1988 Retro Game Tycoon - Chapter 127



Only Noblemtl

Episode 127 – ばかやろう (Pagayaro)

The popularity of spread throughout Japan.

From Hokkaido in the north, to Shikoku and Kyushu in the south.

‘s strategy was very successful.

and were really starting to gain popularity, and , which had been out for six months, was also reigniting its popularity.

Ultra Japan was furious and demanded more A1 boards be sent.

“You have a lot of boards in stock, right? You do, right? You do, right? Send me everything you have. It’s urgent! I don’t have time to wait, so send them by plane!”

The president of Ultra Japan called my hotel room and kept urging me to send the board quickly.

Even though we had already ordered additional production in advance, we had the quantity, but we didn’t know that additional requests would come in this quickly.

“Then, you should have pushed more of the workload onto me! Why did you just step down? How can a businessman lack confidence like that? Where did all the passion go when you’re so young?”

The CEO of Ultra Japan, who said he wouldn’t accept the item because it was difficult to return it, got angry at me instead with a sharp voice. Rather than getting angry, I laughed because the situation was funny.

Japan is really big and has a lot of arcades. The initial stock of 3,000 units sold out in an instant.

Price also played a part here.

In Japan, unlike Korea, we didn’t involve capital companies because there was no need for that.

In Korea, many of the boards used in arcades are replicas, so the price of genuine A1 boards is very expensive.

On the other hand, in Japan, the A1 board was relatively cheap.

Even if similar boards are made, there is bound to be a price difference between products made in Japanese factories and products made in Korean factories.

According to the president of Ultra Japan, was price competitive compared to and .

“That’s why the game center owners like more than other games. It’s cheap, fun, and since it’s for four people, students flock to it and play it. Anyway, they’re the ones who can’t stop thinking about money. Heh heh heh!”

The old boss laughed heartily at me as I made fun of his customers.

had another strong point.

The only way to enjoy is to go directly to the game center. Since it is a newly released game, it has not been ported to consoles yet.

But was different. If you had a Mega Drive, you could enjoy the game comfortably at home, with a quality not much different from that of an arcade game.

Final Fight is ahead in terms of distribution in game centers. However, we did not fall behind in terms of distribution because we released it on both game centers and consoles.

In addition, Sega’s all-out marketing to increase Mega Drive sales was also showing results.

“We sold over 110,000 Mega Drives this weekend alone! I’ve been praying that we would sell over a million units this year, and at this rate, we could be looking at 2 million by the first half of next year!”

Even after leaving Tokyo, I talked to Managing Director Nishikawa every day to hear about the situation.

His voice was filled with joy and emotion.

You might be tired from leading the year-end marketing campaign, but once the results started to show, he didn’t seem to feel tired.

Knowing well what kind of risk Director Nishikawa had taken on that day, I could easily guess what was going on in his mind right now.

“It’s all thanks to you, sir. Thank you so much!”

“What are you talking about? I know how hard you’ve worked, sir.”

“No. If the CEO hadn’t done a really excellent job of transplanting , what good would all that marketing be? Do you know what I realized most deeply while doing this job?”

“What is that, sir?”

“The fact is that a boring game, a game with no potential, a game that is flashy on the outside but lacks content and completion, will never become a hit, no matter how much money is poured into marketing it or how much game centers and game shops are decorated.”

Mr. Nishikawa said in a very serious, yet evocative voice.

It was a truth that could never be denied.

“People won’t play a boring game even if it’s free. is not only fun, but also technologically advanced. With being released in game centers, the evaluation of Mega Drive is also noticeably improving.”

“Thanks to my game?”

“Yes, I knew that the Mega Drive was 16-bit, but I didn’t know it was this good. People who played at the arcade and then played it again on the Mega Drive were all surprised. The overwhelming opinion is that it was ported much better than .”

In the early days of a console’s release, even developers are unable to fully utilize the console’s true capabilities and potential.

Game developers must have a thorough understanding of the hardware, actively utilize its functions, and try all sorts of methods to solve problems with software in order to accumulate technology and create a game that can maximize console performance by 120%.

Usually, such games only appear towards the end of the console’s life.

However, since I had already experienced the Mega Drive, I didn’t need time to accumulate, and because of that, Starbeat and Sega were having a synergistic effect.

And just looking at the New Year’s edition of , tearful testimonies from people who have experienced both the game center and the Mega Drive poured out like a waterfall.

– Mega Drive! Is this the real 16-bit shock?! I didn’t know when I was only playing on MD, but I was really shocked when I went to the arcade. What is this? Wasn’t this just the arcade level? It was so natural that I didn’t even notice it!

– I always felt miserable after buying a Mega Drive. “Ryo-chan, why did you buy something that doesn’t have any games to play?” Whenever I heard people around me mocking me instead of comforting me, I wanted to yell at my past self. “Bagayaro (You idiot!) Not yet! If you want to buy a Mega Drive, wait another year!” But came out, and I finally found peace of mind. I don’t listen to other people anymore. Because I’m busy playing at home.

– Visual shock! Sound shock! Speed ​​shock! And that wasn’t all. The real shock was ‘Game Shock!’ This fantastic action game instantly turned all other consoles into children’s toys. Everyone, brace yourself. We now know what 16-bit is all about.

– is fun not only when you hit, but even when you get hit. It really feels like I’m getting hit. Ah! Am I a pervert? That’s okay. If you don’t have fun playing this game, then you’re a real pervert!

– played at a game center and played on a Mega Drive are almost identical to each other when you think of arcades and consoles. The real difference between the two is the pad and stick. The Mega Drive pad fits well in the hand and is easy to operate, but it’s still not enough to feel the game center’s hand feel. Sega, hurry up and make and sell a stick for MD!

– Why doesn’t record the high scores of the Mega Drive? It’s an arcade magazine, but since the Mega Drive shows performance comparable to that of most arcades, shouldn’t it be recorded? , are you listening to me?

– Lately, there have been a lot of friends who want to come over to my house. I’m feeling good, but I have to say something. You guys, when I told you to come over, you just laughed at me, saying that the Mega Drive only had the 16-bit logo flashing and there was nothing to do! But, what? You said you’d come over because it’s similar whether you go to an arcade or play with a Mega Drive? Don’t you think that’s a little too much?

– When came out, I felt pride and self-esteem for the first time as an owner of a Mega Drive. How long have we suffered from self-destructive feelings over the past year? How envious we were of that old Famicom still releasing new software! But let’s not forget! Games are about quality rather than quantity! Rather than 10 games that are fun for a week at most coming out a month, it’s better to have one game a month that’s fun all year like !

– The Mega Drive version of is so great that you can practice with it and then go to the arcade and play it. The Mega Drive is amazing, but Star Beat? This is definitely a place where monsters gather. The power and smooth feeling you get while playing the game are almost the same. This is a first for me.

Seeing the reactions of Japanese people, especially Mega Drive owners, made me feel sad because I could tell how much resentment they had built up over time.

There’s nothing more frustrating and humiliating for a gamer than having an unpopular console.

The Mega Drive was extremely popular in the United States under the name Genesis. It was on par with Nintendo’s Super Famicom, and in the United States, Nintendo and Sega fandoms were constantly fighting.

In Japan, the Mega Drive was pushed out by Nintendo and couldn’t do well, so even its owners couldn’t really walk around with their shoulders held high.

But I also feel good because it seems like is saving their pride.

No matter how good the console’s performance is, if the game isn’t popular, the specs are useless. Rather, the console becomes a target of ridicule, with people saying, “The console is good, but why are the games so bad?”

I left Tokyo’s Akihabara and went to various game centers in major Japanese cities such as Osaka and Nagoya. Wherever I went, I could feel the popularity of .

It was excellent marketing that pitted and against each other.

was and still is a masterpiece in my past life. The thrill of the primitive action of hitting, stabbing, and fighting is still alive and well.

When people find a game fun, they tend to look for other similar games.

Regardless of the form of art, whether it be a novel, movie, music, or game, when a huge hit comes out, similar works are produced and become popular as well.

Beltscroll marketing hits the nail on the head.

, which uses swords and magic, has a slightly different action style, but and are perfect for comparison.

Another thing people like to do is group similar things together and see who is stronger.

Every child wonders who would win if a lion and a tiger fought. In reality, lions and tigers never meet in nature, and even if they do, they don’t fight, but we instinctively wonder.

Games are similar. When games of the same genre become hits at similar times, we end up comparing which one is more fun.

These debates never end.

In the first place, this is a question that cannot have a correct answer because everyone has different standards for what makes a game fun.

But gamers can’t stop debating like this, and they enjoy it for its own sake.

In the special feature, several reporters, industry insiders, and high scorers debated belt scrolling games.

The important thing is that at this point, one side should not overwhelm the other.

Then the argument will not be valid and people will not be interested.

A just has better graphics and is more fun than B. That’s it. The end.

If that had been the case, Gamest’s plan to make the belt-scrolling action game genre the new center of game centers would have also gone down the drain.

However, , , and each had their own unique characteristics, and they were all quite entertaining.

Of course, there are cases where a single game comes along that is so overwhelming that it changes the course of video game history forever, even without any special marketing.

Space Invaders did it, Super Mario Bros. did it, and Street Fighter 2 did it.

But even though Final Fight was a masterpiece, it didn’t have the nuclear bomb-level power of SF2, which turned the tide of video games.

Ironically, the reason why and are gaining popularity at the same time is because neither one overpowers the other.

When I was making , I focused more on natural movements, impact, and action than on intense graphics and directing.

My goal wasn’t to make a game that was overwhelmingly stylish and cool. I thought it would inevitably be compared to Final Fight, whether I liked it or not, so I decided to stick to the genre’s core, action.

And by making the game action-oriented, we can maintain a consistent direction when making future fighting games.

Our company’s development team is not yet fully mature in many areas, including technology, planning, graphics, and sound.

So rather than trying to force ourselves to create the ultimate belt-scrolling action game, we focused on creating the best game our company could make.

If I had been too conscious of and had delayed the release of the game in hopes of making it a game that would overwhelm it, would not have been released in Japan at the right time, and if that had been the case, this belt-scroll marketing would not have been possible either.

Japanese exports were the result of a combination of coincidences.

Looking back on the process, I didn’t realize it at the time, but fortunately, the decisions I made led to the best results.

This incident was a mix of what I intended and what I did not intend.

It was really exciting, but at the same time, I thought I needed to be more humble.

I know the history of video games that happened in my past life, but I don’t know what consequences my actions in this life will have.

The future I will live in is also a part of the past I lived in, but not everything is reproduced exactly as it was.

Even Zeu Electronics has developed a new Gemix right now, and Sega’s Mega Drive is seeing rapid sales growth.

The trend shift towards belt-scrolling action games has also accelerated in Japanese game centers, so there will probably be more belt-scrolling action games than before. There may even be games that I don’t know about.

My experience and knowledge now lead me to another unknown future.

To be honest, I’m a little scared when I think that there might come a day when my experiences and knowledge will no longer be useful.

But, because of that, because I don’t know, making games is actually more fun. I can never stop making new games.

I had an unforgettable experience in Japan over the past few days.

It was a special experience to see Japanese people enjoying the games I made in the 80s.

There was an incident in Hokkaido where it snowed so much that my plane almost couldn’t take off, but I was able to return to Tokyo safely.

This time, when I return home, I will be busy preparing for CES and will probably not have any reason to come to Japan for a while, so I planned to say goodbye to Managing Director Nishikawa and leave.

I visited Sega and went into the marketing situation room, and the atmosphere was a bit chaotic.

The manager was talking to someone he was meeting for the first time.

I had become quite familiar with the faces of many people who had been to Sega several times, but there was a reason why some of them were unfamiliar to me.

He was white, not Japanese.

“Ah, sir. You’re in good hands. Say hello. I’m Thomas Bronsky, the president of Sega of America. Mr. Bronsky, this is Nam-Joon Seo, the CEO of Starbeat, the developer of Fist of Jongno.”

“Mr. Seo? Oh, my God! I finally get to meet my hero, my savior. It’s so nice to meet you!”

Thomas Bronsky, president of Sega of America, smiled brightly and shook my hand.

Oh, yeah. It was this guy.

The person in charge of the Mega Drive North American market.