America: The Godfather of Game Development

Chapter 326 What's the point of having a brain? I just want to have fun!

fast!

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 88??"

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's so smooth and seamless.

Not to mention the significant improvement in image resolution.

At the end of this 8-bit era, the greater colors and better 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 its features.

Metal Slug is clearly not like that.

It first designed complete 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, one can completely liberate oneself and unleash one's desires to the fullest.

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 complements the ultra-fast gaming pace enabled by the ATHENA processor, creating a wonderful chemical reaction that produces an effect greater than one million times the sum of its parts.

"Rat-a-tat ...

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 an animation and a realistic recoil effect are displayed.

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 FC himself, focused all his attention on the bullets flying out.

"How is this possible??"

The bullets were continuous and dense, moving at a speed that was almost impossible for the eyes to keep up with.

This would have been impossible in the past.

Masahiro Sakurai himself had worked on side-scrolling games, so he knew very well how they would perform on the NES.

Let alone so many bullets moving at high speed in sync.

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 that he had just overlooked.

What attracts the most attention is, of course, the almost non-stop sound effects.

Whether it's firing a gun or hitting an enemy, close-quarters combat, the sound effects of an enemy's entrance and death, or the sound effects of picking up dropped items, etc.

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 perfectly 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 gunfire, 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 Machingun!"

The narrator's voice sounded again.

Marco suddenly pulled a heavy machine gun out of his pocket.

The firepower that was previously somewhat insufficient was suddenly increased dramatically.

The bullet textures for the heavy machine gun have been modified, making them appear longer than those for pistol bullets.

In addition, both the rate of fire and damage are increased.

Visually, the bullets looked like they were connected in a single line.

Whoever gets hit on the head by this chain of bullets will die instantly.

"What?!"

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?

"Aren't you guys having a blast?"

This short initial level was already enough to make 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 the physiological reaction of blood rushing and heart racing doesn't lie.

So cool!

Pure, unadulterated pleasure, without any unnecessary impurities.

The only thing I had to do was to use all available weapons to obliterate the enemy to dust.

Whether driving all sorts of 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 game.

Can----

It's different!

Flamethrowers really do spew out a huge ball of flame that engulfs the enemy.

The missile launcher can actually fire a rocket that tracks the enemy's flight path.

Each weapon has very distinct characteristics, unlike the simple differences in bullet performance 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 on the premise 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 more he understood one thing.

This so-called ammo capacity design is just a scare tactic for newbies!

As long as you can complete the game in one life, you'll have plenty of bullets.

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 who 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.

All he could see were the chaotic 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-number 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 like my 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 the title screen?]

"————?!"

Masahiro Sakurai held the controller, staring 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 itchy, it's driving me crazy.

I can't wait to play the later content right now, even if it costs me a lot.

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 cough from behind him.

"Ahem—Friend, please queue politely and follow the rules."

Sakurai Masahiro shuddered and turned around abruptly.

Only then did I realize that a long queue had formed behind me.

What are they here for?

Do you need to ask?

Masahiro Sakurai swallowed hard, forcefully prying his other hand, which was still gripping the handle tightly, away from his seat, and forced himself to leave.

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.

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 slapped his thigh suddenly.

No wonder I always felt that the FC wasn't very fun and I couldn't feel the enjoyment of the games.

Although there are works that he finds pleasing to the eye, there has never been a single work that truly touches his heart.

Today, I finally found the answer to this question.