Metal Slug Tips: The Real Length of the Timer, Weapons, Prisoners and the Tank

Metal Slug is easier than it looks once you know three things: the stage timer counts 60 steps of about 4.3 seconds each, so you have about 4 minutes 20 seconds before it costs you a life; the special weapons run out but the pistol never does; and the little Metal Slug tank can take three hits. We timed the counter in the emulator and checked the rest in the game itself. Here is a beginner’s guide to Metal Slug on Yes This Game: controls, weapons, prisoners, the tank and the cheats.

Controls and how to start

1. Press Play and wait a few seconds while the Neo Geo machine starts and checks itself.
2. Press Coin (V) to add a credit, then Start (Enter).
3. Arrow keys move and aim, Z shoots, X jumps and C throws a grenade.

You can aim up and, in the air, down. On a phone the on-screen pad has a cross and A (shoot), B (jump) and C (grenade), plus Coin and Start.

The timer

The number at the top of the screen is not a clock in seconds. It starts at 60 and goes down one step at a time; when it reaches zero you lose a life. We read it every 300 frames in the emulator, from 59 at the start of the first mission down to 52 thirty seconds later: seven steps in 1,800 frames, so one step lasts about 256 frames, or 4.3 seconds on the Neo Geo. The full 60 steps give you about 4 minutes 20 seconds.

That is plenty for a normal pace. The timer only becomes a danger if you stand still to farm points or get stuck behind a tough enemy. If you see it drop below 20, stop exploring and push on.

Weapons

You start with a pistol that never runs out and 10 grenades. Prisoners and crates give you better guns, each with a limited amount of ammunition. When it is used up, you are back to the pistol.

Close to an enemy, the shoot button uses a knife instead of the gun, which is quick and does not use ammunition.

Prisoners

The bearded men tied up along the way are prisoners. Shoot or touch their ropes to free them, and they hand you a weapon, grenades, food or points before they run off with a salute. Freeing them is the easiest way to keep a good weapon, so do not skip them.

The Metal Slug tank

In some places you find the Metal Slug itself, the small tank of the title. Jump in to use it. The machine guns never run out, the cannon fires with the grenade button and uses its own shells, and the tank can take three hits before it blows up. When its armour is almost gone, jump out in time.

7 Metal Slug tips

1. Keep moving forward

Enemies keep coming while you wait. Moving at a steady pace means fewer enemies at once and no trouble with the timer.

2. Save grenades for what the gun cannot reach

Ten grenades go fast. Use them on soldiers behind cover, on tanks and on bosses.

3. Free every prisoner

Their gifts are the main source of good weapons, and each one is worth points at the end of the mission.

4. Jump to dodge, shoot down in the air

A jump takes you over most bullets, and while in the air you can aim down at the soldiers below you.

5. Use the knife up close

If an enemy is right next to you, just press shoot. The knife is fast and saves your ammunition.

6. Take the tank seriously

Three hits is not much. Use the tank’s firepower to clear the way, but leave it before the third hit.

7. Play with a friend

A second player can join with another coin. Two players cover each other and clear the screen much faster.

Metal Slug cheats on Yes This Game

Press the magic wand button next to the full screen button above the game and switch on what you want:

• Unlimited lives
• Unlimited bombs: the grenade counter stays at 10.
• Invincible: enemies cannot hurt you.
• Infinite time: the timer stays at 60.

The cheats work for player 1. They start about ten seconds after you press Play, once the Neo Geo has finished checking its memory: a cheat that writes during that check stops the machine with an error. Reloading the page turns them off.