Metal Slug Anthology

Metal Slug is undoubtedly one of SNK’s most celebrated titles, alongside their iconic fighting games. This classic run-and-gun shooter dominated the 90s arcade scene and holds a special place in the hearts of gamers who grew up during that era. Over the years, SNK has made several attempts to keep the series relevant, but few efforts matched the impact of their late-2000s releases.

Enter Metal Slug Anthology, arguably the best Metal Slug compilation to date! Covering Metal Slug I through VI, it was released on multiple platforms, including PS2, Wii, and PSP. The version I personally experienced was PSP one and I did enjoy the run even if never giving it a complete run. While it doesn’t include Metal Slug 7, the Anthology still offers the most comprehensive single-package experience of the series.

Despite being such a well-crafted compilation, SNK has yet to re-release the Anthology on modern consoles, even as peers like Capcom and Konami have revisited their classic libraries. Here’s hoping SNK decides to bring this legendary collection to a new generation of players soon.

Art of Fighting 3: The Path of Warrior

 Discussing about KOF recently make me reminisce with particular SNK Fighting game title in arcade which I played as a kid called Art of Fighting 3: Path of Warrior. Art of Fighting or Ryuko no Ken in Japan was one of those spin-off Fighting games that SNK made during the heyday of Arcade era before they went all-in with King of Fighters. Art of Fighting series featured Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia as the main character throughout all of its 3 installments and added depth to the characters which was initially considered a clone character from Street Fighter series, ultimately succeeded granting the dignity that these characters deserved.

As a fighting game, Art of Fighting 3 might not make much of its mark in Arcade game scene being intended as experimentation subject by SNK. But what makes Art of Fighting 3 stood out among its predecessors and other fighting games was its unbelievably high-quality graphics for a 2D Fighting game. For a 1996 Fighting game, Art of Fighting 3 Sprites Quality was way ahead of its time whether it is the characters fluid animation or vibrant stages. The overall presentation quality of Art of Fighting 3 is top notch for sure easily able to last for a decade in this department, which is why I can still remember this game even if I was never good at fighting game as a Kid and I still remembered had hard time fighting Sinclair with her weapon cheat.

Art of Fighting 3: Path of Warrior might not offer particularly special fighting game experience but this game served as a perfect time capsule of Japanese Arcade game golden era where Developers were still able to put their utmost to bring a quality product in the bygone era.

Nokia N-Gage King of Fighter Extreme

 
 Considering I covered Joytoy KOF lineup few days ago, I might as well feature the King of Fighters game that served as my gateway to the series. Most people likely have KOF 98 as their first game considering it is the best title of once 2D Fighting game giant by SNK in Arcade scene. But being a hipster kid I was, I got into KOF series with this obscure N-Gage port simply called KOF Extreme.

 N-Gage King of Fighters Extreme is essentially a mobile port of KOF EX2 Howling Blood from GBA, featuring 7 Team of 3 Rosters of Popular and New characters. KOF Extreme might be just a port version, but it was one of the two Fighting games available on N-Gage apart from one. Not exactly the definitive experience of KOF, but it is a decent fighting game where I learnt my fundamentals of 2D Fighting game from here. My favorite character in KOF Extreme is the Korean Taekwondo Champion Kim Kaphwan which remains my go-to character in subsequent KOF game. But what I noticed from KOF Extreme is that It got several characters like Moe and Reiji who are Kyo Kusanagi's teammate that somehow never appear in the future KOF game anymore for some reason. If I have the time in the future, I might visit GBA KOF EX1 just to see more of the characters exclusive to this spin-off series.

King of Fighters Joytoy 1/18 Kyo Kusanagi

 After making so many Warhammer 40k Action figures over past two years, Joytoy finally decide to expand their portfolio starting with SNK’s popular IP, King of Fighters! Obviously the first pick goes to the main protagonist no other than KOF series poster boy, Kyo Kusanagi! In this batch, Joytoy decide to create a 1/18 Rendition for Kyo Kusanagi in his KOF 98 version and tagged along with his Japan Team teammates, Benimaru Nikaido and Goro Daimon. Scheduled for August 2025 release, Joytoy Kyo Kusanagi will be sold for 30 USD.

As expected by Joytoy with their experience in handling popular IPs, their rendition of Kyo Kusanagi is a well made one as it pretty much includes the effect parts for the Kyo’s signature moves including the finishers. Joytoy probably had the ability to go for the extra miles with this particular series compared to Figma lineup. While there are several manufacturers like Storm Toys made plenty of action figures for SNK popular characters with great quality before, Joytoy open a new avenue for affordable SNK series collectibles with decent quality. This is a great news for casual fighting game like me who are interested with collectibles from popular 2D fighting series but not too eager to shelf out 80 USD per character. If this lineup goes well, I am quite sure that Joytoy could expand to other SNK popular series like Samurai Showdown or Metal Slug and might even expand to Capcom series which 52Toys didn’t quite manage to achieve any success.

Cangdao Degenerator Industry SV-001 Metal Slug Review

 First Review for this year! Since I just discussed about the BT'X product from Degenerator Industry, I might as well use the momentum to showcase their previous product which is SV-001 Metal Slug. Never expected somebody make a mecha from the iconic Tank from SNK's 90s Popular Run&Gun Sidescrolling video game series but this is a well made product.

Overall Degenerator Industry SV-001 Metal Slug is a solid homage product for the Classic series which just hit the perfect balance of Value and Price point. While there were other decent options for Metal Slug collectibles like the Pantasy Brick Model or Beast Kingdom Pullback Car, however in terms of Value-for-money, This transformable Metal Slug Tank mecha is still the best one so far.

 For a 400RMB Toy Product, you got yourself a large Metal Slug Tank that have neat transformation gimmick even if the mecha is not the best looking. On top of that It comes with some Diecast parts and LED Gimmick. These sort of quality are not exactly even easy to achieve by Japanese manufacturer for double the price tag. Considering Degenerator Industry Production run has been more than 2 years already, it is kinda difficult to find a reasonable price on internet for this guy. But you won't regret to obtain this definitive Metal Slug collectible if you can find one around 80-90 USD.

Cangdao Model SV-001 Metal Slug

 One of the great product released by Cangdao Model last year that arguably secured the company's place in the Hobby Industry. This item is basically a take on the Iconic tank from Metal Slug arcade shooter series and make it a transformable mecha. Usually this kind of stunt will be a miss, but Cangdao do make something that can be considered an engineering masterpiece from a Chinese company. Not only the tank Rendition is relatively faithful to the original design, The transformed mecha form is very solid in terms of  Sculpt. Articulation and Gimmick. 

Currently you can still find this product widely available for 80 bucks though i expected the Chinese SRP is in 300-400 RMB which is still worth it. You would be hard pressed to find a Diecast Robot with comparable quality with this kind of pricing. If this product to be released by a Japanese company, they will cost at least around 20000 Yen. Satisfied with my copy of Cangdao Metal Slug, I will look forward to the next rendition of Metal Slug Vehicle by Cangdao which should be warmly received should they make another one.

SNK vs Capcom Card Fighters DS

 Back in 90s during the Golden age of Arcade Games, SNK and Capcom reigns at the top with their fighting game and known for their rivalry in this genre. A decade forward when Console games become more dominant and before each of the company went separate own ways, they left behind a legacy for the fans to remember the good old times. That legacy comes in the crossover SNK vs Capcom games series which are mainly fighting games but a Card Game series also spawned out of the cooperative effort.

 The SNK vs Capcom Card Game i that played was the DS version which is probably the most widely available version of the series for International fans. I played the game more than a decade ago but it was not until now that i managed to settle the score with this game. The game allows you to pit characters from SNK and Capcom games in Card Game format and this format enables the greatest amount of roster from both SNK and Capcom's Library compared to the Fighting game. In terms of the roster SvC Card Clash had most of the cards from SNK and Capcom works in 90s though rather lacking from their 2000s games