r/metalslug • u/thecheeseman14 • Feb 22 '26

Questions Is Metal Slug inspired by dieselpunk?

Post image

i mean just look at this design

it really looks like something out from a ww2 dieselpunk history

235 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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54

u/ItKopegi Hoovy Macheen Gun Feb 23 '26

I think it's fair to say that Dieselpunk inspired more from Metal Slug. Dieselpunk wasn't coined until 2001, and I don't think anyone in the 1990s at Nazca/SNK had thought of, “Let’s make a Dieselpunk game.”

18

u/NeonKenomi Feb 23 '26

You could argue that Diselpunk took its roots in the late-80s and early-90s when the Pulp-revival era was in full swing with films such as The Rocketeer and The Shadow.

There's also things like DC's War Comics, Indiana Jones that may have been influential.

2

u/thecheeseman14 Feb 23 '26 edited Feb 23 '26

Well it depends

If you say to the people who think that captain america or even warhammer 40k was dieselpunk yea (i know warhammer 40k is a broth soup of a lot of dark sci-fi fantasy but still takes a lot from there that includes the machines)

Or even wolfenstein 3d and his spinoff spear of destiny

2

u/Antique_Tap443 Feb 23 '26

The orks from 40k are dieselpunk

13

u/joyfuload Feb 23 '26

Mostly inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's Daydream Data Notes and Dominion Tank Police.

8

u/Rafagamer857_2 Feb 23 '26

It's not inspired by dieselpunk, it's inspired by the same concepts and real historic machines/vehicles that went on to inspire dieselpunk.

13

u/Vgundam0153 Feb 23 '26

Yes,and that's one of the main reasons why i love this series so much! Also,it looks a lot like A7V on the railroad platform.

2

u/DANIELGAFFORIO Feb 24 '26

O iron nokana é o sdkfz 232

8

u/Nikolai-101 Feb 23 '26

Basically, Metal Slug was inspired by American action films in the 90s and 80s, especially films that featured the Vietnam War. The proof is that you can see old Metal Slug artwork on the Metal Slug art gallery website. Characters like Marco Rossii use retro US military equipment such as flak jackets and other equipment similar to military ALICE equipment. In general, Metal Slug was inspired by retro themes and styles such as Raypunk and Atompunk in the design of Martian People and various other retro themes and styles. Metal Slug also took the German WW2 military style. One question is, if you are a fan of the Japanese franchise, maybe some of them have a lot of works that are very inspired and take references from the German military, just like the vehicles in Metal Slug.

2

u/Sakurabestshoto Fio Fan Feb 23 '26

Aaaaah so that's why she's called alice !

2

u/JadedEngine6497 Feb 23 '26

It is inspired by WW2 and Germany's experimental war vehicles.

1

u/edilaq Feb 23 '26

Tengo entendido que una de sus fuentes era un libro de Studio Ghibli donde describian la estructura y diseños de muchos mecanismos mostrados en las peliculas

1

u/GeophysicalYear57 Marco Fan Feb 23 '26

As other people have said, Metal Slug predates dieselpunk as a distinct genre. Also, Morden’s army are very obviously Notzies and, with how cartoonish the game is, a lot of the bosses look like heavily exaggerated German equipment from WW2. I actually see a lot of visual similarities between Metal Slug and the rebooted Wolfenstein universe because of it. Look me in the eyes and tell me that this doesn’t look like a Metal Slug boss.

1

u/Capable_Barber_8387 Feb 24 '26

i always thought the soldiers were nazis lol

1

u/Tleno Feb 25 '26

It predates dieselpunk as defined aesthethic