Metal Slug: Super Vehicle-001

Metal Slug: Super Vehicle-001 (メタルスラッグ, Metaru Suraggu) is a run and gun action shooting game developed and originally released by Nazca Corporation and later published by SNK for the Neo Geo console/arcade platform in 1996. The game is widely known for its sense of humor, fluid hand-drawn animation, and fast paced two-player action. It is the first title in the Metal Slug series.

The game was released for PlayStation 4 as part of the line "ACA Neo Geo" developed by Hamster Corporation.

Story
The Metal Slug storyline stretches from the beginning of the era of modern-day terrorism, set in the near-future of 2028. There are two militant factions that struggle for power: the Rebellion and the Regular Army. The Regular Army is a well-equipped, modern-day force run by various nations around the world. The Rebellion is comprised of various small, organized militant groups, ranging from terrorists to splinter groups of military forces driven by a hunger for power.

The Regular Army is a very formidable force. However, it lacks effectiveness due to the widespread corruption within the chain of command. Other officials often deny the reports and recommendations given to them by intelligence officers. This often leads to intelligence failures that result in dramatic consequences.

Vice Admiral Donald Morden of the Regular Army Marine Corps is one of the main characters that sparks the events of Metal Slug. He has a reputation of being a tough, efficient, and caring officer of the Regular Army, and is held in high regard by his troops. He is also a caring father to his son. However, Morden immediately defects over to the Rebellion when his son is killed in the Central Park bombing caused by an intelligence failure on the part of the Regular Army. He self-promoted to General.

In 2026, a year after the attempted assassination of the President of the United States launched by the Rebellion under General Donald Morden's command, the Rebellion launched a massive attack against the Regular Army forces around the world. Although the Regular Army intelligence agency had many indications that such an attack was imminent, Regular Army officials again ignored the warnings. With the Regular Army forces surprised, the Rebellion nearly annihilated them with their superior numbers and emergent technologies.

The Regular Army planned a massive counter-attack against the rebellion. Advanced tanks, designated "Super Vehicle-001" were designed to aid the Regular Army commandos. These tanks were mass-produced but kept in caches until the Regular Army had amassed enough to begin a counter-attack. However, the tanks were seized by the Rebels in 2028 because of another intelligence failure by the Regular Army.

Seeing the Regular Army panic and crumble, 1st Lieutenant Marco Rossi of the Regular Army Peregrine Falcons special forces unit quickly unites remaining Regular Army units and begins a commando operation to reclaim the tanks. Fighting alongside him is Second Lieutenant Tarma Roving from the same unit.

After various campaigns, the Regular Army defeats the Rebellion forces and reestablishes stability. General Donald Morden is apprehended near the end of the conflict and is jailed in a maximum security military prison complex while awaiting trial for his war crimes.

The soldiers of the Peregrine Falcons squad were declared heroes by the Regular Army officials, with the lieutenants Marco and Tarma being credited with many awards. However, not everyone treated the P.F. squad as such because Regular Army officials had been discredited by their failure to prevent the Rebellion attack.

Gameplay
The player has to constantly shoot at a continual stream of enemies in order to reach the end of a level. At the end of each level, 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 level, the player finds weapons upgrades and "slug" vehicles that can be used not only as weapons but also as added 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, most of the time 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 levels, 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, 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 Metal Slug 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. 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.

Machine gun turret: In the final mission, the player will at one point be on a submarine with a turret. The turret can only be fired 180 degrees and its shots are identical to the pistol's. However, it is rapid-firing like the tank.

Development
Metal Slug was developed by most of the same team that previously worked on several projects at Irem like In the Hunt and GunForce II before departing from the company and forming Nazca Corporation. Kawai and Takashi Nishiyama served as chief development manager and producer respectively. Kazuma "Kire-Nag" Kujo and Meeher acted as co-designers. Shinichi "Hamachan" Hamada, Kenji "Andy" Andō, Atsushi Kurooka (currently of PlatinumGames), T. Yokota, H. Yamada and "Pierre" Takada worked as programmers. Artists Akio Oyabu, Susumu, Kazuhiro "Max.D" Tanaka, Tomohiro, Takeshi Okui (currently of Monolith Soft) and Kozo were responsible for the pixel art. Composers Takushi "Hiya!" Hiyamuta and Jim scored the soundtrack. The team recounted the project's development process and history through various publications.

Metal Slug was first playable during a location test at Osaka and later showcased to attendees at the 1995 Amusement Machine Show from September 13 to 15.[citation needed] The plot was similar to the final version but revolved around Regular Army members Phil Gene and Michiko Nakajima controlling the SV-001 and SV-002 prototype tanks instead.

Release
Metal Slug was first released by SNK for the Neo Geo MVS arcade system on April 19, 1996 and later for the Neo Geo AES on May 24. The North American AES release has since become one of the more expensive titles on the platform, with copies of the port fetching over US$20,000 on the secondary video game collecting market. On July 5 the same year a Neo Geo CD version of the game was also released, featuring a "Combat School" mode that allowed players to revisit previously-played missions with new objectives.

Between April and August 1997, Sega Saturn and PlayStation versions were developed by SNK and Ukiyotei respectively were released only in Japan. Though software market was being dominated by polygon-based games, Neo Geo conversions for Saturn and PlayStation were selling well in Japan, motivating SNK to produce ports of Metal Slug as well. To retain all animations frames of the arcade original, the Saturn version used newer compression techniques, inter-level loading and the 1 MB RAM expansion cartridge. The Saturn release was available in two revisions; 1.002 and 1.005, which included some minor bug fixes. Both ports feature "Combat School" mode from the Neo Geo CD release while the PlayStation version features a new mode, "Another Story", consisting of plot-based minigames, and an art gallery featuring concept art.

A Game Boy Advance port was announced to be in development but was never released to the public. In 2006, Metal Slug was included alongside its arcade sequels as part of Metal Slug Anthology for the Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PC in 2009 (as Metal Slug Collection PC) as well as PlayStation 4 in 2020 by Limited Run Games, being an emulated iteration of the arcade original without additional game modes or content featured in previous home releases. In 2008, the game was included as part of SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 for Wii, PlayStation 2 and PSP, as well as being re-released by D4 Enterprise on the Wii's Virtual Console. In 2010, a version by M2 for the NEOGEO Station service was published by SNK Playmore on PlayStation Network. In 2012, a wireless version was released by DotEmu for iOS and Android.

Metal Slug is available as one of the 20 pre-loaded games with the Neo Geo X and was also included in the Neo Geo 25th Anniversary Humble Bundle, released in 2015. Hamster Corporation re-released Metal Slug for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch between December 2016 and March 2017 under their Arcade Archives series. The game was also recently included in the international version of the Neo Geo mini, the Neo Geo Arcade Stick Pro plug and play game device and the Neo Geo MVSX table top.

Critical Reception & Legacy
Metal Slug garnered positive response upon its initial release. Japanese magazine Game Machine listed the game on their June 1, 1996 issue as being the seventh most-popular arcade game for the previous two weeks. In the United States, it was one of the top ten highest-grossing arcade games of 1996. The Neo Geo, iOS and Nintendo Switch versions hold a 84.50%, 68.33% and 80% respectively on the review aggregator GameRankings. It was included in the 2010 book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. According to Famitsu, the "SNK Best Collection" re-release of Metal Slug on PlayStation sold over 8.064 copies in its first week on the market. The PC port sold 156,631 digital copies worldwide on Steam.

Electronic Gaming Monthly heavily criticized the game's unfair difficulty and one-hit deaths, remarking that playing through the arcade version requires an inordinate amount of quarters, while the Neo Geo AES version's lack of an option for limited continues means players of all skill levels can complete it in a single sitting, with no motivation to play again or improve one's skill at the game. However, the four reviewers also concurred that the game is fun, chiefly due to its smooth and humorous animations. GamePro 's Major Mike agreed that the Neo Geo version suffers from low longevity, with too few levels and a complete lack of replay value, and also criticized the slowdown in the game, but Mike approved of the graphics, music, and arsenal of weapons, and summarized the game as "a soldier-slamming, side-scrolling, tour de force that dwarfs recent side-scrolling Neo shoot-em-ups, including the system's strongest platform offerings like Cyber-Lip and Top Hunter." AllGame 's Brett Alan Weiss and Kyle Knight praised its unique hand-drawn visual style, refined gameplay, simple controls, intense action, humor and replay value but criticized the game's slowdown when many objects are present on-screen, the overall length and found the music to be average. In conclusion, Knight regarded the title as one of the best side-scrolling shooters on Neo Geo. Jeuxvideo.com 's nuktos praised the colorful graphics, humor, gameplay and sound design but criticized its short length.

The Sega Saturn port was well received for being a faithful arcade conversion but critics noted that the game would not work without the 1MB RAM expansion cartridge. Computer and Video Games ' Steve Rey praised the weapon selection, attention to detail, humor and two-player mode. A reviewer from Next Generation reviewed the Saturn port, stating that "in the end, Metal Slug is not a game players will really obsess over. However, the easy and exciting gameplay will have players returning to it often, which is probably why SNK decided to bring it to the States". Readers of the Japanese Sega Saturn Magazine voted to give the Saturn iteration an 8.6305 out of 10 score, ranking at the number 185 spot. A reviewer of NowGamer criticized the PlayStation conversion for its lack of replay value aside from Combat School mode, however he praised the gameplay for being fun in short-term.

When Metal Slug was re-released on the Virtual Console in 2008, IGN 's Lucas M. Thomas scored it 8.5 out of 10, and awarding it an "Editor's Choice" badge. Eurogamer 's Dan Whitehead wasn't quite as impressed. Despite praising the original game, Whitehead was critical of the port, criticizing the lack of support for online multiplayer, in comparison to the Xbox Live release. Nintendo Life 's Marcel van Duyn praised the sprite work, visuals and fast-paced music. Slide To Play 's Andrew Podolsky commended the iOS release for being an enjoyable and fast-paced arcade shooter in addition to its visual presentation, but recommended Metal Slug 3 instead, as he noted that the title was more simple, shorter and lack the gameplay features compared with later entries in the Metal Slug franchise. 148Apps 's Carter Dotson heavily criticized the iOS version for its control scheme but praised its graphics and sound, as well as the gameplay and replay value. Nintendo Life 's Damien McFerran praised its graphics and humor, although McFerran noted that its overall simplicity compared to later titles in the Metal Slug series may be seen as a shortcoming.

Metal Slug spawned a series of six sequels, a remake and four spin-offs. Marco Rossi appears as a playable character in the tag-team fighting game NeoGeo Battle Coliseum. Several developers have also created games similar to Metal Slug such as Demon Front, CT Special Forces, Alien Hominid, Commando: Steel Disaster, and Mercenary Kings.

Characters

 * Maj. Marco Rossi
 * Cap. Tarma Roving
 * Sgt. Allen O'Neil
 * General Donald Morden