ROCKET LAWN CHAIR! The run and gun thread - The Bear and Badger

Blue Swirl

EDIT: The thread to talk about anything where you run sideways and shoot shit. So: Metal Slug, Gunstar Heroes, Alien Hominid, Contra and so on and so forth.

OP: I fully expect this to sink like a stone, but hey ho, at least it'll stop me and stormyskies talking about Metal Slug in the Resident Evil thread.

stormyskiesahead wrote:

Yeah, I'm not sure a Metal Slug thread would take off, might be worth a go though. If not, I'll be on the currently playing thread when 7 arrives, I paid Â£17, but there were some going for Â£90+ on Amazon as well. Edit: Anthology is on Amazon for Wii and PSP for a tenner. Amazing value for money. I've only ever played bits of X, will stick it on tonight.

Â£17 isn't bad at all. I think I only managed Â£13 because I was somehow the only bidder.

I may have to grab Anthology on PSP if it's just ten quid. I don't even own a PSP but I'm quite proud of my Slug collection so far.

X is much better than 2. 2 got very repetitive and was very lacking in enemy types. X is definitely an improvement on that. Can't wait for 7 to show up so I can compare it to XX.

WorKid

I haven't played a Metal Slug game for about 10 years I reckon.

Bollockoff

I've got MS 3 knocking about on PS2 somewhere. That was hard.

Birdorf

I'll have to dig out 7 and give it an outing on the 3DS XL.
Remember enjoying it at the time, never finished it.

Birdorf

Just read the Resi thread, glad it wasn't just me who found Advance a tad tricky.

stormyskiesahead

Metal Slug thread is go! Nice one Swirl. My collection of actual Metal Slug boxed games is rubbish, just 3 on the oldbox (@Bollockoff; dig that out, it's one of the greatest games of all time. Promise) and Anthology on Wii. I've been relying on MAME for my fix for a few years now. Love MAME so much.

Really looking forward to 7, Metal Slug with me wherever I go, yes!

Bollockoff

It was good fun when I played it, though i'm not an outright fan of the series. What makes the fans so batshit crazy about the third game in particular?

Apart from hidden Yeti's.

stormyskiesahead

It's pure shooter perfection, from the beach assault to the final boss and every single batshit moment in between. It's so well paced, and has such a great variation in locations and enemies it remains an absolute joy to play.

Metal Slug turned up to 11 innit.

Brooks

MS3's final stage is kind of a masterpiece of grueling shumppery, but long before that you've got some nice embellishments on the format including branching paths, a bunch of new weapons and vehicles (hidden war-mammoth, oh my), the zombification conditions that are introduced early and riffed upon later.

Honestly I think it's a little too much of a good thing and prefer Slug 2/X, but the series can be basically forgotten about after the third.

Brooks

One thing it does exceptionally well is in-engine storytelling, albeit that the story is only as complicated as a run-n-gun videogame willÂ accommodateÂ easily. Stages dense with detail, key setpieces etc.

Tempy

I like 3, I'd agree with much of what Brooks said. Exceptional boss design too and that is always a kicker. I love the sprites too, everything jiggles and bounces in a lovely way, especially the vehicles when they counter around. I'm not very good at it though, can't think if I've 1CC'd it. Xbox port is brilliant as can be.

stormyskiesahead

I've never 1CC'd a Metal Slug game

. The sprites are indeed lovely, and the pixel art in general is a delight, although this is true for the entire series.

Bollockoff

Was that 3D Metal Slug as void of the series's soul as it sounded?

rickjoyce

They all kind of blur together for me since I didn't really hear of the series 'till the early-mid 00's but I will always go for metal slug and money idol exchanger first when I'm playing arcade games. I always felt like if I really put in the effort I could one cred it which is something I never get from any other coin 'op.

Didn't they do some rpg or strategy thing with the license for the ps2?

adkm1979

Metal Slug is one of those games I wish I was better at.

regmcfly

Good thread idea. I fuckin love MS but always forget about them. Perhaps this thread should also cover all the MS-esque games too, like Alien Hominid Et al

regmcfly

Also, War mammoth WHUT

Brooks

Yeah.

stormyskiesahead

@Bollockoff: We don't talk about the 3D one. Also, I don't remember a strategy/rpg Metal Slug, butÂ maybeÂ I put up a mental block or something.

Just played through X and yup, Swirl's right it's great. All the good stuff from 2's there, but it adds loads to the experience. More enemies, power ups, items, and weapons, and some lovely sunsets. I died a lot more than in 2, but that's okay, just means I'll have to keep replaying it to get my continues down.

Blue Swirl

regmcfly wrote:

Good thread idea. I fuckin love MS but always forget about them. Perhaps this thread should also cover all the MS-esque games too, like Alien Hominid Et al

Good plan. Title and OP changed.

Brooks

Strictly you can't really talk about MS without going into Contra but honestly I like the series a lot more than Contra.

beano

I'm with Andy. Bloody boss game that I am average at.

Also glad you cracked and made the thread wot!

Blue Swirl

Bollockoff wrote:

It was good fun when I played it, though i'm not an outright fan of the series. What makes the fans so batshit crazy about the third game in particular? Apart from hidden Yeti's.

What stormyskies said. The levels are interesting with some good hidden areas, some proper bat shit loco vehicles ("Slugs", sorry) like the freaking war mammoth. The second level in particular, where you could be turned into a zombie but it didn't necessarily mean game over, was genius. The bosses were hard without being unfair as they can be in other games in the series (betraying it's arcade roots on occasion). The enemies are varied, and the controls are just spot on so it always feels like it's your fault that you died.

Cheers for replies, keep 'em coming!

rickjoyce

Brooks wrote:

Strictly you can't really talk about MS without going into Contra but honestly I like the series a lot more than Contra.

It certainly is a hell of a lot more fun and smooth than Contra to me, but then Metal Slug wasn't on the NES. Even though I think they can both be coin devouring monsters, I would say Slug is generally fairer too.

Tempy

3 is fairly straightforward until you get on the rocket, then you can waste the same out of credits in that last stage as you can in the whole game prior. Those robots that shoot energy hoops at you, FUCK OFF.

Blue Swirl

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that the last level of MS3 is as long as the rest of the game put together. By default on the Xbox version you get 3 continues, and I can get pretty far through the seventh level, but I've still never beaten the game!

davyK

Another fan here - pretty keen on Contra/Probotector too.

First experience was MS-X on PS1 which has some nice extra content - as does the second game I played which is MS-3 on PS2.

Anthology on PS2 is a laggy, letterboxed mess which is odd given that the separate 3,4 and 5 releases got a proper treatment with 60Hz option and all that.

Anthology on Wii is fine but there is no classic controller support which is a major downer. However using a GC controller is OK because even though the dpad isn't supported (for some odd reason) the analogue stick has those little notches that facilitate glitch free aiming. There is also the option of using the classic linker that allows you to plug a PS2 controller into a GC control port - which allows the use of - for example - the quite-good-for-it's-price Mayflash arcade stick.

I prefer 1,2,x and 3. But I'm not sure I like the zombification sections that appeared in X onward - can be a pain in the arse at times.

Loved the little submarine section in MS-3 which reminds me of "In The Hunt" - a splendid though somewhat ponderous submarine shmup with similar design credentials - which actually got a decent port on PS1.

The thought of going for a 1CC makes the head spin but being that way inclined I only credit feed occasionally.

1CC'd Contra in the NES but never got that far with the SNES game which is quite excellent - as is the Rebirth game in WiiWare.

Blue Swirl

I didn't know that about Anthology on PS2. Very odd.

Good call on the submarine section in MS3, that was tons of fun.

stormyskiesahead

Played through the first couple of missions of 3 again yesterday, just love it to bits.

Yup, the underwater section's great fun (I'm gonna have to play In The Hunt tonight), but I also love all the zombie stuff. Taking out helicopters with your vomit never gets old.

davyK

stormyskiesahead wrote:

(I'm gonna have to play In The Hunt tonight)

I will be very surprised if you don't like it.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8184

pabloamigo

Really should spend some more time with Hard Corps. Has some really annoying sound effects though.

I approve of this thread btw.

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