quick!
This was Masahiro Sakurai's strongest feeling after actually playing the game.
In today's diverse gaming landscape, side-scrolling shooters are nothing new.
Trying to make something special out of this is harder than climbing to heaven.
However, even under such conditions, GAMENOVA casually produced a solution that broke through the limits.
"The controls are responsive, the animations are fluid and smooth, and the frame rate is consistently high—this—this is really a game from 1988??"
If the game hadn't responded promptly to every single one of his inputs, Masahiro Sakurai would have thought he was watching a new cutscene.
It was so smooth and fluid.
Not to mention the significant improvement in image resolution.
At the end of this 8-bit era, the greater colors and higher resolutions offered by 16-bit graphics cards, as seen in Gamenova, were not yet fully widespread in Japan.
For today's gamers, Metal Slug's resolution is absolutely astonishing and top-tier.
This isn't mosaic; it's real pixel art!
The difference in visual quality is so obvious that anyone with even a little knowledge can clearly see it with the naked eye.
Take Contra for example; it was clearly designed from the outset with the idea of simply extracting features.
Metal Slug is clearly not like that.
It first designed complete character illustrations for all the necessary animations, vehicles, characters, bullets, etc., and then specially converted them into this pixel style.
If we were to define several stages in the development of 2D game graphics, Masahiro Sakurai has his own unique insights.
The first stage is dancing in shackles.
Within the limits of available capabilities, do your best to achieve the maximum.
The second stage is to break the shackles.
As the name suggests, with the rapid advancement of hardware, it allows you to completely liberate yourself and unleash your desires.
In this context, Masahiro Sakurai, after seeing Metal Slug, realized that perhaps beyond this seemingly perfect world, there exists a completely new realm.
They voluntarily put on shackles.
No, it's that the shackles were turned into a choker, making it a fun little element in the game.
Pixel art style!
Although it lacks the clarity of high-definition textures, it possesses a strong visual impact.
This tension, combined with the ultra-fast gaming pace enabled by the ATHENA Processor, creates a wonderful chemical reaction, producing an effect greater than one million times the sum of its parts.
"Put-put-put-put----"
Masahiro Sakurai pressed the fire button, and Marco's pistol spewed fire wildly, unleashing a barrage of bullets.
As the bullets fly out, the muzzle flashes and realistic recoil effects play out.
You can even see spent cartridge cases being ejected backward.
As the saying goes, the layman sees the spectacle, while the expert sees the details.
If someone else were to see this, their attention would naturally be drawn to the incredibly detailed firing animation.
However, Masahiro Sakurai, having made games on the NES himself, focused entirely on the bullets flying out of the machine.
"How is this possible??"
The bullets were continuous and dense, moving at a speed that was almost impossible for the eyes to process.
This would have been impossible in the past.
Masahiro Sakurai has worked on side-scrolling games before, so he knows very well how they would perform on the NES.
Let alone so many bullets moving at the same high speed.
Even a single bullet moves in a fragmented way, with each frame showing only a tiny bit of movement.
"This is practically alien technology!"
This level of smoothness is something even arcade games can't achieve.
After finally calming down, Masahiro Sakurai had the opportunity to pay attention to the details he had just overlooked.
What attracts the most attention is, of course, the almost uninterrupted sound effects.
Whether it's firing a gun or hitting an enemy, close-quarters combat, the enemy's entrance and death sound effects, the sound effects of picking up dropped items, and so on...
Sound effects filled every corner from the very beginning of the game.
Despite this, it didn't feel out of place to him at all; the sound effects blended extremely harmoniously with the game itself.
It's as if this is how it should feel on a battlefield.
The air was filled with the sounds of artillery fire, and enemy bombs and air Support were also coming from time to time.
One wrong step and you'll be killed by the intense barrage of fire.
"Heavy Machine Gun!"
Marco suddenly pulled a heavy machine gun out of his pocket.
The firepower, which was previously somewhat insufficient, was suddenly increased dramatically.
The bullet textures for the heavy machine gun have been modified, making them appear longer than pistol bullets.
In addition, both the rate of fire and damage are increased.
Visually, the bullets appeared to form a single line.
Whoever gets hit on the head by this chain of bullets will die instantly.
"Nani?"
I didn't expect it to be even faster!
Oh, so what we just saw wasn't the limit of Metal Slug? It was just the beginning??
"Hey bro, this is so awesome?"
This short initial level was already making Masahiro Sakurai feel so good he was oblivious to the world around him.
As for his insights into the game or his feelings after playing it, he couldn't think of anything for the time being.
But that adrenaline-pumping, heart-pounding physiological response doesn't lie.
That was awesome!
Pure, unadulterated pleasure, without any unnecessary impurities.
The only thing I need to do is to use all kinds of weapons to blast the enemy to smithereens.
Whether driving various mechanical vehicles or wielding heavy machine guns, flamethrowers, grenade launchers, and rockets—
This kind of setting, strictly speaking, was already designed in the original Contra.
Can----
It's different!
A flamethrower can indeed spew out a huge ball of flame that engulfs the enemy.
The missile launcher can actually fire a rocket that tracks the enemy.
Each weapon has very distinct characteristics, unlike the simple differences in bullet characteristics found in Contra.
He didn't have a lot of ammo, but even with Marco, a character with a relatively low ammo limit, he could still have a replacement weapon or vehicle to use almost throughout the entire game.
Of course, this is all predicated on the assumption that you can guarantee you won't die.
However, this is really nothing to Masahiro Sakurai.
I'm a super pro at playing two-player games and battling it out using two controllers.
The more familiar Masahiro Sakurai became with the game's design, the clearer one thing became.
This so-called ammo capacity design is basically just a scare tactic for newbies!
As long as you can complete the game in one life, you'll have more bullets than you need.
Using all sorts of weapons in different ways is incredibly fun.
It felt so good it made my scalp tingle!
A massive war machine pressed closer and closer on the pontoon bridge, chasing Marco was now within arm's reach.
Every now and then, companions would appear ahead, providing Support equipment.
It could be a launcher, or it could be a heavy machine gun.
However, Masahiro Sakurai didn't care what it was; he just picked up whatever he could find and, with his eyes closed, started blasting bullets into the mecha.
His eyes were now fixed on the Frenzy hail of bullets and the rapidly increasing score.
Thanks to its inherent 32-bit compatibility, this machine can easily process numbers that were previously unimaginable without the need for specially prepared large-scale chips.
The score increases by hundreds or even thousands of points at a time.
This kind of simple, direct numerical stimulation is constantly bombarding Masahiro Sakurai's fragile senses.
It's as if one's worldview is being constantly reshaped.
boom!"
With a deafening explosion, the war machine finally halted its pursuit, blasting into scrap metal within a massive fireball.
Thank you for visiting!
This demo has now ended. Official release date: ----
[Return to title screen?]
Masahiro Sakurai, holding the controller, stared blankly at the pop-up window that suddenly appeared in front of him.
What does it mean to express gratitude for a visit?
That's it?
How could it end here?!
When a player who has never experienced a truly high-speed 32-bit game is bombarded with such an exaggeratedly massive amount of cheap dopamine, they suddenly interrupt the game—
The consequence is a typical withdrawal reaction.
Itchy!
It's so frustratingly itchy!
I can't wait to play through the later content, no matter the cost.
Don't tell me that addiction is bad, and don't tell me that it lacks depth.
SHUTFUCKUP!
Labor and management just want to have fun!
"Yes, yes, I can play through it again, and I can also try out a different character."
Masahiro Sakurai's eyes suddenly lit up.
Hey, why are you so conflicted?
Even though I can't play the later levels, I can still enjoy it all over again!
But before he could choose a role, he heard a deliberate, light cough from behind him.
"Ahem—friend, please queue Civilization and follow the rules."
Masahiro Sakurai shuddered and turned around abruptly.
Only then did I realize that a long queue had formed behind me.
What are they here for?
Is there even a need to ask?
Masahiro Sakurai swallowed hard, forcefully prying his other hand, which was still gripping the handle tightly, away from his craving and forcing himself to get up from his seat.
Looking at the flow of people coming and going, and the cassette still inserted in the machine.
Suddenly, Masahiro Sakurai felt a little tired.
Not about this groundbreaking game.
It's for FC.
For the 8-bit era, for the 16-bit era.
I'm tired.
This is the real game.
This is what I really want to do!
No wonder!
Masahiro Sakurai suddenly slapped his thigh.
No wonder I always felt that the NES wasn't fun and I couldn't feel the enjoyment of games.
Although there were works that he found pleasing to the eye, there was never a single work that truly touched his heart.
Today, I finally found the answer to this question.
My standards were too high.
"I can no longer make games for the NES, nor for the SFC—"
Masahiro Sakurai's idea of dropping out of school to pursue a career in gaming was now fully realized thanks to a surge of dopamine.
"I want to make games for Genesis-NEO!"
My scalp is tingling!
It's so refreshing it makes my scalp tingle!