Japonese Tank Soldier

Japanese Tank Soldier
Information
Primary Weapons	Cannon
Secondary Weapons	None
Factions	Japanese Army
Health	Medium
Game Appearances
First Game	Metal Slug 3
Last Game	Metal Slug Attack
Game(s)	Metal Slug 3 Metal Slug Defense Metal Slug Attack
Sprite

The Japanese Tank Soldier is the primary and only type of tank remaining of the Division 6.

Information

This kind of tank was frequently used by the soldiers of the Division 6 before they went into hiding. However, due to gasoline shortages in their hideout, they removed the engine, the tracks and the two bottom wheels to resort to manpower. These tanks consist of three soldiers; two carrying the tank and one acting as the commander.

The tank commander always issues a loud charge before firing. Only 4 tanks are seen and fought in the Japanese hideout.

The description given by the artist Max.D just below the tank's artwork says: "When this tank takes damages, it occasionally bleeds. It is alive. After all, the enemy’s name isn’t just “Tank” – it's “Tank Soldier”. If you look closely, the bottom half shows 2 Japanese soldiers. It somehow feels kinda stupid. Even these comments have gotten kinda stupid..."

Tactics

The tank works similarly to the Girida-O, only with a few differences.

The 2 soldiers carrying the tank tend to often stop and stay idle for a moment after moving the tank or after it fired. This leaves the player with a bit of time to attack the tank without having the fear of being knocked over or shot by it.

Since the commander of the tank can fully and clearly see the player, the tank is capable to shoot cannon balls more precisely than any other type of tanks at the player. As said earlier, the tank commander will always let out a charge before firing, which can be useful to the player by letting them know when the tank will fire.

Since the tank doesn't have any tracks left, it cannot run over the player and kill them. It will instead bump into them and knock them unconscious for a moment. The player will then lose any weapon equipped and will wield their standard issue pistol.

Trivia

• This is the fastest moving tank in the Metal Slug franchise, due to the fact that the 2 soldiers carrying it can still run as fast as the soldiers from the infantry.
• The first Japanese Tank Soldier encountered has considerably less health than other tanks seen later in the hideout.
• The Japanese characters on the sides of the tank means "six", symbolizing its division's number
• It's based on the Japanese tank Type 95 "Ha-Go".
• It is missing from Metal Slug X's data, even though the Japanese Infantry and the Null Fighter are both in it.