Secret Bosses in Metal Slug 5???? (Pics inside)

[Setsuna1982]

Debugging the Metal Slug 5 rom my cousin Ignis (programmer of Metal Slug Complete) found animations and graphics not used in normal gameplay like a cannon inside the front of the car slug, the car slug slipping, and a strange POW similar tu tarma (his sprite is based on him) with hair like charlie from SFalpha and beard.

That pow in particular have LOTS of animations from tied to end of mission pose, waiting pose, shooting (in a different style than normal characters), etc. Where is that POW is still unknown but its cool as hell:



But even more impressive than that is that he found animations and graphics from TWO bosses of perhaps a different FINAL BOSS that uses two different forms to attack

First there's the amazing Turtle boss which is BIGGER than the screen. The animation of it's legs is very detailed as well as his neck's. In it's stomach there's a laser similar to that in MS2/X final boss:


Also there are graphics from a final boss. It's pilot is the "mudman" that used the mask in the first mission! It have an animation that moves a bit portion of the screen and from that image he formed the rest of the enemy:


Looking at that is clear that the battle takes place in the final stage. Here's how it looks like:


The "shaman" moves his head from right to left and his clothes are moved with the wind. The "ship" can separate and uncover a middle part which rotates (very detailed animation although I don't know exactly what it does)

In the botton it have the samelaser as in MSX final boss (Both using Laser and Thunderbolts) Also there are animations of that "apple" things so we suppose those are his shots.

He also have an attack that involves some kind of field that emerges from the green stone in the center. From that animation of the field he managed to mix the pieces.

There are lot's of interesting stuff but those two enemies are TOO WELL animated to be missed... Also the ending is quite crappy and don't tell anything about the mask and that strange cult that appears all the game so it make sense that the REAL ending involves fighting against the bigass turtle and/or the shaman.

The question is... how you get there?

EDIT: My cousin is making flash animations with the movements and attacks of those characters so people can see them in movement

[BoriquaSNK]

I'm speechless...those sprites look beautiful!

[Vernon]

confused........

[RabbitTroop]

Wait... if these are hidden like the stuff in X... what a waste. That turtle boss blows away the stupid true last boss. Perhaps if you meet certain conditions you get to him? Like maybe because I am so piss poor I always go to the devil/grim reaper boss?

-Nick

[dr.r.muckly]

Hmmmm
Yeah those are very detailed, it would be a waste if they wern't used.

[BarfHappy]

yeah the shaman could be the real boss, but there is no ending picture in the tiles set nor character name other than the 4 we already have...

for what it does, the preceeding sprites are some kind of lighting bursts, maybe it tries to electrocute you ^^
the following sprites are the demon boss parts... a possibility would be they were supposed to be together on screen but they ripped the shaman away because it slowed down or something... dunno
Anyway it appears surrounded by a dark circle, maybe it comes from the sky in a dimentional portal from within the deamon (lol)

but anyway there are a lot of games with unused sprites in the final product...

we ll see with the strategy book when it s out...

[Spike Spiegel]

Hmm, I have no idea what to say. That would be great if the boss at the end has a "real" version.... I wonder. That last boss is pretty lame, but would be cool if there's a real thing at the end if you meet certain objectives. Hmm..

Spike

[Shapermc]

I wish that I had alot to say. I want to discuss this, but I am just blown away... if I dont say anything, no one will keep other people updated...

[Darklighterx]

Just stuff they had no time to implement into the game. It happens all the time.

Oh well.

[BarfHappy]

yeah that would be a shame since without it the game is scenario-less

no intro, no ending... pfuf

[Nesagwa]

Hopefully, they will go back and rerelease this like they did with 2/X. Metal Slug X2 with the strory put back in and that kickass turtle thing as a mid boss would kick ass.

[RabbitTroop]

Originally posted by Daklighterx
Just stuff they had no time to implement into the game. It happens all the time.

Oh well.

Not if they follow a proper software quality process. All code that is not used should be pruned. It is a waste of space and resources to leave it in. Now, I know SNK did this all the time, but it is a bad programming practice all the same, not to mention the testing nightmare of having code that can never be hit. That really screws up the numbers when they are only hitting 60% code coverage because a bunch of crap was left in,

-Nick

[OrochiEddie]

I doubt all of MS5's secrets have been uveiled Time will reveil the truth for sure

[Buro Destruct]

Originally posted by RyoGeo
My guess?

They ran out of time and scrapped it.

Good gawd, what a shame. That is an amazing sprite. What a cool final confrontation that could have been.

I don't understand what time-frame SNKP was under if they had to scrap entire portions of the game. Its not as though MVS/NGH releases need to be timed to highs and lows in the market, nor do they have a parent publisher company breathing down their necks to rush the game and get it done. Pure laziness on their part if they simply gave up on this stuff. Its not like people weren't going to buy the game had they needed to wait an additional month or two for SNKP to truly complete the project.

[Setsuna1982]

What irritates me is the fact that playmore will say "Metal Slug 5 is a 708megs game"

FALSE. Metal Slug 5 is a 500megs game with 200megs wasted.

Same for SVC Chaos (where you can find ALL the artwork and interludes from kof2002 and some of the stages of 2002 as well as random shit like Andy's specials or Joe's Hurricane Uppers)

SNK (playmore or not) is LAZY. If those enemies won't appear in real gameplay... why keep them? Why insert all the missions from MS1 and many from MS3 in MSX if they won't appear?

The excuse of "we can't make better things because we don't have enough memory" don't work.

Hidden Palace Zone from Sonic 2 beta didn't make it to the final version. And sega deleted the graphics completely and used the space to make other levels. that's smart.

Saying "meh, i don't like how it's turning out" and not delete the leftovers is just plain stupid. Perhaps it worked when Metal Slug was a 200megs cart. But not in 2003, when you need all the space you have in such a limited media.

[DangerousK]

I think SNK-P is just saying 708MEGS for everything now but I really doubt some of the stuff is even close to 708MEGS in some cases. Ah who knows.

[ni-ten]

In DoDonpachi there is a giant bee last boss if you
finish with just one coin.
Maybe this is similar?

[Setsuna1982]

The tank with the Giant antenna/laser and the flying robot do not appear at all.

Also look the 2 squares between eri and marco. It's the fourth boss, but totally different.

[RVF400]

on this note, how do you access the secret levels in MSX i have your new bios and a MVS 2-slot.

[Setsuna1982]

Check this screenshots from the beta compared with the final:



This is from the beta. Both background and foregroud were different (and better) than final version. Even the water looks different. That enemy do not appear there


Different background. That BG do not appear in the final.


To this date that level/section/scene/whatever haven't been found.

[BBH]

off-topic

a 716k animated .gif in your sig, Setsuna1982?

[BarfHappy]

In DoDonpachi there is a giant bee last boss if you
finish with just one coin.
Maybe this is similar?

nope, finished the game with 1coin and 1 life 2 times straight, nothing special happened.

i really think it s leftovers

[Sasuke]

*shakes head at snkp* its shocking to me they would go through all the trouble of designing an end boss that actually fits in the damn game, then just throw it out and put one in that has nothing to do with the story yet leave in the part after the first level where the shaman puts on the mask making that scene totally pointless... its a damn shame

[Tidus Vash]

Half-Life had unused aliens in the pak files. It wouldn't suprise me to see something similar happen in a 2D game (but it would still suck if they weren't used).
Personally, I like the flying final boss (and think it looks cooler than the turtle), but I would like to know what happened to the mudman. I mean really, wtf. Throw me a bone.

That last screenshot looks familiar (this one). It reminds me of the part before the motorcycles ride in.
Unfortunately, for the time being, my cart is in dispose at the game store next to where I work.
I didn't see that tank with the laser at any time (from that image).
I've only played through it once

[Orpheus]

Oh jesus. those two unused boss sprites made my sex fall out,
Then the thought of them not being utilized made it fall off.
If those sprites were scraped than I am one VERY sad Orpheus.