Weird question: Can I get red blood in Metal Slug?

[erictrumpet]

Hi all,

I love the Metal Slug series of games but the white-colored "blood" from the enemies is really weird. It looks like they are vomiting or something. I figured it must be an attempt to tone down the violence in the game, so I went into the settings and switched around the region and everything else I could think of, with no luck. I never played these games before MAME so I dont know if they ever used red blood in the graphics on any coin-op machines or other platforms. I am not generally a fan of gory games, but I'd rather see cartoonish red blood than milky white puke when I kill an enemy. The sound they make when they die sounds like puking too. Heck, the Metal Slug games are so wacky that maybe they are supposed to be puking. Told ya it was a weird question!

Eric.

[rlemmon]

Hi. If your using a front end like mame 32 You can turn on the blood option through the service menu. Once the game is loaded press f2 to enter the s. menu.  Then select setting up the soft dip ( slot 1) That's were you'll find the game options including blood . 
You will find alot of games that have a service menus including all of the neo geo games. 

[TOK]

I'm using an older version of MAME (.84), but the DIP settings are accessible via the Tab key regardless of front end.

[rlemmon]

The service menu settings are in addition to the regular dip switches available by using the tab key. They are part of the pcb's software on some arcade games, not physical switches. 

[TOK]

I misunderstood the Tab vs. F2 part... I thought the stuff from the service menu was available from the Tab menu. Thanks for setting it straight.

[Quarters]

The F2 service menu works on plain old command line MAME also.

[erictrumpet]

Thanks guys. I knew it had to be in there somewhere. I already knew how to get into the service mode (using TAB, my usual method although there are others), but I just couldn't find the game options: blood, difficulty, etc. It was under "Setting up the soft dip" where I hadn't looked -- thanks rlemmon! Thanks everyone else too, for the help.

Eric.

[Crowquill]

Actually you can't just hit Tab. That brings up the options that actually use a dip switch on the main NEO-GEO PCB. Pressing the Service button will bring up a list of options that can be changed in the software itself. It's kind of like an options screen in a console game.

Step-by-step blood:

1. Press the service switch (F2 by default in MAME)
2. Use the joystick/arrow keys to move through the options. Button 1 selects options, Button 3 backs up a level.
3. From the service menu select "SETTING UP THE SOFT DIP"
4. Select "SLOT1 METAL SLUG"
5. Select the BLOOD option and press button 1 to cycle through.
6. Press button 3 to back out to the main service menu and select EXIT. The game will restart with the new options enabled.

You can also set options like 99 lives from this menu. You can even set the game to display Portugese as the language  

All NEO-GEO games have this menu. For that matter, most games made after 1988 or so use some type of a software setup.

[erictrumpet]

Yeah come to think of it I had to hit F2 directly to get into there, not through the Tab key. I just say "TAB" in a generic sense whenever I access any settings in-game...

Eric.

[rlemmon]

Im glad you got it working, It's just not the same without the blood. 

[severdhed]

thank you for bringing up this thread.  I love playing metal slug games, and i often wondered why the blood was white...i didnt know it could be changed.

on that note...im off to play metal slug...with blood!!!!

[erictrumpet]

How surprising, a person whose forum username is "severdhed" and whose avatar is the bloody floating death head demon from Doom likes to see BLOOD in his games!

Eric.