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Just because some unnoticed game implemented some fairly easy to conceive game mechanic doesn't make that game influential. It just makes it first. To be influential you have to show that later game developers had played it and been inspired to build on it.
And I can confidently state that without 005, there would be no Metal Gear.
Ah c'mon
Unnoticed? Not at all. The Guinness World of Records recognizes this game as the first to "utilise basic stealth game mechanics".
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-console-game-to-use-stealth
I happen to disagree with them, but they certainly noticed.
The reason you've never played this game is because it didn't have a dedicated cabinet. It used the Raster Scan Convert-a-Game system. Which means many of the cabinets that were once used for this game no longer host it. And if that's not enough 005 never got a home port.
It is also highly likely Konami knew about 005 since this game was developed and made by SEGA, got great reviews upon its release, and well, Metal Gear used its mechanics.
So SEGA and Konami (the corporation) knew about it. Let's assume that. Are there records or interviews (from studios, individual developers, games historians, etc.) from that time on record saying they played and enjoyed it?
Simultaneous/independent invention in a highly experimental and novel industry is way more likely to me, but if you can produce some sort of proof of influence on studios that explicitly iterated on what 005 did, then that's much more convincing than a Guinness World Record that only "proves" they were first (historically, they did barely any fact-checking and, in some cases, you could bribe them).
It also hurts the credibility of the article for it to say "people liked it," and then not link to any sources like reviews or sales numbers. How can I know that anyone liked it unless I do independent verification of these claims? It's striving to be informative but with a "trust me bro" type of approach.
it didn't have a dedicated cabinet.
This is true of many, many games. Eventually JAMMA made swapping games the norm. When a game stopped making money or was too expensive to fix (glares in Namco's direction), you bought a relatively inexpensive kit, swap the board, stick on new side art and marquee, and maybe add some buttons to the control panel, send it out the door as a new game.
I work in the arcade industry. Fighting games were the big deal, then stagnated. I'm in the US midwest, so hunting games got huge, then only the fancy online ones were left standing (Big Buck Hunter Pro). So, here we have: Mortal Kombat 3 converted to Deer Hunting USA, Killer Instinct converted to Sammy Extreme Hunting, Virtua Fighter 2 converted to Trophy Hunting Bear & Moose...
It's sad/maddening looking through warehouses, but now that classics are popular again, I can sometimes find the old boards and kit the cabinets back to what they used to be. Glad to work somewhere that allows this provided I'm not spending too much; it can be labor-intensive if a cabinet is "mutilated" after having five different games over its lifetime and people trying to cobble in whatever working CRT monitor they had. I swear, every manufacturer and model had different dimensions and mounting (see Standards). Different monitor has a frame hits the back cabinet wall? Sawzall holes and build a wooden box to cover it, we need this game out the door and making money again.
Edit: We also still make money from old stuff by putting them in hotels' and campgrounds' game rooms... water damage and pool chlorine basically makes those places "arcade game hospice", they go there to die.
Very valid, I also noticed he goes off talking about the motivations for a cartridge-based deployment system, and he misses the mark completely.
And I can confidently state that without 005, there would be no Metal Gear. There would be no Tenchu: Stealth Assassins. There would be no Splinter Cell. Everything that relies on vision cones as a game mechanic traces itself back to 005.
I don't really buy this statement. If 005 could independently invent stealth mechanics, why couldn't other games invent them also? If this game didn't exist, some other game would have eventually done it.
This game has been at the top of my mame rom list for 20 years, and I've still never played it.
Right? Hundreds of thousands of people have scrolled over it and yet never seen it.
I did jump through the hoops necessary play this, years ago, although I can't remember why. It was probably due to reading an article much like this one.
Honestly, while I think it's important to make a note that this game existed, I also think some people overreach a bit on just how influential it was. I wouldn't say that anyone needs to play it these days unless they really want to. Just look up a few screenshots; it plays almost exactly how it looks like it plays.