Metal Slug 3

When the first Metal Slug was released in 1996 nobody had any idea that this little game would go on to spawn one of the best known and beloved shooter series of all time. Side-scrolling shooters weren't unseen in the arcade, but in 1996 there wasn't a lot of originality in new arcade games due to the over-abundance of fighting games. This made Metal Slug stand out to arcade operators as it was an easy plug-n-play solution into their multi-slot Neo-Geo cabinets, and the premise of having some variety in the line-up meant it might draw in new customers. Despite being a critical and commercial success in the arcade, SNK never really had much faith these games would sell in the home market. All 5 games in the series on Neo-Geo got an AES release, but every title is valued well over $2000 in the current market due to the two factors that drive price up: quality and scarcity. 

By 1999's Metal Slug X (the third game in the series, and itself a redux of Metal Slug 2), development had moved from Nazca to in-house at SNK, along with the entire development team. Unfortunately for the group formerly known as Nazca, Metal Slug 3 would be their last Metal Slug title before the infamous bankruptcy of SNK. Released in March of 2000, Metal Slug 3 would be one of the last two games released by what we now refer to as "Classic SNK" along side King of Fighters 2000 later that year. Still, Metal Slug 3 sold very well for SNK in the arcade and at home. Sales data is sparse, but it is recorded that Metal Slug 3 was the third most popular game in Japanese game centers in May of 2000. We also don't have any hard sales data for the AES version, but it was just popular enough that SNK actually manufactured a second print run of the game in Japan and brokered an exclusive partnership with Shawn McKleskey from Neo-Geo.com for a US version to be sold through the Neo Store (more on that after the review).

As an aside: I've been a part of the Neo-Geo.com community since October, 2000 and part of the prior DHP mailing list and Dolphin Lord's old site dating back to 1998. These stories are not just research I did on the internet, I was there for this release on both MVS and AES and it was a big, big deal. 

Metal Slug 3 celebrates everything that came before while adding in branching paths, new weapons, new character forms, and a lot more humor. The series was continued after Metal Slug 3, but Metal Slug 4 and 5 were created by a different team (or teams) all together. As the largest Metal Slug on the Neo-Geo at 708 megs, this game has everything you're looking for in a shooter...including a few kitchen sinks and a camel. 

First up, Metal Slug 3 is gorgeous. The pixel art is detailed and colorful, and everything from the tiniest explosion to the gargantuan bosses are filled with so much animation it puts Disney to shame. Humor is on point with numerous call-backs to prior games in the series and plenty of new details to make you stop and laugh. The Metal Slug series has never taken itself too seriously, and that's its undeniable charm. It has fun being a ridiculous video game, so you have fun playing it despite its hard-core difficulty. 

Good looks and good humor can only take a game so far because at the end of the day it is the gameplay that counts. Well, Metal Slug 3 doesn't disappoint here either...so long as you like difficult shooters that is. The Metal Slug series is in the run-n-gun shooter genre, but it is less Mega Man and more Gunstar Heroes or Contra. There are some moderate platforming segments, but the emphasis is on shooting. And boy-oh-boy does Metal Slug 3 give you all kinds of different ways to shoot!

Metal Slug 3 plays like other platformers on the Neo-Geo: A shoots, B jumps, and C is some sort of extra attack - in this case a grenade. Your basic gun has unlimited ammo, but all weapon drops have finite ammo that can be replenished by picking up the same weapon or an ammo supply crate. Grenades are also finite at 10 per life, which can also be replenished or added to with grenade crates. 

Because the situations you find yourself in vary from screen to screen, you'll want to switch up your weapon almost as often as the game drops them. There is somewhat of a pattern to this, so weapon drops are not random. The programmers typically give you the best weapon option for the scenario you're in, so that's a nice little boon. Yet, the enemies are bullet sponges compared to past games so you often are left with your default gun for some of the toughest spots in the game. Like prior games, if you use a continue, you do get a free Heavy Machine Gun. So...there's that?

Your 4 characters, who are all interchangeable avatars (with some nifty animations that show off their individual personalities), can shoot in the four cardinal directions. That said, some weapons do inadvertently shoot diagonally when changing the position of your gun, like the Heavy Machine Gun. Characters move at a decently brisk pace, although there is no run button. The pacing of the game is designed around the speed of your characters and never feels too fast or too slow. 

Your characters also have a few forms they can change into depending on certain conditions being met. Like in Metal Slug 2/X your characters can be "Whoa BIG!" (fat) if they collect too many food items, and can turn into a mummy if they are hit with mummy magic. New to Metal Slug 3 is the zombie form, in which you turn into a zombie if hit with zombie puke. All three forms have advantages and disadvantages when compared to the balanced human form. 

• Big: The characters use a fork instead of a knife for a close melee attack, and some weapons have bigger bullets making for easier targets. Your speed and jumping ability take a small hit, though. Grenades are also a bit bigger leading to a slightly larger explosion on impact.

• Mummy: Bullets and enemies won't hurt you, but you can fall apart if hit a second time with mummy magic. Your speed and jump are slowed way down, and you cant shoot as fast as in normal or Big mode. You can still use grenades, but they are slower and come out at a wider arc.

• Zombie: Bullets and basic enemies can't harm you, but you can turn into dust if hit with a second round of zombie puke (die this way just once to see the animation sequence that plays out). While your speed, jumping ability, and fire rate all take a hit in this mode as well, your grenade attack does a HUGE screen filling spray of blood that insta-kills everything it touches. It has quite a few frames of start up, but if you can pull it off it can get you past some very tough spots early in the game. 

It wouldn't be a Metal Slug game if you didn't have numerous vehicles to ride in and Metal Slug 3 gives you plenty of variety here. Of course the Metal Slug tank is included, but it isn't as prevalent as it was in prior games - which is a bit of a bummer as Metal Slug 3 is huge for an arcade game and seeing the OG Slug only a couple of times feels a little disheartening. Still, you do get to ride in an underwater submarine, fly in a helicopter, shoot from the back of a machine gun equipped camel, jump around in the Metal Hopper, and wear a big suit of armor. Like the different character forms, all rides have special attacks or other bonuses that are unique to that ride type. Rides also have health bars, so you can take a few hits before you have to jump out to avoid their explosion.

Even though Metal Slug 3 clocks in at five levels, each level is significantly longer than the prior entries in the series and each stage has branching paths you can take upon further play throughs to spice things up. While it is not explicitly stated anywhere, I've found that staying on the most obvious route in the stages is the easiest path. The divergent paths can be mind numbing hard, but like everything else in the game, not insurmountable. The optional ice monster cave early in the game is a particularly hair pulling moment your first few times through. The final stage is a slog, though. While all the different locals and varied gameplay scenarios are nice (the shmup section is a lot of fun), it comprises almost 40% of your total play time with the game! Stage 5 will take an experienced player about 20 minutes to get through with more casual gamers taking anywhere from 20-30 minutes to beat - and that's not including the final boss battle! The entire game takes almost an hour to beat, which is too long in the tooth for an arcade game of this type. 

Music is great, and follows closely in line with prior games in the series. Rather than develop the music in-house, SNK contracted Noise Factory to produce the soundtrack. What's more interesting is that Noise Factory would go on to help with the development of Metal Slug 4, Sengoku 3, Rage of the Dragons, and more through out SNK's "Playmore era." 

Metal Slug 3 at times is hair-pulling difficult and is overall substantially harder than the three prior games in the series. I can't stress this enough - on default settings Metal Slug 3 is one of the most difficult games on the hardware. Here's why:

• Bosses are giant bullet sponges, with some bosses taking up to five minutes to defeat for the average player.

• The Zombies in level 2 are also bullet sponges making the pacing of this level slower than it should be for an arcade game.

• Weapon drops aren't as plentiful as they are in prior games, and are also not as purposeful as they are in Metal Slug X. 

• More often than in prior games, areas of Metal Slug 3 will have enemy troops infinitely spawn on the sides of the screen until a larger enemy is put down.

• Some areas overstay their welcome quickly due to more overwhelming scenarios that happen earlier in the game - the third stage scaffolding section with elevators comes to mind. 

It's not impossible to 1cc (clear the game without using a continue) the game, as there is proof online with detailed strategies on how to deal with the game's most tedious areas. At the same time, it is much too difficult for the average gamer to have a sense of accomplishment as you can essentially just credit feed the game, sight-see the entire thing, and walk away feeling unsatisfied because you realize it's too hard to ever take the time to "get gud." This is the issue many critics had of the game back in the day. Yes, Metal Slug 3 was made as an arcade game to eat your money, at the same time the prior games all have more balanced and nuanced difficulty which leads me to surmise that unless the overt difficulty is purposeful, the game didn't get quite as much time in location tests as it needed to iron out some of the rough spots. Still, you can always drop the difficulty - which has a noticeable difference but is still a very, very challenging experience. If you're just jumping into Metal Slug 3 for the first time, I recommend trying it on easy. The difficulty on the easy setting is about as challenging as the prior three games as it tones down the bullet spongy feel of the boss battles and Zombie sections significantly which actually helps with pacing.

Metal Slug 3 is big, varied, beautiful, and mostly satisfying. That said, it can get a bit too hard for its own good. The game is also dauntingly huge for an arcade title, taking quite a bit longer to beat than what came before. Also, the lack of getting to use the actual Metal Slug much in the game is kind of a let down if you're a long time fan of the series. While I believe the first Metal Slug and Metal Slug X to be the better games overall, Metal Slug 3 is probably your best bang-for-your-buck title if you only own one Metal Slug game on the Neo-Geo due to its massive amount of variety and length coupled with the obscene cost of owning more than one (even just one) on the AES hardware. It's an excellent video game to be sure - one that has just a bit too much hubris packed in.

Like I stated earlier, though, you'll be paying a lot of buck for your bang if you want this game on the AES. Unlike prior Metal Slug games, Metal Slug 3 actually had three print runs because of its popularity. The first print run, if the seller is aware of it, is generally more expensive. You can tell it's a first print run most easily if page 20 in the manual has an image in the background and text. The second print run has no images on page 20 of the manual, and most of these did not have the gold warning label. There was also a very limited US release in September, 2001 of 500 copies through the Neo Store (still around today), which is the most expensive version of the game. Regardless of print run, though, you'll be paying between $2800 on the very low end to about $5000 on the high end for the Japanese versions. The US version is exceedingly rare. Although, it's not much more expensive than a first print Japanese release in the 2023 second-hand market. The MVS version is pretty cheap (comparatively), and can usually be picked up for under $150. There were no Neo CD games produced after 1999, so there is no CD version of Metal Slug 3. Nor were there any ports of the game to 32-bit platforms - which is probably a good thing given the size of the levels.

Thankfully, Metal Slug 3 has been ported dozens of times over in its 20 years and is available on every console, mobile device, and storefront imaginable in 2023. Most of these ports are decent, and even have some exclusive modes not found in the MVS or AES releases. The best digital emulated versions are the modern Archive Archives release, and the port on Steam. The mobile ports aren't bad, but a game with twitch controls is almost impossible to play on a touch screen. There is also a very accurate stand-alone port on PS2 that was only released in Japan - and this is probably the best way to play the game as it's an actual port and not emulation. Same is true for the OG Xbox release, that did get localized for the US. Additionally, a Metal Slug Anthology released on the PS2, PSP, and Wii in the US and Europe, but this release relies on emulation rather than porting the code - and the emulation isn't the best so I'd caution to stay away from this one.

All in all, Metal Slug 3 is a fantastic game that buckles under its own weight a bit. While it's huge on variety and replayability, the uneven difficulty and sheer length of the adventure will turn some gamers off. I personally feel Metal Slug X is the far superior game, but in a series as consistently good as Metal Slug, the gap between great and superior is little more than a few centimeters. 

As a side note, there are a few other ways to get this and other Metal Slug games on AES: Reproductions or Conversions. Reproductions are easy enough to find (check out my resources section to read about if they are right for you, and for some links to reputable sellers), but MVS conversions are much harder to come by.