



While not as acclaimed as some of its sequels, the first Metal Slug is probably the most interesting study case of the series. Set in a near future (2026), the game looks somewhat like a replay of WW2 with its European backgrounds (France, Italy), a bombed London, nazis… and futuristic weapons. It also shares similarities with Mamoru Oshii’s political thriller Patlabor: the movie 2 (1993), including its main plot: in a near future, a small squad fights against members of the regular army.

The first mission of Metal Slug takes place in Cambodia, in front of one of the many Buddha statues set in Angkor on the 12th century.

Left: Metal Slug, mission 1 – Right: Patlabor 2′s opening



This isn’t the only visual similarity between Nazca’s game and Oshii’s movie, although some of them never passed the concept stage.

Another big influence for Metal Slug is Hayao Miyazaki, especially Porco Rosso (1992), which takes place a few years before WW2: the look of the vehicles, the name of the main character -Marco, which is Porco’s real name, and who will be joined later by Fio-, and the fact that he’s openly against fascism.



Left: Marco and Fio (Metal Slug 2) – Right: Marco and Fio (Porco Rosso), Miyazaki’s homage to Marco Pagot (Sherlock Hound).



On a personal note, the first time I watched the movie Howl’s moving castle, I thought the castle could have made a great Metal Slug 3 boss. They both have a kind of organic machinery, non-linear lines and a used look.

A little note about Masamune Shirow’s Dominion Tank Police (1986), which is often cited as one of Metal Slug‘s main influences: apart from the size of the tank, I don’t think the 2 series bear that much of a ressemblance, but speaking of Dominion, Leona may have been an inspiration for Noa Izumi from the original Patlabor series (1988), especially for her relationship with her favorite machine.

Left: Leona and her tank Napoléon. – Right: Noa and her labor Alphonse.

For the one person who thought that my title was a reference to Jojo, well, sorry that’s all I have:





MISSION 1:

The action takes place in Villeneuve Mt. System, a fictional place clearly inspired by Cambodia.



The presence of both a submarine -the Middle-Son 1999 (which may be fictional ; I haven’t found anything about it)- and an ocean liner (probably a civil one, similar to the France I*) suggests that there is a sea or an Ocean near that place but Angkor Wat is set deep inside the country and the only plausible way to explain why these watercrafts are beached here is because of a Tsunami or a sea level rise due to global warming (or something similar).



The Middle-Son 1999



* Since the beginning of the 20th century, military navires used to have a gray hull. Obviously, a red hull is not very discreet.



But that doesn’t explain why there’s a waterfall. As you can see on Google Maps, the nearest waterfall -Tatai- is pretty far from Angkor.

It’s hard to determine weither the graphic designers took inspiration from a Cambodian waterfall or not. It could be the Bousra waterfall, the Phnom Kulen waterfall, an unidentified waterfall or just one created from scratch.

Then comes the boss which seems inlaid into the rock. It might be a reference to the massive “50-year-old” plane from the 145th episode of the second series of Lupin the Third, directed by non-other than Hayao Miyazaki:

Also featured in this episode: Dr Robotnik/Eggman.

The Kafkaian evolution of Eggman by Hayao Miyazaki







MISSION 2:

Thanks Google!



The second mission takes place in London, also known as Robertburg City in the game. It was the last level made by the development team, after the 1995 location test, when it was decided that the tank only version wasn’t good enough. This may explain why there are more background scrollings than in other levels -the Neo-Geo hardware can’t handle paralax scrolling so the programmers had to make scroll each layer of the backgrounds (which were made of sprites) by themselves. The programmers had a better knowledge of the hardware at this stage of development.



The ‘Tank only’ version (more pictures here)



This level is a strange mix of different periods of London’s History. It starts in what looks like an old version of the Waterloo station, similar to these pictures taken respectively in 1922 and 1930.



The Waterloo station in 1922 and 1930

Why Waterloo? Well, there’s a fallen Big Ben in the same level and Big Ben is set near the Westminster bridge which is the nearest bridge of the Waterloo Station.



The Westminster Bridge (1880) by John Atkinson Grimshaw



Then you cross a fictional version of the Westminster bridge, opened in 1750 and remade in 1862 but, to my knowledge, there were never any restaurant set in one of its pilars. Inhabited bridges were very common in Middle Age, although people lived above the bridge, not in the piles, for obvious reasons (flood risk, practicability). Nevertheless, there are a few examples of bridges featuring windows on their piles, such as the Pulteney Bridge in Bath.



The Pulteney Bridge in Bath, England (1774) with its windows in the piles.



The Westminster bridge embodies perfectly the look and feel of Metal Slug, always between “tradition and modernity”. It was once at the edge of technology, known as one of the very first places in the world which was lit by gas (since 1813), and is today a vestige of the past for the very same reason (yep, it’s still lit by gas).

Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2848038/The-magical-job-Britain-Enchanting-story-gas-street-lights-five-men-burning-just-did-Dickens-day.html

http://gaminghell.co.uk/NazcaStaff.html

https://www.spriters-resource.com/arcade/ms/



Next part coming soon! (maybe)

