Metal Slug (series)

Metal Slug is a series of run and gun video games first released on Neo-Geo arcade machines and game consoles created by SNK. It was also ported to other consoles, such as the Sega Saturn, the PlayStation, the Neo-Geo Pocket Color and more recently, the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360. There is also an anthology of the first 7 games in the main series (including Metal Slug X) available for the Wii, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation 2.

Story
The first game's story involved the Peregrine Falcon (PF) Squad, a small but skilled team of soldiers serving under the Regular Army's special operations division, who fight against the army of General Donald Morden in order to prevent a massive coup d'etat and the creation of a New World Order under General Morden. Later games featured characters from the Sparrows Unit, which is under the control of the Regular Army's intelligence division. In the games following the first, the PF Squad also battles an alien threat to Earth (the Mars People), as well as several other supernatural threats including yetis, zombies, ambulatory Venus flytraps, giant crabs and mummies. Outlandish elements were removed from the fourth game to return to the feel of the original title, which resulted in poor critical and commercial reception. The fifth moved to the motif of modern guerrilla warfare, leaving only traces of the series signature quirky humour and paranormal enemies(except for the final boss). Metal Slug 6 returned to the plot of the first three installments, bringing back Morden's Rebel Army and the Mars People.

Gameplay
The gameplay of the series is characteristic of run and guns: The enemies come in hordes, the weapons have high fire rates. All of these characteristics come from the Contra series, which the gameplay is based on. Metal Slug however takes the concepts introduced in Contra and expands upon them. First and foremost is the ability to perform melee attacks. In most run and guns, contact with an enemy leads to immediate death. In this series, contact only results in either party's death if an attack is performed. This leads to the ability for the player to run in and use melee attacks to take down a number of troops.

Games
* Metal Slug: Super Vehicle 001 (Neo-Geo, Neo Geo CD, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Wii, PSP, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance) * Metal Slug 2 (Neo-Geo, Neo-Geo CD, Wii, PSP, PlayStation 2) * Metal Slug X (enhanced remix of Metal Slug 2 utilizing Metal Slug 3 engine, which was being developed during that time) - (Neo-Geo, PlayStation, Wii, PSP, PlayStation 2) * Metal Slug 3 (Neo-Geo, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Wii, PSP, Xbox 360) * Metal Slug 4 (Neo-Geo, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Wii, PSP) * Metal Slug 5 (Neo-Geo, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC, Wii, PSP) * Metal Slug 6 (Atomiswave, PlayStation 2, Wii, PSP)
 * Arcade

* Metal Slug 3D (Japan Release Only, unknown if it will be release on the USA Version) * Metal Slug Anthology (Compilation of Metal Slug 1, 2, X, 3, 4, 5 and 6)
 * Playstation 2

* Metal Slug Anthology (Compilation of Metal Slug 1, 2, X, 3, 4, 5 and 6)
 * PlayStation Portable

* Metal Slug Anthology (Compilation of Metal Slug 1, 2, X, 3, 4, 5 and 6)
 * Wii

* Metal Slug: 1st Mission * Metal Slug: 2nd Mission
 * Neo Geo Pocket Color

* Metal Slug Advance
 * Game Boy Advance

* Metal Slug 3 (From Xbox live arcade)
 * Xbox 360

* Metal Slug Mobile * Metal Slug Mobile: Impact * Metal Slug STG * Metal Slug: Allen's Battle Chronicles (Part 1) * Metal Slug: Allen's Battle Chronicles (Part 2) * Metal Slug Survivors * Metal Slug Soldiers
 * Mobile platforms

* Metal Slug Online * Metal Slug: Super Vehicle 001 GT (GT=Via GameTap ) * Metal Slug 2 GT    * Metal Slug X GT     * Metal Slug 3 GT     * Metal Slug 4 GT     * Metal Slug 5 GT     * Metal Slug 6 GT
 * PC

* Metal Slug 7
 * Nintendo DS

Introduced in Metal Slug

 * Marco Rossi
 * Tarma Rowing
 * Allen O'Neil
 * Donald Morden

Introduced in Metal Slug 2

 * Fiolina Germi
 * Eri Kasamoto
 * Mars People
 * Hyakutaro Ichimonji
 * Rumi Aikawa

Introduced in Metal Slug 4

 * Nadia Cassel
 * Trevor Spacey

Introduced in Metal Slug Advanced

 * Walter Ryan
 * Tyra Elson

Introduced in Metal Slug 6

 * Ralf Jones
 * Clark Still