built on a budget so high it nearly killed hal laboratories
i'm not only going to call metal slader glory the most impressive work on the nes - it might just be the most mindblowing technical achievement on 8-bit hardware in general
that headline's not a joke; there were so many resources pumped into this thing that hal would've gone out of business if not for nintendo saving their asses (and promptly sending them to the kirby mines)
i don't usually point to the screenshots in my writeups here, but, like, are you seeing this? do i even need to say anything? just fucking look at it - there's quality snes games that look way worse than this! in fact, i'd argue even the sfc director's cut looks vastly inferior by virtue of not being nearly as technically impressive
graphics aside, the narrative holds its own as well. i'm not gonna lie and call it some life changing masterpiece, but suffice to say it's heavily reminiscent of a certain critically acclaimed 80s sci-fi film except with way stronger pacing, plot and character writing
generally avoids pixel-hunting too, which is a rarity for a point-and-click of this era. one section gets a little iffy (make sure you're examining things multiple times when you go first-person) but it's still something i was able to get through guideless and you'll be fine as well
also: be sure to read the manual regardless of the translation version you roll with. it has a short manga chapter which you're expected to be familiar with before starting
