks]

W... wow. How do I start playing these games on a PC or modern console?

Download Winkawaks and ROMs

 

[Forerunner]

W... wow. How do I start playing these games on a PC or modern console?

You can get them on Steam, I'm not sure about consoles.

 

[FLEABttn]

I really need to pick up the MVS carts of these at some point.

 

[Kamek]

That 56k warning brought me back.

Love this series.

 

[Heero5]

Man stage 2 boss in MS2 is unreal!

 

[Zoloft Sonic]

Platformer sprite art peaked with this series. It's still something to behold.

 

[Platy]

W... wow. How do I start playing these games on a PC or modern console?

Steam for separate games or

for PSN, PSP, PS2 and Wii

 

[Overboost]

W... wow. How do I start playing these games on a PC or modern console?

Metal Slug 3 is on PS4 and Vita, and the best one in the series (and one of the best games ever made). Metal Slug Anthology is on PS2, PSP, and Wii if you still have one of those.

 

[Cow Mengde]

Wait what? I didn't know the elephant can shoot electricity. Which Metal Slug is that?

 

[Noogy]

W... wow. How do I start playing these games on a PC or modern console?

I envy anyone who gets to experience these masterpieces for the first time. I recently introduced my son to them and we had a blast playing through all of them on Steam. To this day they boggle my mind.

 

[tiltnkirby]

Wait what? I didn't know the elephant can shoot electricity. Which Metal Slug is that?

That should be MS3, stage 2 ice caves path.

 

[Maximo]

Looks like im going back and playing some Metal Slug.

 

[Cow Mengde]

That should be MS3, stage 2 ice caves path.

Yeah, but how do you get the elephant to do that?

 

[Springfoot]

Wait what? I didn't know the elephant can shoot electricity. Which Metal Slug is that?

Only the most well animated elephant ever seen in a videogame, and yet is only seen one time in the entire series for less than 5 minutes.

I think it's just called the Elephant Slug, and you find him in MS3's second mission (the zombie one). There's a part midway through where you go up a large sloped hill, and after descending down the other side, you can choose to break some ice on the left to reveal a cave entrance. Inside that cave you'll find yetis, refrigerators, and eventually the elephant slug at the end. You then ride the slug back out to the mouth of the cave fighting zombies and can upgrade him with electric and flame trunk shots by collecting car battery and hot pepper items that function as his grenades.

Sprites courtesy of the Metal Slug Wiki.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

Love this series.

 

[Novocaine]

W... wow. How do I start playing these games on a PC or modern console?

Pretty certain there are PS2 classics on PS4 for some of these and a couple on XBO BC as well. I also envy you a little for being able to experience these games for the first time.

 

[Cow Mengde]

Only the most well animated elephant ever seen in a videogame, and yet is only seen one time in the entire series for less than 5 minutes.

I think it's just called the Elephant Slug, and you find him in MS3's second mission (the zombie one). There's a part midway through where you go up a large sloped hill, and after descending down the other side, you can choose to break some ice on the left to reveal a cave entrance. Inside that cave you'll find yetis, refrigerators, and eventually the elephant slug at the end. You then ride the slug back out to the mouth of the cave fighting zombies and can upgrade him with electric and flame trunk shots by collecting car battery and hot pepper items that function as his grenades.

Sprites courtesy of the Metal Slug Wiki.

I know about the chill peppers, but not about the car battery electricity. I really should go back and play some MS3, but I don't like that game very much.

 

[Baron Von Beans]

One of the most beautiful animated games. Even the NGPC games were top notch. I would say Hard Corps Uprising is the only thing remotely close to this level of detail, and even then it is missing so much charm in the countless missable details.

 

[Springfoot]

I know about the chill peppers, but not about the car battery electricity. I really should go back and play some MS3, but I don't like that game very much.

That's too bad, it's the best and final one made by the original team that created the series. It's filled to the brim with tons of beautifully animated sprites (like the awesome snail guys with their custom attack and death animations and the old WW2 Japanese soldiers still unwittingly manning their dilapidated underground fort) that are completely hidden away in optional paths and requires at least 3 playthroughs to see and do everything.

I also enjoyed how the last mission toys with who your player character is (having the original one get captured and cloned and sending the alternate gender one to go rescue them) and intersperses remixes the previous final bosses and a few other prominent boss fights from the series throughout the level before having you wrap up the alien storyline they introduced in 2.

 

[firelogic]

Steam for separate games or

for PSN, PSP, PS2 and Wii

And PS4. The anthology came out a couple of weeks ago.

Also Metal Slug 3 is cross-buy on PSN. Buy one and get access to it from PS3, PS4, and Vita.

 

[Cow Mengde]

That's too bad, it's the best and final one made by the original team that created the series. It's filled to the brim with tons of beautifully animated sprites (like the awesome snail guys with their custom attack and death animations and the old WW2 Japanese soldiers still unwittingly manning their dilapidated underground fort) that are completely hidden away in optional paths and requires at least 3 playthroughs to see and do everything.

It is a beautiful game, but I feel like the game is so unbalanced. Almost all the enemies are bullet sponges, and some of the level designs are awful. The elephant area, and stage 2 in general. Just awful. You run in a straight line fighting unless bullet sponges. Run into a cave in a straight line with tons of bullet sponges, then back the same way through more bullet sponges. Just bullet sponges everywhere. It didn't feel like the game got harder, just enemies got cheaper. Ironically, the first boss is one of the easiest bosses ever in a Metal Slug game. They also didn't spread out the guns very well.

It's not bad, but I feel like this is where the magic started to fade. It was very ambitious, I can't deny that, but man does it have problems.

 

[pete_clarf]

 

[lucebuce12]

And PS4. The anthology came out a couple of weeks ago.

Also Metal Slug 3 is cross-buy on PSN. Buy one and get access to it from PS3, PS4, and Vita.

But the PS4 version of the anthology has severe input lag. It's basically emulating an emulation in a way and it does not perform well.

 

[Übermatik]

Sadly can't find a gif of Sol Dae Rokker firing, but these are kinda close:

Also the animation for wiggling around in snowman form... just, er, imagine this gyrating a bit:

 

[Springfoot]

It is a beautiful game, but I feel like the game is so unbalanced. Almost all the enemies are bullet sponges, and some of the level designs are awful. The elephant area, and stage 2 in general. Just awful. You run in a straight line fighting unless bullet sponges. Run into a cave in a straight line with tons of bullet sponges, then back the same way through more bullet sponges. Just bullet sponges everywhere. It didn't feel like the game got harder, just enemies got cheaper. Ironically, the first boss is one of the easiest bosses ever in a Metal Slug game. They also didn't spread out the guns very well.

It's not bad, but I feel like this is where the magic started to fade. It was very ambitious, I can't deny that, but man does it have problems.

Level 2 is definitely my least favorite, but I recently replayed 1-5 after another MS thread came up, and those latter 2 games by other teams are awful when it comes to balance and difficulty (4 especially, 5 isn't quite as bad), and it's blindingly obvious how they were designed simply to eat quarters. I had played MS3 at arcades several times but never beat it until it was released on the original Xbox, at which point I was able to eventually beat the entire game on a single set of 3 lives. I'm not sure if that's even possible with 4, but it would be an unpleasant headache to try.

I really enjoyed 2 and X as well, and would probably prefer 2 if the slowdown wasn't so terrible, which X fixes, but I'm not a huge fan of some of the other level and boss remixes.

 

[Übermatik]

Eh, have a few more...

 

[Glowsquid]

I can't find a gif for the robot explosion animation in Gunforce 2, which is my favourite bit of animation in the extended Irem/Nazca lineage (MS's spiritual ancestor, it counts!)

 

[antitrop]

And general appreciation for The Midnight Wandering theme from the zombie stage of MS3.

 

[Cow Mengde]

Level 2 is definitely my least favorite, but I recently replayed 1-5 after another MS thread came up, and those latter 2 games by other teams are awful when it comes to balance and difficulty (4 especially, 5 isn't quite as bad), and it's blindingly obvious how they were designed simply to eat quarters. I had played MS3 at arcades several times but never beat it until it was released on the original Xbox, at which point I was able to eventually beat the entire game on a single set of 3 lives. I'm not sure if that's even possible with 4, but it would be an unpleasant headache to try.

I really enjoyed 2 and X as well, and would probably prefer 2 if the slowdown wasn't so terrible, which X fixes, but I'm not a huge fan of some of the other level and boss remixes.

Oh yeah, 4 isn't great either, and 5 was better. I don't feel like 4 was all that unfair when it comes to difficulty. I'm not very good at Metal Slug at all, so maybe I don't get the little nuance in the difficulty. I just know MS3's bullet sponges are horrible. Also, the zombie death animation took forever. So when you die, you have to slowly watch the really well done animation, but after dying for a while, it gets repetitive.

I still think 3 did the best job with the multiple routes (except level 2).

 

[Springfoot]

Sadly can't find a gif of Sol Dae Rokker firing

Yes! The energy beam it fires is one of my favorite effects animations in the game.
I found a blog called Pixel Digest that had the energy beam itself without the main sprite, so I comped the two together. (Edit: Added an extra version with a dark background so the effect is a bit more visible on the forum)

That site also had some other great ones. I particularly love all the melting fluid sprites they have for various death and attack animations: