A rather heartwarming easter egg in Super Metroid has come forward after many years of obscurity from a 2007 Japanese interview with Yasuhiko Fujii, featured in the book “Game Shukonin Vol. 1”. While not necessarily new information, this little detail has remained relatively unknown to fans who don’t know Japanese.

As covered in a translation by Shmupulations, Yasuhiko tells us of a love gesture to his then-girlfriend hidden in movement patterns of certain enemies prior to fighting Draygon:

“Actually, before the fight with Draygon, the boss of Maridia, there’s a group of Evir enemies that do a little “dance”. Their movements actually trace out the letters of a phrase in English, “Keiko Love”! Keiko was the name of a girl I was dating at the time. I was busy with work all the time and couldn’t see her much, so at night while everyone at the office sleeping, I stole a moment and snuck that code in!

That little Evir dance wasn’t written in the planning documents anywhere, so I remember my heart beating fast as I coded it, with the worry of it being discovered… but in the end, no one ever found it out. Now isn’t that a romantic story? (laughs)”

This is a sweet little secret hidden in the game shows that there are always things developers leave behind in all manner of little nooks and crannies in a game’s code. For all we know the secrets might not end there for Super Metroid.

The interview also covers several other details about Super Metroid’s development, as well as other games Yasuhiko Fujii had worked at his time with Intelligent Systems.

Source: Shmupulations