A while ago back in April at some conference in Seoul, South Korea, SNK made an announcement that a new (non-mobile) Metal Slug game was in the works and nothing and I made a post about it and basically made a wishlist that definitely would not be fulfilled but still something to get it off my chest. So flash-forward to today, that damn Samsho game came out (outside of the Switch of course), and while it seems SNK would be just on the sidelines selling merch and likely just showing off that game's Switch port at this year's Tokyo Game Show (or at least seems that way as of this writing), the time is quite getting ripe by now for us to see the new non-mobile Metal Slug game, perhaps at the alleged September Nintendo Direct conference (then again it might not and instead end up somewhere like at PSX in December for all I know). And if there to be anything, it'd most likely be a trailer where the titular Super Vehicle tank appears in the way the intro to the first Metal Slug game had, followed up by title drop ala Metal Slug 2/X's, mostly rendered in 3D to reflect the game possibly being made in Unreal Engine 4, or at least that's what I think it might be so who knows? That after mentioned new Samsho game was shown off at last year's TGS (to my dismay) so why the hell not the new (non-mobile) Metal Slug game, even if it won't be at TGS? Though depressingly, the new King of Fighters XV might be given the most attention and frankly I'm not looking forward too it; last thing I want is SNK wasting most of its attendance on just KOF and nothing else but then again there are a couple other things for them to show off like the new Neo Geo "systems" and the mobile Metal Slug game that I do not care for nor look forward to see (had enough of them by now), but I digress.
So anyway I've jotted down my top predictions for what the game will be like presuming they would retain a military theme in all of them (hopefully no martians or any other supernatural garbage this time around, unless they come as DLC), have at least some of the core characters (and vehicles), and serve as a reboot of sorts (either with or without 8 attached to it); all while considering SNK's current capabilities (and rendered in 3D graphics no less and artistically cartoonish/stylized). Seriously I have been thinking about this ever since the news broke, like for every day at least, shows that above all I do care about the MS series alot. Still, no guarantee that one of them would come to fruition; hell it'd be easier to speculate on how and why Jeff Epstein was murdered but I'm getting ahead of myself. These predictions can be safely made out to be my kind of contingency plans in case any of them do happen but nevertheless no matter what happens, if the new Metal Slug game shows up, it'd be the talk of the town compared to the usual and expected KOF XV (and funny enough speculation of a major war in the Middle East as of this writing might not deter the existence of said game); though before going on I will refer to the hypothetical new non-mobile game in question as "Shin Metal Slug" with "Shin (新)" being the character for "New" just for convenience's sake.
1. 2D style Run-n-Gun Shooter with elements of the 1995 version and the NGPC Mission Games-This one would be the best case scenario IMO; a return to the epic warfighting of the first game with elements of the games that came after, with of course the premise being that General Morden stages a coup to despose the supposedly democratic World Government with a stratocratic Burma-style dictatorship because globalist reasons and the lead four (Marco, Tarma, Eri, and Fio) has to stop his military forces. The gameplay would be just like the previous 9 games with the same controls (plus the weapon change and alternate melee attack from MS6 and 7/XX) albeit with some new additions to differentiate itself from the others, what they might be I don't know. This might as close to being unironically MS8 for as far as I'm concerned but with the return to a more grounded war theme and a focus strictly on the Rebel-Government conflict, the other human organizations like the Ptolemaic Army and Oguma Enterprises may or may not show up. The reason why I mentioned the 1995 early version and the Mission games before in the same line is because this Shin Metal Slug has the branching mission paths, various objectives to complete, and escapes from POW camps plus the slower pace emphasizing a bit of strategy and use of uniformed POWs to fight alongside you; talk about a match made in heaven! That and the Combat School and Another Story modes thrown in as well! And destructible environments, which should be easier to implement in 3D than 2D graphics wise; and speaking of graphics, if anyone's played Kirby 64 and some of the 3DS games, along with Contra Shattered Soldier and any other similar 2.5D game, then at least they would have a good understanding of what the game will look like visual-wise.
2. 3D Third Person Shooter ala Metal Slug 3D-Truth be told, I'm one of the small group of people who think the 2006 3D game has merit, not just because it was the first 3D game in the series but also one that had potential but wasted (perhaps due to SNK possibly wasting its resources on the Maximum Impact games), compared to many others who think it's the "worst" game in the series and totally not the Defense nor Attack games but I digress. Anyway, the plot might be the same as before though the gameplay is much more akin to 3D, albeit with the controls being changed up to be less awkward than before (with the attack buttons used on the shoulder buttons instead of the front facing ones); and of course the addition of Combat School and Another Story might apply or at least some equivalent modes. The good thing about this objectively is that at least the game wouldn't look like a beta this time around, if it comes around.
3. 3D Twin Stick Shooter ala Neo Contra and Contra Rogue Corps-If Contra had those two games which deviate from their conventional predecessors perspective wise so can Shin Metal Slug. The plot is the same as before, though perhaps a bit loose depending on how they treat the story, same with the tone. What applies to the previous entry can apply here though the controls again would be different this time around; ditto with modes and whatnot.
4. 2D/3D Fighting Game-The worst case scenario; basically SNK's answer to Akatsuki Blitzkampf. I put this out here since the last three non-mobile games SNK made were fighters and I fear Shin Metal Slug might be one given that SNK didn't make one move towards making something non-fighter (at least not publicly). And if it ever were to be such, this game would just basically play like KOF and Samsho, albeit with a heavy use of firearms and military hardware, just to justify the military theme. Whatever applies to KOF and Shamsho in terms of controls and modes can apply to this version of Shin Metal Slug; I don't care if the gameplay is either close to SNK Heroines in terms of simplicity or not. Also the plot would definitely be very loosely related, just whatever it takes to give context to the game, whether it's retarded and silly or retarded and serious (just like KOF's had in terms of the latter).
So there you have it, my top 4 predictions of what Shin Metal Slug would be like and even they might not be accurate considering what little do we know about Shin Metal Slug right now. Still, making them is at least something that I can do to get my worries off my chest for but even that won't stop the possibility of Shin Metal Slug being shown off and all we can do is wait and see. Just wait and see...the last thing I want from the company is just another fighter game with the Metal Slug name and them plastered on it which would definitely not be a good look for some company who wants to return to gaming.
Update: rewrote the first paragraph to reflect SNK's current status within Tokyo Game Show 2019, which is unfortunate but details could change.
