Super Vehicle 001 Metal Slug - Sega Saturn Review
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- In 1997, SNK brought Metal Slug to the Saturn. It had originally been on a 193 meg cartridge, I was just dying to seeing how well the Saturn could handle it.
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Opening 3D Logo By:
Jan Neves
RUclips Page - / jan3d
Opening 2D Animation By:
Kevin Bhall
Facebook - / kevin.bhall.14
Episode Notes:
1. Captured on real Neo Geo CD and Saturn hardware.
2. The Neo CD capture was via S-Video on my unmodded hardware, so the image is softer and darker.
3. The PS1 version loads mid level and is missing many frames of animation.
4. I have many versions of this game. Saturn, MVS, Neo CD, Wii and PS1. The Neo CD is my favorite.
5. The loading screen for the CD versions shows a monkey juggling grenades with his ball sack hanging out. No BS.
6. No other Metal Slug ever officially appeared on another Sega home system after this one.
7. Metal Slug has appeared in numerous compilations over the years. There's an Anthology Collection out there with nearly all of them.
I'm still amazed at the detail they put into animating the sprites, everything has so much personality, and it really enhances the already gorgeous art style. Not to mention the music is S tier, one of my favourite arcade games by far
My first Saturn Import, will forever cherish it.
one of my first I had the add on memory cart to so it was buttery smooth beauty
Cost me £100 for the full package. Worth it.
Ironically, in an interview the original team for METAL SLUG said that their favorite one was the 1st and 2nd METAL SLUG games for the NEO GEO
The most impressive thing in Metal Slug is the art. The concepts, vehicles and enemies have a unique feel and are very well detailed.
The Metal Slug tank was probably inspired by the original Tank Police anime/comic though.
The Metal Slug series has the best looking sprites, ever.
Nah
@German Retro Guy Vanilla ware games have bigger and more detailed sprites, sure, but the animations are still better in the Metal Slug series.
Gunforce II/Geo Storm II is also almost as good.
They do look fucking great.
Check out In The Hunt of you haven't. It's also by Nazca Corp. Same sprite/art style.
@stephen schneider how about you get a life ,getting emotional over a strangers one word opinion. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂🤣🤣🤣🤣
One of the best gaming franchises. Metal slug 3 being my personal favourite game of the franchise. The art and style was always stunning. Keep up the great work dude
Art, Style and the Music are the holy triad that makes those games such piece of art, it's such a experience
Metal Slug! Soooo good! I was in Japan last year and saw a Metal Slug Arcade cabinet. I spent all day playing it.
I am collecting for the Saturn, but stuff like this is tough to justify when the whole Metal Slug series can be bought together on Switch for half the price with save states & better performance, and still played with the Retro-bit Saturn controller. I can't fault anyone for wanting a physical copy though, especially if they're particularly attached to the Saturn and the title. This is a gem.
Now I want my Neo CD back. The detail in the art and animation are just at a level that was rarely repeated. A marvel in its time.
The NEO CD has no copy protection. You could always get the system and make your own games. Just saying...
it's pretty insane to think that even a sega saturn couldn't handle beast called the neo geo.
My all time favourite side-scroller. ❤️ - Love the background graphics.
Ive always liked the slow down in games because it gives you time to react to oncoming bullets.
I agree. It’s a big help sometimes.
In the case of this Saturn port it makes the game tougher. Controls become unresponsive during slowdown leading to cheap deaths in pits and slower fire rate. If you play the arcade or Neo Geo CD port back to back with the Saturn port, you will notice it immediately.
One ongoing question about Saturn Metal Slug is whether using the official 1MB RAM cartridge results in less slowdown than the Pro Action Replay cart. I’ve seen evidence that goes both ways, so you’ll have to investigate and see for yourself. Overall, I think this is an outstanding 2D action game for Saturn, featuring some of the most fluid sprite animation ever seen. It’s well designed, challenging and quite funny to boot.
I had this game on saturn. Even with the added cartridge the extra slowdown was too much for me after being used to the arcade version. Sold it on ebay.
The first Metal Slug is so good but number 3 just nailed it!
Last level is too long,its like 1/3 of whole game.
I remember shoving quarters into this arcade machine at the amusement park inside of the vegas casino circus circus when I was ten. then coming back when i was 21 and doing it all over again. It may still be there today
Yeah I remember the first time I stumbled across a metal slug machine it was a magical day.
I remember it distinctly every chance I get I play it. It's amazing just how many of the (original) arcade machines are still out there in the wild.
They don’t have it anymore. I live in vegas and they took down many great arcade machines. Mvc1, xvsf, metal slug, and a bunch of other ones
@@TheBodybuilderChris
Hopefully they're still out there somewhere and not just turned into scrap metal/broken down for parts.
So glad to have my copy on Saturn
I still enjoy playing this classic from time to time 😃
The anthology collection for PS2 was how I first experienced most of the series, and got MS7 for DS before that. I had no idea there was a Saturn version!
This was my first Metal Slug experience, but I eventually caved and bought a NeoGeo CD and that is my preferred method at least for single player as I only have 1 NeoGeo controller so I use the Saturn version for multi-player.
Or just buy an extra controller
I loved playing this game on the Saturn, but now that I have a New Geo it is the only place I play the Metal Slug franchise now. Absolute arcade perfection.
I play this game every year, 20 years by now and still have fun - still able to beat it with one continue ♥
Impressive. I'm still trying.
It is not just the memory amount, that can be solved adding more loading screens or compressing further, but the Neo-Geo (Any) was much, much, more powerful than the Saturn (and the PlayStation) in moving sprites for 2D games. It was a true BEAST for its time.
I'm sorry, that simply isn't true. The Saturn could manipulate far more sprites than the Neo Geo. There are Saturn games with 200 individual characters on screen and no slowdown. You can't use a port to judge a systems capability. Metal Slug was designed on the Neo from the ground up. The Saturn had no such luxury.
@@SegaLordX In theory the Saturn might be more capable than the Neo-Geo for 2D graphics, it has about no limits in sprites drawn, and the Neo-Geo was "only" capable of draw 96 sprites per scanline, which is a huge amount on screen anyway. But working with sprites require speed and lots of memory, which the saturn lacked of, that's why in practice Neo-Geo games felt and looked so good while playing, the experience was a lot better to me than most 2D games in the Saturn or PlayStation. Being more powerful in theory means nothing to me if it does not show it.
@@Romerco77 But the Saturn did show it. Look at the games designed for Saturn. Dragon Force. Princess Crown. Cotton 2. Keio Flying Squadron 2. There are many 2D games on the Saturn that were spectacular.
@@SegaLordX I was not saying Saturn hadn't good 2D games, of course it had them, just that in my opinion it didn't show its technical advantage in 2D against the Neo-Geo. I have never been a fan of mixed 2D sprites with 3D elements, thats what most games were doing in that era, there are exceptions, but nothing i remember that could not be done in the Neo-Geo. We didn't have good Metal Slug port without cut animations and perfect framerate until ps2/xbox era, there must be a reason for that 😉
@TrueSinister
I believe there was even a 3D version of metal slug but it was awful and only ever released in Japan and it's been buried as far as I'm aware.
Loved this game, is so good and fun to play, the Saturn port is very solid too.
I love your channel for reviews like these. Long forgotten gems being unearthed again with each upload. Personally i loved these series and still do enjoy them through MAME. Gamers of today will never know the bliss of going from an SNES game to your local arcade and witnessing the wonder called metal slug! and its not just the game its the art and style it has that captivated your mind, bright colours explosions gun variety dark humour and an excellent game for 2players pure fun!
You're so good at closing statement, I always look forward to it at the end of video.
I see the slowdown as a positive. MS is a hard game and the slowdown makes it easier to react to things when it gets hectic.
Pixel art at its finest. Used to play it on arcade machine. Fantastic game.
Really nice review of this SLX. I LOVE Metal Slug 1 and consider it a Top 10 game in my life. I enjoyed it a lot on the PS2 and I have an MVS copy of it and it's great. Seeing the Saturn version I realize that it looks accurate and fun. My only gripe would be what you already pointed out: those yelps and hollers from the soldiers aren't as loud or comical as they are on the NG. Otherwise, this is fab game. Great stuff once again!
This game blew me away back when it debuted in the arcades. It was refreshing to see such lush and beautifully animated sprites during a time when 3D graphics were taking over. The Saturn version is an above average conversion that stays pretty faithful to the original
Another great video Sega Lord X. Really enjoyed it. 👍🏽
I would love to have Metal Slug X, 3 or 2 at least, the Saturn was our future, Bernie damn you.
SLX is killing it with content lately!! Thank you!!!
Great review. I've been on the fence on buying this for the Saturn, given the current prices. I paid $50 for the MVS cartridge 6 years ago, so it's tough for me to want to buy this, unless I get lucky. The enemy screams are annoying on this port.
My biggest gripe about this game - the lack of 'Mission... Complete!' voice sample at the end of each finished level.
Still drives me nuts to this day.
Reminds me of the Mortal Kombat 2 port, but way worse
I received my Saturn import copy the same week the Neo-Geo version was emulated first, and compared them meticulously side-by-side. The Saturn version has noticeably less animation frames in things such as explosions, the shell fired from the tank is a good example. Still a good version though.
I have both Metal Slug 1 and 2 on my Neo Geo CD console. Love them :)
Rocket lawn chair!
For some reason I miss game slowdown. A true hallmark of 90s gaming.
I do love any 2d game with high quality animation. That's why I accidentally payed my attention on this game!
Can't wait to play my hd version!
Loved the video. Laughed because I mentioned this exact game trying to test with the action Replay on the Quake video. I was curious on your thoughts on the Wii and PS2 Metal Slug Anthologies.
Yeah I was really hoping he was going to touch on the Anthology releases for PS2 and Wii but all he mentioned were the modern stuff for HD consoles.
I didn't even know about Metal Slug in Saturn.... Wish I could play it. Thank You for this video.
I played this and some Metal Slug 2 on the Switch with a Hori arcade this past Monday and am still amazed with how much detail they put into animating the sprites, and sound quality. Sega Lord X is right people you can get pretty much every classic Metal Slug game on modern consoles for a few bucks compared to the asking price original Neo Geo carts these days. I want to get Metal Slug 3 for modern systems after seeing all the praise the game gets. Love this and Metal Slug 2. About ten years ago while at a bar/restaurant i stumbled across a Neo Geo MVS with Metal Slug 2 in it and played it for about half an hour before i ran out of quarters and shortly after that bought Metal Slug Anthology for PS2 and still have the disc. Great video.
Honestly I think people rate MS3 too highly. It's beautiful and it's huge, and it has so much great art but some of the sections are a real slog to get through. The first one is still the most fun for me, and 4 is actually not bad even though it's mostly recycled art, it's less of a grind than 3.
Anthology on PS4 does it for me. Or, I’ll just play them on my MAME cab.
Same.
This is cool and all but not for that price.
MAME is a great option, and you can also buy all Metal Slugs from 1 to 3 on gog.com, then use the ROM files to play it legally.
For some reason the PS4 ports have this bizarre input delay. It isn't the whole game slowing down, it's specifically the inputs.
Mission complete.
God bless you SLX
Not sure how the PS2 anthology fairs in terms of accuracy but I did enjoy playing through the games on that.
Plenty of frames are still missing on the Saturn version. I had played all the Metal Slugs and i have many ports of this game and i have noticed the jerky movements in the Saturn version, not very far in the PS1 version but its a great port even it lacks animation frames.
@@MonsterHunterLancer yup but its still an awesome port.
Metal Slug in the thumbnail. Instant like from me!
Never heard of Midnight Resistance but it looks cool
Same. I'll take a look.
The best thing about it is the music
Same team that gave us KOF XIII. SNK are absolute Gods when it comes to detailed, fluid pixel art.
The first music comparation, it was exactly how i remember the neo-geo version
Metal slug was my second virtual console game.
Awesome vid man, I spent so much time in college playing through this w/friends in the arcade. Then in the got my Saturn and it was one of the first imports I purchased. I got it from EB back the when they carried Saturn imports, I had a blast w/it and still have it in my collection...good times!
I still remember the first time I walked into EB Games and saw the import Saturn games on the wall. Blew my mind that a retailer was willing to bring games in from another country, yet Sega couldn't keep games flowing until the DC launch. Shameful.
@@SegaLordX Agreed, I still believe the Saturn would have done fine or at least well enough as a niche console if Sega had only brought a lot of the library stateside.
I think it's a really good port, not perfect as you mentioned compared to the original arcade release but still damn good
Isnt there 2 versions of the Saturn game which cone be seen on the stamp on the CD? I'm sure the end version sorted about a few bugs and a lot of the slow down.
I would be curious to find that out myself.
Versions 1.002 and 1.005 respectively.
I actually really enjoy the Saturn version a lot, compared to the PS version (which I played first) it totally kills it. I have since collected it for more modern systems but I don't mind booting up the Saturn on my CRT and rocking some killer co-op action.
Metal Slug is part of my childhood
What an absolutely beautiful game. I'm not sure, but I think I remember this. In the UK the Neo Geo was only ever a niche product for hard core gamers, and Sega fell off a cliff with the Saturn. But I may have seen this in an arcade, unsure. I quite fancy playing this on the Switch.
it's better than the ps1 version
The censorship and loading really killed that version. (Though I may be confusing it with X because I don't believe the US ever got the original metal slug though I'm sure it still had the loading if nothing else)
Did anyone ever know the tank was the metal slug and the games named after it ?😄 cos I played it in the arcades and I found that out only
now
Loved this game in arcades was able to 1cc it even, btw I find jarring that you didn't use hand grenades from inside of tank, that and using jumping out of tank as kind of the dodge button makes game much easier.
I have to wonder if hackers can patch the game to support the 4mb cart and to remove any slowdown from this version.
Remember i bought the memory cart just to play this
The NeoGeo cart being 193MB has no bearing why the Saturn version requires the RAM cart, since a CD can hold 700MB of data (3.5x of the cartridge).
It's the fact that CD needs to load data and assets into RAM, where as cart based system has direct access to the ROMs in the cartridge.
Neo carts were in megabits, not megabytes. CD’s held significantly more than 3.5x.
And the 193 megabits of the cart mattered precisely because of what you said in your second statement. The Saturn could only load tiny bits of information from the CD, and since most of that 193 megabits was animation, it meant everything.
@@SegaLordX 8 bits equal 1 byte, right? So 193 megabits is equal to about 24 megabytes? Not very large compared to today's games. How much ram was built into the Saturn?
@@AsianFlew System RAM - 2MB. VRAM 1.5MB. RAM expansion - 1MB or 4MB. I think Metal Slug uses 1MB.
@@letsgetacid
Sadly Metal Slug for SS uses the 1Meg cart .
Yeah, I was looking at the RAM and Saturn should be able to run this Neo Geo port fine. I think a lot of the performance issues just comes from the fact that Metal Slug was made for Neo Geo hardware so it fits it like a glove, whereas porting to other systems you need to tailor it to the system.
With Saturn being a bit more complicated, with 2 CPUs and 2 GPUs, I'm guessing the programmers used one CPU (which is fine, it's 28.6 MHz, double what the Neo Geo had) but maybe relied a bit too much on VDP1, which is a bit slower at 2D animation than VDP2 was. VDP2 was more used for backgrounds and HUD elements, so a game that's pretty much all sprites, you really would have to pick and choose which elements are essential and have them on VDP1 and which ones could be just background on VDP2. Castlevania had the same problem on the Saturn, too much of the 2D elements were being rendered by VDP1. Offloading more elements to VDP2 would help both titles. I imagine Neo Geo run and guns would be tricky to port to Saturn, since Neo Geo is essentially a sprite-generating powerhouse, so porting would be more like a puzzle, having to mix and match pieces to the VDPs so it runs like butter.
Some of my all time favorite sprites in a game. There’s a copy at my local game shop for 79.99 that I’ve had my eye on for a couple of weeks.
Thank you for this review. Since I have a good NEO GEO emulator, I won't be adding this one to my library. Still cool that the Saturn can do this! Though my next game I'm looking at is Discworld 2 for the Saturn. It looks way every bit as good as 七つ風島の物語 (Nanatsu Kaze Shima no Monogatari, "The Story of the Seven Winds Island"), Snatcher, or Blazing Dragons.
The Metal Slug series simply got crazier and crazier as it went on.
Metal Slug was in my movie theaters arcade well in the 2000’s along with House Of The Dead.
My arcade had it for nearly 2 decades. The COVID closed its doors a couple months back.
@@SegaLordX
Yeah there's a lot of that going around. I'm starting to wonder what's going to be left to enjoy when all this is over. Everyday or so I hear about another business biting the dust.
Rap Lawyer right it’s the governments fault that we have to put life on hold because people won’t wear masks or take the necessary precautions. Stop bringing that shit into one of the last vestiges of entertainment that has nothing to do with politics. I’m trying to enjoy conversations about video games and these awesome videos Sega Lord X keeps bringing us during this fucked up and difficult time.
@@SegaLordX Was it still the same price?
I have never understood why colors vary between ports. I understand if they have to reduce the number of colors, such as a port to the Genesis. But I think the Saturn has the same number of colors as a Neo Geo. Making the color and brightness the same should be within the hardware limits.
You bet I’ve got my copy complete with the ram cart. This game is amazing on the Saturn. It has a special place in my heart. 💕
It looks pretty good next to the Neo Geo’s.
Still not sure if metal slug 1 or 3 is my favorite, but i played the first one on an old beat up MVS machine when i was a kid in the late 90s before getting both on the ps2 (ms1 as part of a neo geo compilation, ms3 as a standalone) and both versions at the time were perfectly adequate. Thinking of rebuying them on the switch very soon along with 2/x, 4 and 5!
Definitely in the digital version camp myself.
Just watched a video that showed the Saturn version does not have extra slowdown if you use the official Saturn 1mb cartridge. He blamed the slowdown on the Datel Action Replay with 1mb Ram which people use to play imports.
I have an official 1MB ram cart and the slowdown is there as well.
That guy just be mistaken then. If you're interested, the video is titled "Gaming myth busting Episode 2 - Metal Slug reasons to never use a Action Replay on Saturn". Maybe The Action Replay adds even more slowdown or something.
It is possible that the PAR does perform poorly in some cases since there are many different revisions of the product. A PAR from the late 90's is not the same as the one you'll buy today. Different PCB's, different chips, and different manufacturers.
For the great content and the nuanced buy/no-buy analysis I just want to say: Thank You. Now have a heavy machine gun.
If I'm ever going to have kids, they will be playing Metal Slug with me.
One of my favorite ports just for Combat School mode alone. Also one of the games stolen from my apartment back in 2000
Ouch my condolences.
Everybody's got at least one of those stories. I've lost some game boy games some PS2 games and some others here and there.
Best port of the Neo Geo Original.
$150 for the SEGA Saturn version, or $8 digitally on the Switch. As much as digital gets hated on by retro purists, I'll go digital, thanks.
I remember playing a Flash game which was based on the Metal Slug formula back in 2008. When did 12 years pass?
The screams sounds very scratchy compared with the neo cd version.
i love this series i almost played all the games i only need to play 7/xx
It's definitely a piece of history and an achievement for a less powerful system but it's also incredibly expensive for what it is. Meaning only the most obsessive fan will probably buy it for the prices offered.
Metal slug is a classic snk game. 😀👍🎮
You do plan to touch on "In The Hunt" right? Or better yet, Elevator Action Returns (I'm just fishing for videos on that game)
I would like to get the NEO GEO CD port but damn is expensive !! Thankfully the next moth I'll get the SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 for my PlayStation 2.
HEAVY MACHINE GUN!!!!
Never knew there was a story in Metal Slug
Got it 👊👊👊👊👊👊
Oddly enough the first time I played Metal Slug was in the Saturn of my uncle, many years after it came out though
My nephew plays it with me and loves it too. Same thing, played it 15 years after it came out. He loves most of my Saturn games that were released 8 years before he was born, Vampire Savior is his favorite.
Just a friendly reminder, your capture is a bit too green.
its just your envy lol.. Just kidding, couldn't resist.
but I think the Saturn version was a little green/washed out due to memory limitations maybe
@@adonian Different video sections had different green tint. I suspect that the red pin of his Saturn video port might be oxidized. Should try squirt some deoxit but he probably doesn't read the comments. Oh well.
Metal Slug 1 was a game that in my childhood mind definitely should've had a SNES port, but as an adult I know how compromised that port probably would've been. I actually mainly played censored version of the game with greyish "water" for blood in arcades so a potential SNES port not having red blood wouldn't have bothered me either.
The game barely ran on the Neo Geo at times, as it’s not even a consistent 30fps. Which is weird especially during the time period it was made. It would’ve had to be a totally different game from the ground up, which simply wasn’t going to happen.
It would have been like the SNES port of Doom, barely playable with a very low framerate, as well as worse looking graphics. The SNES is not anywhere near as powerful as the Neo Geo, Sega Saturn or PlayStation.
With the fx2 chip maybe?
In comparison to the ps1 version, it's a really good (not perfect) port. Thanks to the loading being reduced
Hmmm, how does the ps2 Anthology compares to the Saturn version?
Metal Slug a 30 min game?! It’s more challenging than that now...
Fair, judicious review as always. I picked this up a few months ago in Japan. The fact there is no loading in the middle of levels (unlike the PlayStation version) helped sell me on it. And like you say, there's a dearth of this genre on the system. Plus it looks nice sitting alongside the better SNK ports like Real Bout Special.
And the implementation of Ray-Tracing on those puddles at 2:13? 🤣🤣 Metal Slug light-years ahead of Watch Dogs: Legion 🤣😎
2 other great ways to play it, albeit pirate, are on the cheap Neo Geo 161-in-1 cart, or via FPGA in MiSTer
Probably the best run 'n gun games for the Saturn are Elevator Action Returns and Wolf Fang (this one has forced scrolling tho) at least in my opinion and experience. MS is pretty cool, a shame the sequels never came out for the system.