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Metal Slug 5 (Neo-Geo)

Metal Slug 5 Neo-Geo
Genre: Action
Perspective: Side view
Visual: 2D scrolling
Gameplay: Arcade, Platform, Shooter
Art: Anime / Manga
Vehicular: Flight / Aviation, Tank
Published by: SNK Playmore Corporation
Developed by: SNK Playmore Corporation
Released: 2004
Platform: Neo-Geo

Weapons

Gun: the weapon with which you start each mission. Not particularly powerful, but has infinite bullets.
Cutlass: every time the character is close to an enemy, if you attack him, you will not use the weapon supplied, but a knife. Rather powerful against the infantry, it does not waste ammo.
Heavy machine gun: machine gun with a high rate of fire, slightly more powerful than the gun. 200 shots in the barrel.
Rocket launcher: fires rockets, not particularly powerful, but which are able to hit more targets thanks to the large explosion caused by them. 30 ammo.
Pump shotgun: one of the two most powerful weapons in the game, it is also capable of hitting multiple targets simultaneously. 30 shots in the barrel.
Flamethrower: releases clouds of fire that envelop multiple targets at once and is very effective against war machines. 30 ammo. (The flamethrower in this game is only available through tricks, even if in some hidden scenario always reachable by tricks, you can find it)
Track-enemies: rocket launcher that fires missiles slightly less powerful than the traditional rocket launcher, but that are able to automatically chase enemies. 40 ammunition.
Laser: together with the shotgun, the strongest weapon in the game. It releases horizontal energy beams that kill enemies very quickly, but its ammunition quickly runs out. 200 shots in the barrel.
Double heavy machine gun: the character holds two heavy machine guns, causing a high number of damages. 300 ammo (two are used at a time).
Iron Lizard: rifle that shoots small explosive cars, very powerful, that move on the ground until they find a target. 30 ammo.
Super rocket launcher: more powerful variant of the rocket launcher, always able to hit more targets at a time. 30 ammo.
Grenade: grenade, which can be thrown and bounced on the ground. Rather powerful, you get an escort every time a mission begins. 10 ammo.

Slug and vehicles

SV-001 "Metal Slug": tank equipped with a machine gun and 10 explosive projectiles.
Slug Gunner: one of the most versatile vehicles of the saga. In normal position, it is a big robot, equipped with a machine gun on one arm, rocket launcher (10 ammo) on the body and blade for close attacks on the other arm. If the "down" button is held down, it is lowered and becomes the equivalent of the SV-001 "Metal Slug". While in normal position, the height of the jumps is doubled.
Slugnoid: robot with two arms, on which are mounted as many machine guns, and a grenade launcher (10 ammo). He can jump very high, but every time he is hit by an enemy attack, he loses an arm (and therefore a weapon).
Slug Flyer: aircraft equipped with machine gun and rocket launcher (10 projectiles). He can not shoot backwards.
Slug Mariner: single-seater submarine, equipped with two extremely powerful machine guns and a torpedo torch (10 ammo).
Slug Spider: huge metallic spider, suitable for moving in the underground tunnels of the last mission. Equipped with two machine guns that can rotate 360 ​​degrees, instead of the classic cannons supplied to the Slug, shoots metal spears. It's so big that it's often enough to move around to destroy the enemies, without even needing to shoot.

Unused characters

During the creation of "Metal Slug 5", many characters, including vehicles, characters and various bosses, were suppressed and replaced with others. However, some tests made by programmers are available where the animations of all these discarded materials are visible. They, in particular are:

Acchiles

Acchiles (also called Glen Acchiles by fans) is an unused character from "Metal Slug 5". He had to be a supporting character like the hostages who help the protagonist with energy rays, which would have covered his shoulders after being saved. However, due to the passage of time the SNK Playmore ended up not using it. This is because he needed further planning to animate it and make it independent. In fact, just follow the player and, when you are surrounded by enemies, it is useless. His weapon would have had enormous destructive power (a submachine gun firing explosive shots). It is always accompanied by an obese type, nicknamed "TaBomba", but his role remains unknown.

Stone Turtle

Stone Turle, so called by the fans, we know very little, both with regard to the role expected in the game both as regards the attacks that should have had. According to his animations, he should have a laser placed on his stomach (similar to a UFO of the aliens of "Metal Slug 3"), a retractable head in the neck and a missile launcher hidden on the slabs of the "shell". Many theorize that it was replaced by the "Mammoth Tower", or it may have been created just as a basis for the latter, following the Hindu belief that a cosmic turtle brought four elephants on its shell, which in turn had the land on their heads.

Sand Simon

Sand Simon is a prototype vehicle of the Regular Army. It had to appear in the first Metal Slug, but then it was decided to set it aside for some reason.

Ptolemaic Boss

Ptolemaic Boss was originally the final boss of the game, then left unused. It represents the head of the Ptolemaic Army, a kind of priest (perhaps the indigenous who had worn the mask fallen from the sky towards the end of the first level) on top of a tower, from which he threw energy rays and electric shocks. When he is hit many times, he destroys the tower and turns into the demon he summoned, which was instead kept in play. The building had to be full of animations: it could fly, launch lasers and missiles, but in tests it is planted on the ground and does not move.
This boss has reappeared in the videogame for Mobile inspired by the Metal Slug saga, and his removal from the main franchise is ironic in his description: it reads that "It was so big that we ended up digging it out of the war".

Jet

Jet is, together with Sand Simon, one of the unused vehicles in Metal Slug 5. Not much is known about this sprite. It has a squat and tapered shape, like almost all the vehicles in the series. The driver's silhouette is visible on the vehicle. It is without a helmet and has blonde and slightly long hair. These characteristics are similar to those of a regular Army girl, Rumi Aikawa, the supply assistant who is in many places in the game. This led to suppose that the pilot is her. However, the characteristics of the face are very different and therefore the identity is still unknown. It is not known which jet would have been used for the purpose.

Plot

A paramilitary group, the Ptolemaic Army, stole a disk containing the Metal Slug data. The aim of the protagonists will be to destroy or regain possession of the disk and to eliminate the Ptolemaic Army. At the same time, a group of warlike and primitive inhabitants of the jungle, belonging to the Ptolemaic Army group, after having found a mysterious mask, began to practice the cult of a powerful subterranean divinity (nicknamed Scyther by the fans), which threatens to destroy the world. The huge demon is the final boss of the game: once defeated, he will retire.

Levels

Mission 1: It is set in South Africa in a remote tropical jungle, there is a temple of indigenous inhabitants with tribal masks.
Mission 2: It is set in Texas on some strange promontories where there are soldiers of the forest ranger, you will also enter a deposit that will lead to the boss who will have to defeat in flight with a plane.
Mission 3: Set in Spain in Valencia, the skyscraper where you have to climb is very reminiscent of one of the huge hotels that were used in Valencia for ambassadors and refugees in the Middle Ages.
Mission 4: Set on a quiet coast of Palermo, it is very similar to the final mission of Metal Slug, in fact you see a square almost the same as the one where you defeat Morden, then you will cross the sea underwater until you get to a beach with a lot of sand (exchangeable with a desert) where you can see the cranes of the port and it is there that faces the boss.
Final Mission: It is set in Japan in Tokyo, recognizing the skyscrapers and the tower where the final boss will be faced. It is inspired by the tallest skyscraper in the world that is located in the same city.

Interesting Facts

In Metal Slug 5 there is only one transformation that would be the obese one that is possible only in the first mission.
In this chapter no particular mutants or aliens are dealt with as in some previous chapters of the series.
The developers of the game, others who have created content discarded chased have pointed out that the game is not complete, in fact through the tricks you can reach different scenarios completely unattainable by playing normally and some of these are even incomplete.
Metal Slug 5 uses mostly the same gameplay as the previous titles, with the addition of some new vehicles (Slug Gunner, Car Slug, Spider Slug). The biggest difference from the previous titles is given by the enemies, which are totally different, even if some of their vehicles are imitations and "restilations" of means commanded by Morden in the previous chapters of the series. In addition there is the addition of the Slide Move (joystick down + jump button), which makes it possible for the player to dodge and move with a new move. Unlike the predecessor Metal Slug 4, which reuses various predecessor backgrounds, Metal Slug 5 has completely new backgrounds.
Of excellent workmanship is also the soundtrack, among the best for a Neo Geo game: the music of the levels are almost all marked towards metal, with massive use of guitar effects.