1988 Retro Game Tycoon - Chapter 42



Only Noblemtl

Episode 42 – 16-bit Dream

When I said I wanted to make a 16-bit console, Lee Ki-chul asked back as if it was absurd.

“Are you serious? Do you know what you’re talking about?”

“Of course. What if the game makers don’t know that?”

“It’s an arcade board, right? You could probably fit a few of them in a corner of an arcade. There must be a few crazy arcade owners in the US and Japan, too. But a home console? Are you trying to compete with that right now?”

Lee Ki-cheol pointed to the cloned Famicom he had made.

“I don’t just want to compete. I want to win.”

“Now that I look at it, it wasn’t just any old man, it was a dog!”

I’ve heard that enough.

But Lee Ki-cheol wouldn’t know.

Rather, I, who know the future, know better how reckless my words were.

From the mid-80s to the mid-90s, the name ‘Nintendo’ was an unrivaled powerhouse in the home game console market.

8-bit Famicom worldwide sales of approximately 62 million units.

16-bit Super Famicom worldwide sales of approximately 49 million units.

The Famicom was a console that completely dominated the market in Japan, accounting for 95% of home game consoles.

However, with the transition to 16-bit, there was more competition in the home console market. In North America, Sega was fiercely competing with Sonic, and in Japan, the PC Engine was doing well and creating a gap.

But still, Nintendo was still Nintendo.

Knowing how mythical a record it has set, it takes almost foolhardy courage to even attempt it.

I decided to dream such a reckless dream.

“You know what? Nintendo announced that they’re working on a successor to the Famicom. It’s supposed to come out this summer.”

“That won’t come out this year.”

“You can’t come out? How would you know that?”

“Did you know there was a DRAM shortage last year? Oh Sung Electronics Semiconductor made a huge profit because of it. Something similar will happen again. Nintendo can’t move lightly. They have to produce millions of units at once, and the production cost fluctuates depending on the price of semiconductors alone.”

“Hmm, well, the price of semiconductors is a bit scary these days. But is it really worth postponing the release?”

“There may be other reasons. Nintendo continues to use the Ricoh chip, so it is difficult for developers to make games. It is an unfamiliar CPU. I also studied the Z80 CPU while making . I think the developers of the games for the successor are going crazy.”

Nintendo originally planned to release the Super Famicom in July 1989. However, for various reasons, the release was eventually delayed and it was finally released in November 1990.

Nintendo was not completely relaxed, as Sega had already released the 16-bit console Mega Drive in 1988. However, Sega itself failed to properly create a game lineup until 1990, and thus failed to seize the opportunity to lead the 16-bit market.

“I think there’s still about two years left. If my brother makes an arcade game board quickly and makes money from it, he’ll invest that money back into console development. To be honest, it’s a really tight time frame. But I want to try. No, I’m going to do it all the way.”

“Why are you so hung up on it? With your skills, why don’t you just make a Famicom or 16-bit Famicom game?”

Of course, that path is much more reasonable. I know that. If they had just made one mega hit for the Super Famicom, Starbeat could have quickly become a world-class game company.

Then what about a strategy of waiting a little longer and targeting the 3D era when Nintendo is weaker?

That’s when the PlayStation, which has sold over 100 million units worldwide, will appear. And then Microsoft will enter the console war with the Xbox.

The plan to build up more power and then exploit Nintendo’s weakness won’t work.

Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Microsoft all have gaps every now and then. But when you look at the entire gaming market, there are no gaps.

You can’t survive in this competitive market with such a weak stance in the first place.

“People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.”

“What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“This is what American computer scientist Alan Kay said. He said, ‘If you’re a really serious software developer, you should build your own hardware.’”

“You’re making it so difficult to even talk.”

“Realistically, you’re right. It’s a much easier path. But then I’d always have to follow someone else. Nintendo, Sega, and the consoles that will come out in the future. But I don’t want to do that. I want to make my own consoles to run my games on. I want to see how far I can go. I want to pour everything I have into making Korea the center of video games. Can’t we do that? We’re behind the US and Japan, so we can’t even dream?”

I looked straight into Lee Ki-cheol’s eyes and asked. It wasn’t a question, but rather an appeal.

“Child, what do you mean? In short, you want to make a game console because you want to do whatever you want, right? Why are you saying that in such a grand way?”

Lee Ki-cheol looked at me and snickered.

“Okay, fine. Let’s say I make it. Of course I can make it. So, what’s the next plan?”

“Of course. People think that game consoles are all about the latest technology and speed. But that’s just an ignorant statement. In the end, what’s really important about game consoles is not performance, but the games. No matter how much the console is armed with the latest technology, it’s hard to make games, and if the games aren’t fun, the console will fail.”

“If the game you make can be installed on the game console I made, everything will be okay?”

“No, that’s not enough. We’re going to create a game engine so that even slightly inexperienced game developers can easily create games if they have a great idea. With that, we’re going to allow countless game companies around the world to create games for our console. The hardware doesn’t have to be amazing. Just make it as good as everyone else’s. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“What are you talking about? Of course, the game board and the game console have to be amazing! I, Lee Ki-cheol, am making it! Are you kidding me? If not, I won’t do it!”

“So you’re saying you’re going to do it? Or you’re not going to do it? Tell me clearly.”

“But this will cost a lot of money. Can you afford it?”

“money?”

I took an envelope out of my coat pocket and held it out.

“How about this amount as a deposit for now?”

“What about the deposit… Mom!”

When Lee Ki-cheol checked the amount of the check in the envelope, he was as surprised as when he first met me.

A check for ten million won. It was the New Year’s money I received from my father on New Year’s Day.

“Hey? Really? You’re giving this to me?”

“It’s a deposit, a down payment, and initial research expenses. With that, buy all the arcade boards that you can get at Seun right now, take them apart, and study them. If there’s anything that’s hard to get, tell me. I’ll get it for you.”

“Are you asking for something that isn’t even in Seun?”

“If you get through to Myeongseongsangsa, it’ll be done in no time.”

“What on earth are you?”

“Me? The eldest son of the Myeongseong Group.”

“Myeongseong Group?”

“Yeah. So, you too, let’s get out of the Iron Age. Let’s go to the 16-bit era together. What do you think?”

Lee Ki-cheol looked blank for a moment, then strode toward me. Then he clasped his hands together and suddenly knelt down on one knee.

“What? Why are you suddenly like this?”

“Namjoon hyung! No, Namjoon hyung! From now on, I will treat you as hyung!”

“Oh, what’s wrong? Don’t joke around. What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“If you have more money than me, you are my brother. Please allow me to treat you as my brother!”

StarBeat has now entered the Iron Age and is embarking on an ambitious dream of conquering the 16-bit gaming consoles.

“Namjoon hyung! Where are you going? Hyung?!”

Plus, he seems to have a younger sibling who is technically very good, but a bit immature and older.

***

Korea University of Science and Technology campus in Daejeon Metropolitan City, Daedeok Research Complex.

Members of the computer research club ‘Ttobagi’ gathered in a dorm room.

Tobagi started out as a computer research club. It gradually became a club that only studied computer games, and eventually developed computer games.

Although the five members were having a heated discussion, the atmosphere was dark.

“With this quality, there’s no point in releasing the game now. We need to completely revise it and make it again.”

“You can’t just look at it that way. Everyone around me said it was well-made and fun.”

“Even if you say that people who watch our game and say it’s fun are all people from school, right? They’re just friends or seniors and juniors. How can you believe that?”

“No. You don’t know that, but how many people are so cruel to their friends? Last time, Kyung-jun got scolded for making a bad program for his homework, and then he drank a bottle of soju and threw up, and it was a mess.”

“That’s right. I kept revising it and eventually couldn’t submit it and got an F. I have to retake it.”

“Anyway, I can’t completely believe what people around me say. And look at the current situation. Everyone says that their perspective on games has completely changed because of .”

“That is true, too.”

“Even is an MSX. We made it as an MSX2 game.”

“Fun aside, I honestly don’t know if the graphics are better than . Maybe we just used more colors? But when you look at the screen, there’s no unnecessary elements, the screen is harmonious, and the animation is smooth, but ours is…”

Hyunwoo Seok, a student in the Department of Industrial Design at the College of Science and Technology, said while pointing to the screen.

In my dorm room, there were two different games running on two computers.

One is Starbeat’s .

Another one was by Tobagi.

was a vertical scrolling shooting game about the Earth Liberation Army fighting alien forces on the far side of the moon.

“Hey, you designed that. I told you to make the space station cool, and you just got stuck in the crater and kept hanging there.”

“So, I made a lot of modifications to the space station during winter break.”

“That’s right. So you stayed up all night re-editing everything you had programmed to fix the movement of the space station. Don’t you remember?”

“We’re not here to judge who’s right or wrong. We’ve been working really hard these past few months to create . I know that, and we know that better than anyone else.”

Chairman Park Geon-hyeong said. Everyone nodded at his words.

“ suddenly came out, which was unexpected of ours. But that’s the nature of games, right? You never know when, who, or what game will be released. Anyway, we worked hard and made our first game. Now we have to decide. Should we sell it? Or should we revise it? Finally, let’s gather our opinions and talk about it.”

“It has to be sold. Think about all the nights we worked, revised, tested, and suffered to make this. Isn’t it such a shame? was well made, but our genre is different, and the response from people around us is good enough. This is a challenge worth taking on.”

“It needs to be fixed. The reason sold well is not only because the game was well-made, but also because it could be sold for the Gemix on the MSX1. is an MSX2 game and doesn’t run on the Gemix. But I can’t say that the game is better than . I put in a lot of effort, but this is just like throwing an egg at a rock.”

The opinions of both sides were at odds. In the end, Park Geon-hyung spoke.

“Then let’s vote. In keeping with democracy, we will do it by secret ballot. O means it should be sold, X means it should be revised.”

Park Geon-hyung folded the paper into equal sizes, cut it with a cutter, and handed it out. Everyone crouched down, marked their numbers, and finished voting.

“Okay, then let’s count the votes. Everyone, no matter what the results are, accept them without complaint. Got it?”

“yes!”

“Okay, let’s start. Circle.”

“X.”

“X.”

“circle.”

After four votes, the score was 2 to 2. The fate of was hanging on the last vote.

While everyone was tense, Park Geon-hyung unfolded the folded paper.

“··· X.”

“······.”

No one said anything. Disappointment, emptiness, betrayal, and despair all mixed together. Those who had marked the X were also unhappy. They were not sure how much the game would improve even if they were revised again.

“I… I’m sorry, but I might be taking a leave of absence next semester. It might be difficult to work together.”

“What? Why are you saying that now? Didn’t the five of you always agree to go together like a gang?”

“I’m sorry. To be honest, I’m a little tired, and I have to think about military service. At home, they keep asking me why my grades are like that, and why I’m not coming home during vacation.”

“Hey, even so. Phew···.”

As soon as one person was missing, the atmosphere deteriorated rapidly.

“It would be better to turn down the game volume…”

“I also keep getting upset because my girlfriend doesn’t play with me···.”

“If we leave only the skeleton of and interpret it differently···.”

“Rather, I’d like to start planning again next semester, and then do it again during the summer vacation···.”

As the story went on and on, Park Geon-hyung started to have a headache.

The joy of completing the game was short-lived, however, as it was the biggest crisis since its creation.

At that moment, the dormitory door opened wide and my friend Park Geon-hyung came in holding a magazine.

“You’re all here. Hey, did you guys see this? The interview with Seo Nam-joon from is out?”

“what?”

“Really?”

The members of the dormitory were all surprised and gathered around the February 1989 issue of Microprogramming. The dorm room became so quiet that you could hear the sound of ten eyes rolling.

“Did you really do the programming by yourself?”

“You studied programming on your own without going to college?”

“Get ready for the 16-bit era as soon as possible?”

Every time I read Seo Nam-joon’s interview, the members of Tobagi let out a gasp. It was a complex mix of admiration and jealousy.

Park Geon-hyung couldn’t take his eyes off the end of the interview. It was an announcement about Starbeat’s programmer recruitment.

“Hey guys.”

Park Geon-hyung spoke in a deep voice. There was a strong will in it.

“I’m really sorry. Something came up that I had to do.”

“Huh? What are you saying, bro?”

“I just decided to apply to Starbeat. We all came here together and I’m really embarrassed in front of you. But I feel like I have to do this. I think I’ll regret it for the rest of my life if I miss this.”

“What about next semester then?”

“I don’t know. If I get accepted, I’ll have to take a leave of absence or something. I’ll think about that later. Honestly, I kept reflecting while watching this. Seo Namjoon taught himself and made a game like that on his own, but I’m the club president and I can’t even lead you guys properly.”

“Brother, where did you hear that?”

“And I’m even more sorry for leaving so irresponsibly. Woo-seok took over instead of me…”

“No. I want to follow you, hyung. I’ll apply to Starbeat.”

“What? Why?”

“Honestly, the game that Seo Nam-joon made alone in a month is much better than the game that the five of us made in a few months. Rather than fighting among ourselves here, going to Starbeat and learning will be much better for improving our development skills.”

“I will support you too!”

“me too.”

Everyone’s eyes were focused on the member who said he would take a leave of absence. He thought for a moment and then shouted.

“Hey! I don’t know either. Let’s all go together like this! We’re all the same!”

“Yeah! That’s right!”

“Where are you going, Inma!”

The group that was on the verge of falling apart has come together again. Now, they have a new goal.

“Let’s study thoroughly from now on. I’ll take care of the application process. Make sure you prepare thoroughly so that all five of you can join.”

“There will be a lot of people, right?”

“Of course. Everyone in Korea who wants to make games right now probably applies.”

“Let’s start again from !”

The members of the group gathered in front of the MSX computer. Park Geon-hyung’s friend closed the door again and left without even being able to ask for the magazine back.

As one door closes, a new door opens on the other side.

A new dream began to stir in the hearts of the members of the computer research club, Tobagi.