Hamster just discounted Metal Slug game 50%

Hamster Corporation has discounted all six Metal Slug games in the ACA Neo Geo series to 50 percent off across Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One until May 6. This sale celebrates the 30th anniversary of the franchise. They are also fully playable on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

This means the following games currently cost $3.99 each instead of their usual price of $7.99 each:

• ACA Neo Geo: Metal Slug
• ACA Neo Geo: Metal Slug 2
• ACA Neo Geo: Metal Slug 3
• ACA Neo Geo: Metal Slug 4
• ACA Neo Geo: Metal Slug 5
• ACA Neo Geo: Metal Slug X

Buying the entire collection digitally will cost you about $24. This digital bundle is slightly cheaper than buying authentic Neo Geo AES cartridges, which currently require selling a reliable used car or a minor internal organ to afford. The AES version of the first game alone routinely sells for tens of thousands of dollars.

What Hamster actually added

These releases are not barebones ROM dumps. The ACA Neo Geo line includes several modern conveniences that make these arcade titles much more approachable today. You get save states, which are basically mandatory for SNK arcade games designed to drain quarters from teenagers in the 1990s. Hamster also included online high score leaderboards for players who want to compete globally. You can tweak the difficulty, adjust the virtual dip switches to change the number of starting lives, and apply CRT filters to replicate the look of a curved arcade monitor. You can even switch between the Japanese and English ROM versions.

Six games, lots of tanks

The original game launched in 1996 and established the entire formula. Marco and Tarma shoot their way through General Morden's army with incredibly detailed pixel art and smooth animation. It is a straightforward run-and-gun arcade game with a heavy focus on vehicle combat.

Metal Slug 2 arrived in 1998 and added Eri and Fio to the playable roster. It also introduced transformation mechanics. Your character can turn into a mummy or gain weight after eating too much food. The arcade original suffered from terrible slowdown due to the sheer amount of sprites on screen. SNK fixed this a year later with Metal Slug X. This revised version rearranged enemy placements, added new weapons like the Iron Lizard, and overhauled the engine so the game runs properly. Both versions are included in this sale, though I usually skip straight to X.

Metal Slug 3 hit arcades in 2000 and is widely considered the absolute peak of the franchise. It has branching paths, underwater sections, and a massive final mission that takes up a third of the entire playtime. You fight zombies, giant crabs, and eventually go to space.

The later entries get weird. SNK went bankrupt in 2001, so Metal Slug 4 was developed by Mega Enterprise in 2002. It recycles a lot of background assets and replaces Tarma and Eri with new characters Trevor and Nadia. Metal Slug 5 came out in 2003 under the revived SNK Playmore banner. It introduces a slide mechanic and drops the rebellion storyline entirely to fight a syndicate called the Ptolemaic Army.

The pixel art in these games still looks incredible three decades later. Playing them with a friend in local co-op remains one of the best ways to spend a weekend afternoon.