Science fiction, RPG and action. The title of Konami that was presented in parallel with that of Kojima, but that never shared the same objectives.
E3 from 1997. Playstation, Saturn and Nintendo 64 showing games everywhere. Among them, names such as Final Fantasy VII, Resident Evil Director's Cut, Metal Gear, Quake, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Banjo-Kazooie, Goldeneye 007 or Zelda 64. All of them shared space at the fair that was held on 19, 20 and 21 June of that year. There was even a gap for Conker’s Quest. Seen in perspective, between well-known games and advertisements, it was like being in the Disneyland of the historical video games of the nineties. And among them was a surprise announcement: Hybrid Heaven. "It is the company's own response to the well received Metal Gear Solid, but on Nintendo 64," read the IGN news. Kojima had monopolized the spotlight with an adventure considered a super production never seen in video games. It was the first time that Hybrid Heaven was discussed, the game that never really wanted to be Metal Gear.
In Spain it took us a little longer to learn about the existence of the Konami game. It was not until the HobbyConsoles in November, when under the title "a mysterious project", in the Big in Japan section there was talk of "Konami's most ambitious project, carried in absolute secrecy." Hybrid Heaven was defined as the replica of Metal Gear for Nintendo 64 but "not a version", since the games will have notable differences. Where both titles are similar was in offering a “disturbing and fantasy adventure where action will be as important as intrigue”.
It was the first time we saw them related, and for a long time Nintendo 64 users waited for the arrival of the game as “our” Metal Gear. It was common to expect what we did not have at that time: we also expected our Final Fantasy and, when it did not seem possible, we hoped that the 64DD would allow us to see the seventh installment run in which it was “his home”. The console war in its purest form. And the barbarities that we defended in the schoolyard.
From Hybrid Heaven months went by without news of the development, something that did not happen with Metal Gear Solid, which was increasingly establishing itself as the great AAA project of Playstation -along with Final Fantasy VII- and a game called to mark an era. One of the reasons why we thought Hybrid Heaven was a Metal Gear was the information that came to us. In January 1998, also in Hobby Consolas, the following was written in the On Screen section: “Metal Gear Solid is another title intended to give a lot to talk about (…) Konami plans to release versions for both Playstation and Nintendo 64, although the name of the latter will be Hybrid Heaven ”. In an age where Internet access was not like now and the world was not globalized, any mistranslation or information coming from Japan could lead to confusion like this.
Shortly after, and a year after the announcement of the game, the magazine itself explained that it was not a version and that the game, in reality, had nothing to do with it. And elements of the title began to be detailed: Action RPG with combat, exploration and adventure, science fiction plot and next-generation graphics. This is what Hybrid Heaven wanted to be, a game that according to Magazine 64 was absent from E3 in 98, something surprising after being shown 12 months earlier on that same stage.
The title had much more extensive coverage in Magazine 64, a dedicated magazine of the time that was able to prove it in the ECTS of 1998 and was covered in April of 99 with a subtitle of those of the time: "Metal Gear Solid? Paparruchas. Konami just broke all the barriers to provide the owners of an N64 one of the most amazing games of 1999… ”After those words, in any case, an extensive article detailing both the start of the game and the combat system, the graphics and the plot.
Typical subtitles of the time. Can you imagine it today?
In one of the interviews with the director of the title, Yasuo Daikai, he defined the game as a role-playing proposal "with new and original characteristics". Among them is the combat system: “When you fight against someone, you have a menu and a series of movements from three different options, type high, medium and low kick. With punches it works the same. Your attacks affect different enemies in different ways, since the weak points of their bodies vary from each other, and yet this is only the beginning. "
Of aliens and turn-based combat
And so Konami's game was forged. Initially starring Diaz, a pseudo human created by the aliens, although the reality, when we advance in it, is that the protagonist is Johnny Slater, who had camouflaged himself to confuse an alien race. Rocambolesco and difficult to condense, more when it is added by means of amnesia problems of the protagonist and the creation of clones and hybrid forms that try to get hold of the land supplying its leaders, like the President of the United States himself. And that is Slater's mission, to prevent them from killing the President while we enter the facilities of the aliens.
The title intersperses video scenes with a third-person perspective, a typical setting of science fiction of the time and a combat system, as we have mentioned, based on turns where weapons, explosives and new techniques are added. Among them wrestling keys. Also the presence of some puzzles, uninteresting or based on activating switches and destroying cameras of the installation, as well as and long corridors in which we do not have to do anything but move forward overcoming enemies that, incidentally, did not provide much challenge or variety. Its development, slow and dense, and several uninspired sections made the game not represent the expected ball. As a curiosity, the title added a versus mode to play alone or with a friend in combat where we could choose characters and monsters from the main plot.
The feeling is that reading the press of the time and pulling on our memories, Hybrid Heaven was a game that we always wanted to be much better than what we were really seeing. He never wanted to be Metal Gear nor did he pretend to be, and in fact its director said in the interview with Magazine 64 he admitted that “he did not even know that there were expectations” and when he was told that in Europe he was looking forward, he said: “Well, when We started creating the game, we only thought about the Japanese public. " Be that as it may, it ended up being one of the exclusive rarities of the Nintendo 64 catalog. It is not a Metal Gear Solid, but it has its grace.
