"Metal Slug 3" is one of the most manic, catastrophic and challenging arcade games ever made. It's also one of the best, not by a little, but by a country mile. Everything that made the previous games great this far in the franchise, are here ten-fold with an added layer of replayability with different routes you can take. It's not just a gimmick either, cause each route is filled with so many funny mental and explosive goodies that it demands multiple play throughs to relish in all the mayhem. I also loved just how endearing all the character models became and the sheer amount of personality brimming with every frame. This was the most perfect this series had been up until this point, and still the best the series has ever been. It set out to perfect the formula and it did that and then some. My favorite game in the series bar-none.