I need help on Metal Slug 1st mission!

[bokmeow]

This is killing me. I just finished Metal Slug 2nd Mission over the weekend and attained the SD rank (Best Platformer ever for a handheld console!) and so I thought hey, I'd go ahead and work on the Metal Slug 1st Mission that I never finished. I'm at 22/23, which I actually have no idea what it stands for, but I had heard rumours before that the rank is contingent upon the score you obtain, so I went through Mission 0, careful not to pick up too much stuff, and even then I had a rank of 3/23 when I had a mere 4300 points. So I thought, hmmm, ok. Level Up in 1st mission doesn't seem contingent upon the number of hostages I rescue. So I worked very hard to play through each level, trying to grab the most number of points I could, probably exhausted every possible branch in the game and still only have 22/23, 1 short of SD rank. I need help! I don't know what to do anymore. Plus the medals that level me up don't disappear after I have picked them up once so I don't know which other medal I am missing should I come across one. The faq on Game Faq has not proved comprehensive, in fact even finished fewer levels than I have. How do I attain the last rank? If someone wants to work on a FAQ with me to complete the SD rank, I would appreciate it very much.

 

[K-J N.]

To gain a rank you have to find a rankmedal (doesn't matter wich) and then complete the level. However if you loose a life before the level is finished you will also loose the medal so you will have to go back and pick it up again. The rankmedals are hidden on some of the normal levels and they are also present in all of the prisson / parachute levels. So if you want to gain ranks fast be sure to loose on all slug / slug flyer levels. You can only carry one medal at time. To get the final rank (23:SD) you must play the game on the hightest difficulty level.

Speaking of metal slug 1st mission here is a bug I found. On mission 12 (Weapons dump) there is a large area with a door in the bottom right corner leading to a short corridor after wich you come to a smaller area and after that the boss. Well at the top rigt corner of the large area there is a ledge you are not supposed to reach, however by getting one of the soldiers to chase you up on the platform closest to the ledge and then using the soldier as a stepping stone (jumping on enemies heads was a feature removed in the sequel) you can reach it. This allows you to skip the corridor section but have the sideffect that you will be stuck in the falling animation and have to jump to get around.

[ December 13, 2002: Message edited by: K-J N. ]</p>

 

[bokmeow]

I haven't found a Rank Medal to be hidden on all levels, to say honestly. Most of the time either a Soldier drops one or a hostage drops one, I haven't found any other instances, well, that is except on Slug Flyer stages and on Parachute stages it is just out there in the open. Kills me that I still haven't gotten SD, I went through the game once, losing my flyer and metal slug at every possible moment, I think I only died repeatedly on the stage where you parachute down and there are like these rocky outcrops that mess me up, because I mess up the timing, but a Rank Medal could be gotten on that parachute anyways so I pick it up, manage not to die and got through the game, and still 22/23. Argh!