Flying In The Face of Authority

In 1982, Yoshiki Okamoto joined Konami as graphic artist, originally tasked with designing posters for their games. After a while, he was asked to design in-game characters and eventually this whole game. When receiving this task, it was supposed to involve earning a driver's license by riding around on scary roads. When Okamoto got started, he didn't like the premise. He proposed a flying game to his boss, but he declined. Apparently, as his boss would come by his desk to check on the game daily, Okamoto showed him the driving game he was told to work on. Simultaneously, he developed his flying game in secret by giving its code to a data-entry associate to put into its own. The driving game would never come to fruition in favor of what became Time Pilot.

Warping Onscene

The game eventually came out in 1982, licensed by Centuri when it came out in the US. This game became Konami's biggest hit at the time. One night Okamoto happened to pass by as his boss was speaking with the president of the company. They were discussing Time Pilot, which was Konami's biggest hit at the time. After it became a big hit, his boss said, 'You know, you were right to do what I told you to do. This game is doing very well.'"