Metal Slug 9 - The Great Beyond (Lord Moogoo)

Overview
Metal Slug 9, also known as Metal Slug IX, The Great Beyond is a sequel title to Metal Slug 8, which had received critical acclaim. It is published by SNK Playmore and Tencent. Tencent had pledged that there would be no microtransactions to the game.

The game has added some new gameplay elements, including some puzzle sections, some platforming sections and infiltration missions. It also gives some split paths, allowing for new replays based on the planets you fought at. You can also buy cosmetics for your characters.

The story looks at how the revived Ptolemaios, an ancient god from Metal Slug 5 had managed to create a new order, harnessing the power of the enslaved people of the planets. He's using them to power his army, with the help of the Martians who were promised protection from the Invaders to take over the Earth and enslave those pesky inhabitants of the Earth ! And now, General Morden landed right into his trap.

Now, the regular army will have to take to space, travel across different alien planets to reach the unknown Ancient Planet before Ptolemaios reawakens the True Elder, the one ultimate being that will rewrite history. And who knows, it seems that Abigail, the rebel leader on Earth has a crush on Trevor Spacey, a regular army recruit. Maybe change would be possible !

Chapter 1 - Time for a break !
The world is recovering after the events of Metal Slug 8, with the collapse of the Amadeus Satellite Cannon. It seems the White Baby virus is gone, saving all the technology on the planet. The remnants of the Amadeus army had surrendered to the regular army.

The world is celebrating the return of the regular forces, and it seems like world peace is finally at last !

Marco, Tarma, Eri, Fio and the gang return back to the earth, much to the celebration of all. The president comes and gives them war badges, along with a tasty feast ! It seems that the new generation of peace is finally here, with so many strong strikes against the rebel army. It seemed that General Morden was missing in action, and presumed dead. However, they still needed to do some cleanup missions, aware that a change of the rebel armies leadership could present new challenges.

The rebel army on the Earth, was lead by Abigail, who had started a coup against general Morden. She is frustrated, knowing the state of her army and how the alliance with the Amadeus syndicate had failed. To supply their army, she knew they would need resources and manpower. Not just ones on the Earth, but ones from outer space. But, as of now, they had to play the defensive against the regular army.

Chapter 2 - The Darkening Of The Clouds
Without any threat by the rebel army, citizens rejoiced, some after being subjugated to Morden's reign of terror. He had always said he wanted to curb corruption, but ironically, with all the mistreatment by the rebel army actually increased corruption. They were so grateful for the return to a true democracy.

The next few months later, the weather begins to get unpredictable. People assumed it was global warming, but something was not quite right. For example, the Moon had turned bright green, the sun was moving slower and meteor strikes began to skyrocket. Something was very wrong, and the regular army quickly tasked Trevor Spacey, a skilled technician to investigate the weather with his mobile satellite.

Meanwhile, on an Alien planet, General Morden and his army had crash landed into an alien planet and set up a small base. Morden is scouting the alien planet on his space buggy made out of the rocket scrap. He's going to look for materials to rebuild his rocket and get back to the Earth. Unfortunately for him, he goes to pick up something that looks like an apple, but it turns out to be a trap.

Towers pop out of the ground, with sirens and searchlights. He screams, and tries to drive away but is quickly cornered by some of his old friends, the Martians.

They aren't pleased to see him, given his costly interactions with them. They take him and his army deep into an alien lab, surrounded by mysterious cloaked members. Giant vats of liquid and creatures lie in the vat. In a dark corridor, sitting on a throne is Ptolemaios, sitting with a grin. He offers Morden to help him take over the world, crushing those pathetic P.F. Squadron members who defeated him once before in Metal Slug 5. Perhaps he might let him live. For now.

With the help of the Martians, Ptolemaios had constructed large space bases, enslaving other alien planets, including some similar to the Earth itself. Once they garner enough power, they were able to awaken the true elder. No one knew of it's power, but it was written in the manuscripts of all species, including the martians. While they were initially scared and afraid to side with the Ptolemaic army, Ptolemaios saw potential in them and offered them protection from their natural predator, the Invaders. While their Invader Queen was killed, the Invader King on that alien planet swore revenge. Amongst those aliens was the professor, the leader of the aliens who also had a common goal of conquering Earth.

Now, what were they going to do with General Morden ?

"Perfect" thought Ptolemaios. He was going to use the Alien's cloning machine to duplicate a fake Alien Morden who was going to broadcast himself to the Earth, claiming that he was planning to destroy the Earth. He was going to send the decoy to a small, unimportant planet far away to distract all the regular and rebel forces, while he could direct his forces straight towards the weaker defended Earth. It would buy him more time to unleash the Elder One. Then, they were going to send Morden and soldiers to an alien sweatshop to work and produce weaponry. They even found blueprints from the Amadeus syndicate and fused alien weaponry with machinery into a new breed of powerful weapons.

If only there were someone to rescue Morden...

Chapter 3 - Cleaning Up The Rebels on Earth
Deep in the snowy mountains, a small battalion of rebel soldiers were wandering. They came across large footsteps and saw a cave. Hungry and cold, they headed towards the cave for warmth. However, as they made their way into the cave, there was a large shadow at the end. To their shock, they found a large sized muscular man who had grown a beard. He was looking at the waterfall on the other side of the cave, deep in thought. He had wrapped himself in a big cast, from battle injuries. The rebels cautiously approached the man. To their shock, it was none other than Allen O Neil who had spent months after being hit by a rocket from Metal Slug 8. He had seemed to have changed in personality. He seemed less aggressive and more calm. It was an odd departure of his usual persona. He had turned around and asked simply where General Morden was. After being told that he was missing in action and that he was no longer the general, he wasn't furious. He just nodded and turned back to the waterfall. When offered by the rebels to join them to the rebel camp, he did not move and was left in silence.

Meanwhile, the regular army had received reports that the weather was being controlled by a machine in a rebel army base, based on Trevor's report. He had detected their IP address. Unfortunately for them, they did not know this was a trap to cause chaos between the regular and rebel armies and distract them from the true threat from space. It seems that a Ptolemaic spy, called Dragunov had tampered with the signaling of the rebel base. With the help of her ally Yoshino, she used her fast movement speed to confuse the rebel guards there before defeating them.

The regular army immediately mobilized and headed towards the rebel base. They battled some rebel armies guarding the facility. Abigail wanted to secure the facility, unaware that her base had been sabotaged by Ptolemaic Spies. Even worse, alien clones of rebel soldiers loyal to the Ptolemaic army were popping everywhere (thanks to the Martian technology). The regular army was able to capture the facility, but to their shock found that the weather was still going chaotic, despite Trevor's findings. They knew something was very wrong. When Abigail attempted to escape, she was ambushed by some Ptolemaic soldiers who had hurt her. She was rescued by the regular army paramedics. She was interrogated, but refused to say anything. However, the regular army sent in Trevor to interrogate her, and she reluctantly talked to him. She had told him about her assailants, giving the regular army good information that the Ptolemaic army was active.