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In his latest video, retro computing and arcade preservationist lukemorse1 takes us on a nostalgia-filled journey to 1991, running Gun Force: Battle Fire Engulfed Terror Island on actual, original Irem M92 arcade hardware. For retro-gaming historians, this particular title holds legendary status; it is the direct mechanical and artistic precursor to the iconic Metal Slug series.
The Metal Slug DNA
Developed by Irem in 1991, Gun Force featured run-and-gun gameplay, vehicle hijacking, and stylized pixel-art animations that feel immediately familiar. When the core development team at Irem later departed to form Nazca Corporation, they took these exact concepts, sound design cues, and explosive animations and refined them into the SNK classic Metal Slug. Seeing Gun Force running on original, physical hardware brings these historical similarities to life in stunning detail.
Preserving the Silicon: ROMs and EPROMs
Running classic arcade boards from this era is a labor of love that increasingly faces the challenge of time. Irem’s M92 platform relies heavily on numerous Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM) chips to store the game’s code, graphics patterns, and sound data. As these boards approach nearly four decades of age, arcade collectors and repair enthusiasts must constantly battle “ROM rot” — the slow degradation of charge stored on the silicon.
For arcade preservationists diving into diagnostic and repair work, having a reliable programmer is crucial for reading, dumping, and burning replacement EPROMs. If you are servicing your own classic arcade boards or homebrew electronics, tools like iMania’s own Relatively Universal ROM Programmer (RURP) kit offer an exceptional way to handle these legacy ICs, ensuring that gaming history remains playable on real hardware.
Check out the full gameplay demonstration on lukemorse1’s channel below to see this piece of arcade history in action!
