Metal Slug 3

Metal Slug 3 for PlayStation 2 brings SNK’s 2D action-shooting game to Sony’s console. The PS2 release arrived in 2004, following the game’s 2000 debut in Neo Geo arcades, and was published by Ignition Entertainment in this edition. Although its title suggests otherwise, it is the fourth main Metal Slug game, following Metal Slug, Metal Slug 2, and Metal Slug X. It retains the hand-drawn, fast-moving arcade style that defined the series while adapting the adventure for home play.

Players choose from Peregrine Falcons Marco Rossi and Tarma Roving, or S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S. operatives Eri Kasamoto and Fio Germi. One or two players can fight together through a run-and-gun campaign built around constant enemy attacks, oversized bosses, and a search for rescued prisoners. The basic controls support shooting, throwing grenades, jumping, and close-range attacks, while weapon pickups temporarily replace the standard pistol with more powerful firearms. Prisoners of war can reward a rescue with items, weapons, or support, and preserving rescues until a mission ends adds to the score.

The mission begins as a campaign against General Morden’s remaining rebel forces, but it soon expands into a more outlandish conflict involving returning extraterrestrial enemies. That shift lets Metal Slug 3 move between beaches, caves, ruined locations, underwater sections, and alien environments without abandoning its comic military-cartoon character. The campaign culminates in a large-scale assault that brings the series’ heroes and Morden’s forces into an uneasy common cause against the invaders.

A major addition is its route-selection system. Several missions split at crossroads, allowing players to take different paths before converging on the same principal boss encounter. A chosen route can change the enemies, hazards, scenery, prisoners, and pickups encountered along the way, giving repeat runs more to discover. The game’s richly animated backgrounds also conceal destructible objects and items, encouraging players to look beyond the most direct path through each battlefield.

The series’ signature vehicles are central to the action. Alongside the familiar SV-001 Metal Slug tank, the game introduces or features a broad range of unusual machines, including the Drill Slug, Camel Slug, Rebel Armor, and Slug Mariner. These vehicles supply heavier firepower and alter how a section is approached, whether that means fighting through water, drilling through obstacles, or taking on crowds with armor. Transformations and visual gags, including the effects of enemy attacks and collected food, keep the serious-looking battlefield deliberately unpredictable.

Metal Slug 3 on PS2 includes the core arcade game plus content made for this console-era release. Completing the arcade mode unlocks Storming the UFO Mothership, a single-player bonus mission in which a Morden soldier fights the alien forces, and Fat Island, a competitive two-player mode focused on collecting food and changing character weight. These extras distinguish the standalone PS2 version from later compilation and arcade-style releases. With local cooperative play, branching missions, many vehicle types, and a campaign that pushes the series’ war-parody premise into science-fiction territory, the PS2 edition preserves a notable chapter in SNK’s Metal Slug series.