I have a strong memory of seeing a Metal Slug cabinet in a Pizza Hut and becoming immediately engrossed. I can close my eyes and see its attract mode; I can imagine the bright, brown and gray light popping with explosions cast on my face. I can't remember ever playing it, but Metal Slug has maintained a certain fascination for me, and finally getting my hands on it I was very satisfied. Metal Slug is probably the easiest run and gun I've played yet, and it looks and feels alive. The variety of weapons and vehicle sections are wonderful—has an all-timer shotgun.

The biggest surprise was the anti-war theme. I know François Truffaut said it's impossible to make an anti-war video game, but Nazca and team tried. Like in the original run and gun game Green Beret, the stated goal of this game is to rescue POWs (canonically, The Enemy is using POWs as human shields, necessitating the OSP infiltration mission); the POWs in this game all have unique names, lending them a surprising humanity. In the first interview here, Nazca says they hoped "players feel like all the different enemies, big and small, have a life of their own." Enemy soldiers are treated with genuine pathos in its ending scene, as the camera glides over a decimated brown landscape populated with mechanical wreckage and enemy corpses, at one point flying over a unique sprite of a woman weeping at a soldier's grave. After the credits, the games final message is "PEACE FOREVER."

Can't wait to play through the rest.