Metal Slug

About

Metal Slug is a series primarily of run and gun video games created by SNK. Spin-off games include a third-person shooter and a tower defense game. Originally created for Neo-Geo arcade machines and game consoles, the original games have also been ported to other consoles, with several later games created for various other platforms. The games focus on the Peregrine Falcon Squad, a small group of soldiers who fight against a rebel army, aliens and various other forces intent on world domination^[1].

History

Made by Nazca Corporation and published by SNK, Metal Slug: Super Vehicle-001 (The full name of the first game) made it's debut for the Neo Geo arcade system on April 18, 1996. The story takes place in 2028, when General Donald Morden and his rebel army launched a coup d'état on the world's governments and the Regular Army. His most recent attack has given him access to a new form of all-terrain combat tank dubbed "Metal Slug". In a last effort to stop Morden, Cpt. Marco Rossi and Lt. Tarma Roving of the Peregrine Falcon Strike Force are sent to locate and eliminate his powerbase, as well as reclaim or destroy any Metal Slugs they can find so as to keep the technology out of Morden's hands^[2] .

After the success of the first game, SNK bought Nazca Corporation and made a sequel, Metal Slug 2 on April 2, 1998 and it's upgrade, Metal Slug X on March 18, 1999. The story takes 2 years after the events of the first game, General Morden manages to escape custody and attempts another coup d'état, this time Marco Rossi and Tarma Roving III from the Peregrine Falcon squad are joined by Eri Kasamoto and Fio Germi of the Sparrows Intelligence Unit^[3].

The game series is composed by 9 main games and several spin-offs.

Reception

The series is widely known for its sense of humor, fluid hand-drawn animation, and fast paced two-player action. Most games of the series have received extremely positive reviews. Many of the subsequent ports and re-releases have received mixed reviews.

Fandom

Despite being small, the fandom has created a wiki site^[4], several fan-art and flash games.

Fan terms

Nobody likes Tarma

Nobody likes Tarma is term created by Tumblr user and Metal Slug fan, Choco-Shorty^[5] regarding Tarmicle "Tarma" Roving III for being the least picked character, this term became popular among fans that it's commonly joked about it and sometimes use this term in other video game characters that aren't popular.

Weapon mispronunciation

Weapon mispronunciation is about the announcer (Voiced by Yoshihiko Wada) mispronouncing the weapon's names by doing a bad impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice in broken English, the most notable case being Rocket Launcher being misinterpreted as Rocket Lawnchair.

Related Memes

Rocket Lawnchair

Rocket Lawnchair, as mentioned above, comes from announcer's mispronunciation of rocket launcher.

External references¨

^[1] Wikipedia – Metal Slug Series

^[2] Wikipedia – Metal Slug: Super Vehicle-001

^[3] Wikipedia – Metal Slug 2

^[4] Wikia – Metal Slug Wiki

^[5] Tumblr – Choco-Shorty