Metal Slug Tactics lives up to its stone-cold classic namesake from SNK’s golden era with its painstakingly detailed pixel art, head-bopping soundtrack, and snappy structure. It magnificently translates the run-n-gun series into its first turn-based tactics game, but doesn’t sacrifice substance for cheap nostalgia, either. Aside from a few annoying quality-of-life issues and bugs, Metal Slug Tactics’ excellent retro-inspired shell houses a well-made, distinct, grid-based tactics roguelite that cleverly adapts its frantic roots into a more orderly genre without missing a step.

Like pretty much every mainline Metal Slug game (the most recent being 2009’s Metal Slug 7), Tactics puts you in command of the Peregrine Falcons, an elite fighting force within The Normal Army. This spin-off takes full advantage of Metal Slug’s legions of varied enemy types, distinct locations, expansive arsenal, and fleet of awesome vehicles. Sprinkle in clever spins on series mainstays, like rescuing hostages to add some extra objectives on the battlefield, and it’s not hard to see why this seeming left turn was a logical next step.