Metal Slug 2006 - Mission 7 (Normal, Marco, New Game)

Mission 7 is a sudden difficulty spike in the game. I remember during my first playthrough of this game, I was absolutely stone-walled by this mission and had absolutely no idea what the heck to do to beat it, until I watched some other videos and realised you just had to spam power guns in this mission. With no easy access to power guns at the beginning of the stage, this means you're almost required to grind for power gun ammo before coming into this mission. I might accept the, "well maybe you just suck at this game" argument, if it weren't for the fact that the ranking system in this game ranks you on time as well, and shooting everything with a pistol while being a master ninja just takes WAY too long. For perspective, I'm playing on Normal difficulty, and just watch how much time I waste chasing down mundane helicopters that spawn one after another. And, yes, you need to destroy every enemy in this mission to advance. sigh

I must admit though, that the boss for this mission is super cool. It starts attacking you with freaking missile strikes that can kill its own allies indiscriminately long before you even see the boss itself (I mean the missiles are really bullshit but the concept is cool). This mission, while super tough with swarms of armoured enemies, is also adequately generous in giving you the power and means to deal with them, outfitting you with Rocket Launchers, Shotguns, Enemy Chasers, and even a Laser Gun if you're so inclined. This mission also introduces the SOUPAH GREHNAE, which in the context of MS3D is an insanely, INSANELY overpowered version of the Rocket Launcher. I took down the boss with 3/4 of a full clip, but if you were to try shooting it with any other weapon, or even a Metal Slug, you're going to be there for YEARS, trust me. It's just a terrible shame that the rocket itself looks identical to the Rocket Launcher's, and fires even slower than that, and doesn't have the sickeningly satisfying explosion SFX from the 2D games that was identical to a Slug's cannon for crying out loud. I feel that, with how powerful the Super Grenade is, it is more than deserving of a bit of aesthetic bells and whistles, but, alas, this game is just so lazily made, it's frankly appalling.