Tuesday, 11 February 2014

Saturn Game Pack Gallery–Metal Slug

In an odd move, I am going to do a little review on the packaging of Metal Slug for the Saturn.  I had been looking for this game for years.  Most importantly at a good price.  It is known to be rather expensive at times.  I mainly wanted it as it’s a good game and it requires an SNK 1 Meg Ram cartridge expansion for the Saturn to play it.  I already had the 4meg Ram cart that Capcom produced for Xmen Vs Streetfighter and friends, as well as another one for Waku Waku 7.  Oddly though, none of the carts work for other games.  You can’t use the 4meg cart for Metal Slug.

As a result, finding a complete Metal Slug was the most important factor for me.


I think I found a good one too.  Only slightly sun faded, which lowered the cost for me.

Metal SlugMetal SlugMetal Slug
I love the pusgy look of the Metal Slug tank.  So cute. the front states its a 2 player game, action shooting genre with memory backup.  Handy!  this package is a game and ram cart combo pack. and you can “Blast away and go, go, go!”  Interestingly, down the bottom, it has some blurb about the ram cart, stating the one that comes with King of Fighters ‘95 (another SNK game) won’t work with Metal Slug, but other games that have a RAM cart of this type will work and finally, that Metal Slug doesn’t play without the ram cart.
ON the back, it pretty much says crazy, hectic action! And plugs the differences in the game. 
  • Arcade mission mode
  • Combat School mode.
  • Art Gallery with design and concept illustrations
  • Ending theme words
How can one resist that.

Opening the box we see, the dividers and stuff. Ooooooh!  Game CD in the case and cart above it.
 Metal SlugMetal Slug

I was surprised to find out that that cartridge has a slightly different shape to the Capcom one and looks a bit more plain as well.
Metal SlugMetal Slug

The CD case has the same artwork on the front as the box.  The back of the CD case doesn’t have anything.  As per usual, the CD has a slightly different take on the art. NOICE

Metal SlugMetal SlugMetal SlugMetal Slug

The instruction manual is pretty well done with control descriptions, item meaning, a few sketches and character introductions, as well as the words to the ending theme.  For karaoke once you finish of course…  Or if you put it into a CD player.  I always loved that option with the Saturn!

Metal SlugMetal SlugMetal SlugMetal SlugMetal SlugMetal SlugMetal SlugMetal Slug

So there you have it.  That is the packaging style of all the RAM cart games that came out for the SEGA Saturn.  That includes Waku Waku 7 and the various Capcom games as well.  Plus a rather nice sample of an SNK game box to have a look at.  The added bonus for me of course is that the game is pretty damn good too!  I really love Metal Slug!  Frenetic, crazy shooting fun!   Hope you enjoyed looking as much as I did.
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3 comments:

  1. Gord13 February 2014 at 19:32

    Hey Tets! Metal Slug was one of my favourite Saturn imports, though I've more recently 'replaced' it with Metal Slug Anthology on the Wii. Old school 'run-and-gun' coupled with occasional sections of this new fangled 'bullet hell', with an art style that's both a beautiful homage to and a caricature of the older style of game.
    I picked up the CD-only package in a local Computer Exchange many years ago and, weirdly, I don't remember it needing a RAM cart. Could be wrong, as it's been so long since I played it on the Saturn... or did they make a cut-down version for purchase without the cartridge?
    Oh, and what's the 'Combat School mode'?

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    1. Tets14 February 2014 at 21:10

      Heya Gord. I also saw the Anthology on Wii and was eyeing it, but never pulled the trigger.

      After reading your comment, I had to bust it out and see if it NEEDED the ram cart. And yes it does. Perhaps, if you had an action replay cart in there, that did the job of the 1MB Ram cart, as I have one and it does 1-4MB cart for everything. Which is handy considering how temperamental the Saturn cart slot is. As far as I know, they only made one type of game, some games worked with fewer animations (such as Xmen Vs Streetfighter) when cart-less, but most needed the carts they came with.

      The "Combat School" is something I only just discovered as you have to finish the game to access it. It is a 'challenge' mode of sorts with "survival mode" (get as far as you can on one life) and "Pin Point" mode (am yet to work out what this is yet.,..

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    2. Gord15 February 2014 at 05:24

      I guess I just don't remember using the cart to play Metal Slug... I had/have a couple of 4Mb carts (from Xmen vs Streetfighter and... something else) and one 1Mb cart (from one of the King of Fighters games). Never had an Action Replay cart as I had fully converted/switched Saturn for imports... but it went wrong a good few years ago and I haven't been able to get my 'spare' converted (yet).

      Thanks for the info on 'Combat School'... the name made me think of the old Konami joystick waggler, Would have been cool to see Metal Slug's take on that kind of thing.

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