Brand new Metal Slug game announced

SNK has announced a brand new Metal Slug game - for mobiles.

The arcade series has been somewhat dormant for over a decade, with ports and re-releases filling the void left in the wake of the release of Metal Slug 7 in 2008.

But things are hotting up in the world of Metal Slug. There is a new console Metal Slug game in the works, apparently due out at some point in 2020, and today SNK announced Metal Slug Code: J (working title), a mobile game developed by Call of Duty: Mobile maker Timi Studios for Chinese megacorp Tencent.

The video, below, gives you an idea how Metal Slug Code: J looks. It has the series trademark run and gun sidescrolling action, with a vibrant art style and lots of bullets all over the screen. It actually looks quite nice, but of course as a mobile game it remains to be seen how it feels to play. You can see a virtual stick and buttons on the screen, as well as a right stick on the weapon icon for twin-stick shooting.

Metal Slug Code: J is very much a brand new Metal Slug game, too, as opposed to a reimagining or new version of an existing game in the series. There's a new ice weapon, for example, as well as some new environmental interactions.

Timi Studios, by the way, is the developer behind the recently-announced free-to-play MOBA Pokémon Unite.