It pushed the hardware a little too hard, and got some push-back in the form of several unintentionally slowed-down sequences. That visual overkill is part of the appeal of SNK's Metal Slug series, a run-and-gun action franchise that got its start in the arcades of the '90s before moving onto home consoles and portables - but in Metal Slug 2, the balance between graphic effects and machine capability wasn't quite right. There's just way too much stuff on the screen at once. A big boss rolls into the scene and triggers twenty-seven explosions, the score counter keeps climbing higher, you're trying desperately to grab one of the seven power-ups that lay strewn about the ground - it's no wonder Metal Slug 2 suffers from slowdown. Ten different enemies fighting two heroes, while three newly-freed prisoners run for their lives, dashing past a tank. Fifteen missiles and twelve bullet blasts. The following review should be used as a reference for how well the game stood up over time rather than an evaluation of how it would have scored based on its original release date. Because of this change of medium and the passage of time, it is possible that there are slight factual differences between the original retail product and the version reviewed. The review of this product is based on a re-released version of the game.