Dolphin Blue
■ publisher: Sammy ■ Year: 2003
Everyone loves the Metal Slug series from Nazca and SNK, right? But wouldn’t you like it more if, instead of being set in a weird sci-fi pseudo-second World Warstyle world, it was set in a kind of combination of the 1995 movie Waterworld, and the steampunk-flavoured anime World War-alike world in the vein of something like Sega’s Valkyria Chronicles series, and instead of riding around in tanks, you rode and swam alongside a friendly dolphin buddy? Then you would get something like Dolphin Blue.
And it really is a lot like Metal Slug, not just on the surface level of them both being loud, manic run-andguns. As soon as you start playing, you’ll recognise certain Metal Slug hallmarks: a completely useless default gun, a very satisfying and thankfully common machine gun power-up, knifing enemies instead of shooting them at close range, and so on. In fact, even though you don’t get to ride in any tanks yourself, the enemy has plenty of them, in all shapes and sizes!
Despite its unoriginality, Dolphin Blue is still a worthwhile game, though. Of course, if you’re going to rip off an existing game, it does help if you choose a game that’s simple, fun, and much-loved as your unwilling muse. Metal Slug at its best had your character jumping, shooting and dodging all over the screen, wiping out crowds of hapless enemy infantrymen and blowing up the vehicles and buildings to which they’re clung. Dolphin Blue has all that too, and it’s just as much fun as it ever was, but now it’s nautical. And that’s as good a recommendation it can expect from anyone really: if you’ve played every actual Metal Slug game to death and want some more of the same, but wetter, seek out a Dolphin Blue cabinet.