The true spiritual successor to Contra

One week later, early morning.

Despite his family's objections, Masahiro Sakurai resolutely announced his formal retirement from the academic industry and switched jobs to game development next door.

Well, perhaps all of this is just wishful thinking on his part.

No matter how confident you are in your abilities, you still need to go through the normal recruitment process.

GameFreak.

Satoshi Tajiri glanced at the meaningless resume and casually tossed it into the trash can.

"These days, all sorts of weirdos are sending their resumes to us!"

As the manpower shortage gradually eases, GameFreak has been slowly expanding its recruitment channels recently.

Whether it's liaising with Sega or handling their own business, a large number of people are needed.

But this also gave job seekers and pilgrims an opportunity.

Almost every day, tons of resumes are being submitted.

Today was even more outrageous; someone who dropped out of college before finishing their studies came to submit their resume.

"What do you think this place is?!"

Even if you don't need a school with a very high deviation score, you should at least have a university degree, right?

Although the resume mentions that he has published articles in various gaming magazines, this doesn't prove anything at all.

At best, one can only say that he is indeed a hardcore gamer.

The same thing is happening at Sega next door.

However, for Sega, this resume actually has a tiny bit of value.

[Received an Excellence Award at the SEGA GAME SYSTEM Grand Prize]

[Has extensive experience in FAMILYBASIC development]

After all, it's a development competition organized by their own company, so they should at least set a good example.

The section chief, who was already quite old, frowned as he looked at the resume in his hand, which was even a bit formatted incorrectly.

The popularity of Metal Slug exceeded everyone at Sega's expectations.

In just one week, the impact of Metal Slug was terrifying.

Not to mention the players who have gone completely crazy, even job applications are piling up like mountains.

If you randomly flip through a few documents, they all start with Waseda University degrees.

Masahiro Sakurai's resume stood out starkly among the pile of prestigious universities.

"Wins an Excellence Award at the GAME SYSTEM Grand Prize for a self-made shooting game----"

The section chief adjusted his glasses, frowned, and asked his colleague beside him, "Tanaka -san, weren't you in charge of those event-related matters before? Do you remember this guy?"

The GAME SYSTEM Grand Prize were a series of competitions held by Sega in the past to discover talented developers hidden among the general public.

The number of winners is very small, so if this guy actually won the award, it really does say something.

The shooting game's theme happens to match Metal Slug, so maybe someone in the company will actually want him.

"Let me see— Masahiro Sakurai —ah, I remember him."

After a moment's recollection, the colleague matched the handsome young man in his memory with the photo on his resume. "He was only a teenager back then, but he had a really good foundation. It seems he handled the entire development by himself."

"Tsk----"

The section chief rubbed his slightly throbbing temples. "Keep this for now. Ask AM1 or AM10 if they need it, and have them take a look."

What a great kid! Couldn't he have finished his studies before submitting his resume?

Leaving behind a resume like this puts a lot of pressure on you.

This kind of young genius may indeed be more talented than many others, and may actually be able to achieve something great.

However, these types of employees are often the most difficult to manage and the least obedient to discipline.

Moreover, choosing to drop out of school to make games is itself a very impulsive personality trait.

Chiyoda, HAL Laboratory.

This game studio, a direct affiliate of Nintendo, is developing a new title for the Super Famicom (SFC) at the direction of Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi.

Satoru Iwata, who was engrossed in writing code, suddenly shuddered for no apparent reason.

There's a strange feeling in my heart that something of my luck has been stolen from me.

It seems a powerful figure was suddenly poached without my knowledge.

"President Lin, Metal Slug is truly—"

Hayao Nakayama opened his mouth, pondered for a long time, but couldn't find a suitable adjective to describe the feeling this game gave him.

Well...

This is a very un- Japan game.

If Nintendo can truly represent the overall style of Japan games...

However, it perfectly matches Sega's style.

The arcade rhythm and style are abandoned in terms of depth, and all the effort is put into making it more fun to play.

Just like the arcade games Sega made themselves.

As a company that made its fortune through arcade games, Hayao Nakayama was well aware of just how incredibly valuable Metal Slug truly was.

If this were made into an arcade game, there probably wouldn't be any other side-scrolling shooters left in arcades.

"I even had doubts about its sales figures—"

Hayao Nakayama sighed helplessly.

When dealing with Gamenova, many things cannot be predicted according to common sense.

Let alone whether the sales figures will be insufficient.

Currently, Metal Slug's pre-orders have surpassed those of Genesis NEO.

What the hell is going on here??

Why would they buy games if they don't have a console?

Is it just placed there for fun?

"After all, it's the world's first proper 32-bit console game."

Lin Lixin was relatively satisfied with this result.

After all, current sales are entirely from Japan; sales in North America haven't officially started yet.

Achieving sales of one million units during the pre-sale phase is already a top-tier achievement.

This number is already significantly higher than the older Genesis model, which has been on the market for some time.

Lin Lixin smiled; this result was entirely within his expectations.

The success of Metal Slug was inevitable.

Ultimately, it's just a complete remake of what they did during the Contra era.

Contra itself is already a perfect collection of mistakes.

Of course, for Lin Lixin, a time traveler who witnessed the entire process of Contra's rise to its peak and subsequent decline, this understanding would certainly be even more profound.

This product, which should have become another flagship IP for Konami, has almost perfectly followed the wrong path in every step it has taken since.

Perhaps this is what Konami excels at.

Until 1996, Contra was still considered acceptable.

Although it has never had the terrifying influence of the original, each one can still be considered excellent.

Super Contra, Contra Spirits, Contra Force, and Contra: Hard Corps on the Sega MD.

Each and every one of them is a masterpiece among side-scrolling action shooting games.

However, in the mid-to-late 1990s, the emergence of fifth-generation game consoles changed everyone's thinking.

Whether it was Sony, the absolute king of the 90s, and its PS1, or Nintendo's N64 and Sega's Saturn, they all possessed the ability to be 3D.

Sony's PS1, in particular, with its powerful graphics capabilities, directly sparked a massive wave of 3D technology.

Riding this wave of opportunity, Konami, blinded by greed, unsurprisingly fell into this seemingly sweet trap.

The 3D version of Contra: Legacy of War in 1996 was poorly executed, riddled with problems and of very low quality.

One wrong step leads to another.

After this setback, the Contra development team seemed to have had their spines broken, and they were never able to produce a decent game again.

The 1998 sequel reverted to a side-scrolling format but retained the 3D rendering style. Unfortunately, the combat experience was poorly designed and unsatisfactory.

In 2002, although it managed to regain some of its former flavor, it still failed to turn around its reputation.

I thought this might be the beginning of the production team figuring things out and getting back on track.

Unexpectedly, just two years later in 2004, the new work was once again in 3D, and it was still a 3D top-down perspective.

The story continues...

There's really nothing more to say then.

It wasn't until a mysterious penguin from the East finally intervened that the last bit of value in this IP was completely squeezed out.

Looking at the history of Contra, it is indeed a thick collection of mistakes.

It was born in a game wasteland where side-scrolling action shooters did not yet exist, and it ushered in a golden age of side-scrolling beat 'em ups.

But upon closer examination of its design, aside from its groundbreaking nature, it may indeed fall short in terms of core capabilities.

If we really want to find a worthy successor to it, a true spiritual successor.

Metal Slug might be the most suitable candidate.

Thinking of this, Lin Lixin's expression became slightly serious.

For an IP to thrive in the long run, innovation alone is not enough.

It must truly possess the essence that those imitators cannot learn.

"In any case, President Nakayama, now is not the time to Panasonic."

Lin Lixin raised his head and looked at Hayao Nakayama in front of him.

With Nintendo Super Mario Bros. and a host of excellent third-party titles at its disposal, it's unrealistic to expect Nintendo to turn things around with just one game.

"GenesisNEO cannot be a Metal Slug launcher. We need to work harder to win this battle."

"I understand. I've already arranged for Sega headquarters to begin the porting process."

Hayao Nakayama nodded, neither confirming nor denying the point.

We must transfer all the games from the previous generation consoles as soon as possible.

"Yes, that's certainly necessary, but Sega alone can't do it."

Lin Lixin stood up. "GAMENOVA has its own things to do and can't develop games for Sega forever. But we can—poach them."

"Is Chairman Lin referring to a third party?"

Hayao Nakayama's expression tightened, and he had already made some guesses about Nakayama's plan.

Even if you disregard Nintendo's numerous first-party masterpieces, it remains an extremely dangerous competitor.

Because Nintendo's third-party support is just too strong.

Many and strong!

This is the significance of brand appeal.

Almost all of Japan's major manufacturers are under Nintendo's umbrella.

This extreme dominance is the foundation upon which Nintendo survives.