Metal Slug's just one of many SNK properties to get dodgy mobile phone games! They're not worth dedicating whole pages to (partially because unless otherwise stated, most of these games only got released in Japan anyway), but let's share a little bit of information about them.

Metal Slug	Metal Slug Mobile Impact	Metal Slug Gaiden: Allen's Battle Chronicles	Metal Slug STG
Metal Slug Survivors	Metal Slug Soldiers	Metal Slug Fighters	Metal Slug Warriors
Metal Slug Mars Panic	Metal Slug Tactics	Metal Slug Team Mission	Metal Slug Touch
Metal Slug M1	Metal Slug Defense	Metal Slug Attack

Metal Slug

メタルスラッグ

Released in Europe in 2003 (in-game credits), in the USA on January 21 2004 (according to GameSpot), and released in Japan on i-Mode platforms in July 4 2005. Released outside Japan as Metal Slug Mobile.

This title gleans heavily from Metal Slug: 1st Mission, using its graphics, level design and general game structure. There are 7 missions in total, with five on-foot missions as Marco and two missions where you pilot the Metal Slug. Marco only has three weapons at his disposal: the handgun, Heavy Machine Gun, and grenades, though like in 1st Mission, he has a health bar that allows him to take multiple hits before dying. There are no boss battles.

The game has three difficulty settings (which only change the damage values), a continue function and records your highscore. You can check out my playthrough of the game on YouTube here.

Metal Slug Mobile Impact

Released in the USA and Europe in late 2005. As far as I can tell, this game was never published in Japan.

Using scaled-down graphics from the Neo Geo games (exclusively from Metal Slug's first mission and Metal Slug 3's third mission), this attempts to deliver an experience closer to the arcade's intensity, though your mileage mary vary. Guide Marco through 7 missions to stop the Rebels' missile launch, picking up Rocket Launchers, Flame Shots, Grenades and Heavy Machine Guns along the way, along with access to the Metal Slug.

Metal Slug Gaiden
Allen's Battle Chronicles

メタルスラッグ外伝アレン後編

Released in Japan on i-Mode platforms in twp parts: part 1 was released on December 19 2005, part 2 was released on February 20 2006. They were combined and released as a single game in Europe and the USA in June 13 2007 as Metal Slug Mobile 3.

Take control of Allen O'Neill and fight against an army of zombie soldiers and Mars People, visiting familiar locales and battling old bosses! The Japanese version appears to only have six stages in total, three in each part. The international version has 13 missions.

Metal Slug STG

メタルスラッグSTG

Released on i-Mode platforms on January 16 2006.

A horizontal shooting game ("STG", or "shmup") starring Marco with a rocket pack. Takes place across three locations against a number of different Morden infantry and machines.

Metal Slug Survivors

メタルスラッグ サバイバーズ

Released on i-Mode, Yahoo! Mobile and EZweb platforms on July 14 2006.

This introduces Leona from The King of Fighters (before her mainline debut in Metal Slug XX) and newcomer Roberto as the playable characters. Features 4 weapons and 3 stages, set in a jungle and a cavern temple.
Portions of this game and Metal Slug Soldiers were incorporated in the international release Metal Slug Mobile 4.

Metal Slug Soldiers

タルスラッグ ソルジャーズ

Released on i-Mode, Yahoo! Mobile and EZweb platforms on September 1 2006.

A continuation of Metal Slug Survivors starring the same characters and features. Stages take place in a snowy field, an underground facility, and an alien lair.
Portions of this game and Metal Slug Survivors were incorporated in the international release Metal Slug Mobile 4.

Trivia

All trivia is based off Metal Slug Mobile 4.
Leona's in-game artwork is lifted from The King of Fighters 2000.


Metal Slug Mobile 4 stores and edits(?) the the graphics in interesting ways, perhaps for space efficiency: the Metal Slug is seperated into its turret and its chassis, and certain Rebel soldier animations have had the weapons removed from their hands. They also turn white when they're burned, strangely - a leftover palette from the first game's early days?Cheers to Ivo for these findings.

Metal Slug Fighters

メタルスラッグ ファイターズ

[information coming whenever]

Metal Slug Warriors

メタルスラッグ ウォリアーズ

[information coming whenever]

Metal Slug Mars Panic

メタルスラッグ マーズパニック

Released in Japan only on i-Mode (17 January 2008), Yahoo! Mobile (2 February 2009) and EZweb platforms (22 July 2010).

Take control of a Mars People UFO in the war to conquer Earth, with two weapons in their arsenal: their "retrieval beam" (回収ビーム) for abducting Morden soldiers, and the "attack beam" (攻撃ビーム) for disposing of any resistance. Features a Gallery Mode, logging images you encounter during gameplay such as the intro and game over screens.

Metal Slug Tactics

メタルスラッグ タクティクス

[information coming whenever]

Metal Slug Team Mission

メタルスラッグ チームミッション

[information coming whenever]

Metal Slug Touch

[information coming whenever]

Metal Slug M1

メタルスラッグM1

[information coming whenever]

Metal Slug Defense

メタルスラッグ ディフェンス

Released on iOS and Android platforms internationally on May 1 2014.

A free-to-play single-plane tower defense game. It is built entirely from assets of previous Metal Slug titles, though as its development proved successful, new graphics, characters and creations were introduced. Players build an army from various units and deploy them when they have the costs to do so, with the intention of destroying the enemy base; whoever has their base destroyed is the loser. The only control players have on their units is when to deploy them and when to activate their special moves; it is otherwise almost entirely automated.
There's no shortage of resources for gameplay information on these games, especially if you're looking for a top-tier loadout. How about the Metal Slug Defense Guide? Or the Metal Slug Defense Wikia? Anywhere but here, man!

The game was later released on Steam on May 1 2015. It is a static version of the game, comparable to approximately version 1.22.0 of the mobile version, with no attempts to keep it updated with the mobile version's additions.

The sequel Metal Slug Attack was released in 2016, effectively replacing this game, though both are still operational.

Unused graphics & oddities

This game is notable for finally incorporating lots of graphics and animations that were previously unused; Nadia's idle animation, Abul Abbas attacking and surrendering, and even Metal Slug 5's stone turtle! See the respective games' pages for what wound up where.

stage04_03.OBM is a portion of Metal Slug's fourth mission; Defense's version is on top, the original from Metal Slug is below. The game tweaks and edits the backdrops to better accomodate it for its brand of gameplay, but these changes are a bit peculiar - credit to Ivo for these observations. Compared to the original Metal Slug's version:

• The trees are fuller and their leaves splay out less.
• The left bunker has its sandbags rearranged and grass covering its grate.
• Bits of grass are slightly different, most notably under the far-right bunker. (OH BOY!)

stage14_05.OBM is a portion of Metal Slug's third mission. Curiously, it features a bit of backdrop not seen in the finished game, but originates from its early development!

stage_esaka.OBM is an edit of Metal Slug 5's final mission to make it accomodate the King of Fighters characters (Esaka is a recurring theme throughout the series). Besides the obvious edits, it appears to be built off an alternate version of the original backdrop (which was mostly off-screen in MS5), featuring a different lamppost, different store fronts and other details, clearly of a different quality than the newly-added arcade machines. Compare and contrast!

Metal Slug Attack

メタルスラッグ アタック

Released on iOS and Android internationally on February 15 2016.

It's more of the same! More units, more missions, more guff.
This game is notable for introducing a lot of new characters, expanding the behind-the-scenes story of the Metal Slug games, and as of version 2.0.2, even introducing the Another Story mode for each faction, giving us our first instance of characters interacting (with poorly translated dialogue!) since Metal Slug on PlayStation 2.
This game is still under development and I'm gonna be bad writing about it. Until then, why not hit up the Metal Slug Attack Reddit? It's just one of several hotspots for arguing about Fat Eri's effectiveness!

[information coming whenever]

Unused graphics

I've little to no experience with this game, so this is going to be a bit of a wreck for all the super nerds out there. It's also possible any unused material will see usage in later updates.

You'd think this frame of Dragunov would be a transition frame for her knife attack or running animation, but I haven't seen it!