The SNK run 'n gunner Metal Slug 3 is already a pretty ridiculous game, featuring zombies, aliens, and submachine gun-wielding orangutans.
But it turns out, the game could have perhaps been even more bonkers, with the former SNK and Nazca Corporation developer Akio recently taking to social media to share details of some of the other "nonsensical" ideas that never made it into the game.
Akio posted the insights into the game's development earlier today on Twitter/X, publishing a video of some rough sketches of the design ideas, alongside a long statement in Japanese providing some more context about what he had planned.
Among the design ideas he shared, one of the more bizarre concepts he ended up describing was a gimmick that would have seen Marco playing football with Morden's army, to kick a ball into a mechanism to lower the draw bridge to Morden's castle. Reflecting on this idea, Akio described it as "silly", but said it might have made for an interesting mechanic in the finished game, if the developers really leaned into the ridiculousness of it, by having some of the enemies take on referee outfits, for example.
In addition to this, Akio also outlined a bunch of other strange ideas, including a door that could only be opened with a pig that precisely fit the dimensions of the lock, and a James Bond-esque ski-chase in the SV-001 that would have culminated in a large ramp that led directly into an aerial battle.
Looking back at this idea, Akio believes it would have been interesting to have equipped the tank with a 360-degree Vulcan cannon and to have tried to do something similar to the Konami arcade game Time Pilot with how this played out on screen.
As for the remainder of the ideas, Akio also outlined concepts for a submerged city (a way of potentially foreshadowing the fishmen species that was at one point set to appear in Metal Slug 4); a mini-game where players must search through a crate of fake keys to find the right one to unlock the path forward; and a bomb disposal mechanic that was apparently birthed out of his love of bomb-defusal scenes in old movies.
In case you're unaware, Akio is currently working on a spiritual successor to Metal Slug, along with a bunch of other former SNK & Nazca employees. The game is called Black Finger Jet and is available to wishlist on Steam now.