Ep.295 – Frame By Frame: The Handcrafted Art That Made Metal Slug (1996)

About this episode

The episode explores the development and impact of the iconic arcade game Metal Slug, highlighting its artistic techniques and the team's journey.

In 1996, Nazca Corporation released Metal Slug on the Neo Geo MVS arcade system, a run and gun game so dense with hand drawn animation that it required extra hardware just to be ported to home consoles. In this episode, we trace the full story behind it: the collapse of Irem that brought the team together, the founding of Nazca, and the two failed location tests that forced a complete rebuild of the game in six months. Our conversation explores the craft philosophy that made Metal Slug legendary, from lead artist Akio's pixel art technique to the enemy animations that served no gameplay function but made the world feel alive. We follow the game from its troubled development to its arcade success, the sequels that built on its foundation, and the eventual dissolution of the original team. Join us as we load up and find out how a small team with no budget and no real names on the credits made one of the most beloved arcade games ever made, on today's trip down Memory Card Lane. Read transcript

People in this episode

Hosts: David Kassin, Robert Kassin

Topics covered

• video game history
• handcrafted art
• arcade games
• game development
• animation techniques

Keywords

• Metal Slug
• Nazca Corporation
• arcade games
• hand drawn animation
• video game development
• Akio
• Irem

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Nazca Corporation, Irem

Books & works: Metal Slug

Places: Neo Geo MVS

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