The notion of turning Metal Slug into a tactics game first came up over drinks, says Dotemu CEO Cyrille Imbert. He also says that it will be a tribute to all things Metal Slug, with plenty of bosses, characters, and concepts being pulled directly from the series. But in a new interview with IGN, Loos revealed several new details, saying that fans can expect an experience similar to Into the Breach - the highly-regarded 2018 tactics game that was among the first to combine turn-based tactics with the roguelite genre. Up until this point, the reveal trailer has been allowed to largely stand on its own. It helped that it was being developed in partnership with Dotemu, the publisher behind Streets of Rage 4 recently acquired by Focus Home Interactive (SNK isn’t directly involved with development). When Metal Slug Tactics’ trailer debuted during E3 2021, retro fans were immediately excited by the possibilities afforded by the shift to the tactics genre, as well as the apparent fidelity to the source material. The pixel art is beautiful,' Loos says.Īs it turned out, Leikir was more than capable of recreating Metal Slug’s famous pixel art, even without the benefit of being able to use pre-existing assets. 'The first thing we needed to do was to check that we were good enough for Metal Slug because the series is huge. There’s little in the studio’s portfolio to suggest that it has the chops to recreate the look and feel of one of the most beautiful 2D action games ever made. A relatively obscure outfit based in the Paris suburbs, Leikir’s most recent game is Rogue Lords - a party-based roguelite featuring famous monsters such as Dracula and Bloody Mary. When Leikir Studio CEO Aurélien Loos first pitched the concept of Metal Slug Tactics to Dotemu, he wasn’t entirely certain whether the studio could actually pull it off.

Metal slug main character