Atlus has fessed up to being the publisher for SNK’s Metal Slug XX on the PSP after the ESRB did their best to ruin the surprise early as per usual. I’d taken it on faith some months ago that the title would be brought over by Ignition, but it seems the love affair between those two is on hiatus.

Maybe this works out well since Ignition has gained so many more loves during 2009, and Atlus has a lot of work ahead of them besting the insane volume of games they published last year.

The important thing is that Metal Slug XX will be hitting North America on February 23, 2010 for $19.99. The second most important thing is that Metal Slug XX supports 2-player adhoc cooperative play. This is entirely important when anyone asks why I’m excited about playing an enhanced Metal Slug 7, to which my answer is – LOCAL ADHOC COOPERATIVE PLAY! It also helps that I never picked up the DS release of 7, and haven’t gotten to play Metal Slug on the go since my NGPC required me to stand directly beneath the sun to do so.

XX also kicks in a 70+ mission-based trials combat school just for good measure.