SNK devs share insight into creating some of their classic titles

SNK has a 40th anniversary coming up, and the company has quite the legacy to discuss. They've released all kinds of fantastic titles over the years, which is why Famitsu sat down with some of the dev team to find out how their most well-known titles came together. In the snippet below, read up on what it was like creating Metal Slug.

Famitsu: How was it like working on Metal Slug, Tanaka-san?

Kazuhiro Tanaka, designer: “Well, we worked on it with a determined spirit. (laughs) One of Metal Slug’s great points is how the machinery moves fluidly. It doesn’t move rigidly like something made from polygons, but instead moves like a living creature. We thought it would have more of a presence that way, which is why we made the graphics and animation like that.”

Nobuyuki Kuroki, designer: “Metal Slug’s machinery does move like it’s alive.”

Naoto Abe, designer: “In the first place, wasn’t the tank the main character of the game?”

Tanaka: “That’s right. At first it was a tank shooting game, but in the middle of development it was changed so that humans got into the tanks instead.”

Abe: “With Metal Slug’s human characters being so small, wasn’t it really hard for you?

Tanaka: “Yeah. If even one pixel was off, it would look like their jaw was unhinged, so it was like we were spriting 0.5 pixels at a time.”