A recently translated developer interview from 2007, courtesy of Shmuplations.com, has revealed that Super Metroid programmer Yasuhiko Fujii (in charge of boss and enemy sprites/hitboxes, etc.) hid a romantic message to his then girlfriend, “Keiko.”

Here’s a quick rundown on the discovery from GameXplain:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-rqC2E0kTE

Yasuhiko Fujii explains the code he hid in the game:

 

—Were there any scenes in Super Metroid that were your idea(s)?

 

Fujii: 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)

Read the rest of this interview at Shmuplations.com to find out the development codename for Super Metroid bosses and which prominent Nintendo figure liked to play the shakuhachi flute next to the Super Metroid programmers offices. A must read.