I believe 'Ming Kong No. 26' (眠港26号) the chicken item being able to reproduce a chick is well known by a majority of MS fans.
But did you also know that the chicks are programmed to follow players, as well as any hostile or neutral NPC, as if it were their parent?
I bet not so many players ever stopped to observe how Rebel grunts in MS1 sabotage a SV-001.
Here is a showcase of what happens if you don't resist them with enough button mashing.
【METAL SLUGの大魔王】
アートギャラリーに描いた緑色の『マルコ』。
「あれは何ですか?」という声をいただいたので、うろ覚えですがご説明します。
あれはたしか、コンバットスクールモード内の全訓練ミッションで、パーフェクトの1000点を達成してクリアすると、プレイヤーキャラが大魔王という隠し階級になるんです。
ほんとなら、『超人』になったという見た目にしたかったんですが、さすがにそんな余裕はなかったんで、手軽に肌の色を緑色にして、アニメの『デビルマン』を模して、大魔王だということにしたんです。
大魔王になるとハンドガンが「小型スーパーグレネード」ほどの火力になるんで爽快なんですよ。
大魔王という到達点はご褒美なんですが、コンバットスクール内で課せられるミッションは、AC版でデバッグしていた若い子らが、最速タイムでのクリアを競い合ったり、ノーミスクリアに挑戦していたことが大盛り上がりだったことから、ピンポイントアタックやサバイバルアタックというゲームができたんです。
つまり、コンバットスクールの鬼のようなミッションは、ドッターやプログラマーたちの変態チックなデバッグ中の遊びから生まれたものだったんですね。
English below
【The Great Demon King of METAL SLUG】
The green “Marco” I drew for the art gallery.
Some people asked me, “What is that supposed to be?” so I’ll explain it, although my memory is a little fuzzy.
If I remember correctly, in Combat School mode, if you cleared every training mission with a perfect score of 1000 points, your player character would be promoted to a hidden rank called “Great Demon King.”
Originally, I wanted to make him look like he had become a “superhuman,” but we simply didn’t have enough time for something like that. So the simplest thing to do was to make his skin green, model him after the anime Devilman, and call him the Great Demon King.
Once you became the Great Demon King, even the handgun had firepower on the level of a miniature Super Grenade, so it felt incredibly satisfying to use.
The Great Demon King rank was the reward waiting at the end, but the missions inside Combat School were born because the young staff debugging the arcade version were having such a great time competing for the fastest clear times and challenging each other to no-miss runs. That energy led to game modes like Pinpoint Attack and Survival Attack.
In other words, the demonically difficult Combat School missions came from the wonderfully twisted debugging games that the dot artists and programmers used to play.
#MetalSlug30th #メタスラ30th
【共闘】
『METAL SLUG2』のラスト、モーデン軍に加担していたかに見えた宇宙人は、突如としてトラクタービームでモーデンを拘束し、正規軍もろともモーデン軍を攻撃し始めました。
共通の敵を前に、先ほどまで熾烈な戦いを繰り広げていた両軍は即座に共闘を選択し、正規軍とモーデン軍は、宇宙人の巨大UFO『シティ・デストロイヤー』に対し、総攻撃を開始する。
このストーリーは、『METAL SLUG 2』の企画を私が担当する以前からずっと温めていた、いつか実現しようと思っていたとっておきのアイデアだったんです。
プレイヤーの状態異常であるミイラ化、デブ化、そしてクライマックスでモーデン軍との共闘という3本柱があったからこそ、『METAL SLUG 2』で大きくテイストを変えることに躊躇はありませんでした。
この3つのアイデアを思いついた時は、必ずMETAL SLUGファンを驚かせることができると興奮していたんです。
シリーズの中でも、「このシーンが一番感動する!」というコメントをたくさん頂き、この手応えに、ただただ感謝しかありません。
[Unexpected Alliance]
At the end of Metal Slug 2, the aliens, who appear to be cooperating with Morden’s Army, suddenly turn on them, capturing Morden with a tractor beam and attacking both forces.
Faced with a common enemy, the two sides, who had been locked in a fierce battle just moments before, immediately join forces. The Regular Army and Morden’s Army launch a full-scale assault on the massive alien UFO, the “City Destroyer.”
This storyline was a special idea I had been nurturing long before I took charge of planning for Metal Slug 2. It was something I had always hoped to bring to life.
Because the game was built around three core pillars, including player transformations like becoming a mummy or turning “fat,” as well as the climactic alliance with Morden’s Army, I had no hesitation in taking the game’s tone in a bold new direction.
When I first came up with these ideas, I was genuinely excited and convinced they would surprise fans of the series.
Even now, I receive many comments saying, “This is the most emotional scene in the entire series!”
I’m simply grateful for that response.
#MetalSlug30th #メタスラ30th
【秘密のアイテム】
『メタルスラッグ2』の遺跡ステージには、数あるアイテムの中でも私がお気に入りの『魔法のランプ』を隠してあったのを、皆さんはご存知ですか?
あれは、ハンナ・バーベラの『大魔王シャザーン』へのオマージュなんです。
『シャザーン』といえば、「出てこいシャザーン!」「アイアイサー!」で、お馴染みですよね。
もっとも『大魔王シャザーン』は、日本では1968年に放送が始まった、私が小さい頃に大好きだったアニメなので、さすがに今では元ネタが分かりにくいと思います。
そこで、見た目は当時まだ記憶に新しかったディズニー映画『アラジン』のジーニーみたいに、肌を青くしておいたんです。
元ネタは『シャザーン』、見た目は『ジーニー』……。
これは結局、『ジーニー』なんですけどね。
【English below】
Did you know that in the ruins stage of Metal Slug 2, I hid one of my favorite items among many others, the “Magic Lamp”?
That was an homage to Hanna-Barbera’s Shazzan. When you think of Shazzan, those familiar lines are “Come out, Shazzan!” and “Aye-aye, sir!”, right?
Shazzan originally aired in Japan in 1968, and it was one of my favorite shows when I was a child, so I think it may be a bit hard to recognize the reference nowadays.
That’s why I gave him blue skin, so that visually he would look a bit like the Genie from Disney’s Aladdin, which was still fresh in people’s memories at the time.
The original reference was Shazzan, and the look was the Genie...
So in the end, he ended up being the Genie after all.
#MetalSlug30th #メタスラ30th
METAL SLUG marks its 30th anniversary.
I was around 30 myself when I conceived METAL SLUG, in a reckless attempt to strike a blow against the dominance of fighting games at the time.
Back then, I never imagined that idea would still be going strong 30 years later.
I worked on METAL SLUG 1 through 3, but after that, many more Metal Slug pixel artists carried the baton forward and kept the game running across generations.
For a single game to continue for 30 years is not something its creators alone can achieve.
METAL SLUG exists today because of the passion of its creators, the teammates who carried it forward, and above all, all of you who played it again and again and loved it.
Your battle record in the long war against Morden's Army is what has sustained METAL SLUG for these 30 years.
The game I poured my life into back then is still so eagerly awaited, even now, 30 years later.
As a creator, that makes me truly happy, and very proud.
And now, the METAL SLUG video that SNK released for the 30th anniversary, hinting at the next phase, has not yet revealed the full picture.
Just thinking that a revolutionary, never-before-seen METAL SLUG is finally about to reveal itself makes my heart race, and I can hardly sit still.
When that moment comes and its true form is finally revealed, I want to witness it with my own eyes alongside all of you and shout:
"HEAVY MACHINE GUN!"
#MetalSlug30th
#MetalSlug