(Pictured above are the four original main characters surrounded by later additions, minor characters and in-game vehicles)
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, Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS. 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. In 2009 the three first games were officially ported by Games Load to Windows.
Plot:
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'état 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 humor 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. Metal Slug 7 has less outlandish elements with the Mars People replaced by an alternative universe of Morden's Army with futuristic equipment and weapons.
Characters:
Marco Rossi and Tarma Roving were the first playable characters, but each was reserved solely to the first and second player, respectively. In the second installment, Eri Kasamoto and Fiolina "Fio" Germi were added to the cast. These four are considered by fans to be the quintessential Metal Slug team. In the fourth game, Nadia Cassel and Trevor Spacey made their debut, replacing Eri and Tarma, respectively, but have not returned for later games. Eri and Tarma returned in the fifth game. The Game Boy Advance edition of the game features two new characters specific to that title: PF squad trainees Walter Ryan and Tyra Elson (also known as Tyler). King of Fighters/Ikari Warriors characters Ralf Jones and Clark Still appear in Metal Slug 6, released for the Atomiswave hardware in February 2006. They are also playable characters in the latest installment, Metal Slug 7.
Extended list of Metal Slug characters and bios.
Gameplay:
The gameplay of the series is characteristic of run and gun games: large numbers of enemies and a player character with extremely powerful weapons. In most run and guns, contact with an enemy leads to immediate death. In this series, however, contact results in the opponent'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.
The player starts with only a simple pistol, as the game progresses the player picks up new weapons. The player can only carry one weapon at the time, when a new weapon is found it replaces the old one. Similarly, when the ammo runs out, the player reverts to using the handgun. A new system was implemented with Metal Slug 6 allowing players to carry two larger weapons and switch between them as well as the default pistol.
The SV-001 or Metal Slug is the main vehicle of the Metal Slug franchise. It is a small, cartoonish silver tank (SV is short for "Super Vehicle"). The tank is armed with one cannon and twin vulcan cannons. The vehicle can jump and crouch. Crouching opens a hatch on the top of the tank through which grenades can be thrown. The grenades are independent of the cannon's ammo system. The vehicle can run over infantry and perform a suicide attack, with the driver jumping clear and the tank ramming into and exploding upon the target. The vehicle can take three direct hits before it is destroyed. The enemy chaser variant has a shield that must be destroyed before the vehicle can be destroyed. It is propelled by caterpillar treads. Over time, these specifications changed into any vehicle armed with a vulcan cannon and a cannon variant suited to the role of the vehicle, and propelled suitably for that vehicle's environment. In Metal Slug 6 (and the home version of Metal Slug X, 3, 4, 5), Tarma can lock the vulcan cannons into one position and fire continuously. The "slug gunner" is considered the epitome of slug evolution.
-Taken from Wikipedia
Metal Slug 3 Gameplay
