Metal Slug (series)

Tricks

Metal Slug games don't have any major tricks, but there are a couple of small tricks you can do to save time.

Firing Rate

• Crouching

Note: This trick doesn't apply to Metal Slug 1, nor does it apply to pistols in Metal Slug 2 and X.

Normally when you fire weapons (or throw grenades), there is a cap limiting how fast you can fire, but crouching bypasses this cap and lets you fire as quickly as possible. This rule even applies to weapons that fire slowly such as the shotgun and flame shot.

• Jumping

If you have the flame shot and you need to fire upwards, jumping increases your firing rate. This trick is most useful against Metal Slug 3's fourth boss because he can only be hit by upward shots. The current Metal Slug 3 run does not use this trick.

Cancel tricks

• Pistol Cancel

Normally when you run out of ammo, your character takes about a second to switch back to the pistol before you can start firing again. To cancel this delay, crouch during the switching animation.

Weapons

Note: This list is a (very) rough estimate and doesn't factor in ammo counts.

The weapons in order of strength are:

1. Zaibetsu Sword - Metal Slug 6 and 7 only
2. Flame shot - Damage can vary, depending on enemy size. In Metal Slug 1 this weapon is MUCH weaker, even weaker than the heavy machine gun.
3. Shotgun
4. Grenade Launcher
5. Laser
6. Enemy Chaser, Rocket Launcher, Iron Lizard, Drop shot - Out of these weapons, drop shot is by far the worst, even worse than the pistol in some cases.
7. Heavy Machine Gun
8. Pistol

Routes