Metal Slug Tactics
- Movement is king. It generates Adrenaline and Dodge, both of which you will want in abundance. It's usually a good idea to move each unit as far as they can go, into cover if possible. Everyone has a specific trigger to gain bonus moves, so try to capitalize on that so you can move your maximum distance or close to it, then use a bonus move to get to cover.
- As usual with these types of games, action economy is incredibly powerful. When presented with unit upgrades, anything that grants a bonus action is an easy pick. Usually this is an active skill but there are a few passives that can do it, too.
- Secondary weapons have limited ammo, but not so limited you shouldn't be using them. They usually deal more damage and at longer ranges or larger areas of effect. There are also plenty of opportunities to refill your secondary ammo through map bonuses. There is never a need to waste money on refilling at Rumi's shop between regions - even if you burned all your ammo fighting the boss, one of the upcoming maps will probably offer a refill anyway.
- I've found it's usually a better idea between regions to spend money with Rumi upgrading weapons than with Margaret upgrading character abilities, but always check in with her anyways just in case there's something real good on offer - upgrading aforementioned bonus action abilities for example.
- Units heal between maps, even from KO, and every unit gets XP no matter what shape they ended the map in, so if one unit goes down but you can finish without them, don't waste a revive and just carry on.
- The Metal Slug can fire each of its weapons once per turn as long as it has fuel to burn, but like any other unit it can't move again once it starts attacking. Try to get it in position to blast 3+ enemies in one turn (one each with the vulcans and and a big area burst with the main cannon) without moving around too much and losing fuel that way.
- Also keep in mind re: the Metal Slug, it counts as its own unit no matter who is piloting it. If you have a bonus objective to have a specific character contribute to frags (kills) they can't do it from within the Slug. You can still game this by having them in position to synch with the Slug's targets - even if they fire on an already-dead enemy they still get credit for the assist.