#tactical reloading

[cactuskat]

This makes me so happy

[mostwantedpotato404]

I didn't saved n hunters got me

[sheepytina]

So people are talking about the artwork in Metal Slug games again

There's been a few posts going around talking about how weird the Metal Slug characters look in the mobile games, particularly female characters like Eri and especially fan favourite Fio.

This conversation comes up again every so often, but it's been reignited on Tumblr again this week with three new Metal Slug games coming onto the scene:

The recent re-reveal of the indie title Metal Slug Tactics from Dotemu, which was originally announced in 2021, during Summer Game Fest 2024,

The June 2024 Nintendo Direct shadow-drop of a revamped version of the former mobile game Metal Slug Attack as Metal Slug Attack Reloaded, and

The impending global launch of the Chinese mobile game Metal Slug: Awakening from Tencent Games next month (July 2024), which originally released in China and SEA in 2023.

Remember these three names, because this is what this post is going to primarily centre around.

However there's one version of this type of post going around that just posts artwork from Metal Slug 3 and MS: Awakening and doesn't adequately explain what the artwork actually comes from and why it looks the way it does, resulting in the confusion and bewilderment of many people who are less familiar with the Metal Slug series.

And so I decided I really need to throw my hat into the ring and see if I can dissect this and bring some actual facts to the conversation.

Look, it's not great. Basically, the stuff people are saying is indeed mostly true, but there's a lot of half-truths and even a few straight up lies being mixed into it. Such as how what the original Metal Slug games looked like is actually more complicated than people think, for starters.

Furthermore, one of the three games I mentioned actually looks really good, and oddly it seems to be the one with the least attention on it right now.

Now, because I'm me, this blog post ended up really long, long enough to have chapter markers, so please bear with me and stick around to the end if you can. — And if you don't care about the historical context, I'm happy for you just to look at the pictures too.

Part 1: The original NEOGEO Metal Slug games

So the main point of this conversation is that the classic Metal Slug games let the characters look weird and cartoony. That's a big part of Metal Slug's core identity, and this is lost in the recent mobile games.

(Of course I had to get a real CRT photo in here at some point.)

To define "classic Metal Slug" you can assume most people are referring Metal Slug 1 through to 3, i.e. the ones that SNK created before their bankruptcy in the year 2000. And most of all, that iconic character select screen from Metal Slug 2, X and 3.

As you can see, there's definitely a shift that took place here.

But hold on, Fio also looks pretty different on the arcade flyers, especially in her original debut in Metal Slug 2. So it's not exactly as clear cut at the cherrypicked images would suggest, but all the same there is still a distinct, extremely late '90s style to everything.

Metal Slug 4 and 5 also released for the NEOGEO system and are similarly loved by many, but were developed in the 2000s under the newly formed Playmore, aka SNK Playmore. I definitely agree with this sentiment that the "original identity" of Metal Slug was strongest in the early titles, and the artwork is the most noticeable reflection of that.

However, although it has little bearing on the conversation, I think it's important to clarify that this change to a contemporary anime style actually began in the early 2000s during the Playmore era of SNK. Like would happen with other SNK game series like The King of Fighters and Samurai Shodown, things got weird for Metal Slug once SNK was reborn as Playmore, eventually becoming SNK Playmore.

Still, all the mainline Metal Slug games through to Metal Slug 7 and Metal Slug XX are still considered classics by fans. The problem for a lot of fans would be SNK's push into new markets such as pachislot and mobile gaming.

Which brings us to…

Part 2: The Metal Slug smart device games, and the Chinese mobile game market

Mobile games would prove a highly lucrative market for SNK Playmore, with hundreds of titles published for Japanese phones during the '00s. A few of these also made their way to more conventional J2ME devices in China. Eventually the mobile gaming market would move to smartphones, with SNK bringing games such as Metal Slug Defense and Metal Slug Attack to market in the 2010s.

This is the first mention of China in this post and it won't be the last. SNK's arcade titles had traditionally been extremely popular in the Chinese market, and with the mobile game market rapidly growing and a hunger for bigger games from beloved SNK series, a lot of interest had grown for SNK titles in this market.

This would result in a huge investment from Chinese companies, with a new joint venture acquiring a 81% stake in the company in 2016, leading SNK Playmore to announce a new shift in their strategy, and with that came a rebrand, once again to simply SNK.

This new identity signified a new era for SNK. This newly reignited SNK would move away from non-videogame markets such as pachislot, and focus more on console games and character licensing. This is the SNK that gave us The King of Fighters XIV and a new Samurai Shodown game.

But this is also the SNK that really doubled down on the Chinese and South-east Asian mobile markets.

This is where this conversation stems from. Games such as the tower defence mobile game Metal Slug Attack and many other mobile games in series such as The King of Fighters would be massive money-makers for SNK. Even the new Samurai Shodown game on consoles/PC would centre Chinese audiences with its first DLC crossover characters pulling from Ubisoft's For Honor and Tencent's Honor of Kings.

But when it comes to centering the tastes of the mobile game market, the big one that bugs people is Metal Slug: Awakening, a mobile game developed and published under license by Tencent Games, which entered beta testing in 2021 and released in China and South-east Asia in 2023.

Now this game actually doesn't have all that much to do with SNK besides the license. However it would be disingenuous of me to say that means it's insignificant to the series. We didn't get to this point out of nowhere out of all. Plus this game is set for a global release in 2024, so this game is for all of us to enjoy.

Although, is it really for all of us? The game certainly seems to plays like a real Metal Slug game, retaining the series' famous run 'n gun gameplay, which is more than you can say for most Metal Slug mobile games. But it certainly doesn't look like a Metal Slug game. The in-game graphics are a strange 3D interpretation of the original pixel art, and all the game's promotional artwork and splash screens look like this. Fio in particular straight up looks like a different character in these pictures.

It's not great. I'm not about to try and defend this. It's just that I really need to stress that it's really not a game targeted towards us.

To make matters more confusing for a lot of people not super plugged-into Metal Slug is that it's not even the only Metal Slug game in the news recently. Metal Slug Tactics had been missing in action since 2021, and all of a sudden it gets re-revealed by Dotemu in June 2024 but overshadowed by many other announcements during the Summer Game Fest period.

But also, SNK themselves would, during the June 2024 Nintendo Direct, reveal and immediately shadow-drop a revamped offline version of the Metal Slug Attack game called Metal Slug Attack Reloaded.

I actually saw a lot of people confused by this. People who remembered the initial 2021 reveal of Metal Slug Tactics and thought this was the same game. It might seem obvious to some of us, but if this is you, then I assure you, it's not the same game.

Although SNK seems to be downplaying this for some reason, Metal Slug Attack is a pretty old mobile game that went defunct last year, and this is a revamped version of it for consoles and PC that can be played offline without microtransactions. (An increasing trend I want to see more of!) The game is still very much a mobile game to its core though and you can tell.

But, look, don't worry, there's hope for us yet, in the form of a new game that many western Metal Slug fans have been excited for for many years. I've already mentioned it, it's…

Part 3: Metal Slug Tactics, a new tactical Metal Slug game from Dotemu and French developer Leikir Studio

I'm going to preface this section with a clarification of my stance on this. As a strategy game this doesn't exactly scream classic Metal Slug. However, a few people have been lumping this in with the mobile games and I think that's pretty unfair.

For starters, this game is oozing with personality and really looks like it's developed by people who truly understand Metal Slug.

Second, the artwork in this game is clearly a very different beast from what can be seen in Metal Slug: Awakening.

Obviously this isn't the same as the funny looking characters you remember from the in-game graphics of the NEOGEO titles. I still however feel like this captures the spirit of these beloved characters better than any of the mobile games have. This is definitely along the lines of Sonic Mania or TMNT: Shredder's Revenge in terms of attention to detail, and that's especially reflected by how the actual game looks and moves in action.

This is really my true agenda if I'm perfectly honest. Please don't sleep on this game. Even if you don't like tactics games, this is the one you want to keep an eye on if you want a true return to form for Metal Slug.

[houndfaker]

i have to do everything my fucking self!

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

vIDEO HERE OMG

[elle-p]

Moonless Gown only works as attack when you can't control your allies, I'm kind of glad Reload got rid of it.

[itsaseamonster]

My Tav: *barges through the gate to Baldur's gate for the first time since the Nautiloid* whERE IS CAZADOR SZARR'S PLACE?

4 hours later, my Tav: *closes the gate to Baldur's gate* I should not have gone to Cazador Szarr's place yet!

The Gazette headline: Local bard bites the dust! What the fuck did they even think?

[alkibiadessuperfan]

i think i just got a culture shock or smth from baldurs gate first of all I went to the house of hope and i did not know what to expect but i surely did not expect HAARLEP

[scraftyisthebest]

I gotta say I’m honestly kinda iffy on the prospect of Persona 3 Reload being a Persona 3 remake in the Persona 5 style. P3 had such a distinctive vibe with its original PS2 artstyle that just worked so well with its distinct atmosphere and I don’t think P3 Reload will be able to capture the same magic in any way.

The only thing that potentially interests me about P3 Reload is the potential of new voice work in the dub and potentially recasting Junpei because his original voice actor ended up being...y’know...so as a voice actor fan who enjoys listening to voice performances such a prospect would interest me as far as being able to listen to a new actor give a new spin on Junpei. 

Persona 5 Tactics seems like another Persona 5 spinoff so that’s kinda just whatever to me, hopefully it’s fun and I do hope this is the last of the spinoffs before we move on to Persona 6. 

[bobzora]

ive only managed to play like 2 hours of tactica so far but the gameplay has been genuinely really fun i was not expecting that

[dimalink]

Crest and Shooting Walkthrough

Game with one game screen, written in QBasic64. Game is schematic. And atmosphere. It is drawn part of war conflict. In a term of local crossfire from a cover. Covers – can be trenches.

But, in this game, symbolically, used crests. Tank crests as a cover. Crests and shooting. You command a group of 5 soldiers. And they can move along frontier to the left and right. And shoot. Into the enemy. Hide under the tank crests. Riffle is with one shot. After the shot, you need to have one turn for reload.

WEBSITE: http://www.dimalink.tv-games.ru/home_eng.html ITCHIO: https://dimalink.itch.io/ GAMEJOLT: https://gamejolt.com/@DimaLink/games

BLOGGER: https://dimalinkeng.blogspot.com/ DISCORD: https://discord.com/invite/F24Kw7TaH4 TUMBLR: https://dimalink.tumblr.com/

[ultranos]

I recently read Naomi Klein's Doppelganger, and in it, she recollects how she spent over a year forcing herself to listen to Steve Bannon's podcast in an attempt to figure out why the person people often confuse her with (Naomi Wolf) went from feminist to hard-right.

First of all, let's acknowledge the commitment to research because yikes. But second, she notes that this is a long time problem of the left to infight and now a rise of purity metrics. Meanwhile, the right has seen this and responded exactly as the above posters mentioned: they've opened their arms to go "come to us, we understand you, we know you've had things hard too, we care about you".

It's not a matter of if it's true or not. It's just a lot easier to listen to the side that appears to be listening sympathetically over the one telling you exactly how bad you are all the time.

We know the actual statistics about how much more dangerous life is if you're a woman, if you're trans, if you're a PoC, if you're disabled or neurodivergent, etc. I am not arguing those. We know cis white dudes are playing life on easy mode. But "not coddling" =/= "tearing down with no intention of building back up".

The point here is, and the point Klein makes, is that the left is never going to fix this problem and will even keep hemorrhaging people as long as we think telling allies exactly how evil/bad/wrong they are and infighting is the same as fighting the actual problems while the right is offering community and togetherness.

The right flipped the goddamned script and people need to wake up to that fact that the rhetoric they are using is now being used against them to radicalize.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[helios1]

finally learning the value of letting astarion disarm traps before i wander into a room 👍🏾

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

I’m watching you Atlus! (plot twist for my ass, ReFan will end up being more connected fkljdsakfjlajfljf)

[writingangst]

Russian Roulette

Summary: Simon Riley takes notice that the reader has a specific way of reloading her gun, which results in him being paranoid to the point he misreads the situation.

Simon Ghost Riley x Reader

Warnings: violence, angst, cursing, torture, hurt/no comfort.

Words: 2.3K

This was a prompt from Character.AI by user @/kstzii and I had to make this account to post because it really hit the angst spot for me. Hopefully, it does the same for you.

The echo from your sniper rifle was stifled by its silencer as you scored another bullseye. You felt someone's gaze burn into the back of your head. But once you turned, you couldn't see anyone. Must've been my imagination. You reassured yourself as you went back to attempt another shot. No bullets. You quickly reload and reposition yourself to fire off another round.

“What the hell was that?” Your lieutenant's voice called out. You swiftly turned to him. “Reload again.”

“What?” You were caught off guard, the slight hint of a Russian accent slipping out. Shit. You instantly clear your throat to switch back to your usual British accent.

“Are you deaf? I said reload again!” He repeats, his voice booming.

You rearange yourself from your position lying on your stomach, onto your knees, the head of your riffle touching the dirt beneath you. You look at him through slightly narrowed eyes. “Now, why would I reload when I just switched to a perfectly good mag?”

His jaw clenched. You noticied how he was trying to hold himself back. He did this often. You were sharp with your tongue and tended to use it on him often. In more ways than one. Though this time, he didn’t quite seem like he was enjoying it.

“You know exactly what I mean. That was a Russian reload,” he crossed his arms over his chest, the veins in his arms were prominent. It brought you back… No. This was serious.

You laughed it off, seeming unbothered. You were cool. Calm. Collected. Everyone knew you weren’t one to be thrown off your game easily. But this certainley was doing just that. You weren’t about to let him see that though.

With a scoff, you turn your back to him to get a better hold of your gun. “I reckon you haven’t slept, Lieutenant. Could be playing tricks on your sight.”

“I know exactly what I saw,” his tone was cold, but with his clenched fists you knew this was a ticking time bomb. “Do. It. Again.” He ordered in a firm tone. It left no room for any arguments.

You’re stagnant only slightly. There was uneasiness in your stomach at what this could mean. You knew Simon, and you knew Ghost. This was the latter, but you weren’t going to let this play out the way he wanted it to.

“And if not?” You challenge as you turned towards him, eyes sincere as you looked deep into his conflicted ones. “This gonna end in friendly fire?”

In long strides he stepped forward, coming to a halt right in front of you. He pulled you up by your elbow, but you never lost your grip on your weapon. With him being 6’4, you had to crane your neck to look him in the eye. His towering frame was imposing, making you feel small.

He leaned closer, just like he had so many times before. His body only a few inches from yours, but instead of it having the burning effect it usually did, now you were just feeling uncomfortable with the interaction. He was doing this on purpose. He was trying to intimidate you.

“What do you have to lose?” He countered, his voice low, a rumble to his chest.

You took it as a challenge.

With a clenched jaw, you took a step back from him as he severed his grip on your skin. You rid of the magazine wedged within your sniper and your eyes never leave his as you do so. Taking another mag from your tactical gear, you shift to do a simple tactical reload.

He watched you intently, his eyes glued to your every move. You didn’t break a single swet. And even though it seemed like something inherently intimate, you knew it was everything but. Once you finished and kept your straight face on him, he stepped towards you again.

He looked pissed as his eyes flickered to the mag that you just placed into your gun.

“That…” he stated through gritted teeth, gripping your chin with force between his thumb and his forefinger. You were forced to look at him head on. “…isn’t a British reload. Now tell me, who are you really?”

“I’m a simple sniper, sir,” you reply without skipping so much as a beat. “I was chosen for this task because of my outstanding sniper skills.”

Silence ensued.

Then you continued. “But you knew that already. You read my file,” you hissed back at him. “And you’ve trained with me for months, been in my bed, so what exactly are we implying here, Lieutenant?”

He kept his grip on your chin, his fingers digging into your skin. You noticed how he continued to get frustrated that nothing was out in the open like he previously thought it was. He expected you to be defiant, not secretive. A piece was missing and he was paranoid. Something wasn’t right.

Suddently, you’re smashed against the closest tree and your rifle was hitting the ground. You wince as a gruff pained noise falls from your lips once the air is knocked out of you. His vast hand squeezed your neck. Not enough to cut your air supply. Yet. But enough for it to be uncomfortable to breath. There was a sense of betrayal in his eyes and you knew he had assumed the worst.

“You’re a lying Russian spy,” he murmured into your ear with such force you thought you’d faint.

You struggled against him. “I am not Russian, nor am I a spy,” you rasp out as best you can, but you feel him crushing your windpipe. You wouldn’t lie to yourself. You feel hurt. He was one of the closest people you had since joining the 141 task force. Which made you angry. That’s when hurt vacated to make room for the feeling of deception. “But I will not explain myself to you when I have a job to do.”

You attempted to push him off but he was stronger and bulkier than you, making it almost impossible. You understood there that there would be no reasoning with him. Sleep deprivation and high stress levels were obvious indicators of this. You both had been on the field for days, and he had been the one doing most of the lookouts in order for you to get a bit of shuteye. You won’t be a good shot with heavy lids, sweetheart. He once said to you.

“What were you sent to do, huh?” He asked, his voice had lost its edge and now he just sounded distant. “Spy? Assassinate me?”

“Paranoid motherfucker,” you hissed, holding onto his forearm to steady yourself against his grip. “Screw you.”

His eyes narrowed, his grip loosening only slightly. “You sound surprised. You can’t honestly tell me that you expected me to not investigate the mysterious sniper with a Russian reload and accent?”

“And I’m almost certain you couldn’t find a Goddamn thing about anything and that’s why you got me cornered,” you stated as a matter of fact. “I’m not whoever the hell you think I am, and this paranoia is serving to have this mission go south if you don’t let me get to my gun.”

He laughed this time. Honestly, laughed.

You scrunched up your nose. Fuck you, Ghost.

“You don’t think I have dirt on you, sweetheart? I have files on you, more than you can count. I know you, better than you think,” he paused for a second. “I know your weaknesses, likes, dislikes. Everything.”

You laugh bitterly. “I don’t doubt that. Hey, I even had a hand in the shit you know because I trusted you. That still doesn’t mean you know jack shit about what happened in Russia. You’re so inclined? Ask Price!”

“I asked Price!” His hand gave your neck a quick squeeze and you saw how his body trembled. “He didn’t know a damn thing. Said your file was locked and he was denied access. Now why the hell would that be, huh?”

You snorted. “He said that to protect me. I had the whole record wiped. None of this concerns you, Lieutenant. We all went through shit, and you think you’re the only one that’s allowed to be a ghost? Fuck you!”

His eyes narrowed at your words. “Why would he protect you if you have nothing to hide? That makes no sense and you know it.”

“Because my trauma is my trauma! And you have no business budding into it!” 

“And if it’s something that could jeopardize the entire task force?” He muttered, his patience wearing thin. “If it could get everyone killed?”

“You’re an idiot if you think Price would let me anywhere near this damn task force if he considered me a risk,” your voice was cool, but your heart was thumping in your chest. You attempting one last shove that surprisingly caused him to let go. You wheezed when the pressure was off your trachea and you coughed to catch your breath. 

He watched you silently.

Once you composed yourself, you looked back at him as you held your neck. “I thought we were fucking friends, Ghost.”

“Friends?!” He spat exasperatedly. “You really think I would consider you my friend when I know you’re lying? You think I make friends with people I don’t trust?” His eyes were cold, his tone cruel and bitter. “Tell me why I shouldn’t put a bullet between your eyes for the simple deceit.”

Aside from the pain emitting from your neck, there was a hollow ache in your chest that was capturing your attention as well. You would relive the trauma if that would mean getting the job done. But when it came to Simon Riley, he was as good as dead to you.

“I was held hostage by Russian forces for 18 months.”

His stance faltered at that. You don’t think you had ever seen him lose his footing like he had in that instance. And his eyes… Christ, he had never changed his expression so fast. What the hell was that? Pity? He could go screw himself.

You continued. “Anything you can think of in torture, triple that. What kept me alive for so long was the fact they wanted to use me. The only way I got out of the constant abuse was the training. So excuse me if I picked up on a thing or two. Even the Godawful accent that creeps into the British one,” you cleared your throat. “I’m not your enemy, Ghost. But you’re right. I’m not your damn friend either.”

As you explained your past, his eyes never left yours as he listened carefully. He expected many things, but he hadn’t taken into consideration you being a literal prisoner to Russian forces. For once in his life, he was speechless. The thought that you had lived through a year and a half of torture at the hands of the Russians was something he could barely imagine.

His gaze had softened, but he hardened again when something wasn’t clicking for him. “Doesn’t explain why your file is locked.”

You snorted humorlessly. “Ever heard of Price’s little sister?”

His eyes widened at the mention of her. The captain was hush hush about the matter, but it was a well known fact he had family within the military. And that she was KIA some time ago. “What about her?”

“You’re looking at her.”

Those were the last words he expected to come out of your mouth. Shock and surprise flashed behind his mask as he finally realized what this meant.

“You’re…” He paused, trying to process the bomb that just exploded in his face. “You’re Price’s sister?”

“In the flesh,” you replied with the same cold tone he had been using earlier with you. “You’re not the only one trying to be ghost. You’ve just never been questioned by the task force on it like you just did to me.” 

What could he say to that?

“I took a bullet for you, Lieutenant,” you reminded him. “What fucking spy does that for the opposite team?”

His jaw clenched and you saw how his mask flexed due to it. His eyes showed how he replayed that memory in his head. It was something he thought about constantly. You had saved him, and he hadn’t seen it coming. He had been so focused on you being a spy that he hadn’t stopped to consider that you were actually on his side.

“I never should have questioned you,” he admitted, his voice quiet as he met your gaze again.

Your hand shot up to stop him from saying anything else on the matter. “It’s done. We’re done here.”

He watched as you walked away to pick up your gun, his mind racing with thoughts but they were too fast for his tongue. He knew he had messed up. He had completely misjudged the situation with the accusations thrown at you when in reality your connection to the task force was stronger than even his.

The irony in the situation wasn’t lost on him, but he didn’t find it funny.

“Wait,” He sighed, taking strides to catch up to you.

“This is unprofessional, Lieutenant,” you stated, dusting off your weapon as you checked for any malfunctions. “We’re in the middle of an active operation. I’m done talking.”

He exhaled a frustrated sigh as you dismissed his attempt at talking to you. He knew you were right, that the mission was what mattered now. But he couldn’t help the feeling that he needed to apologize. It was clawing at his chest, the emotion raw in his throat, asking to be let out in word vomit.

“You can’t honestly expect us to just ignore what happened and continue on like normal?”

Silence followed.

You didn’t even look at him.

“Go back to being Ghost, because Simon Riley is fucking dead to me.”

[kennedy-the-genderfluid-punk]

good stim tbh

easy A tier stim

Classic stim: slide the back of the tv remote off, slide it back on. And repeat and repeat and repeat