#micom_basic

The following is translation of a review of Super Mario Bros. 3 written by Akira Yamashita for the February 1989 issue of Micom BASIC Magazine as the 7th entry in his “Serious Play, Sincere Review” (ホンキでPlay, ホンネでReview) series of articles. It contains commentary by none other than Shigeru Miyamoto himself on the development of the game and its design choices. The review was written a few months after the release of Mario 3 and provide a few insights of not only of how game was received in Japan, but also how it compares to other games available in the market at the time thanks to Mr. Yamashita’s tremendous insights.

There’s also a list of recommended 2-players games for the Famicom that I decided to leave out, but I might translate it too and edited into the article at a later date if there’s demand for it.

Profile of Shigeru Miyamoto

Name: Shigeru Miyamoto

D.O.B: November 16, 1952 (Sonobe, Kyoto)

Employed by Nintendo Co., Ltd after graduating from the Kanazawa University of Arts on April 1977. He became involved in game development in 1979, working as a character designer in titles such as Space Fever and Space Firebird. Currently works as manager of Nintendo’s R&D department 2.

Work History

Arcade: Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Mario Bros.

Famicom (as director & game designer): Hogan’s Alley, Excitebike, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Wild Gunman, Duck Hunt, Devil World, Spartan X [aka Kung-Fu]

Famicom (as producer): The Adventure of Link, Doki Doki Panic, Super Mario Bros. 3, Shin Onigashima, Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race, Volley Ball, 3D Hot Rally

The Culmination of The Athletic Game Genre

Athletic Game - This is the term that Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo uses to collectively refer to Super Mario-like games. Specifically it refers to games where slightly large characters move around the screen and jumps serve as the basic action.

Indeed. Mr. Miyamoto’s career has been in a cycle. Ever since Donkey Kong, the first time he ever worked as a game designer, it appears he has an inseparable bond with the athletic game genre.

First of all, any game in which almost all the characters are pushed out to the front (including “athletic games”) can be divided in the following sub-categories depending on the objective the player needs to fulfill in order clear a single stage.

A so-called “chase game” where the purpose is to avoid obstacles and enemies while doing a certain task (such as eating all the dots or reaching the exit). Examples include Pac-Man, Mappy and Chuck’n Pop.

A game where the objective is to defeat a set amount of enemies such as Dig Dug or Bubble Bobble.

Donkey Kong, Mr. Miyamoto’s maiden title, clearly belonged to the first category (although it might be a bit misleading to call it a “chase game”, since the enemies and obstacles only move at a regular pace). I remember it felt pretty fresh at the time to play a game made basically about “jumping”.

The objective of the game was changed for the original Mario Bros., which now felt into the second category. In addition to the Jump from Donkey Kong, Mario Bros. introduced “headbutting” as a new method for defeating enemies - This was very groundbreaking. Usually in a second category game, it was expected for the player to shoot bullets or some kind of equivalent. Substituting that with such an unusual method as “headbutting” was the nature, and significance, of the original Mario Bros. When it comes to games that feature unique methods of defeating enemies, it is surprising rare for titles released prior to Mario Bros. The games that suddenly comes to mind are titles such as Heiankyō Alien, where you dig and fill-in holes, and Libble Rabble, which employs a unique method called “bashishi”. [Translator’s note: The “bashishi” refers to the ability to destroy enemies by using a strand tied to two arrows to enclose them.]

And with Super Mario Bros. released for the Famicom [NES], the ingenuity was further expanded. “Stomping” on enemies has been added as a gameplay element in addition to jumping and headbutting, as well as the option for “Fire Mario” in order to satisfy the desires of players who wanted to shoot bullets. When you consider the type, it’s basically a Category 1 game, but it brings up the image of a Category 2 game to the player, creating a brilliant fusion of both types.

“It’s a type of game that is easily approachable for younger inexperienced players, but can also be played by experienced hardcores without getting tired of it. It’s a fun game, even when you’re just watching other people play from the sidelines. That’s the sort of game that I wanted to create.”

Miyamoto explained why he stepped into the so-called “athletic game” genre (which is a label that I don’t mind using). Super Mario Bros. 3, a game which satisfies such conditions, can be said to be the culmination of the genre.

Some of the Virtues of Super Mario 3

Super Mario Bros. 3 was a huge hit that by the end of 1988 there was even a shortage of supply. I think the following aspects should be noted.

Caption: A card-flipping minigame similar to concentration. There are many hidden items such as 1UPs, Starmen, coins. Since there are only eight patterns to the distribution of the cards, it’s not impossible to memorize them and get a perfect.

Caption:

At a first glance it seems like a picture-matching game. You can stop the wheel (?) with the push of a button. If you can memorize the pattern, you can combine the picture into a starman and earn a shocking amount of five extra lives. It’s a perfect aid.

The Spirit of Aiding - Because 1UP mushrooms are plentiful compared to the previous two Mario games, and it’s also easy to get extra lives through minigames such as the picture roulette and concentration, it’s almost hard to get to the Game Over screen. Moreover, I’m glade there are aids that have been employed, such as the technique of picking up consecutive starmen, that take into consideration how well you can play the game comfortably.

The Presentation - Despite being an action game, considerable effort has been put into the game’s presentation in otherwise mundane places. For example, the kings that appear at the end of each world has been transformed into a different animal, in World 4 there levels where you can switch between normal-sized version and a version where all the enemies and environments are larger than usual, and in World 5 there’s a tower that you can climb which takes you to the heavens, where you will find the castle at the end. There’s no limit to the examples I can give. This is a significant improvement over the first two Super Mario games thanks to the increasement of the game’s ROM size. If there is one aspect I think could’ve been improved, was the presentation of the ending could’ve been better.

Scrolling Ideas - It’s rare for a single game to employ various methods of scrolling. There’s free-scrolling with your character, forced-scrolling to the right (and ocassionally diagonally), hi-speed scrolling, ect. The highlights are the flying airships that you enter at the end of each World. Like in Stage 3 of the arcade game R-Type (which also involved moving around a giant airship), you must carefully navigate your character while the stage scrolls through various directions in order to avoid being crush by a wall. While these ideas have been employed by other games in the past, they still deserve merit for the way they’re employed here.

The Music -  I believe the soundtrack to Super Mario Bros. 3 will go down as one of the best in Famicom music’s history. In addition to the sense and atmosphere that makes you feel the uniqueness of each world, what is truly amazing is that they managed to devise a program that makes sound sampling on the Famicom possible. That’s real. Those are the sounds of a real kettledrum and a bassdrum that were recorded through sampling. Following the release of the game, rumors spread that the Super Mario Bros. 3 cartridge employed an integrated chip specifically for the sampled sounds, but Mr. Miyamoto clearly denied such a thing.

Caption: The king who appears in the castle at the end of Worlds 1 through 7 are each transformed into a different animal. You might find yourself laughing at the unexpected transformations. By the way, do you know what happens if you clear a World as Frog Mario?

The Peculiar Details and the Difficulty Setting

Caption: The airship from World 8 is said to be one of the most difficult levels in Super Mario 3. Because of its uneven footholds, along with its high-speed scrolling, the results are quite bad. Perhaps you might even need the P-Wings if you can’t clear it normally.

Caption: Among the enemies with individual patterns in the game, Boo has the most unique concept out of all of them. She only approaches gradually while Mario has his back turned on her. Each of these character establishes have good sense in them.

As mentioned above, Super Mario Bros. 3 has several aspects that are a rank higher than other games. However, when you take into account the game as a whole, it could be said that the secret to its popularity lies in how the details were set. The experts at Nintendo have crafted detailed maps, along with enemy characters that exists mainly to raise the quality of the game, that help motivate players.

Of course, you can’t ignore the perfectly exquisite difficulty setting. When I was playing for the first time, there were many stages where I thought “gah, I hope I don’t have to repeat this again!” Yet, strangely enough, most of the levels can actually be cleared without much of an effort. Although, you could say it depends on how you memorize the level designs, it is at that moment that you truly believe that you’re skilled. It is evident that you gain experience from playing Super Mario Bros. 3 and level-up at a very fast-rate.

Once you’ve become truly skilled, that’s when you start pursuing artistry in your play style. On a certain rough spot, could it be possible to clear it elegantly on the quickest time possible? With that in mind, perhaps the best strategy for certain stages is to aim for a non-stop completion. In fact, if you jump while doing the B-dash, it is possible to stomp on a Goomba and such with dead-on timing.

Caption: For example, when you’re on top of the T-shaped pies in World 1-2 if you’re run off with the B-dash and do a large jump with a clack, you can step on a Para-Goomba like this. If you’re confident in your skills, you might want to try challenging your friends over who has the faster completion time in certain stages (although, it might be foolish to try this on a forced-scrolling level). You may also want to record your own nonstop gameplays on video to make your own “Super Mario Bros.3 Perfect Strategy Video”.

Mr. Miyamoto comments on the excess that led to such a strange setting being accepted by players

“I believe the reason why our players have support our games to such an extent is because we do our work with the utmost sincerity. ‘Don’t make the consumers feel like they’re lost - That’s our policy. Also we never try to deviate from our original intent, our original concept, even if a similar game is released before finish ours. If you do that, then it will be inevitable are that your game’s settings and balance will be ruined.”

It was through this interview that I’ve come to the realization that Mr. Miyamoto is truly one of Japan’s leading video game designers with his firm grasp on video game development.

The Greatest Theme: 2-Player Simultaneous Play

Caption: In 2-players mode, if Mario and Luigi enter the same area, the original Mario Bros. will somehow begin play (this is no hoax). You can understand the importance that Mr. Miyamoto is placed on 2-players gameplay.

“The biggest theme of Super Mario Bros. 3 was making a game that was fun for 2 people to play”

I was a bit surprised by Mr. Miyamoto’s statement. I was aware that Super Mario Bros. 3 has a mode where two players take turns between Mario and Luigi. For example, if Mario completes World 1-1, then it’s Luigi’s turn to play World 1-2, which feels a bit odd at first. I’ve never paid much attention to this mode until Mr. Miyamoto mentioned it. What was his purpose for adding such a mode? The following is his answer.

“In Super Mario Bros. 3, I wanted to give players a ‘field where two people can play together’. For example, you can have a skilled play help out his unskilled sister proceed through the game through cooperation, or have a pair of friends compete to see who gets the highest score. Therefore, when playing in 2-players mode, I would be glad if they approach it like a board game and use the whistles to instantly access any of the 8 worlds they like.”

This could indeed be said to be a challenge to create a new 2-players game for Miyamoto, who made one of the biggest 2-players game ever, the original Mario Bros. However, Miyamoto himself was not satisfied with the 2-players play of Super Mario Bros. 3.

Perhaps there are readers who are thinking “Why don’t they just put Mario and Luigi on-screen in Super Mario Bros. at the same time? That’s such a brilliant idea! Maybe I should become a game designer”, but such an idea is short-sighted. Just having Mario and Luigi on-screen at the same time wouldn’t be viable. To be precise, it’s not impossible, but the quality of the game would suffer.

Figure 1: A situation in 2-players co-op

Let met get into the specifics. Let’s supposed there’s a version of Super Mario Bros. where two players can play simultaneously. Now, consider the situation shown in Figure 1. Mario will naturally try to avoid the Venus Fire Trap by moving towards the right (the direction of the scrolling), but he can’t because Luigi is on the other end of the screen. As a result, a tragedy will occur and Mario will be struck by fire. There’s also the problem that Mario cannot see the enemies that will appear ahead of him since he’s too close to the edge of the screen. In terms of the situation described above, it’s almost impossible to play Super Mario Bros. with two players at the same time, unless forced-scrolling is employed.

Caption: This is Alien Syndrome, an arcade game by Sega. The gruesomeness of the monsters was nice, but during 2-players mode, I was also concerned on where to scroll as well.

With that said, there has been plenty of free-scrolling multiplayer games in the past ,especially arcade games. Titles such as Alien Syndrome, Ikari Warriors and its sequels, Rock ‘n Rage, Dark Adventure, Quartet, and many more. Anyone who has played this game with partner has likely experienced the frustration of screaming while seeing their character died on-screen because the screen wasn’t scrolling like it should. It can be asserted that these types of multiplayer games are absolutely unreasonable systematically. Multiplayer games are only possible either, with a fixed screen or with auto-scrolling - that’s my theory.

Caption: Although it was an early Famicom games, Devil World must be seen for its scrolling ideas. When I was told this was a Shigeru Miyamoto game, I was pretty convinced.

On a side-note, one 2-players game that impressed me with its scrolling was Devil World, a previous game by none other than Mr. Miyamoto himself. This was a game where the direction of the auto-scrolling changes as indicated by the devil at the top of the screen. Although one of the game’s flaws is that the logic behind the scrolling couldn’t be understood during a 2-players game, the concept of an auto-scrolling game that changes direction is still impressive even in this age.

What’s Next For Nintendo’s Top Designer?

Usually this would be part where I would mention the aspects of the game in which I was unsatisfied with and come up with suggestions on how to improve them, but unfortunately (or not).

If I may mention a few things, perhaps the game might be too difficult to players who have never played the previous Mario games or the game might take too many hours to complete if you intend on completing it without using warp zones. With that said, it’s a pretty good game when you consider that those are the only flaws I could think of. 

Is Mr. Miyamoto, who served as producer of this super game, going to continue making games like this? This is a question that is of the interest of many videogame fans. At the end of this interview, while the answer was a bit abstract, I was still able to get it from him .

“I have been in charge of game direction until now. Of course, I will continue doing so in the future, but when the time is right, I would also like to work on planning out a gameplay system too.”

System planning - While Mr. Miyamoto said this quite bluntly, he seems to have considerable preparedness for it. The fact that most recent games don’t have their gameplay systems designed for them, but rather they simply rearrange existing systems, is a situation that Mr. Miyamoto himself is coming to grasp, even though most players can’t imagined it from their standpoint.

What kind of gameplay system is Mr. Miyamoto thinking of? I’ve asked him for the specifics.

“There are many talented creators involved in other industries such as novel authors and filmmakers. Now if only someone would create a system, or perhaps a field, in which such people could get involved in game development with ease... My dream is to create a point of contact for creators active in fields other than video game development.”

In our current situation, it’s pretty difficult to create an interesting game if you don’t already know anything about videogames to some extent. But perhaps, with some kind of tool or aid, we will see infinite possibilities in the game industry that we’ve ever seen before.

Mr. Miyamoto brought up an RPG that is being developed by Nintendo with the cooperation of writer Mr. Shigesato Itoi, best known for his coverage of Namco’s Family Stadium baseball video game “Please look forward to it” remarks Mr. Miyamoto. [TL’s note: Of course, that RPG would be none other than the original MOTHER, which Mr. Yamashita himself would review in a later issue.]

1989 will be an intense year, not just for the Super Famicom, but Nintendo’s software development department in general. [TL’s note: At the time, the Super Famicom was expected to be released in 1989 in Japan, but it was ultimately delayed to 1990.]

Miyamoto’s History of Athletic Games

Donkey Kong (June 1981, Arcade) - The originator of the athletic game genre, as well as the first game Miyamoto was involved as a game designer. Despite the fixed screen format and simple controls that consists of a joystick for moving and a jump button, the game was rich in its variety that it showed. Perhaps it might had been the first game to ever have a jump button, but I can’t say for sure.

Donkey Kong Jr. (July 1982, Arcade) - The sequel to Donkey Kong featured a bold setting in which the roles of the protagonist and antagonist from the previous game were switched. While the gameplay system remained largely unchanged, the switch to a larger protagonist brought on many new ideas. This has been the only game to ever feature Mario as antagonist.

Mario Bros. (April 1983, Arcade) - A game that brought-in 2-players co-op to the gameplay cultivated by Donkey Kong. Both players can proceed throughout the stages in various ways, whether it is by cooperating with each other or by pulling each others’ legs trying to kill each other. It is considered to be one of the greatest 2-players simultaneous game in history.

Super Mario Bros. (September 1985, Famicom) - The game that served as the turning point for the athletic game genre, expanding from a fixed screen to side-scrolling. It would go on to become the biggest hit game for the Famicom, becoming a huge influence to the industry along with Dragon Quest.

Super Mario Bros. 2 [Japanese version] (June 1986, Famicom Disk) -  A sequel known for its hellish difficulty, it was aimed specifically at players who mastered the first game. The game is filled with many situations in which the levels can only be cleared using advanced techniques. With that said, the gameplay system was almost unchanged from the original. There were many people who bought the Disk System add-on just for this game.

Yume Kojō: Doki Doki Panic (July 1987, Famicom Disk) - A game produced in cooperation with the Fuji TV’s event Yume Kōjō. While the game wasn’t much of a success, many of its ideas would go on to inspire Super Mario Bros. 3. In fact, a graphically modified version was released for the NES in North America as its version of Super Mario Bros. 2.

Super Mario Bros. 3 (October 1988, Famicom) - The third installment of the Super Mario series was developed with the idea of rearranging the original with a much larger ROM size. In addition to the high degree of completeness, we cannot overlook the amount of new ideas that were enthusiastically inserted into the game. The hard work that has put into the game can be felt by its presentation.

The following is a translation of plot summaries and character descriptions for the 1991 Capcom arcade title 3 Wonders as featured in the December 1991 issue of Micom BASIC Magazine. 3 Wonders was actually an anthology of three different games (each part of a different genre) in one board. The games included were Midnight Wanderers: Quest for the Chariot (action shooter), Chariot: Adventure through the Sky (flying shooter) and Don’t Pull (puzzle). The first two games in this anthology are actually set in the same universe and involve the same two protagonists, with Midnight Wanderers being part 1 and Chariot being part 2.

Protagonists

Lou - A hot-blooded 12-year old adventurer. Although it is unclear, he was told by his father that they were the last descendants of the holy warrior who wielded the Mirror of Lalu back in the middle ages. What is known that his father was also a great adventurer himself. After losing his father at the age of 7, Lou continuing adventuring by himself without making any friends until he met Siva. According to Lou himself, Siva is only with him by his own accord, but in reality he’s pretty reliant on his help. He boasts that his dream is to uncover all the treasures of the world someday.

Height: 160cm, Weight: 48kg, Hair: Brown, Eyes: Black

Siva - He met Lou in the outback of Mongolian and has since become his companion. Where he was born or how he was raised is unknown, but he claims to be 14 years old. He is very silent, rarely speaking for himself, preferring to let Lou do the talking, but in recent years he’s been more talkative thanks to Lou’s influence. His sharp mind and cool judgment has saved Lou on many occasions. His hobby is collecting small antiques.

Height: 164cm, Weight: 52kg, Hair: Red, Eyes, Black

Midnight Wanderers: Quest for the Chariot

Story

Beings who changed into people and controlled the world appeared. They are demons who like to kill and plunder, and they have no faith in God.

During the age of darkness, in the middle of the turmoil, there were adventurers who lived freely and traveled the world in search for treasures. They were called the Midnight Wanderers.

My name is Lou and this is my pardner Siva. And we are adventurers who travel all around the world.

One night an old man holding the Card of Dawn came to visit us. He was wondering if we could help him retrieve the chariot. The chariot is a vehicle that can move freely into the air. It seems its holy light will save the people from the curse of the demons and lead them into happiness.

We don’t care about helping people, but a vehicle that can move freely in the air sounds like fun. But in order to obtain it, we have no choice but to do battle with the demons. It’s going to be interesting. “Let’s go, Siva!”

Enemies

Ecote - A human-like demon with unusually-shaped ears who lives as part of a clan under a large tree. They like liquor and smokes. It’s easy to dismiss their lifestyle as uncultured, in reality they have a much higher sense of culture than anyone could imagined. However, their sense of intellect is pretty low and they enjoy making other beings miserable. They have propensity towards shining objects and have a tendency to steal them. Although, they’re not a particularly scary type of small fry enemy, they can take advantage of your careless, leading to a painful experience.

Piccolino - A type of humanoid robot that were built by humans a long time ago. The Piccolino robots were once popular among mankind, opting serving as conversation partners. But after people got tired of these seemingly unfeeling automatons, they were abandoned as trash and gradually forgotten about. Perhaps for the Piccolinos, they might be happier being controlled by the demons... They are manipulated by a pair of disembodied hands (Pata Pata) and make a large jump as their attack. When the hands are destroyed, the robots will disappear on the spot.

Miatsu - They are creatures who live in places with little light such as caves and they feed on luminous moss. Although they move slow, they are capable of spitting out flames.

Garny - They live in the depths of the wetlands and will fly into the air to attack when they detect an enemy on the land. Its arms and nails are quite strong and sturdy, but its head is its only weak point. It moves in a large wave-like pattern, going above and below the ground regardless of the player’s position.

Pukupuku - A usually mild and gentle creature, but he is territorial awareness is so strong, he will attack any outsider without announcing its presence. It usually wanders above the water surface aimless, it becomes more aggressive with its pursuit when the player is nearby.

Pucchi - A lower lifeform that resembles a frog. They are always born as twins from the same egg. They live their lives as a pair from the moment of birth, but if one of them is killed, the survivor will run like crazy and the attack the enemy in front of it. Their breeding rate is abnormally high, being born one after the other.

Chariot: Adventure through the Sky

Story

After the demon Gaia, who has been ruling the world for a long time, has been vanquished by the boys known as the Midnight Wanderers, the curse of the demon has been lifted from the people and the world returned to its peaceful days.

But then one night, a wounded fairy arrived at the home of the two boys.

“A new demon has appeared and attacked the land of Ashtar, taking our princess captive. His power is so great, our magic was no use against him. Our only hope is to find the holy Chariot in possession of the Midnight Wanderers. I must ask them to save the Princess in my place.”

Upon hearing the fairy’s plight, the two boys jumped onto the roof of their house, where there was a chariot wrapped in light.

“The Legendary Holy Chariot... Then that means you two are...”

“We, the Midnight Wanderers, are going to save the Princess of Ashtar.”

The two boys shouted strongly, as they rode the chariot  into the sky.

Enemies

Lumarta - A so-called small fry enemy. While their strength are minimal, they are hard to get rid of since there are so many of them.

Dooga Line - A so-called formation enemy. They line up in a straight line to attack the player. Their speed increases during the second half of the adventure. An enemy type that doesn’t give up...

Hatch-20 - A face that hides in the terrain and spawns enemies from its mouth to obstruct the player’s path.

Amagmorn - A couple of rain clouds who attack as a pair. Even if you destroy one, the other will duplicate itself. It is dangerous to try and take them both at the same time.

Faceblock - They used to be lifeless fragments of floors and walls until they were brought to life by the Demon Lar’s magic powers and now they move freely into the air. When a Facebloock see that the player is open, it will launch itself into the player in the air. When they’re destroyed, they will break into smaller pieces that can still damage the player, so be careful.

Golden Bat - One-eyed bat-like creatures spawned from Hatch-20′s mouth. Since they act in groups, there’s a possibility of getting swarmed by them if you underestimate them.

Wayne - A moon-like enemy that wanes every time it takes damage. He is difficult to destroy, but when you do it, he will leave behind an item that will give you a large amount of points.

Witch - She flies in high speed with her broom and can create her own underlings out of thin air. The four underlings she creates are elemental beings known as Tornedia, Ganrock, Jelly and Burns, each with its own attack pattern.

Tornedia - A small tornado which pursues the player at high speed.

Ganrock - A one-eyed rock that doesn’t move much and doesn’t attack much either, but his resistant body often stands in the player’s path.

Jelly - A gelatinous being created by the witch that spreads over a wide area and strikes regularly. A single Jelly is not dangerous by itself, but when it is in groups...

Burns - A fiery being that chases the player.

Armstrong - A mechanical rocket (modeled after the ship from A Trip to the Moon) with considerable durability. A large sub-boss with wide attacks. Once its destroyed, it will leave behind an item.

Wall Goblin - A creature with a large steel wall on its back. He is invulnerable when he turns his back on the player and can only be damaged when facing him face to face.

Tin Snake - Like its name suggests, it’s a snake made out of tin that restlessly pursues the player.

Jack’in - A Jack-in-the-box like enemy that puts out its clown face when it starts attacking. If you only destroy the head, the box will simply create another.

Seesaw Trolley - A trolley that uses a seesaw to launch a projectile into the air. Once the projectile is in the air, it gets split into several smaller bullets. The projectile falls in a parabola pattern.

Micom BASIC Magazine was a Japanese computing magazine published by Dempa Publications from 1982 through 2003. While ostensibly a programming magazine, it gradually became for its extensive video game coverage, covering computer, consoles and arcade games. Many of its writers would go on to form Studio BentStuff, a strategy guide publishing company best known for its ULTIMANIA and Kaitaishinsho guides.

The magazine had a section in each issue where certain game publishers were each given a page to announce news about their upcoming products. Konami’s page was known as the “Konami News Station” and in the August 1987 issue they published a short Q&A with the Metal Gear development team, which might be the earliest Metal Gear-related interview ever published. However, like other Konami-related interviews from this period, the identities of the developers were kept anonymous, so it’s uncertain whether Hideo Kojima participated in this interview. There’s also an announcement for Gradius 2 (aka Nemesis 2) on the MSX and a game tip for the Knightmare II: Maze of Galious.

Interestingly, Metal Gear has an announced July 10 release in this article, even though later sources document it as a July 13 release.

Coming July 10 - Metal Gear for MSX2 (price 5,800 yen)

HE’S DANGEROUS!

HEART-POUNDING SUSPENSE!

THE AMAZING SUPER-HARD GAME IS APPROACHING ITS RELEASE DATE.

Our brave hero Solid Snake has infiltrated the dreadful armed fortress of Outer Heaven in order to smash the enemy’s ambitions.

Please wait just a bit longer.

Our rookie correspondent at Konami’s marketing department has decided to interview the people behind Metal Gear at the Kobe development department in an attempt to unveil the secret behind this new game.

Q: Can you tell us what kind of novelty can we experience that differs from prior games?

A: Military games up to this point had been about wielding a weapon and taking out every enemy in your way until reaching your goal. However, the objective of this game is to infiltrate without being seen by the enemy. Therefore, a sense of heart-pounding suspense is created as you proceed through areas with the uncertainty of whether or not you may be discovered by the enemy.

Q: What’s the most interesting aspect of the game?

A: The variety and uniqueness of the conversations that you’ll get from the radio transceiver. And of course, you can’t overlook the blending between a hiding game and a combat game, in which you can look at the movement of the enemy soldiers and decide whether to fight or flee. It’s a war game with an espionage touch.

Q: How difficult is the game?

A: If you proceed without being spotted by the enemy, the game can be unexpectedly easy up to a certain extent. But after a certain point, you must use your radio frequently to acquire important information and if you miss out on some important clues, you might end up in trouble.

Q: Any anecdotes you might want to share?