Metal Slug Defense - How to rescue the Prisoners of War (POW)?

Previously, i have mentioned that the rescue of POW (Prisoners of War) is still a myth as it isn't stated clearly how to do that. Then, after some trials and errors, i here deduce that it isn't a 'random' rescue. Instead, the POW could be saved if you meet the 'hidden conditions' of defeating the stages.

P.S (before you comment):
The conditions of the POW rescues stated in this post MAY apply only to the Metal Slug Defense of the version before 1.5.0. If you have something to add on, please proceed to the latest post here (v1.8.0).

Before that, let's see how far i have reached:

.... And many more....

Yeah! I have completed World 1, World 2 and World 3! (Including all Emergency Areas)

World 1 Completed

World 2 Completed

*****UPDATED (2014-07-10)*****
*Thanks for all your feedback for the points here*

Below shows the summary of the conditions to save the POWs in the Metal Slug Defense game. Each condition might only allow you to rescue 1 POW. So you might play the same stage again and again to rescue the others.

• DO NOT activate soldiers' skill (Yup, it is the glowing lights on the soldiers. Suppress yourself from the temptation. lol. You will be surprised that the chances of saving the POW would be greatly increased. Suspected stages: World 1 stage 1-1, 3-2, 3-4, 7-1, etc) 

• Minimum Casualties (or NO casualties) (At the beginning stage, you may use the Sandbag strategically to minimize the casualties to 0.   After you have unlocked or purchased more powerful units, you may use those high-HP units while reducing the low-HP units in the battle) 

• Minimum soldiers summoned (Don't unleash all your soldiers on the deck infinitely. If impossible, reduce your soldiers amount to as minimum as possible in order to save the POW. Suspected stage: World 1 stage 5-3 (around 7 soldiers for my case) )

• Minimum soldiers types summoned (It is observed that in some stages, you may only use limited soldier types in order to save the POW. Suspected stage: World 1 stage 6-2 (only summon Marco, Eri and Sandbag, or just 2 types) )

• Time consumption (This is the most common requirement - defeat the stage AS FAST AS POSSIBLE. With the new updates, you may take the "Rank S" as the reference. Usually, you can experiment this condition as the first priority after having all the HOME and UNIT upgraded to the Max)

• Do not upgrade "AP Buildup speed" during combat (The Rumi Aikawa, on the bottom left. We tend to upgrade the AP buildup initially. But sometimes it requires us not to tap on it in order to save the POW. Suspected stage: World 1 stage 6-4, 7-4, World 2 stage 1-1)

• Do not use sandbag  (Sandbag is a great defense, especially when you haven't upgraded your troops sufficiently. But you might not need it any more once you own more powerful units. The chances of rescuing the POW could be increased without the sandbag. Suspected stage: World 1 stage 9-2)

• Metal Slug Attack activation (It is definitely one of our favorite weapons to effectively crush the enemies. But in some stages, you might not use it for the sake of POW saving )

• Maximum One unit per soldier type on your deck (Thanks for some Metal Slug Defense maniacs here for proving that this condition is effective in the POW rescue. Yup, tap your soldiers never more than once on the deck during the combat)

• DO NOT summon the bought soldiers (To be more precise, you may only use the basic units, such as Marco, Eri, etc. Suspected stages: World 1 stage 9-5, and many others in World 2) 

• Only use Blue Soldier (and Metal Slug Attack > 3 times)  (This is the strangest observation made. But surprisingly it does help rescue the POW ... Suspected Stages: World 2 stage 5-1, stage 5-2, stage 10-4)

• Defeat the BOSS first (eg: giant tanks, etc) before the enemies' portal  (Here, the BOSS may be anything with larger-than-usual sizes (eg: tanks, lobster, etc). The approach is, to wait until the BOSS moves out of the portal completely before you unleash the soldiers' skills. )

• Defeat the portal first before the BOSS (This is the opposite with the point above. Before the Boss moves out of the portal, destroy the portal with the soldiers' skill. Suspected stage: World 2 stage 6-4)

Some other game variations suggested by other players that you might want to experiment on (which i haven't tested)

• Only summon machines, but no walking soldiers
• Fully upgrade "AP Buildup speed" 

Then you might be asking "Are you crazy? Nobody got time for that!".

I feel the same. So, to reduce the sortie amounts consumed and my time, i tend to test on multiple conditions at the same time.

Especially now there is a new Daily Boss Challenge introduced. Both time and sortie points are running out easily. Here's my order of experiment (Except the third 'Hell' Boss stage):

1. Use only minimum Trevor. (while using it, i tend to 'Not Upgrade AP buildup', 'Not activate skills', and 'Not activate Metal Slug Attack'). I assume Trevor as a bought unit should also be able to meet the conditions with the similar effects. If the stages are too strong to beat (such that i am forced to activate the skills, then i would further experiment on that later.
2. Test on both 'Basic Units' and 'Minimum soldier types', Such as Fio, Marco, Eric.
3. Test on 'Time Consumption', by using the strongest troops ever on my deck.
4. Use only 1 soldier per unit type 
5. ...

In the Boss stage, I would go for 'Time Consumption' factor first. Then, gradually, I test on the minimum troops and casualties.

I believe this approach would save some time.

Trevor: Highest HP among the non-machine soldiers. Fast Movement. Low AP Cost. Long Attack. Very High Attack. Special ability is to jump backward while unleashing more attacks.

*Thanks to 'dneng' for the info. Trevor is indeed an awesome unit that is worth a try.


Just one thing for sure, you got to upgrade your HOME and UNIT from time to time, so that you can use the minimum resources and soldiers to defeat a stage. Apart from that, you are more able to use different approaches and strategies to destroy the enemies for the sake of the POW rescue.

Before coming to an end, last but not least, you may also use the Bonus item 'Radar' to 100% rescue the POW. lol

*To avoid you from getting drowned in the comments below, here's a quick list of specific stages that you might want to refer to, based on the game play experience from other players. (Thanks again for all the contributors' efforts). Search their names on this page to reach their comments faster...

World 1 stage 2-2: Rami Civil
World 1 stage 3-1: wakamolee
World 1 stage 3-4, 4-3, 4-4, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4: Hugo
World 1 stage 6-3, 7-1: Gregz Amorim
World 1 stage 7-1: Jhon Li
World 1 stage 7-2, 7-3, 8-2: Hoong Yi
World 1 stage 7-2: 김민섭
World 1 stage 7-1, 7-2, 7-3, 7-4, 8-1, 8-3, 8-4, 8-5, 9-1, 9-2, 9-3, 9-4, 9-5, 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, 10-4: Hugo
World 1 stage 7-1, 7-2, 7-3, 8-3: Ben Castanon
World 1 stage 7-3, 7-4, 8-1: Franz Eubanque Corsini
World 1 stage 9-4, 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, 11-1, 11-2, 11-3: Aeron
World 1 stage 9-5: Aeron, Lui Viayra
World 1 stage 10-4: Reddustgamer d
World 2 stage 10-4: gApcH
World 2 stage 11-1: Evil Greebo


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3. Metal Slug Defense Wifi VS Mode 
4. Metal Slug Defense World 3 V1.4.0 
5. Metal Slug Defense World 3 V1.5.0 - Southern Brazil and China
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10. Metal Slug Defense Fourth Map V1.8.0
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