I wish 2022 featured much less real-life violence, but as our world struggles with ongoing conflicts and chaos, I think we can all agree that make-believe violence is still hella fun, especially the "run & gun" genre of video games. It's the perfect name, first of all, telling you everything you need to know and it even rhymes. Take that, Japanese Role-Playing Game!
This week on Retronauts, at the request of Patreon supporter Allan Berry, we're tackling Metal Slug, the runniest, gunniest arcade series of shooters there is. Oh, you like Contra? Well Contra had exactly two (2) arcade releases before migrating to consoles. Metal Slug came to life on the NEO GEO platform and even when that hardware died, Metal Slug 6 still debuted in arcades (and that wasn't even the last game in the series).
Hosting this week is our resident NEO GEO evangelist, Diamond Feit, and joining xem are frequent contributor Stuart Gipp and first-time guest but long-time arcade game conqueror Lord BBH. Together, these three spend over two hours discussing the origins of Metal Slug, breaking down all eight mainline entries in the series, and making bold statements regarding what your favorite Metal Slug says about you. C'mon boy, press play!
Description: MISSION START! By patron request, three brave soldiers (Diamond Feit, Stuart Gipp, and arcade expert Lord BBH) battle their way through the history of the NEO GEO's premier run-and-gun series, METAL SLUG.
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Artwork for this episode by Shaan Khan and editing thanks go to Greg Leahy.