METAL SLUG 5

METAL SLUG 5 is a popular side-scrolling action-shooter where players choose from four unique characters to battle the minions of the Ptolemaic Army and complete various missions. The game offers a variety of vehicles, each equipped with different weapons, allowing players to maneuver and glide skillfully to inflict more damage on enemies. A two-player mode is also included, allowing players to team up with friends to fight the most powerful foes and drive the demons summoned by the Ptolemaic Army from the world. The game also supports gamepad controls, allowing for flexible button layouts for a more comfortable gaming experience.

Modes of METAL SLUG 5:

Original Mode: Start up in original mode, and change the difficulty to 1 and change players as high as you feel you may need. Run through the levels, killing everything you see and rescuing as many POWs as you can (you have to shoot them free then touch them with your guy to rescue the), picking up the score related achievements on the way. Once you have them, let yourself run out of lives and unlock the two high score achievements. 5 achievements for 420.

Hi-Score Mode: Hi-score mode is tougher, as you have to play on difficulty level 4, and only have two lives. However, if you can finish the level without dying and rescue all the POWs, you can get all the related achievements on the first level. Make sure you get the four hidden POWs near the end of the level (see "HI-SCORE 150,000 points"). Once you have the score related achievements, let yourself get beat and upload your score for the related achievement. 4 achievements for 340.

Caravan Mode: Rinse and repeat what you did in step 3, this time in Caravan mode. As well as not being able to change the difficulty, you have only 5 minutes to get the high scores. However, this should be plenty of time in this game. Once you have the score related achievements, you can simply quit out. 3 achievements for 24.

Features of METAL SLUG 5:

Powerful mech introduction: In this version, we have added a variety of different mechanical vehicles to support you in the process of fighting enemies.

Unique gameplay offering: We have also changed this game and increased your firepower when participating in battles to help you increase your chances of winning.

Fresh tactical approach: In addition, we provide you with a new tactical approach to fighting a large number of extremely dangerous enemies on the battlefield.

Enhanced player mobility: You can enhance your mobility and will have many options in dodging thanks to the sliding mechanism in our game.

New dodging strategies: The game will bring you new strategies to dodge enemy attacks and navigate where you will slide to help you be more convenient in combat.

Dynamic gameplay pace: With the sliding mechanism, you will be enhanced in movement speed in battle, helping you be more flexible in dodging as well as escaping death in dangerous situations.

Player Comments of METAL SLUG 5:

Tight control as usual. The game has a pacing problem on the first stage. When you are in the canoe and fighting against the airboats, it doesn't throw enough of them at you. There are lulls in the action, but only on that sequence. Otherwise I find the game to be intense, just like the music. There are a couple of times where the action gets intense enough to compare to the bridge stage of MS1, where you need to keep on your toes, shooting left, then right and utilizing the new 'slide' move to dodge bullets. The Slide is excellent, and its not a game breaker so don't worry. It's not an invincibility move at all; it’s just something that helps given the right situation.

Besides some of the boss’s attacks, I don't really find spots that make me feel I was cheated, or where I think there are cheap attacks taking place. The stages are well laid out, there's always enough room to maneuver around, using your slide, jumping etc. The only place that seems cramped is the first stage canoe sequence, but it's the first stage, so it’s on the lowest difficulty at that point.

There are plenty of Slugs to use, nicely spaced throughout the game, but I did find spots that were bare of any power-ups. There are parts of the game that are just screaming for a power-up, like stage 2 when you are meandering up the staircases, you use up your Heavy MG on some hovercrafts launching missiles, then after that you get nothing for quite awhile, and let me tell you, they throw a lot of guys and enemy slugs at you on this part. It'll make you tired killing all that stuff with the pistol.

The game needs some polishing with the audio, and even though it’s intense, I could actually go for some more enemies being thrown my way at certain spots. This being the last Slug on the Neo Geo certainly isn't a bad mark on the machine that’s for sure, but I'm not willing to say its one of the better ones overall. It's just got so much to live up to, and even with my praise of it, it falls short of MS1 and MS3. The game isn't nearly as long as it could have been, and there are some things that really annoy me with the way the game was programmed. For instance, like a Motion Picture, the game takes a lot of 'cuts' throughout. When changing scenery, the game just fades to black and comes back in to totally new scenery, where as in MS3, we would have actually seen the transition just by running, there would be no need to do a cut like that. Stage 2, the elevator sequence, when you finish killing the last red robot, again, the screen blacks out, then reappears with the elevator stopping...why the heck could they not program it to just slow down after the robot died, without doing a cut? There's no need for that and it bugs me. They never do a running transition in this game, when its time for a change of scenery it just has you run off the screen to the right, black out, then you reappear in a new setting, it kinda pisses me off to be honest.

Still this game is worth buying, it’s a lot of fun to play, and that’s the most important thing. It keeps you excited with the music and the action, and you'll appreciate the cool new backgrounds and humongous bosses.

Walkthrough of METAL SLUG 5:

When first landing in the ocean, go slowly toward the right, shooting downward until you notice there's a spot where if you shoot it 3 times you will cause a stream of fish to pop up toward the left (don't move too far to the right), for an easy 4,000 points (500 per fish), plus 300 (100 per shot).

Advance toward the beach shore, kill the enemies (DO NOT TRY TO KNIFE THE CRABS anywhere on this level. It isn't worth the risk.) and be sure to shoot the fish for extra points. Shoot up at the crashed wreckage for either a 100 point bone or a 1,000 point fancy key. Between this and the crabs you should already have either 9,100 or 10,000 even. Move to the next bit of wreckage with some crabs, kill those, and be sure to grab as many of the small red crabs that flee from you, for 1,000 points each. Do the same for the next section- you CAN catch them all if you run and gun through the big crabs toward the ship stern they get blocked at.

Once you've destroyed the ship wreckage and grab the super-grenade crawl toward the submarine but don't get in just yet. Jump over to the right of the sub, and fire a super-grenade strait down. 4,000 points worth of frogs (500 each) should emerge from the right for a nice bonus. Your score should now be at least 40,000 points. Now you can jump in the sub and descend.

Your score from here will be heavily dependent on whatever bonus items happen to spawn, and what their point value ends up being. It seems to be entirely random.

As you descend, be sure to destroy every jellyfish, rescue every captive, and pickup every item.

When you reach each of the 4 cave openings across from the long-fish monsters (the ones named Helen, etc) wait right above them, and once the monster has pulled back into it's cage/gate shoot into the hole they move towards to uncover 4 treasure chests (1 per hole) that can range in value from 1,000 points to 30,000(!) EACH. You need to get these, and I even recommend restarting the level if you don't get high-value chests. One or two should be fine, but ideally you'll luck into all of them beefing up your score. By the time you reach the two giant red crabs at the bottom you should have at least 79,000 to over 1000,000 points.

Continue down to where the two HUGE red crabs that shoot the orange bubbles are, and kill both. Try to get the small red crab each leaves behind. Proceed right toward the repeating pattern of the 5 flamerock balls that arc over or under your sub. Right after the first one, there is a spot in the rock ceilings you can shoot to reveal a treasure chest that can be worth up to 30,000 points. Proceed right toward the shipwreck, and get close to it to destroy it and collect as many of the gold coins you can.

Heading up, just destroy everything in your path, suicide-sinkers and subs all. When you reach the final underwater captive, wait to rescue him. Aim your gun at the rockwall toward his upper left, as there are up to 4 gems that can be worth 100 to 30,000 points. Random, but definitely worth trying for. Be sure to rescue the captive, too, and be careful doing all this, as the game can automatically take you to the surface. You should have between 130,000 to 179,000 points by the time you reach the huge crawling crab boss.

Now you haven't died, and have a bunch of rescued captives. Hop in the Slug already on the docks, and keep firing as you move and jump right. I HIGHLY recommend hitting the boss with everything you've got but holding your fire once you eliminate the fireballs, as the fireballs have varying trajectories while the black cannon shells that follow them can always be avoided by simply staying right. Collect every captive along the way (they keep coming until the 33 second mark, or so). There are only two captives that drop items that you absolutely should grab- the two that drop storks nests. Either or even both storks nests can EACH be worth either 1,000 or 50,000(!) points- this can make a huge difference! Don't risk your Slug, but still do what you can to grab these two storks nests. Once you've gotten both of these and around the 33 mark where you're sure there's no more captives, open back up guns blazing on the boss and it'll quickly perish. You can and should have 250,000 to over 320,000 points BEFORE the captive rescues and intact Slug Bonuses are added on to your score, which combined should leave you with between 750,000 to over 830,000 points by the end of the first level. Again, this depends on the luck of hidden item values, rescuing all captives, ending the level in your Slug. And of course, NOT DYING. Fairly straightforward, really.

Now, onto the second level, with the zombies. DO NOT RISK KNIFING THEM- it isn't worth it. Just fight your way through them, conserving your grenades as you can. Just gun everyone down from a distance and fire rapidly. You can allow some of the poor innocent bystanders to become zombified so you can kill them for a few extra points. Be sure to rescue the captives and the President/Suit Guy figure who gives you the Thundercloud powerup. Do not get zombified, as the healthpacks/human restorers are worth 1,000 points each.

When you get to the area where you first encounter Human enemies, use the Enemy Chaser very cautiously, or consider not even picking it up. This is actually the one area where it might be safe enough to simply knife your way through. Clear the area where the helicopter wave comes in, but DO NOT FIRE ON THE COPTERS. Go back toward the hill/rise on the left, and get into position to chuck a slew of grenades at the lead, and only the lead, copter. Destroying it will destroy all the rest and give you a HUGE point bonus. But you already know this from previous Metal Slug games, or ought to. If that helicopter destruction bonus doesn't put you over the 1M point mark, you should be close to it, having around 900,000 to 975,000 or more points.

The following swarm of zombies, Morden soldiers, and two more helicopters is an awful ambush that will likely claim at least one of your remaining lives. For this part you might want to consider allowing yourself to become zombified so you can become immune to the Morden soldier and copter attacks, destroy them and the zombies, and then use a healthpack to restore your Human form.

If you still don't have 1M points, you now have two path choices: proceed onwards toward the Alien Ruins where boss is, or enter the ice-caves. It depends on how close you are to the 1M point mark. The ice-caves are by far the more dangerous but if you can reach the Elephant Slug at the end you will definitely get past 1M points along the way. The Wampa monsters are some of the worst enemies in any videogame ever (what was SNK thinking???) but be sure to focus on destroying the ground ones before you kill any on the upper level and you should be okay. This is what you have those extra lives for, but try not to need them. If, or when, you get turned into a snowman button mash your way out as quickly as possible. Be warned that while doing that it is way too easy to accidentally hit the menu button on the controller and ruin your game. That happened to me multiple times. And, of course, rescue every captive and pickup every item you can along the way toward the Elephant Slug.

If you still haven't gotten 1M points by the time you reach the Elephant Slug, you soon will. Get on and advance back toward the right, kill everything along the way, and dismount and grab every medal, jewel, coin, and item you can. Many of them are worth tens of thousands of points, so they WILL put you past the 1M point mark. Just be sure not to get too far to the right or you'll lose the Elephant Slug and you'll never make it out past all of the zombies.

If you opted not to go into the ice-caves, just make sure you are efficient in killing all of the zombies along the way toward the boss, and use three or so grenades per tank in quick succession so those don't kill you. Beware of the zombified Morden soldiers who will suicide-jump at you. Don't bother trying to shoot them, just let them jump at you and dodge them. Hopefully you'll have the 1M point score by the time you reach the boss, or be very close to it. The odds of you surviving the final boss are not good.

Anyway, that should do it. With enough practice this isn't really THAT bad of an Achievement to get, but still one you can absolutely be proud of. A huge chunk of it is just plain luck with the item values in the first level.

You may also wish to review various videos of high-score runs to see where exactly some of the hidden items are, as well as secrets I may have missed. And again, don't try to knife enemies- the risk isn't worth the few extra points.

Conclusion:

In Metal Slug 5 you will play as a commando fighting against the evil Ptolemaic army. The game has 6 levels with a variety of enemies, from infantrymen to tanks and aircraft. You will need to use a variety of weapons, including machine guns, flamethrowers, and rockets to destroy enemies and complete missions.