When it comes to hints included in the retail package, most will mention Metal Gear Solid and the aforementioned CD case which has Meryl's codec number on the back of it. Many regarded this use of packaging as 4th wall exposition as revolutionary and completely unexpected, but the truth is they were actually beaten to the punch by about 10 years. In Nintendo's action-adventurer StarTropics for the NES, you're given a letter in the game's packaging which tells the player where to go to start the game, an inventive and subtle way to start things off. That's not all though, later in the game, the player will receive a mysterious message which tells him to dip the letter in water. This isn't an in-game item he's talking about, he's talking about the actual later which came with the game cartridge. Upon dipping it in water, a secret message discloses a code the player will need later in the game as well as where to go for the game's next story segment. Given that StarTropics came out in 1990, this was a bold move on behalf of Nintendo and was widely unexpected as it simply hadn't been done before. It's also worth stating that this use of 4th wall acknowledgment is one of the rare cases that actually enhanced the gaming experience, it tried to actively include the player in the game's sense of discovery, likening him to the protagonist where as other entries just made you more aware that you're simply playing a game.
Sam is an experienced Film, Gaming and Wrestling writer, critic and journalist who was written for a vast number of different entertainment websites. Follow him on twitter at @Sams_Reel_Views.
