As a young gamer, one of my greatest joys was uncovering an Easter egg in a game, or perhaps a glitch, something that wasn’t always intended to be found, sometimes something to benefit your adventurous search, or other times when it was simply the calling card left from a disgruntled programmer. It really didn’t matter to me, because I felt like I was a part of something special, something secretive. I’m pretty good at keeping secrets by the way, unless, of course, there’s a bowl of mashed potatoes or Angry Beavers merchandise involved, in which case, I’m sorry, but I’m spilling the beans. Today’s Atari Man Loves features a game I’m sure you’ve all heard of from the vast annals of video game history, a little ditty I like to call Hyperion.
What’s that? You never heard of Hyperion? Well, that’s no surprise really, as most of us diehard NES fans have only just heard of it recently. Turns out one day, many moons ago, when Nintendo was hopping with testers and game counselors working their butts off to make sure products were swell (and better than anything Sega could produce-zing!) they were tasked with reaching a certain quota. In the case of counselors, it was the amount of gamers they assisted, testers of course, testing a certain amount of games. Should one complete this task they were given a pretty sweet gift, a cartridge copy of Hyperion. Only those people employed by Nintendo in either of these jobs had a chance to get this title, and even then, only if they reached their quota. Talk about unlocking items and trophies! Hyperion can only be described by some as an arcade style Mega Man, but that’s a pretty vague description. What is known is it kept a high score and had no real story as far as the levels went. You blasted your way through as you needed to, and relied on your hand-eye coordination for jumps along the way.
Still lost? Allow me to elaborate. Hyperion was an early title for Nintendo, a prototype created by gaming genius Yoshi Sakamoto, the brains behind the title Gumshoe, and better-known title he created after it, maybe you heard of it, Metroid. It was to utilize both control ports in the NES, using both the Zapper gun and controller, but as a lot of geniuses are prone to do (and trust me, I would know) Sakamoto was ahead of his time, as very few games since prior to the market crash were brave enough to utilize two controllers. Sakamoto was insistent that this would help the NES stand out from the pack, but Nintendo was hesitant and thought North American gamers would have a difficult time adapting to the idea of using a Zapper and a controller at the same time. Testers and game counselors LOVED the game and would often play it, should they attain it, in between calls. Still, Nintendo just wasn’t convinced. Not wanting to let his ideas go to waste, Sakamoto pulled apart the nucleus of his idea and created two games. Care to guess what they were?
Gumshoe and Metroid!
Recently, Hyperion has been released on rom and the few sites that have it so far have already begun experiencing server problems from the sheer amount of feedback from diehard NES collectors who are doing the next best thing to mugging an old NES tester or breaking into the home of a NES game counselor.
So what do I love about Hyperion? I love anything that is the spark, the catalyst, to other games and pieces of video game history we are more familiar with. Any game can become a piece of history, but I think it’s easier to be the more popular ones. Even they had to begin somewhere though, and Hyperion, with it’s underrated soundtrack, tight controls, and innovative concept for the time, could have become something that we’d be talking about in the same breath as the game it loosely copied (before it even came out mind you, figure that out), Mega Man, or even The Legend Of Zelda, we’ll never really know.
What we do know is I need to wrap this up, because I haven’t played my daily dose of Hyperion today, and that’s just not a good day to be alive, I say.
About the author:
Atari Man is a 33-year-old video game small business owner, retro enthusiast, and writer. He’s a good guy, just don’t get trapped in an elevator with him if you don’t know who Ace Harding or the VTech World Wizard are.
2 Dudes and a NES 