Metal Slug announced for Nintendo Wii

by James Ransom-Wiley { May 2nd 2006 at 12:55PM }

SNK has pledged its support for Wii, announcing Metal Slug Anthology for the next-gen console — marking the umpteenth time the series has been ported to a new platform. The publisher has promised to include the "complete Metal Slug arcade collection," plus unspecified bonus content. Ben Herman, President of SNK, also stated that the Wii controller would be used in a "new and unique way," but stopped short of detailing the particulars of this gameplay enhancement.

SNK also announced SNK vs Capcom Card Fighters for the DS.

[Via news release]

Tags: Metal Slug, MetalSlug, SNK

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

devi8i @ May 2nd 2006 12:59PM

Well, I will be the first(post) to say it. I LOVE METAL SLUG!!!! Will we need the gyro controller thingy to play it...hopefully not.... As long as big N doesnt try to reinvent the wheel of classic 2d games I welcome another port.

zero2dash @ May 2nd 2006 1:04PM

The sales pitch should be "a Wii game that doesn't shoot blanks".

...YES! I GET THE NAME NOW!
/sorry

Bob @ May 2nd 2006 1:08PM

I hope they take advantage of the controller and let you shoot one way and run the other. I love metal slug so much. I remember going to the arcade and having strangers jumping in with me and going through 3 partners before I lost my first dude.

MTS @ May 2nd 2006 1:08PM

It's nice to know that their new Wii game isn't new.

Fantastic.

Maybe if I squint real hard, and look at it really closely, I'll start to care.

bryan @ May 2nd 2006 1:11PM

Maybe Nintendo can finesse a complete Neo-Geo catalogue while they are at it. I would love to play my WiiO-Geo.

Nintendo, Sega, Hudson...Neo Geo (SNK)????

isuma @ May 2nd 2006 1:12PM

Im hoping for true 2d metal slug action. Not that third person 3d crap they were showing a while back. And where's Wii Fanboy?

JodyAnthony @ May 2nd 2006 1:14PM

to isuma:

its supposed to be just ports of metal slug 1-5 and x, and possibly 6, plus extras. so pure 2d awesomeness. i will totally be buying this, even if i have played most of the games already.

J B Cougar @ May 2nd 2006 1:25PM

Don't squint too hard. If go and hurt yourself, no one will care much about that, either.

doormat @ May 2nd 2006 1:31PM

MTS will have to squint real hard, after I blow my load all over his face.

christian aka nsomneia @ May 2nd 2006 2:06PM

this is one game that can be redone a million times and i'll still love it .. . guess it's abit hypocritical with what i said about the overlord game .. . but i mean come on .. . it's metal slug .. . how could you NOT love metal slug .. .

PS3 Enthusiast @ May 2nd 2006 2:07PM

I want to Wii now!!! What an utterly gay ass name. At launch, I'm going to go Wii on everybody camping out at the local best buy.

Then I'll go back home to enjoy the awsome goodness of the PS3. You X360 and Wii-Wii fanboys are fooling yourself thinking your inferiors systems stand any chance in the market after the PS3 drops. The PS3 is where it is at and where it will stay.

The only company that may have a chance is MS because the X360 is a pretty good system. I'm humble enough to recognize that; but it still won't stand a fighting chance except against the Piss, I mean Wii.

mandarin @ May 2nd 2006 2:18PM

Isnt this a game in a post apocalyptic era? Why do they all look clean ? No one wears a mohawk? Everyone shaves?

Hoffy @ May 2nd 2006 2:24PM

"Maybe Nintendo can finesse a complete Neo-Geo catalogue while they are at it."

Nothing truer has ever been said. As Nintendo has already grabbed Sega's old consoles, how clutch would it be to get the NeoGeo?

I don't really see how the Wii's controller could really add anything to a 2D sprite-based side-scroller from the late 90s, but I suppose we'll see.

I've personally had enough of SNK releasing the same few games over and over again on every gaming platform known to man (except of course for the PSP - arcade perfect Metal Slug on the go?? Welcome to heaven!).

They need to get it in gear and start selling their games on XBLA or Virtual Console.

Justin @ May 2nd 2006 2:27PM

Here's the sales pitch:

"Give your Wii Sluggin' Lovin'"

Jeff @ May 2nd 2006 2:41PM

I'm totally buying this as well.

These games may have been ported to umpteen other machines, but they haven't been ported *well* to umpteen other machines. Not even the PS2 could do Metal Slug properly (maybe the Xbox did; I haven't played the Xbox versions). The problem is the huge VRAM requirements and the memory bandwidth required for such a detailed 2D side-scroller, which the original Neo Geo AES could pull off in part because of those massive cartridges that could quickly stream data. 3D games can use repeating, low-res textures and hardware-based special effects, but 2D games like Metal Slug can't. The characters are made up of sprites that repeat but the backgrounds and special effects are all individual frame-by-frame drawings.

Even the Saturn, which is probably the best optical-disc based 2D system ever, had to pause to load parts of Metal Slug.

I'm hopeful that the "Wii" can do all of these games full justice.

It's pretty amazing that a machine that's nearly 20 years old is only *just now* being matched in 2D power by modern consoles. 2D hardware development basically stopped once we entered the 3D era.

(Fighting games are a different story, btw, since the backgrounds don't change within the same stage. The memory requirements are different.)

Pince @ May 2nd 2006 3:13PM

I'm hoping the metal slug games will control well with the revmote held sideways (like an NES controller, in the same way that I expectmost virtual console games will be implemented). Itd be nice to add that retro feel to an arcade classic, and its just an easier way of controlling contra/metal slug style games.

Hell,my biggest gripe with the current GC controller is that the d-pad is too small and too touchy. Since the birth of the analog stick, i think the d-pads have gone down hill, even though they are still useful in many games. With releasesof past collectionsof sonic, megaman, and now abunch of Metal Slug going to Wii, I hope the d-pad plays just like an nes or snes controller (or, dare I say it, even like a Dual Shock).

Carmine @ May 2nd 2006 3:20PM

How did Card Fighters just sneak into this article?! The NGPC version was awesome! I think it merits its own headline, but maybe that's just me. Is there any other info on it? Is it a remake or an all-new game?

jason @ May 2nd 2006 3:44PM

I'm with #16 here... how the hell is it "oh, and by the way... *mumbles* DS card fighter clash *mumbles*"? That game on NGPC was awesome!

J B Cougar @ May 2nd 2006 3:44PM

Wow, I've read hundreds of banal PS3 fanboy arguments and criticisms against 360 and Wii in the past, but it wasn't until PS3 Enthusiast showed me light that I really started to believe I was wrong and they were right. Congrats, Enthusiast, you didn't let silly things like facts get in the way, you just laid it all out there and by your sheer intelligence and gravitas commanded me into submission. Sign me up for a PS3 please, mising price tags and lack of a controller or release date be damned!!!

MTS @ May 2nd 2006 4:17PM

"If go and hurt yourself, no one will care much about that, either."

Yeah, I very much doubt anyone would shed a tear if someone "if went and hurt self"

"MTS will have to squint real hard, after I blow my load all over his face."

So... you're implying that you have latent homosexual tendencies? Got it. Good for you.

J B Cougar @ May 2nd 2006 4:23PM

Aww, come on MTS, let's not a little typo get in the way of you being a boob, shall we? Here, let me type it out again, in a corrected form:

"Don't squint too hard. If *you* go and hurt yourself, no one will care much about that, either.."

How's it feel being useless? Really, I'm curious.

BPMΩ @ May 2nd 2006 4:38PM

Yay! It's nice to see SNK Playmore finally doing SOMETHING on Nintendo's consoles (which means, not the handheld scene)!

They completely ignored both N64 and GCN...

And I hope Card Fighters DS has Wi-Fi...

CuddleFish @ May 2nd 2006 4:47PM

Awesome! Let's play old games with a new controller, that's so revolutionary. This is exactly what Nintendo doesn't need.

MTS @ May 2nd 2006 5:32PM

Honestly? You're annoyed because I don't care about the newest entry in a long line of console transition Metal Slug games. If they were actually making a genuinely new installment of the Metal Slug series, I would be quite excited. But it's not. It's a bunch of old games that, if anything, belong on the Virtual Console (that is the main purpose of its being).

I'm SO sorry that my first statement didn't automatically massage your dick in the precise manner you had clearly hoped for.

Get bent.

arg! @ May 2nd 2006 6:45PM

Card Fighters Clash was announced back at the Tokyo game show. This Metal Slug collection was already announced for psp about a month ago.

obo @ May 2nd 2006 7:56PM

"I'm SO sorry that my first statement didn't automatically massage your dick in the precise manner you had clearly hoped for."

I'm glad the Wii brand has made everyone more comfortable about talking about penises, specificially in the context of homosexual acts.

I think that is the name's real intent: sexual openness and tolerance.

J B Cougar @ May 2nd 2006 10:12PM

Here here obo, well said. You've clearly earned your two stars, as have I with my yearning for a decent crotch massage.

I'd still like to know what being useless feels like, however. I guess you could add "getting bent" to that list as well, just for kicks.

jason @ May 3rd 2006 8:48AM

While its nice to see you all flexing your online masculinity, can we try to keep these posts on topic? I'd rather not hear how clever and witty you are while you have your own little Grease gang war...

And on that note: Yeah, its kind of lame that its simply another collection of games and not a new entry.