History VideoGame / MetalSlug

** [[LittleGreenMen Green]] {{alien|Invaders}} [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies zombie]] {{clon|ingBlues}}es [[BreathWeapon that puke streams]] [[BloodyMurder of blood]] in ''Metal Slug 3.''

* ''VideoGame/MetalSlugAwakening'' (2023; iOD, Android)

*** The grenades fly at a slightly shorter range and are tinged red.

In May 15, 2023, the developers of ''Metal Slug'' (under the banner of [=KohachiStudio=]) have announced that ''Black Finger Jet'', the game's spiritual successor, is in the works.

In May 15, 2023, the developers of ''Metal Slug'' (under the banner of [=KohachiStudio=]) have announced that ''Black Finger Jet'', the game's spiritual successor is in the works.

* ConspicuousElectrocObstacle: In Mission 2 of the first game, out of nowhere, there are a few electric bolt emitter pairs with electricity constantly going between them. The enemies avoid these by crawling under them.

* AIIsACrapshoot:
** The Black Hound's an AI-controlled tank that goes rampant, attacking/killing its own Ptolemiac allies in the area before you face it.
** Averted with [=MS-Alice=], who is completely loyal to Marco for creating her.

** ''Metal Slug 7'' and its remastered version ''XX'' have pre-rendered background instead of being hand drawn, while averted for the rest of the characters and vehicles.

* AutomatonHorse: The SV-Camel is incapable of being hurt. This is only averted after the first level of ''2'' or ''X'', when the SV-Camel will neglect to follow the protagonist to remain near a water source.

* ExclusiveEnemyEquipment: Played straight with most enemy weaponry and equipment, but Averted with the LV-Armor, the Rebel Army's version of the "Slugnoid", that can be hijacked by the player after killing the LV-Armor pilots.

* KaizoTrap: Usually averted, whenever a boss is killed, all their attacks blow up together with them. However...

** Notably {{averted|Trope}} with the Bradley Slug, unlike all other controllable vehicles. It can get destroyed extremely quickly and can even be hit multiple times with the same bullet.

** ''3D'', being a ThirdPersonShooter, has an interesting variation of this: the life bar system subtly averts this trope, allowing you to take more than one hit in most situations. Emptying all the life bar, or in certain OneHitKill situations (such as falling Into BottomlessPits), however, nets you an instant game over with the option to continue on last checkpoints or going back to the menu.

* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: The Flame Shot plays this straight in the first game, where it did kill soldiers regardless of shielding, but did pitiful damage to vehicle enemies. This was averted in ''2/X'' where it kills troops with ease and now tears vehicles apart in as little as two to three shots.

* BonusBoss: The Black Hound in ''5'' is an optional boss found in a secret area of the first level.

** Notably [[averted Averted|Trope]] with the Bradley Slug, unlike all other controllable vehicles. It can get destroyed extremely quickly and can even be hit multiple times with the same bullet.

* ''Metal Slug: Super Vehicle-001'' (1996; Neo-Geo, PlayStation)

** ''Metal Slug X: Super Vehicle-001'' (1999; Neo-Geo, PlayStation)
* ''Metal Slug 3'' (2000; Neo-Geo, PlayStation 2)
* ''Metal Slug 4'' (2002; Neo-Geo, PlayStation 2)
* ''Metal Slug 5'' (2003; Neo-Geo, PlayStation 2)
* ''Metal Slug 6'' (2006; Sammy Atomiswave)

* ''Metal Slug: Super Vehicle-001'' (1996; Neo-Geo)

** ''Metal Slug X: Super Vehicle-001'' (1999; Neo-Geo)
* ''Metal Slug 3'' (2000; Neo-Geo)
* ''Metal Slug 4'' (2002; Neo-Geo)
* ''Metal Slug 5'' (2003; Neo-Geo)

[[quoteright:303:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/metal_slug_i_7272.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:303:''This'' slug leaves a trail of blood.]]

* GameGourmet: Roast turkeys, live fish, lettuce, eggs, dim sum, carrots, mushrooms, and other foods can be collected for points. Collecting too many will make you fat, which means that you move slightly more slowly but your weapons become more powerful.

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: Though made in Japan, the ''Metal Slug 3-D'' cutscenes had fully-spoken English with Japanese subtitles. The regular announcer also speaks perfect English… most of the time (ROCKET LAUWNCHER!).

''Metal Slug'' is a series of games from Creator/{{SNK}}.[[note]]The first game was actually created by Nazca Corporation, a company founded by former Creator/{{Irem}} employees after the closure of Irem's arcade division in 1994 and merged into SNK a few years later, losing the Nazca name in the process.[[/note]] Basically, it's a RunAndGun ShootEmUp series. Shoot everything that takes damage, rescue prisoners, and collect power-ups from their underwear, attempt to stay alive.

* EmergencyWeapon: The pistol and the knife. Depending on the circumstances, other emergency attacks include kicks, nightsticks, hand-axes, tridents, sporks, using your belt to WhipItGood while fat (or stabbing them with a giant fork), and [[TheOldestOnesInTheBook the old]] [[ImprobableWeaponUser telescopic-boxing-glove gag (for the male characters)]].

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Morden himself can absorb hundreds, if not ''thousands'' of rounds, and is only defeated because the vehicles he rides in aren't quite as tough. He is fully exposed during the penultimate boss fight of ''7'', and the protagonists don't even ''bother'' shooting at him.

** In general, the games are fond of giving you blatantly weaker weapons after already giving you much better ones that you still have plenty of ammo for, and if you're playing any game before ''6'', picking up a weapon replaces the previous one. A good example would be the ShootEmUp section in the final mission of ''3'', where you will find yourself having to avoid Heavy Machine Guns after already having picked up Lasers and Shotguns. These weaker weapons can be useful for a second player, but they can make a single player's life hell against tough opponents if accidentally picked up.

** There is a part during mission 4 of ''X'' where you fight soldiers on small boats below you that launch missiles. The prisoner you rescue just before fighting these enemies gives you one of three weapons. One of these is Big Rocket Launcher, and if you happen to be fat, they will home in on the enemies in a less accurate and '''much''' slower counterpart to the Enemy Chaser. It's not just the fact that they're slow that puts you at a major disadvantage, it's that they also home in on the enemy missiles more often than they do the boats, and it takes a long time to fire more rockets because you need to wait for the existing ones to leave the screen first and they will aimlessly wander around for several seconds before hitting anything.

*** Both previously mentioned weapons are terrible if you need to shoot flying enemies, or on a different platform - guess which weapon crates are frequently dropped by prisoners and boxes in said situations? It doesn't help that they tend to replace far more powerful and versatile weapons like the Flame Shot, Heavy Machine Gun or Enemy Chaser.

*** Worm Mecha, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a huge robotic worm]] that can burrow underground with an equipped drill.

*** Fall Mecha, modeled after a gorilla and a crustacean that [[AdvancingBossOfDoom follows you up through a waterfall]] and has a screen covering laser-like Aeshi Nero.

* ArmiesAreEvil: General Morden's Rebel Army show up in every game except for ''5'', and their job is to cause [[ForTheEvulz chaos and destruction as]] [[AllThereInTheManual payback for the death of Morden's wife and daughter]]. There are several other, less important armies as well -- and you know they're evil because they shoot at you and not Morden's rebels -- like the Arabian Infantry (found early on in ''Metal Slug 2'' and ''Metal Slug X''), the Ptolemaic Army (your main opponents in ''Metal Slug 5''), and the Division 6 of the Japanese Army (found only on a secret path in ''Metal Slug 3'').

* ColossusClimb: When fighting bosses on foot, you can actually climb ''atop'' some of them to avoid damage. In certain occasions, this is the ''only'' way you can damage them or avoid their attacks. Such as the Dragon Nosuke from ''2'', Jupiter King from ''3'', Elder Centipede from ''6'' and The Fall Mecha and The Union from ''7''

* TheGroundIsLava: The final boss of ''[=7/XX=]'' is fought in a huge smelting vat made out of the caldera of an extinct volcano, while your character jumps from platform to platform. If you touch the molten metal, you burst into flames and die. It has several moves that involve taking away a few platforms, or dragging them into its milling machinery (mounted on the outside of the Worm Mecha its using as CombatTentacles) to destroy them--and you.

** Mercilessly parodied via the enemy army, who aren't actually Nazis -- even in the Japanese version -- but wear Nazi uniforms, and have insignia strongly resembling poorly-censored Nazi symbols: Swastikas become plain black X's and eagles become Phoenixes.
*** It could be a ShoutOut to Creator/CharlieChaplin's ''Film/TheGreatDictator'', since the former symbol appears in the movie.

* NotCompletelyUseless: The Drop Shot is widely regarded by players as the most useless weapon in the entire game, due to it's projectiles having tendency to bounce around slowly and being difficult to hit a player's intended targets, coupled with it's explosion being weaker than the Iron Lizard, Rocket Launcher or Enemy Chaser. However, it ''is'' useful during the battle against 7's Fall Mecha, a boss fight in which you are literally ''standing on'' said boss. Conveniently enough, one of the nearby prisoners during this boss fight will give you a Drop Shot, and with this weapon players can simply fire away dropping bombs on the Mecha while avoiding its attacks, unlike other weapons where players would need to shoot downwards or target the mecha's central hatch.

** When killed, the red Samurai Infantry in ''Metal Slug 3'' hold a stick of dynamite and blow up with it, taking out the player character if they're too near. ''Metal Slug Advance'' makes all Japanese soldiers do this.

** The alternate route in ''Metal Slug 3'' leading to the underground camp has Japanese soldiers who fling bombs from their boxers.

** ''3'' has a Mook which is [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/metalslug/images/8/8f/Japanese-Tank-With-Effect.gif quite literally a hollowed-out tank]] carried by two Japanese soldiers, with a third as the commander.

* JetPack: Your character gets one of these in the beginning of 3's final mission, where in case the Slug Flyer / Copter gets destroyed, they will rely on their jetpacks instead. Said jetpack also contains its own built-in rocket launchers in place of the player's grenades. The same jetpack is used during the mission 2 boss battle of 5, if player's Slug Flyer lose to the Shooting Ray during the aerial combat.

* TheDragon: Allen O'Neal. However, during the joint strike on the Martian ship, he helps the player a few times. [[spoiler:He's trying to rescue his general, after all.]]

* EvilLaugh: General Morden, Allen O'Neal, Rootmars, and Amadeus.

* HijackedByGanon: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in [[spoiler:''Metal Slug 4''. What appears to be Allen O'Neal and General Morden are actually look-alike robots manufactured by a new enemy named Amadeus.]]

* {{Leitmotif}}: [[BigBad General Morden]] and [[TheDragon Allen O'Neal]] occasionally have "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF5PlhFXEZ8 Assault]]" as their main theme whenever they appear or when they are involved, though the latter uses it as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJnhP8bqvQMhis boss theme]] in ''7''.

** And his [[TheDragon right hand man Allen O'Neal]] looks an awful lot like Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin cosplaying as Franchise/{{Rambo}}.

* RoboticReveal: [[spoiler:Fighting General Morden and Allen O'Neal reveal them to be robot duplicates]] in ''Metal Slug 4''.

* SeeYouInHell: Allen O'Neal's death cry, and one of his [[CatchPhrase Catch Phrases]].

** ''2'' introduced supernatural and sci-fi elements, but they weren't that many and it was rather conservative with them [[note]]The mummies are confined to the second mission, the exploding mutants only appear in a single section of the fifth, and the aliens don't show up until the last portion of the final mission, though they have an expanded role in ''X''[[/note]]. ''3'', on the other hand, ramped up these elements considerably: the very first mission pits you against mutated crab monsters, giant insects and flying pirahnas; the following mission is a ZombieApocalypse (with the chance of fighting yetis depending on the path you take), the fourth mission features the mummies from ''2'', {{Man Eating Plant}}s and an underground tunnel filled with giant insects, snails and worms; and lastly, 2/3 of the (extremely long) last mission is spent fighting against the Mars People.

* SeriesFauxnale: SNK was nearing bankruptcy during the development of ''3'' and decided to have one last hurrah (however, tentative but ultimately unused ideas for a fourth game did exist at the time). As a result, the craziness of the previous games is turned up to eleven and the final mission is equal parts NostalgiaLevel and MarathonLevel, culminating with a FreeFallFight with the leader of the aliens and ending with the main character throwing their gun as a symbolic gesture that the war is over. Neverthless, the fourth game came out just two years later.

** In the fourth mission of 3, if a Division 6 fighter pilot rams a wall, their plane gets crushed, along with the pilot, complete with a gruesomely detailed animation of their death.

* ImAHumanitarian: Implied. If an Arabian Fighter gets gibbed, there is a chance that they will drop a meat, sometimes more than one, implying that these are their remains and the players can eat them via collecting them for points.