Metal Slug first appeared in Japanese arcades on 19 April 1996. Thirty years later, all six main Neo Geo entries in the series are half price on Switch, PS4, and Xbox until 6 May 2026. $3.99 each — or all six for $23.94.
That is an extraordinary amount of run-and-gun game for under $25. Here’s the context.
What Metal Slug Is
Metal Slug is a run-and-gun arcade game developed by Nazca Corporation and published by SNK. The concept is straightforward: run right, shoot things, rescue hostages, fight enormous bosses. The execution is anything but simple.
The animation is the first thing that strikes you. The sprite work in Metal Slug is hand-drawn at an extraordinary level of detail — soldiers flinch, stumble, grab their injuries, and crawl away. Vehicles deform realistically when hit. Explosions have weight and texture. It was released in 1996 and it still looks better than most modern pixel art games, because the people who made it were drawing frames by hand with a craftsmanship that no procedural system replicates.
The gameplay is equally considered. The famous POW rescue system rewards thorough play — find all the prisoners and your score multiplier grows. The vehicles — the slug itself, a camel, a submarine, an elephant depending on the game — change the pacing completely. The bosses are enormous, theatrical, and require learning their patterns rather than simply outgunning them.
Metal Slug 3, widely regarded as the peak of the series, is one of the longest and most ambitious entries — the final stage alone is infamous for its length and variety. It’s the one to play first if you haven’t played any of them.
The Six Games in the Sale
Metal Slug — the original. Tight, brilliantly paced, still extraordinary. The Mars People final boss remains one of gaming’s great reveals.
Metal Slug 2 — expanded scope, slightly rougher performance on the original hardware due to sprite overload. The transformation system (eating too much food turns your soldier fat; getting hit by alien beams turns you into a mummy or zombie) added character.
Metal Slug X — the definitive version of Metal Slug 2. Same stages, overhauled enemy placement, better performance, new weapons. If you’re buying one or the other, buy X.
Metal Slug 3 — the masterpiece. Multiple route choices in each stage, the longest final level in the series, extraordinary set pieces. Essential.
Metal Slug 4 — developed by Mega Enterprise rather than the original team, and it shows. More formulaic, less inspired. Still enjoyable, but the weakest of the set.
Metal Slug 5 — back to form. No dialogue, faster pacing, excellent boss design. The Egyptian setting gives it a distinctive visual style.
The ACA Neo Geo Format
These are Hamster Corporation’s ACA Neo Geo releases — the long-running series of accurate Neo Geo ports that has been running since 2016. Each game includes Original Mode (arcade-accurate), High Score Mode (survive as long as possible), and Caravan Mode (highest score within a time limit), plus online leaderboards.
The emulation is accurate and the input latency is low — these are good versions of the games, not compromised ports. Available on Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Why Now
The timing is notable. Metal Slug is one of the ten launch titles for the Neo Geo AES+ launching in November — SNK’s hardware recreation of the original console. The 30th anniversary sale is clearly designed to reintroduce the series ahead of that launch, and to give players a cheap digital route into the library before the physical cartridges arrive at $69.99 each.
At $3.99 per game until 6 May, it’s the cheapest the series has ever been on legitimate modern platforms. Metal Slug 3 alone at $3.99 is a straightforwardly excellent purchase.
For more on the Neo Geo and its library, see our Neo Geo Complete Guide. For everything on the AES+ hardware launching in November, see our AES+ announcement piece.
Prices were accurate at time of writing — the sale ends 6 May 2026. Always check before you buy.