Metal Slug: The Ultimate History
» Buy it from: bitmapbooks.co.uk » Buy it for: £29.99
We always know when Christmas is just around the corner because we get inundated with countless retro books. The one that really caught our eye this particular month is
Sam Dyer’s fascinating tribute to the Metal Slug series. As you’d expect from Bitmap Books, its latest tome is absolutely chock-full of incredible artwork and there really is a fascinating wealth of content to unearth.
The book kicks off with an incredibly detailed look at how the original Metal Slug came to be and leaves no stone unturned, looking at everything from the earlier Nazca games that led to the creation of the series, to the more recent tower defence games that have been downloaded over 50 million times. It’s weird, then, that those later games are not given the same full profiles as the other games in the series. That bizarre oversight aside, there’s no denying that this is one of the most comprehensive books on the subject that you’re ever likely to read.
Sam has had access to SNK’S vaults and as a result he’s uncovered all sorts of treasures, meaning there’s a lot of new, rarely seen content. Every single main game in the core series is catered for here, from early preproduction concept sketches, to final cover artwork and arcade flyers. Interestingly there are also big sections on In The Hunt and Gunforce II, both of which led to the later games. There’s some glorious imagery on show and it’s backed up by some great behind the scenes information as well.
This attention to detail continues with the excellent insight at the end of the book with six team members, including Hidenari Mamoto, Sadaki Matsumoto and Kazuhiro Takeshita. The lengthy Q&AS with each team member give you a great idea of how much love they have for the series and just how hard it has been to create over the years.
Metal Slug: The Ultimate History is a great read at a great price. Even those who’ve never given the franchise much time should get something out of it.