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In the Hunt - the precursor to Metal Slug! And other games that basically are the start of major franchises

VGEsoterica

Member
If there is one thing I love...it's retro arcade games. If there are TWO things I love...it's following along the evolutionary path of games to see how some of our favorite franchises came to be.

Metal Slug is ICONIC. It's probably one of the best arcade franchises of all time...but it's not like it was just developed in a vacuum. Developers at Irem decided to make an underwater shmup featuring submarines and other vehicles to ride in. Sound familiar? Lol.

Those same deves would go on to found NASCA...the developers of Metal Slug. It's legit like actual evolution...Metal Slug crawled out of the water and up onto land! (ok that's a little too deep haha)

But it got me thinking...what other franchises that are massive these days came from previous experiments? Games like Elden Ring / Soulsborne coming straight from Kings Field back in the 90s. But I am sure there are tons of great examples I can't think of

 

ManaByte

Member
I fucking love this game. It was released on the PS and Saturn. You can get it now on the Switch and PS4 as one of the Hamster Arcade Archives series.

LcLd433.jpg
 
Don’t forget Guerrilla War came out in ‘87 in the arcades and ported to the NES and many other platforms in the late ‘80s. I know it’s top down but it’s got that dna in there.
Me and my brother played the living shit out of this game.
Hell yeah! Guerrilla War needs more love, the NES port is so much fun and the music is fantastic. The fact it basically had infinite continues playing 2 player also helped lol
 

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
If there is one thing I love...it's retro arcade games. If there are TWO things I love...it's following along the evolutionary path of games to see how some of our favorite franchises came to be.

Metal Slug is ICONIC. It's probably one of the best arcade franchises of all time...but it's not like it was just developed in a vacuum. Developers at Irem decided to make an underwater shmup featuring submarines and other vehicles to ride in. Sound familiar? Lol.

Those same deves would go on to found NASCA...the developers of Metal Slug. It's legit like actual evolution...Metal Slug crawled out of the water and up onto land! (ok that's a little too deep haha)

But it got me thinking...what other franchises that are massive these days came from previous experiments? Games like Elden Ring / Soulsborne coming straight from Kings Field back in the 90s. But I am sure there are tons of great examples I can't think of


Gun Force (and especially Gun Force II) is the much more obvious "origin point" for Metal Slug. Yes those same people also did In the Hunt in between those two games, but Gun Force II basically IS Metal Slug, minus the Vietnam-era setting.

 

Kuranghi

Member
Nice one, great to be shown adjacent things to MS since I love it so much, I already caught this last week before it was pulled I take it you sorted that out. Thanks ManaByte ManaByte for the Switch release info, I'm going to go buy it right now, sweet.
 

Notabueno

Banned
Gun Force (and especially Gun Force II) is the much more obvious "origin point" for Metal Slug. Yes those same people also did In the Hunt in between those two games, but Gun Force II basically IS Metal Slug, minus the Vietnam-era setting.



So In the Hunt, Gunforce and MetaSlug: the same people right?
 

Quasicat

Member
I love In the Hunt as well as the Metal Slug titles and have all of them running on my Switch. If only they would do the work to get Metal Slug 6 up as an Arcade Archives release. I’m not sure how much work that would take since it runs on Atomiswave machines. It’s literally one of the reasons I still have my PSP.
 

VGEsoterica

Member
I love In the Hunt as well as the Metal Slug titles and have all of them running on my Switch. If only they would do the work to get Metal Slug 6 up as an Arcade Archives release. I’m not sure how much work that would take since it runs on Atomiswave machines. It’s literally one of the reasons I still have my PSP.
It’s been modded to run on Dreamcast too if you have one. Which is easier than pulling an Atomiswave out of the closet (which is what I used to do)
 

Quasicat

Member
It’s been modded to run on Dreamcast too if you have one. Which is easier than pulling an Atomiswave out of the closet (which is what I used to do)
I have retail Flycast and PPSSPP running on my Series X, which also a great way to play it, but to play the actual arcade version on Flycast…looks like I’ve got some online research to do. 🤔
 
I think we can see the lineage in a lot of the arcade games made at Irem even before In the Hunt (some by the same team I believe):

All these games are great looking for their time, but obviously not as detailed as the later games (ROM size probably).
Air Duel
8BRTX4Q.png

R-Type Leo (Probably R-Type 1 & 2 as well)
wWz6Qb3.png

Armed Police
sDtus6X.png

Undercover Cops
XjWEn9b.png

As mentioned in the discussion Gun Force II
yURkTSE.png



All of them have the same basic aestetics, getting closer and closer to the Metal Slug games - these games are as detailed as 2D games ever got (minus the resolution).
 
Don’t forget Guerrilla War came out in ‘87 in the arcades and ported to the NES and many other platforms in the late ‘80s. I know it’s top down but it’s got that dna in there.
Me and my brother played the living shit out of this game.
Yooooooooooooooooo Me and my brother spent countless hours playing that game when we were kids, I been trying to remember the name of it so I could bring it up to him. THANK YOU lol

That was my first '2 player game' in my entire life for real. I'm about to call him and talk some trash and reminisce lol
 

Ozzie666

Member
Timeless, Ageless, almost perfection. Their 2D sprite style is so distinctive and would eventually be perfected with Metal Slug. This is why 2D gaming and great sprite animation will never die. They really inspired a lot of future games for sure.
 

Neff

Member
I think we can see the lineage in a lot of the arcade games made at Irem even before In the Hunt (some by the same team I believe):

All these games are great looking for their time, but obviously not as detailed as the later games (ROM size probably).
Air Duel
8BRTX4Q.png

R-Type Leo (Probably R-Type 1 & 2 as well)
wWz6Qb3.png

Armed Police
sDtus6X.png

Undercover Cops
XjWEn9b.png

As mentioned in the discussion Gun Force II
yURkTSE.png



All of them have the same basic aestetics, getting closer and closer to the Metal Slug games - these games are as detailed as 2D games ever got (minus the resolution).

I believe they did Hook as well.

mcIVUf.jpg
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
Timeless, Ageless, almost perfection. Their 2D sprite style is so distinctive and would eventually be perfected with Metal Slug. This is why 2D gaming and great sprite animation will never die. They really inspired a lot of future games for sure.
Problem being.

Good sprite art is dying :(
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
yes the classic LOOK of sprites isn't popular any more. It just doesn't look / feel the same

this is PC sprite LOOK especially data east stuff,
absolute gem



just mute the guy the visuals are crazy
 
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Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
awesome for sure but SO good you can barely see a pixel. I love the chunky pixels of the 80s and 90s
you have to play it..not watch a low bitrate YT stream this comes super close to MS. extremely talented team behind it
 
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