Bite the Bullet Is Metal Slug Meets Kirby, and It’s Getting an Arcade Cabinet

If you like arcadey action-platform shooters (think Contra), then Mega Cat’s upcoming pixel-art game Bite the Bullet should definitely be on your radar. On the surface, the game looks like it plays much like Metal Slug. Your pixelated character will run from left to right and blast stuff with an arsenal of absurdly powerful weapons. However, there are a few twists that you might not expect.

Twist number one: You can eat any enemy in the game (even bosses). Yes, I said eat, which adds a Kirby-like element that justifies the word Bite in the title. However, rather than stealing enemy powers, scarfing down a baddie gives you fat, calories, and protein. These are resources that can be spent on weapon mods and upgrades. And that brings us to another twist.

Twist number two: The game has an RPG-like upgrade system. This includes weapon upgrades, which we already mentioned, as well as perks and skill trees. Skill trees work based on the type of food you consume. For example, there’s a vegan skill tree, as well as a meat-only skill tree.

All of this sounds amazing. Bite the Bullet takes an age-old premise and layers on some RPG-like complexity that arcadey games tend to lack. If this plays as nicely as it looks in the gameplay videos, Bite the Bullet could end up being a seriously addictive game.

Bite the Bullet is set to release in 2020 (it’s a vague release window, I know). It’s coming to Steam, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch to be enjoyed in the comfort of your home, and physical editions are being handled by Strictly Limited Games. However, if you miss the chunky clickity-clacks of old-school arcade machines, you might have a shot at playing this thing in an arcade. Mega Cat is releasing 50 Bite the Bullet arcade cabinets.

That’s not a huge number and we’re not sure how these will be distributed, so the nearest machine might end up being hundreds of miles away. But I’m hoping that one of these ends up in my home town of Minneapolis (which isn’t an unrealistic expectation; we do have a Killer Queen machine in town, after all). I would love to experience Bite the Bullet the way it was meant to be played: on a beefy arcade machine.

If you want more information about the game, check out this three-minute demonstration by the lovely folks at Mega Cat Studios.