The latest trailer for Metal Slug 7 gets a computer-generated "brushed steel and industrial noises" presentation usually reserved for commercials about truck sales ... or movies for dudes. It makes huge, bombastic claims: "THE ULTIMATE CHARACTERS." "THE ULTIMATE WEAPONS." "THE ULTIMATE GAME."
Like a Michael Bay movie, Metal Slug 7 is full of big explosions, big machines, and big explosions. And like the average Michael Bay movie, it's going to be a challenge to get all the way through it. However, unlike, say, Transformers, we expect to enjoy Metal Slug 7 for as many as two hours. Probably more!
SNK Playmore unleashed footage from their recently-announced Kimi no Yuusha, an RPG slated for Japanese release this winter. The good news? The battles look three billion times better (we counted) in motion than they did in the recent scans. We still don't know a lot about what's going on here, but we do know there is violence of the roleplaying variety afoot ... and that's pretty much all we need.
The latest issue of Famitsu revealed a new game for the DS, which releases in Japan this winter. Called Kimi no Yuusha, we don't know much about the title other than it looks absolutely adorable. It was also revealed that SNK Playmore is the developer behind the game, and it's some sort of light novel and RPG combination.
The two main characters are a blue-haired girl named Wanda (pictured right) and a blond-haired girl named Tio. The 2D battle graphics in the scans aren't all that pretty, but the rest of the art seems very pleasing. When we find out more details about this cute-looking game, we'll be sure to let you know.
Posted Jul 22nd 2008 11:45AM by Phil Larsen
Filed under: News
The unsourced rumor of a 2008 European Metal Slug 7 release date must be acknowledged. It turns out that Europeans will not only get Metal Slug 7 in 2008, but they will also get it pretty much the same time as everywhere else. A press release has come through and announced an "Autumn 2008" release. Yes, that means Fall -- Autumn is for those lame Europeans and non-lame Australians.
To accompany this timely news, five new screens of the kill-o-rama have been updated in our gallery. With seven brand new missions six playable characters and apparently the biggest SLUG vehicle ever, this is exactly what hardcore Metal Slug fans need.
According to French gaming site Wiiz, our brothers and sisters across the pond might be getting Metal Slug 7 later this year. Should this go down, we imagine you'll be just as intoxicated by the action on your DS as we will be when the title hits U.S. shores.
Considering that Wiiz doesn't source anyone for this "news," however, we're going to keep this one filed under the Rumors section.
Posted Jun 27th 2008 2:45PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News
Ignition Entertainment has finally offered some hint as to when Metal Slug 7 will be released stateside in a press release sent out today. The company specified a fall release for the SNK Playmore-developed (and co-published) run-and-gun sequel.
"Truth be told, I have a pink DS and was embarrassed to play it in public," said Ajay Chadha, Ignition president. "Now with Metal Slug 7 loaded, I have no qualms," said Ajay Chadha, President of Ignition Entertainment. Good thing this was a textual release and not an audio announcement, because it would have been really hard to say that with his tongue that far in cheek.
Along with the release window, Ignition sent out the American boxart, which, we are happy to say, isn't completely different from the great Japanese art. The contrast has been increased, and the logo has been moved into a more prominent position and framed by explodies, but we fully approve of those minor changes.
The official site for upcoming SNK title, Metal Slug 7, has updated with some new goodies for fans. For those of you who want to know more about the cast of the game, there's an updated character profile page. Also, you'll find a boatload of screens showing off gameplay, the rankings screens and "Combat School," which looks like training missions.
You can find all of the new screens in our gallery below, so head on in and check out the eye candy.
The appearance of a boxart image for Metal Slug 7 means that SNK is one step closer to putting the game in boxes and shipping it out to stores in Japan (which happens on July 17!). Then, some time in the future, it'll get shipped out to the U.S. Then, shooting stuff time!
Even without the portent of Metal Slug on the way, we'd be happy with this boxart, which can only be described as classic SNK -- detailed, colorful hand-painted art that would be right at home adorning the box for a $300 game. Hopefully SNK realizes it would be cheaper to keep the same awesome art for the American box, rather than replacing it with something boring.
We thought that creating a Neo Geo emulator on the DS was a pretty noteworthy achievement. GameSetWatch contributor Alistair Wallis agreed, and he sought out the developer of NeoDS, Ben Ingram, for an interview.
Ingram goes into enough detail about the development of a homebrew emulation program, and assigning functions of the Neo Geo's processors to the DS's, that, well, we pretty much lost him right away. But if you do know anything at all about computing, this is really interesting. It's really interesting anyway, just to see what kind of stuff a homebrew developer has to think about when creating a new DS application.
Now, for some less ... awkwardSNK news: this trailer for Metal Slug 7 is so not about harassing schoolgirls that you could probably be seen looking at it. You may even be able to bring yourself to buy this game in a store, without a disguise on.
There's enough content in the trailer to motivate us to make such a non-incognito purchase, as well. The animation looks wonderful, at least as far as we can tell from YouTube, and there are at least two awesome new vehicles: the Slug Truck, a mine cart thing, and Slug Giganto, a giant robot! Even minor features like the prisoner database sound great.
A few weeks ago, we saw concept art of the promotional stuff SNK's using to try to trick Japanese otaku into dropping $91 for the "Special Box" edition of Doki Doki Majo Shinpan Duo, including two Nendoroid figurines. Now pictures of the real materials are online to look at, in case you would like to see what people are going to be waiting nervously in front of Akihabara electronics stores for.
In addition to the Maho Akai and Seika Koron figurines and Lulu and Kuro phone strap, the set comes with a guidebook to the students in the game's schools, and a color-changing card that allows you to rub the image of a sweater off of a picture of Haori Kureha. And shame. Shame is in the box.
New screens of SNK's awkward adventure sequel Doki Doki Majo Shinpan Duo have revealed three new characters: another angel who will compel Akuji to annoy and prod girls in his ongoing witch hunt, and ... another girl, no doubt to be annoyed and prodded. Also some guy!
The bespectacled angel Senome comes from the same angel world as Lulu and the demonic-looking Kuro, and keeps up on the latest angel-world news via "Angelnet." Which sounds rather like SNK is portraying her as an angel Internet nerd. Cute!
Seiji is a school friend of Akuji's who is, for some reason, unpopular. Also he may be a girl, because we can't tell sometimes.
The (obvious) girl, Himeki, is a self-styled reporter who carries a camera around to document everything she sees. She becomes interested in the reports of supernatural activity on campus, though something tells us she will soon wish she had not investigated it.
Since Doki Doki Majo Shinpan Duo is risqué in its essence, we're not surprised that the boxart would also be rather ... bold. The blue bar that wraps its way around the cover lets perusers of the box see through the girls' clothes, hence the assaulted looks on their faces.
The girl on the left used quick reflexes to cover herself up, while the girl on the right only had a sliver of indecency exposed. The girl in the middle, though? Not so lucky -- not even because her breasts were displayed for gaming consumers to see, but because she has no nipples. Maybe she's related to the guys in Duel Love? Or, maybe that's how you go about proving she's a witch.
In all seriousness, we don't expect SNK to put nipples on the front of the box. Maybe they should have gone with a different design, though, so that the girls wouldn't look like ... well, freaks. Still, we know most guys aren't too picky when it comes to this kind of thing, and will enjoy the opportunity to stylus-poke the ladies of the game nonetheless. Oh, and the little pointing hand in the bottom right says "touch," lest your forget your task.
A third-party project was underway during the Neo Geo Pocket Color's short (but beautiful) life to add Game Boy and Game Boy Color functionality to SNK's handheld. Ganksoft Entertainment began by working on a software emulator capable of running GB/GBC software on the NGPC. The project was cancelled before the emulator was finished, due to SNK's dramatic exit from the console market. The screenshot shows roughly what state the emulator was in. Of course, with no software, the hardware never came to fruition either.
Would the system's history have been different if it could run its major competitor's games via an obscure, unlicensed peripheral? The Dreamcast says no.
The latest issue of Famitsu revealed a new game for the DS, which releases in Japan this winter. Called Kimi no Yuusha, we don't know much about the title other than it looks absolutely adorable. It was also revealed that SNK Playmore is the developer behind the game, and it's some sort of light novel and RPG combination.
The official site for upcoming SNK title, 
We thought that creating a Neo Geo emulator on the DS was a pretty noteworthy achievement. GameSetWatch contributor Alistair Wallis agreed, and he sought out the developer of 
New screens of SNK's awkward adventure sequel 
A third-party project was underway during the Neo Geo Pocket Color's short (but beautiful) life to add Game Boy and Game Boy Color functionality to SNK's handheld. Ganksoft Entertainment began by working on a software emulator capable of running GB/GBC software on the NGPC. The project was cancelled before the emulator was finished, due to SNK's dramatic exit from the console market. The screenshot shows roughly what state the emulator was in. Of course, with no software, the hardware never came to fruition either.
