Metal Slug 4 is best of series

Reclaimer

Haomaru's Blade Shiner
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So, I’ve only listened to the retronaughts podcast a couple times maybe a year or two ago. It felt like listening to someone read a Wikipedia article and was generally poor.

Some coworkers said I should give it another shot, and this is what I run into on the front page.

Now, Metal Slug 4 ... is actually much better than its predecessors

https://retronauts.com/article/917/reconsidered-metal-slug-4

Here’s the whole article if you don’t want to give em the ad revenue:
Spoiler:


Metal Slug 3, aka Michael Bay's Metal Slug 3, is by far the most popular game in the series. It's also among the most leaden, least interesting offerings in SNK's flagship run n' gun franchise, offering tedious longeur after longeur. Players take on bullet-sponge zombies that enforce travel at a snail's pace, pray for death by drowning in an underwater level so dull they should call it Dullnut Plains, and finally journey through an alien mothership longer than all three Lord of the Rings novels staged back-to-back as community theatre by molluscs. Who haven't learned their lines. What I am swinging at here is that it's a boring, overlong load of bollocks.

Now, Metal Slug 4 (which followed Metal Slug 3 in a surprising adherence to naming convention) is actually much better than its predecessors, despite what every single person on the entire planet who isn't named Stuart Gipp will tell you. Unless there's some other person named Stuart Gipp who thinks otherwise, in which case he must die. Metal Slug 4 cuts the crap and presents a much leaner, tighter, punchier shooting experience. Gone are beloved series mainstays Tarma and Eri, replaced by the brand new Trevor and Nadia (they're easy on the eye) and returning Marco and Fio, the latter of which is – according to the internet — a “meganekko”, which I understand to be some sort of giant cat. Also gone are the vast majority of the superfluous transformations, meaning the game is much breezier, lighter and frankly more digestible than the others.

It's worth mentioning that almost every single asset used in Metal Slug 4 is directly lifted from the rest of the series, a patchwork of sprites so shameless it makes fictional DS title Castlevania: Budget Cuts of the Necessity look fresh. Consequently, the game is somewhat lacking in the aesthetic excitement of Slug 1, 2, and 3, but to my mind the derivative visuals are a fair trade-off for the much more focused gameplay. There's much more platforming in this one, alongside some fast-moving vehicle sections that are a nice break from the on-foot action. The whole thing is just a treat to play, harking back to the promise of the original Metal Slug that SNK gradually squandered with superfluous nonsense (and continued to squander with the unfinished Metal Slug 5 and the torturously boring Metal Slug 6 and 7).

If you would like to see just how ruddy bloody right I am, Metal Slug 4 is currently available on the PS4 as part of the Metal Slug Anthology, but that version is apparently plagued by input lag. I got used to it in about six seconds, but it might be best to await the inevitable next re-release (possibly on Switch), or pick up a pre-owned copy of the standalone release for PS2 and Xbox.


Thoughts? Do I give Metal Slug 4 another try? Do I punch my coworkers in the throat for the shit Retronauts recommendation?

.
 

madman

Blame madman, You Know You Want To.,
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Clickbait nonsense. But yes, 3 is shit although I think over the years people are starting to realize this and it is no longer "the most popular game in the series." When I first joined here most people thought 3 was teh tits. Now people are realizing 1 and X are superior games. Three is nice to play to check out the visuals every now and again, but it is a BULLSHIT LIE. 5 > 3.
 

Reclaimer

Haomaru's Blade Shiner
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The music in the opening stages of 3 is great. I think it blinds me to any shortcomings.
 

madman

Blame madman, You Know You Want To.,
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To answer your question...I really can't say. I remember the control of 4 feeling "off" but it's been years since I played it so I might be wrong. And the recycled assets make it seem like a Chinaman hack version of a Slug game. I admit 5 is unfinished, but I find it much more enjoyable than 3 and 4, there's no way I ever want to play that last mission in 3 again.
 

Tarma

Old Man
20 Year Member
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Nov 7, 2001
Posts
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MS4 is shit.

It was shit back in 2002.

It was still shit in 2012.

It'll still be shit in 2022.

etc. etc. etc.

As a run and gun game on its own, it may have some mediocre merits, but as part of the series it's awful. There's no craftsmanship to it... it's just a glorified homebrew hack with zero charm, dull gameplay, and features that add nothing to the game itself (monkey mode - why?) and some of the worst slugs (I know, let's take one of the sewer crawlers from Slug 2 and turn its sprite into an actual Metal Slug - genius!).

Bottom line... game is shit.

MSX>MS1>MS2>MS3>MS5>LoSJ>Fight Fever>Rise of the Robots>ET>MS4
 

BIG BEAR

SHOCKbox Developer,
20 Year Member
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8,230
The below quote sums it up with MUGEN SLUG 4.The series ends with MS3 imo.
MS4 is shit.

It was shit back in 2002.

It was still shit in 2012.

It'll still be shit in 2022.

etc. etc. etc.

Bottom line... game is shit.

MSX>MS1>MS2>MS3>MS5>LoSJ>Fight Fever>Rise of the Robots>ET>MS4
 

Doom

Crossed Swords Squire
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Posts
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I still love 3 for pure fun, but for serious play I find 1 and 2/X are really perfect. 4 is a perfectly decent game, it's just not what people were hoping for after X and 3...
 
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Ren-chan

F I R E W A L L, M Y A S S !,
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I always felt Metal Slug 4 was done under Mugen.
 

donluca

Ninja Combat Warrior
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I remember the control of 4 feeling "off" but it's been years since I played it so I might be wrong.

Thank god, so I wasn't the only one which thought there was something wrong with the controls.

I think MS4 is likely the weaker game in the series and I love how tight the controls were in the first one.

I still need to try out the MS2 turbo patch and see how that feels. I loved MS2 and still think it's the best game in the series, but in 2 players mode it's a slideshow. And still, when playing single player, sometimes I have a feeling it's dropping inputs/lagging on certain parts.
 

wingzrow

Galford's Armourer
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It's a great game, but the best title is either X, or 2 with the speedhack. The Last run in three, while being a great sendoff to the series, is just way too long.
 

GohanX

Horrible Goose
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Seriously, why do noobs like 4 so much? It boggles the mind.
 

suicidekiller

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Seriously, who would have thought MS4 would be better than the opus magnum that is MS3?
 

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
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So there's no longer any consensus at all on 3?

I like 4 okay.
 

Heinz

Parteizeit
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1 and X are great but 3 really is the best of the lot.
 

BanishingFlatsAC

formerly DZ
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We all know 2 vanilla is the best one right? It's a shame it never got a port to the DMG.
 

NeoTurfMasta

DANCE DANCE KARNOV!,
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Bottom line... game is shit.

Seriously.

I never thought we would be debating this all these years later. People can argue between 12X3 all they want, but 4 just isn't remotely good when compared to the others. Even with 5.
 

heihachi

Krauser's Henchman
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Horrible opinion that 4 is best........but that said I like 4 more than 5.

The real question is where Kraut Buster will rank.
 
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