Prerelease:Metal Slader Glory

This page details prerelease information and/or media for Metal Slader Glory.

This page details prerelease information and/or media for Metal Slader Glory: Director's Cut.

To do: Upload the other tweets Yoshimiru has three books detailing the NES, SNES, and 64DD version's development that will need to be scanned and translated: 64DD～SFCメタルスレイダーグローリー【幻のゲーム企画の真相!!】 SFC版『メタルスレイダーグローリー』ゲームグラフィックギャラリーpart2 メタルスレイダーグローリー』ゲームグラフィックギャラリーpart3

Development Timeline

• January 1984 – October 1984
  • Yoshimiru created a manga titled 亜空転騒フィクサリア (Akuutensou Fixallia), but it was cancelled before the story could be concluded.
  • Many aspects of the manga were later carried over to Metal Slader Glory. Shin the mechanic would star in the game with the same profession. The colony he originates from, Moonface, would be the name of Gen's ship. Luna, Ai, and their mech, Tartlet, were also carried over.
• April 1987
  • Jesus: Kyoufu no Bio Monster was published on multiple Japanese computers. Metal Slader Glory evidently takes inspiration from the game, especially for stage 5's gameplay. Both require you to navigate a cylinder-shape structure in a psuedo-3D view, while avoiding aliens, to obtain items to progress. The aliens have a seemingly innocuous weakness. In Jesus, it's a music box, and in Metal Slader Glory, it's perfume.

A white development disk with the graphics editing tool.

• 1987
  • For Metal Slader Glory's game pitch, Yoshimiru was preparing design documents and developing mockups with dev equipment. Iwata walked by, was impressed by his graphic work, and approved the project on the spot.
  • According to Yoshimiru, "I spent the first 6 months talking with the programmers about what kind of game I wanted to make and what kind of systems were needed. After that, it took them a further 3 months to create the basic systems for Metal Slader Glory."
  • "Yoshimiru spent four years working on the game with HAL. He spent the first year planning out major elements of the game like the story, specific scenarios, drawing the art, etc. The remaining three years were devoted to code and converting his drawings into something the NES could render."
  • A separate plan was created by a producer with different character names and scenarios, but Yoshimiru ultimately had his way.
  • The original plan was to publish the game on cartridges on the MMC3 mapper, however, due to space concerns, development moved over to the Famicom Disk System. Once the MMC5 materialized, development moved towards that mapper. The first game to use the MMC5 was released in February 1990.
  • To create the graphics, a graphics tool was loaded from a floppy disk onto a Twin Famicom and edited on real hardware.
• August 30, 1991
  • The game was published.
• ???
  • A 64DD prequel was started and canceled at an unknown time.
• November 29, 2000
  • The game was ported of the Super Famicom and included scenes cut from the original release.

Twitter

Terminal Station's Data Room

Concept art	In-game

Aside from minor details like the reflection of the glass door to the left being rendered differently, it seems that many of the finer details (posters, signboard lettering) were only drawn at the pixel art stage.

(Source: Yoshimiru's Twitter)

Terminal Station

Concept art	In-game

Background art of Terminal Station and the ships docked outside. The mechanic's sign is different, and the right part of the background includes a trolley that doesn't appear in the final game.

Concept art	In-game

These sketches of the main cast for the Terminal Station reveal a couple of details changed or lost in the transition to pixel art. Oh, to live within a hundred pixels.

(Source: Yoshimiru's Twitter)

Airport

Concept art	In-game

The city in the background is nowhere near as detailed in the concept art, compared to the final game. Azusa was also drawn separately from the background initially, so the concept art gives us a glimpse of the full airport backdrop.

(Source: Yoshimiru's Twitter)

Chase

Concept art	In-game

There's another detail added to the pixel art here, on the door at the end of the corridor.

(Source: Yoshimiru's Twitter)

Abandoned Colony

Concept art	In-game

Concept art	In-game

The placement of the letters next to the abandoned colony doors are different between concept art and final game.

(Source: Yoshimiru's Twitter)

Catty Negotiation

On September 12th 2019, Yoshimiru posted concept art for the Chapter 4 negotiation scenario with Catty. Her behavior is controlled by a plot and your decisions would change its position. Since NES has no cache or memory features, to achieve branched stories, they used a 2d character emotional diagram which increase/decreases on each command selection done by the player.

(Source: Yoshimiru's Twitter)

Japanese	Translation
CATTY☆の感情表♡	CATTY☆ Emotion diagram♡
(キャティのみとGO)ギリギリの場所でX軸Y軸ともOUTしてしまう場合、Y軸を先に計算。	(GO just with Catty here) If both X- and Y-axis just barely goes out the range, give priority to Y-axis.
☆キャティのみ(3人)	Just with Catty (3 person)
★キャティとエンカイ(4人) ☆zの場合はここも3人になる。	★With Catty and Enkai (4 person) ☆In case of z, here also is 3 person.
ふつう☆	Ordinary☆
ほほえみ☆	Smiling☆
はずかし☆	Bashfully☆
おこり☆	Anger☆
うるとら怒り☆	Ultra mad☆

Planning Sheet

A planning sheet that shows what most of the game would look like: some art at the top and dialogue at the bottom. The art at the top appears to depict Azusa. The character on the bottom of the screen resembles Sayoko.

The planning sheet is the same one used by Nintendo for Super Mario Bros. Nintendo provided an official blank version of the sheet on their website.

(Source: Yoshimiru's Twitter, M-Tee's Twitter)

64DD Version

In a series of tweets about his time at HAL, Yoshimiru reveal some details about the 64DD sequel. Apparently Yayoi Kisaragi (the Vivace restaurant waitress) was planned to be the protagonist. Additionally, a new character called Uzuki was planned:

その任天堂に持ち込んだ64DDの企画って言うのが、無謀にもDDディスク数枚組の企画で、如月やよいちゃんが主人公だったというね(笑)　これ＞ 濃いなー！　今見るとやっぱり五霊闘士オーキ伝の時の絵だね(笑) pic.twitter.com/Bv1F1zfsJs

で、その64DDゲームの企画では、五霊闘士オーキ伝の卯爛に激似の卯月というキャラも居てですね(笑)　 ＞これまた当時の絵、濃いなあ pic.twitter.com/Vv46nOBHiG

(Source: Yoshimiru's Twitter, unseen64)

Faminetsu Interview

Censorship

Yoshimiru discusses various scenarios that were censored in the game:

☆Yoshimiru: Even though the project was suggested by a non-employee there was never any conflict or attempt to interfere from within the company. I really was allowed to do what I wanted until the game was finished. As a result, it’s 100% my vision.

☆Yoshimiru: Later in development, I decided to censor parts of the script and visuals which I’m sure we’ll talk about later, but I was given 100% free reign over everything that appeared in the game.

☆Yoshimiru: Well, at one point there were far more risqué scenes than that in the game.

—Really!?

☆Yoshimiru: Initially I wanted to just put everything I could into it, but later on, I decided to go back and tone it down a little. It wasn’t just the visuals but also the text. I changed commands like ‘Touch’ to things that were less likely to cause offence. There was a point during that process where I decided ‘Okay, I think everything here is acceptable’ and well, the underwear stayed in. (laughs)

—It’s not anything sexual is it, rather it’s showing Azusa’s innocence.

☆Yoshimiru: She’s not giving you an eyeful, it’s just a split second.

—That phrasing. (laughs)

One other scenario that was cut was Elina's shower scene. Yoshimiru also details a removed scenario that was added back into the Super Famicom version:

☆Yoshimiru: During the end of development, I did take it upon myself to change some of the more adult graphics and player options to something harmless and inoffensive.

—Certainly, there’s no offensive language in there. Unless you count inviting girls out to dinner or talking about their bust.

☆Yoshimiru: Originally on the shuttle from earth to the station that command appeared with Azusa…

—Ah yes, the command to ‘touch’ appeared didn’t it?

☆Yoshimiru: Initially it was touch, but I changed it to smile instead.

—(laughs) Huh? But on the Super Famicom, it’s still ‘touch’ isn’t it.

☆Yoshimiru: Well, I thought it was probably okay on the Super Famicom and replaced it.

Cut Opening

—In the original release, you added a manga to the manual.

☆Yoshimiru: Yes, I asked the PR guy if it was possible and he told me it was. The PR at HAL always treated me wonderfully and was very open to hearing my opinions. It became clear that there wasn’t enough space to fit the opening in the game so I thought if I’m going to draw it as a manga I could package it together with the game. That’s why the game starts rather suddenly.

—You still left the scene where Glory is revealed before the title screen, but the story leading up to that is all in the manga.

(Source: Faminetsu interview translation)

Original Soundtrack Album

The game's official soundtrack is packaged with two discs: the first contains music rips from the Famicom version and the second contains preconsole recordings. A typical practice in the era was to first record demos before programming them into the game. This would usually involve playing the songs on a synthesizer, recording them onto cassette tapes, and then mailing them to the developer. It is very rare to have them released to the public, especially to this extent and in a commercial product.

Some renditions contain little to no variation from the Famicom renditions, some are completely different, and some tracks weren't preserved in the album or don't exist.

Track No	Title	Comment
1	新ギアームBMW購入/ゲン・ランクルのテーマ	Very similar to final, spare for the lack of repeating measures.
2	GLORY起動～謎のメッセージ～(オープニング)/不穏な空気	Final
3	METALSLADER GLORY(プロローグ/パイロットの名は/行方不明のヴィヴァーチェ)	Final
4	ゲンズオートのチャーミー/ステーション・ベイ	Near final, spare for having a proper ending.
5	海岸線のJAZZ	Final
6	宇宙をめざして	Final
7	遙かなる宇宙へ(宇宙をめざして アレンジver.)	A slower take on the track above (it's also much shorter)
8	あずさ発見/ムーンフェイス飛び立つ	Faster than the final version.
9	あずさ(追憶/回想/ムーンフェイスコックピットのひととき)	Final
10	ジフ・クレイムスのテーマ/35区居住区港～中央	Lacks an intro.
11	シルキーヌ・マルソーのテーマ	Very similar to final, spare for the lack of repeating measures.
12	シルキーヌ・マルソーのテーマ アップテンポver.	An alternate take on the track above, but with an intro and a faster tempo.
13	月の港	Final
14	月のレストランVIVACE	Final
15	謎の男の子/マックベリーズ	Near final but with a slightly slower tempo.
16	あずさ～さらわれる・救出・父を思い出す～(追憶のテーマ)	Very similar to final, spare for the lack of repeating measures and an intro.
17	8年前の惨劇(追憶のテーマ)	Final
18	8年前の惨劇 アレンジ1(追憶のテーマ)	Nearly the same as the rendition above but with sections switched around.
19	希望を乗せて(03区居住区へ向かうムーンフェイス)	Very similar to final, spare for the lack of repeating measures.
20	闇に蠢く(異星生物のテーマ)	Completely different from the final version.
21	異星生物に御用心(異星生物のテーマ)	Final
22	03区異星生物出現!(異星生物のテーマ)	Final
23	03区居住区あずさを捜し求めて(異星生物のテーマ)	Final
24	第35区襲撃/要塞は生きていた	Final
25	Tストークマーチ	Completely different from the final version.
26	妖女 小夜子	Doesn't exist in the retail release.
27	小夜子の正体	Doesn't exist in the retail release.
28	メタルスレイダーグローリー ver.1(メインテーマ)
29	メタルスレイダーグローリー ver.2(メインテーマ)
30	メタルスレイダーグローリー ver.3(メインテーマ)
31	メタルスレイダーグローリー アップテンポver.(メインテーマ)
32	メインレーザー砲の効力は!?
33	GLORY帰還	First part of ending theme. Final.
34	エンディング	First part of ending theme. Final.
35	エイミアの面影	Doesn't exist in the retail release.
36	シューティングゲーム	Doesn't exist in the retail release.
37	ファンファーレ!	Doesn't exist in the retail release.
38	ファンファーレ!2	Doesn't exist in the retail release.
39	怪しい影メイキング	Doesn't exist in the retail release.
40	きらきら	Doesn't exist in the retail release.
41	また逢えるね	Remix of the latter half of the ending theme.

(Source: VGMdb)