In the last issue of the column, we told the story of the well-known game "Dinosaur Kombat", this issue is about "Alloy Slug", which is also a very classic playthrough game in the arcade hall of that year.
Friends who have played alloy slugs know that this game seems to have another name, and many elderly friends like to call it "Vietnam War". For this question, Damu has also asked many netizens, but the answers obtained are different, and there is no definite result.
Some netizens said: I don't know, but it was written on arcades and PS at that time; Shanghai netizens said that because "alloy warhead" was uncomfortable in Shanghainese, it was called "Vietnam War"; Guangdong netizens thought that "Vietnam War" was the first thing they called, but it was later spread...
Some people also say that because "Metal Slug" is originally a game made of Vietnam War themes, the evidence is the iconic difference of the first level of the game' first generation, tropical jungle + tall house, similar to the Vietnamese battlefield style. And Metal Slug 1 is based on Stallone's film "First Blood 2", which is set in Vietnam.
Regarding the name of "Metal Slug", there are various opinions on the Internet, so what is going on? In this issue, let's take a look!
Originally known as Metal Slug, Metal Slug was originally not made by SNK, but by the Nazca Society in 1996, as evidenced by the game's original opening animation. The original full name of Metal Slug was Super Vehicle-001: Metal Slug. Later, Nazca was acquired by SNK, and this IP fell into SNK's hands.
After being acquired by SNK, the second generation of the name of "Metal Slug" still retained S V-001, and the sequel was directly called Metal Slug. Super Vehicle-001: Metal Slug's official Chinese translates to "Almighty Chariot: Iron Bug Division", and the game is set in a battle between regular special forces and rebels.
As can be seen from Metal Slug's official feature site, the original plot is set in 20XX, and based on the development time of the game in 1996, the original setting of Metal Slug is in the future.
Image source Metal Slug's official thematic station
The plot of the first generation of "Metal Slug" probably tells this story:
The arch-villain, General Modern, was originally a senior general in the regular army, but in a terrorist attack, he lost his wife and children. After investigation, It was found that it was the inaction of the regular army that led to the massacre. As a result, General Modern became suspicious of his beliefs, and the originally beloved him broke away from the regular army and formed a new military organization.
In the face of the behavior of the modern general, the top brass of the regular army turned a blind eye, and he was able to lead the rebel army to be invincible and easily defeat the main force of the regular army. But at this time, the people of insight in the regular army also united to form a team called the "Resistance Army" and developed a new universal chariot, which was the SV-001, code-named "METAL SLUG".
SV-001 METAL SLUG
However, METAL SLUG fell into the hands of the enemy. As a result, the special operations units of the regular army began to move, forming small teams and carrying out targeted attacks on rebel strongholds. Lieutenant Marco Rossi and Lieutenant Tarma Roving, members of the regular army's special forces "Peregrine Falcons", were ordered to infiltrate behind enemy lines, and the story began.
From the plot and time setting, "Metal Slug" seems to have nothing to do with Vietnam, but it should be noted that these backgrounds were added after SNK acquired Nazca and made "Metal Slug" into a series. This is also why the game time is set in the future, but the scenes, mechanics, and characters are all World War II style.
Players who have played the original Metal Slug will find that strange places can be found in many scenes in the game. For example, most of the scenes in "Metal Slug 1" are in the rainforest, and there are many similar woods or bamboo buildings, which is obviously tropical or subtropical architectural style.
For example, the waterfalls in the game are very similar to the Panjo Waterfall in Vietnam; the air raid shelters and water prisons at the time of hostage rescue were also found in the Vietnam War, which was the place where American prisoners were held.
It can be inferred from this that the call of "Metal Slug" is not unfounded for the Vietnam War, at least the original generation did have its reason for calling it so.
By the time of the second generation of "Metal Slug", although it was still playing Modern General, it could be seen that the style had changed significantly. Architecture, animals, people's clothing, etc., with strong and obvious Middle Eastern colors. Therefore, from the second generation, "Metal Slug" should not be called "Vietnam War", but everyone is used to calling it in the first generation.
For reasons of the original generation, "Metal Slug" is called the Vietnam War, but it may be unfounded to say that it is based on "First Blood 2".
In SNK's works, there are indeed imitations of "First Blood", but not "Metal Slug", but the N generation of "Fury" and "Escape", as well as a shooting game "Shock Trooper". From the comparison of pictures, you can see that Ralph in "Fury" has almost exactly the same shape and action as Stallone.
Although it has nothing to do with the "First Blood" movie, "Metal Slug" has a lot of homages or playing with the elements.
For example, in the final level of Metal Slug 2, the player will join forces with the enemy against the Martians from Martians, and after defeating the saucer mothership, a soldier drives a fighter jet into the mothership and dies. This scene is actually a tribute to the 1996 science fiction film Independence Day, in which soldiers, in order to defeat the enemy completely, also piloted a fighter jet into the enemy's mothership.
In Metal Slug 3, there is a tribute to Terminator. When fighting mechanical crabs, players must constantly move to avoid monsters and jump off collapsed bridges. If you accidentally drop water, in addition to losing one life, you will also trigger the character to give a thumbs up when he falls into the water, which is a spoof of the Terminator falling into the molten iron.
Although it seems to be a game of fighting and killing in the rain of bullets, the real theme of "Metal Slug 1" is actually anti-war.
In the battle screen of the third level of the street, simply attacking the enemy with a grenade or other weapon can trigger the effect of splash damage, thus destroying the buildings on the side of the street. In one of the buildings, more abstract drawings of animals and figures appear, which is actually a tribute to Picasso's famous "Guernica", which expresses the cruelty of war and the affected civilians.
In the final screen, after the "Guernica" Easter egg, "Metal Slug 1" once again expressed anti-war ideas.
When the player reaches a single-player level, a soldier will throw a paper airplane as the paper airplane gradually flies through the devastated battlefield. The game's graphics will eventually freeze on a torn military hat, and the words "PEACE FOREVER" will appear, warning players of the cruelty of war.
In the end, General Modern picked up the paper airplane, and then looked up at the starry sky with a thoughtful look, perhaps missing his family, or perhaps reflecting on the death and cruelty of war.
At this point, the plot of "Metal Slug" is also a perfect ending, but because of the game fire, NAZCA was acquired by SNK, and a series of wonderful sequels were created for it, 1, 2, X, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, XX, 3D and other works. Today, these titles have become the game memories of generations of players.
This issue of the [Travel Principles] column to this end, like the friends trouble to a wave of three consecutive attention, we will continue to talk about the story of the classic old game in the next issue!