Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
Upon its release, Metal Slug garnered mixed reviews, which lauded its sense of humor and fluid hand-drawn animation but criticized its short length and lack of replay value.
American and European magazines reviewing the Sega Saturn port as an import praised it for being a faithful arcade conversion, but noted its low longevity.
Computer and Video Games Steve Rey praised the weapon selection, attention to detail, humor and two-player mode.
A reviewer of NowGamer criticized the PlayStation conversion for its lack of replay value aside from Combat School mode.
However, he praised the gameplay for being fun in short-term.
Nintendo Lifes Marcel van Duyn praised the sprite work, visuals and fast-paced music.
Nintendo Lifes Damien McFerran praised its graphics and humor, although McFerran noted that its overall simplicity compared to later titles in the Metal Slug series may be seen as a shortcoming.
In a retrospective review, AllGames Brett Alan Weiss and Kyle Knight praised its unique hand-drawn visual style, refined gameplay, simple controls, intense action, humor and replay value but criticized the game's slowdown when many objects are present on-screen, the overall length and found the music to be average.
Jeuxvideo.coms nuktos praised the colorful graphics, humor, gameplay and sound design but criticized its short length.
Metal Slug was first playable during a location test at Osaka, and was later showcased to attendees at the 1995 Amusement Machine Show from 13 to 15 September.
Metal Slug was first released by SNK for the Neo Geo MVS arcade system on 19 April 1996, followed by the Neo Geo AES on 24 May.
According to Famitsu, the "SNK Best Collection" re-release of Metal Slug on PlayStation sold over 8,064 copies in its first week on the market.
On 5 July 1996, a Neo Geo CD version of the game was released, featuring a "Combat School" mode that allowed players to revisit previously-played missions with new objectives.
Next Generation stated that "in the end, Metal Slug is not a game players will really obsess over.
According to Famitsu, the "SNK Best Collection" re-release of Metal Slug on PlayStation sold over 8,064 copies in its first week on the market.
is a 1996 run and gun video game developed by Nazca Corporation and originally released by SNK for the Neo Geo MVS arcade system.
A Game Boy Advance port was announced to be in development, but was ultimately never released.
In their issue from 1 June 1996, Japanese magazine Game Machine listed the game as the seventh most-popular arcade game for the previous two weeks.
According to Famitsu, the "SNK Best Collection" re-release of Metal Slug on PlayStation sold over 8,064 copies in its first week on the market.
The sentences quoted on this page were taken from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles exactly as they stand. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) — usable under those terms. They are the work of the people who wrote them.