If Lin Dengwan had been forced to play Metal Slug at first, then things were different now.
After the two of them died a few times while coordinating, Lin Dengwan realized:
Metal Slug is really fun!
The game gave him the feeling of Contra, but it was also clearly a bit different. Contra's style was more hardcore—two muscular men fighting their way across more than half the map with firearms, strangling the aliens in between, and finally destroying the aliens' main brain. It was a classic movie of this era.
The two characters were Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, both typical tough guys.
However, Metal Slug's style was different.
Although it was also a two-player level-clearing shooter, the content was clearly not as serious. It was more humorous, and one could even see the two characters chatting and joking around during the cutscenes. Under the 16-bit graphics of the Mega Drive, even with the second-best visuals, it still gave him a vivid and lifelike feeling.
Though the two of them died a few times along the way, they eventually reached the first Boss.
Lin Dengwan remembered this part. He'd seen the demo at the press conference—it was a bullet-hell nightmare, a storm of arrows and fire, pure chaos.
"Be careful," Lin Dengwan warned his girlfriend. "This one's tough. If you're not paying attention, you'll die!"
His girlfriend shot him a fierce glare.
If you die, we can do other things!
Lin Dengwan ignored her, his focus entirely on the Mega Drive controller. The crescent-shaped pad felt good in his hands, though a bit flimsy. The hard plastic on the sides was already slick with sweat. The moment the enemy fortress rolled out, Lin Dengwan wanted to scream right along with his character.
"Holy sexy shit!" he yelled, mashing the A button and unleashing his machine gun.
After dodging the onslaught for a few seconds, Lin Dengwan suddenly noticed something.
There's a surprise!
When the cannon turret was destroyed, it revealed the true shooters beneath the firing port: ordinary soldiers.
This high-tech-looking fortress was actually just a shell for soldiers to fire from inside.
For a moment, a look of utter confusion crossed Lin Dengwan's face.
"Such a sci-fi-looking piece of equipment, yet it doesn't even have a single fully automatic cannon inside. It's actually just soldiers manually firing machine guns!"
Perhaps it was a trial by heaven, or perhaps the President of Atlas was watching over him. Or maybe Lin Dengwan just didn't want to throw in the towel.
In any case, after a fierce battle, he finally managed to destroy the fortress.
As the fortress exploded and the level's results screen popped up, its true form was revealed beneath.
It turned out that this seemingly high-tech, fast-moving fortress had a surprisingly primitive method of propulsion.
Two soldiers were running in a hamster wheel underneath it!
Perhaps because they'd been spotted by the protagonist's team, the soldiers in the hamster wheel clutched their heads, shouted in unison, and vanished from the screen in a flash.
Lin Dengwan clutched his head with both hands, striking a pose of utter disbelief.
So what kind of high-tech is this supposed to be?!
He had spent two full weeks playing Metal Slug before finally beating it. By then, the Mega Drive's first-week sales figures had already been released.
But Lin Dengwan didn't care about that. The moment he cleared Metal Slug, a profound sense of relief washed over him.
I can't believe I actually beat a game this hard!
Although its style was similar to Contra—both being one-hit-kill games—Metal Slug was clearly more fleshed-out in content. Powered by a 16-bit console, its graphics and music were more dynamic, and the enemy difficulty had been ramped up significantly.
If the fort in Contra's first level felt like it was designed for the mentally challenged, then in Lin Dengwan's experience playing Metal Slug, every single enemy was a handful. Even the grunts would hide behind sandbags and ambush him from cover, often leaving him seething with helpless rage.
He had only managed to struggle this far by sheer willpower, and even then, Lin Dengwan's mind would frequently go numb from the intense focus.
Today, he finally saw the ending.
"The General's been captured, and the Rebel Army's been wiped out. The war should be over now, right?"
Lin Dengwan fumbled to light a cigarette as he stared at the game's ending screen.
However, the scene was not what he expected.
The two protagonists, Marco and Tarma, were receiving medals of honor, but the window behind them reflected a different scene.
The war seemed to be over. A soldier poked his head out of a Metal Slug tank, blew on a paper plane in his hand, and the plane gracefully soared out of the frame.
He knew exactly what it was: a paper plane, a bonus item from the game worth one hundred points.
And now, this bonus item was gliding across the screen, flying away from the scene of the final battle, passing through every battlefield he had fought on, until finally, it landed at their very first starting point.
Two soldiers were still gathered around the campfire, and now, the paper plane went thud, hitting one of them on the back of the head.
The soldier performed a standard in-game animation: he turned around, looked surprised, and opened his mouth.
Hiss—
Lin Dengwan couldn't help but scratch his head.
This ending left him with an indescribable feeling.
It was clearly the grand finale, yet it wasn't joyful. Instead, there was a sense of quiet sorrow.
Recalling the journey—the hail of bullets, the various enemies, the high-tech equipment that actually relied on the soldiers' efforts to operate, and the countless enemy troops the General had shot down along the way to resolve the conflict.
Filled with immense pity, Lin Dengwan restarted the game, wanting to see more of its details.
A single careless mistake, and he was shot dead by a common soldier.
Lin Dengwan: ————
What the fuck!
Lin Dengwan shot to his feet.
Who's the one feeling sorry for the soldiers? I'm the one who's a dog! How dare they kill Lord Lin Dengwan! Today, not a single soldier from the islands to the jungle will be left alive!
Japan, Kyoto, Nintendo Headquarters.
The Mega Drive was officially launched in Japan two weeks after its North American debut.
Nintendo, of course, had already received news of the Mega Drive's release.
The entire conference room fell into a profound silence.
Even Yamauchi Hiroshi's formidable personality couldn't break the heavy atmosphere.
At first, they had assumed Sega was releasing a handheld console, never imagining they had secretly developed a 16-bit machine.
This move had instantly seized control of the market.
Gunpei Yokoi held the report in his hands. Although it wasn't the latest one and was somewhat outdated, the numbers were already staggering.
"What can be publicly confirmed is that this North American console, named the Sega Genesis, is undoubtedly a 16-bit..."
"...architecture, far more advanced than the current FC, MS, or any other console on the market. North American first-week sales are estimated to be between two and three million units. The launch lineup includes titles from Sega itself, as well as two games co-developed with Atlus: the sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and a new title, Metal Slug."
"Sales for Sonic are projected to exceed one million copies, potentially rivaling the total sales of the Sega Genesis console itself."
"We don't have definitive information on Metal Slug yet, but based on current trends, we estimate it will also sell over a million copies in its first week. In Japan, that would already be considered an absolute hall-of-fame level game."
Hiroshi Yamauchi kept his hands clasped, offering no response.
After a long pause, he finally asked Gunpei Yokoi, "How is the development of the SFC progressing?"
"Yes, sir," Gunpei Yokoi replied, bowing his head. "Since the FC encountered struggles in North America, we have been accelerating the development of our 16-bit console, the SFC. However, we are still facing significant gaps. We estimate it won't be ready for launch until at least 1990."
Hiroshi Yamauchi's voice grew more urgent. "Faster! The faster, the better. I don't care what it takes, but I must see a finished SFC prototype by 1989 at the latest! If you need money, Headquarters will approve unlimited funds! If you need manpower, we will hire them immediately! Whatever you lack, Headquarters will approve with the highest priority. In contrast, the development of the new handheld, the Game Boy, must be delayed."
Handhelds were good, but in Yamauchi's judgment, the key was whether they could produce the next-generation console.
He leaned back, and a brief sense of relief washed over him.
Thank goodness the FC's situation in North America was somewhat disappointing, he thought. Otherwise, if the FC had decisively crushed Sega in North America, I would never have ordered Nintendo Headquarters to develop the 16-bit console this early.
After all, if the FC could capture 90% of the market share, why bother developing the next generation of game consoles?
"A blessing in disguise. It's already September 1988. Nintendo can still launch its 16-bit console within two quarters at most. We won't fall too far behind. Otherwise, this gap would be impossible to close!"
Yamauchi pondered for a moment, then suddenly looked up.
"Speaking of which, how are the sales for those two games doing?"
Gunpei Yokoi held the report sent back from North America and read it again.
"Since we can't get Sega's first-hand sales reports, all the data is just speculation and cannot be used to make definitive judgments."
"What we can generally confirm is that people who bought the Sega Genesis definitely also bought Sonic the Hedgehog. This game is very likely to have reached 4/5 of the console's sales. As for Metal Slug, being a new title, the market hasn't fully opened up yet, but its sales aren't too bad either. It is estimated to have captured one-third of the console's launch sales, which is at least in the millions."
Hiroshi Yamauchi nodded, seemingly no longer concerned with these numbers.
"Don't worry about our competitors anymore. The key is to get Nintendo's own 16-bit console out as soon as possible."