Weird writing on the back of a Contra cart.

[Lupin the Third]

Hey at my work we got in a Contra cart and it has some handwriting on the back label: "Celebrate! Contra 10th Anniversary. 3.21" and then what looks like a tiny signature but I can't make heads or tails of it. Does it mean squat, like a staff member who signed it on 3/21/1998, or is it just someone's idea of a joke or a fake signature or something?

Thanks for any opinions and insight in advance!

[Great Hierophant]

I think you are probably right, it is a celebration of Contra's 10th anniversary.  We only have the month and day, not the year of the inscription.  Contra was released on February 20, 1987 in the Arcade and February 9, 1988 for the Famicom, so the March 21 date has no obvious significance to the game.  However, in 1988 Konami had been making video games for ten years, so that might be where the 10th Anniversary reference may come from. 

[Lupin the Third]

Yeah there's a pretty clear 1988 copyright on the front label so I assumed it was most likely written in 1998, but by whom? Who would bother? Who would someone ask to write on it? I just don't know, and the characters used for the sign-off look
kinda indecipherable to me.

[Great Hierophant]

Presumably a fan of the game used his cartridge to get an autograph from an unknown individual who presumably worked on the game or worked for Konami. 

[Lupin the Third]

Well, that was my first thought, but I can't read the signature to confirm it. Can anyone else?