1988 Retro Game Tycoon - Chapter 51



Only Noblemtl

Episode 51 – Wise Comboy

– I’ve been waiting for this day! Enjoy the world-class game console with an electronic gun, Hyunmyeong Comboy!

– Wow! Comboy has appeared!

– A world of exciting and wonderful games! A world of fun and wonderful adventures!

– Let’s go together to the world of dreams and fantasy!

– A smart combo to enjoy with an electron gun!

– Buy now and get the games and free.

– Hyunmyung Electronics

Whenever I turned on the TV, I would often see advertisements for Hyunmyung Electronics Comboy.

Although it wasn’t explicitly stated as ‘Nintendo’, it was indirectly referred to as a world-class game console.

Of course, as soon as it came out, we bought it and looked at it together at work.

The release specs were exactly as I remembered. Instead of the Japanese Famicom in wine red and gold with the ROM pack slotted in from the top, they brought in the American NES in a more electronic-looking gray color with a push-in cartridge.

[ Wise Comboy ]

[Nintendo Entertainment System]

[ Korean Version ]

The case also has the name Hyunmyung Comboy written on it along with the Korean version of Nintendo NES.

It was a time when Japanese popular culture had not yet been opened to Korea. It was supposed to be opened in 1998, so there were still 9 years left.

The proliferation of games that indiscriminately copy Japanese games is not unrelated to this problem.

Because popular culture was not open, game companies like Nintendo and Sega were unable to open branches in Korea and conduct direct sales. Of course, there was also the fact that the Korean market was still small and they were not interested.

But the 88 Olympics really changed a lot of things.

It showed the world that Korea could successfully host the Olympics, and the Korean government also began to follow global standards rather than the Korean way to please foreign countries.

So it was natural that Japanese game companies across the ocean began to take interest in the Korean market.

“But why did you insist on doing it the American way?”

“Famicom is for Japan, NES is for export. Isn’t that how they divided it?”

“Just because this is cooler?”

“That’s not necessarily the case. Hyunmyeong Electronics must have done market research. There are already quite a few people who bought Japanese Famicoms or cloned Famicoms through Seun Shopping Mall, and they all bought Japanese Famicom ROM packs.”

“Ah, now that I hear what the CEO says, I think I understand. Japanese Famicom ROM packs are already widespread, so if Comboy comes out as a Japanese Famicom, the game sales won’t be good.”

Until just a few days ago, the only game console legally available for sale in Korea was Jewoo Electronics’ Jemix.

But the world doesn’t always revolve under the sunlight of the law. In the shadows where the law doesn’t pay attention, numerous Famicoms and cloned Famicoms have already spread across the market.

Since it is a smuggled product, it is impossible to conduct a market survey to determine how much was sold, so it is also impossible to know how many there were.

So, it could be said that it was a reasonable decision for Hyunmyung Electronics to import the American-style NES.

“But is that really a wise strategy? Why not just acknowledge that there are already Famicom packs on the market and use that instead?”

“Oh, our Yongju hyung, I see you have a lot of Famicom games at home.”

“Oh, that’s true, but that’s not necessarily what I meant.”

Double Dragon’s Soryong, Yongju Lee, asked a sharp question, but his true intention was soon revealed.

People who already own a Japanese Famicom can enjoy games by purchasing only the titles that will be officially released in the future if Hyunmyeong Electronics imports the Japanese Famicom.

But with the introduction of the American NES, if you wanted to play official Nintendo games, you had to buy a Wise Comboy. Of course, later on, people started to find a way around this as compatible cartridges came out.

“Listen to me. People don’t buy game packs just because they come out. Most people pass them around with their friends, and if they still can’t find anything to do, they go to a game store and exchange them for money, or they can look for them in the exchange section of a game magazine and exchange them. If you release it on the Famicom, you can sell games to those people, and since you can borrow packs from your friends, you can just buy the game. But if you bring in the American style, you have to sell them by going all the way to the ground.”

“That makes sense. If we use the already formed market in the shadows as leverage, we might be able to dominate the Korean market more easily. Even though they advertise on TV like that, it probably won’t be easy. Hyunmyeong knows that, so they’re probably including a lot of , , and even an electronic gun as launch events.”

The Wise Combo comes with the main console, two basic pads, two games, and an electronic gun zapper, and costs 139,000 won.

Considering the prices in 1989, it’s not cheap, but considering the configuration, it’s not that expensive. They say the game and zapper are included as part of the launch event, but if they don’t sell well, they’ll keep extending the event period.

Although Hyunmyeong Electronics ambitiously joined hands with Nintendo to import the Famicom, it won’t be as easy as they think.

Although the Famicom was a powerful game console that swept through Japan and the United States, things were a little different in Korea.

As far as I remember, it’s similar to the Sega game console that Osung Electronics brought in.

Neither Hyunmyeong (Nintendo) nor Oseong (Sega) have been able to gain a clear foothold in the Korean video game market.

But, from what I remember, it seems like Oseong was one step ahead in bringing in Sega. This time, Nintendo is one step ahead of Sega.

“It is certainly a welcome development that Nintendo has officially entered Korea. It shows that Nintendo has seen the potential of the Korean video game market, and with the world’s best game consoles entering the market, the game market will grow and become more active. However, it could be disadvantageous for us in the short term.”

Even though it’s been three months since its release, is still the hottest game in Korea.

But when the Nintendo Famicom came out and they even advertised it on TV like that, people’s attention was drawn to the Hyunmyung Comboy.

In the Korean gaming market, which is still in the very early stages of its development, when such a powerful player appears, everyone’s attention is drawn to it.

“Mr. Oh, please check the situation with Myeongseong and Jewoo Electronics dealerships regularly. Sales may drop in the short term, so please keep an eye out for any places where there is a noticeable drop. Also, please inform Myeongseong and Jewoo that we will be releasing a new product soon.”

“Yes, sir.”

I’ve decided not to bother with Gemini anymore. If I take action, it’s something that Hyunmyung Electronics will do.

More importantly to me now is monitoring how is affected by the release of Comboy and quickly releasing the next game.

“The Seun side is still quiet. Either Hyunmyeong hasn’t been able to produce much goods yet, or they decided to sell only at department stores and their own agencies, so nothing has come to Seun. Hyunmyeong’s sales people have been going around, but they haven’t said exactly when. So the stores that sold the Famicom are all waiting to see what to do.”

“Then at least in Seun, our game won’t be affected for the time being.”

“It hasn’t had much of an impact yet. The exclusive sales have been lifted, so there are more items in Seun now. There are many stores that are selling the same as before, but stores that are keeping an eye on Hyunmyeong Electronics are selling more diligently. We’re the ones who are holding them back now.”

President Jeong told us about the atmosphere of the shopping mall. It seems that Hyunmyeong Electronics will start selling mainly through department stores and agencies when it is first released. Maybe that alone is not enough.

Whatever the reason, it was a fortunate thing for us.

It’s not just Gemini that’s feeling the heat with the launch of Comboy. We also need to build a stronger fandom before Nintendo fully enters the fray.

“We need to hurry up and release . Let’s organize all the issues that are currently being addressed during development.”

I gathered with Team B in the conference room and worked hard on developing .

I’m glad that the developer recruitment was done on time. If it had been a little later, I would have been too busy to even take the coding test.

“The single player mode is almost complete now. There are eight teams, all of which are virtual high schools, and the game can be played in league, tournament, practice, and two-player modes from the menu.”

“Oh~, the design has been upgraded a lot?”

Among the members of Tobagi, Hyunwoo Seok majored in industrial design and was skilled in graphic design.

It goes without saying that decorating dot graphics and pixel images nicely is never easy.

It was a competition to see how striking, harmonious, and creative a design could be created within a given space with a limited number of pixels and colors.

It’s no coincidence that Mario wears a hat and a mustache.

When Shigeru Miyamoto was designing the then-unnamed Mario character, the developer said it would be difficult to express flying hair, so he gave him a hat. To make the character stand out a little more, he gave him a bigger nose and even a mustache.

Mario is a character born from the limitations of having to create a unique character in a low resolution with only a few dozen pixels and monotonous colors. As technology has advanced, details have continued to be added, but the essence of Mario has never changed.

In the end, computer graphics was a design problem before it was a technology problem.

, which Hyunwoo Seok touched up with graphics, had a completely different background. When I had roughly drawn the stands, the scoreboard, and the lighting tower were completed, it really looked like Dongdaemun Stadium. It was simple, but the details were alive.

“The CEO said he wanted the background of Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium to be vivid, so Woo-seok went there and took pictures and even sketched it to create it.”

“Actually, Manager Choi gave me a lot of advice.”

“Manager Choi? No, when will he be here again?”

As expected, you have a great sense. Manager Choi’s touch was included.

The players’ uniforms have also been improved. The home team wears white uniforms and the away team wears blue uniforms, and the uniforms have details such as button holes and belts, making them look more like baseball players.

“I also worked on the way it was played. When you swing, if you press A, it’s a normal swing, if you press B, it’s a bunt, and if you press them at the same time, it’s a power swing.”

“We’ve increased the number of pitches a pitcher can throw to a maximum of four. The pitch that a pitcher throws best is A, then B, then AA, and then BB. Then, if you press AB at the same time and decide on a direction, you can throw a pickoff. Depending on the pitcher’s control stat, the pickoff may be missed.”

“When you run, don’t just watch, but tap like this! If you tap the A button repeatedly, you’ll get faster and slightly increase your chance of being safe. B is for sliding.”

Everyone burst out laughing at how hard Park Geon-hyung pressed the buttons on the joystick while demonstrating it.

Team B has improved several systems to make the gameplay more baseball-like and to allow gamers to be more involved in the game.

“Can I take a look at the code? Why did you do this part like this?”

After reviewing the function, I always did a code review to check why it was written that way, and if the structure I had created was not maintained, I instructed them to revise it again.

“Just implementing it is not everything. If you make it work somehow by making it temporary, you will definitely have to modify it later. Also, other people may not understand the code when they see it. You don’t develop it alone, and it’s not over once you finish developing it. We could make another series of baseball games later, right?”

I praised what was done well, but I also pointed out and specifically instructed them to fix what was not done well. When I was reviewing code, people listened to me so seriously that I honestly felt a little burdened.

At the age of twenty, I taught myself and created the hit game in just one month. I was an object of awe not only to those who dreamed of becoming game developers, but also to the programmers at our company.

When I was doing code reviews, they listened to every word I said as if it were the voice of God. Their will to learn was that strong.

So I had to work harder so as not to disappoint them.

While developing , we called Manager Choi to the office in advance to prepare the package design and advertising draft so that we wouldn’t rush the schedule too much.

“Oh, by the way, I heard the manager gave you a lot of advice on the design?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I happened to see it on my way to and from the office. I’m interested in computer graphics, so I looked into how it’s made and it was quite interesting.”

“Isn’t it very different from drawing by hand?”

“Yes, but it’s still the same painting. It’s just that the technique of expression is a little different.”

“This time, I guess we should include Manager Choi in the credits too? Then, shall we play a game first?”

“I’ve been waiting for you for a while.”

“Would you like to play a two-player game with me? Each of the eight teams has its own unique characteristics. Seoul has a good balance between pitchers and batters, and the Gwangju team has the best pitching power. Busan is a home run team, so it has the most power.”

“Baseball is all about home runs. I’ll go to Busan Jeil High School.”

“Will you come out like that? Then I’ll go to Gwangju Mudeung High School.”

At the advertising meeting, Busan with its home runs and Gwangju with its pitching power faced off.

I went ahead by scoring 2 runs in the first inning, but I lost the lead in the third inning after giving up a 3-run home run.

“Wow! This is a total scam. How can you hit the 8th batter? We need to re-examine the player balance.”

“I aimed for a straight ball and hit it. Since my aim was successful, I think it’s a well-made game.”

I gave up three home runs, but I doggedly chased after them and ended up winning 6-5.

“Strike out! Out!”

“Ahh···!”

I celebrated my victory by striking out the Busan Jeil High School 8th batter, who had brought me the humiliation of a 3-run home run.

Even Manager Choi Han-il, who usually doesn’t show his emotions, felt sorry for him. It was that intense of a match.

“How about one more game of revenge?”

“I really want to do that, but I have another appointment. I guess I’ll have to end the game here.”

“Ah… that’s right. At that moment, I thought Manager Choi was an employee of our company. Then, next time, let’s set up a meeting late in the afternoon and play a few rounds with me. We can have dinner together too.”

“I will definitely do that.”

We then discussed the Golden Sun package and advertising concept. The meeting time was much shorter than the time we spent playing games together.

Because Manager Choi already knew a lot about the game. Manager Choi asked while organizing the content.

“So this time too, the media will only be computer magazines?”

“No. This time, I plan to expand the scale of the advertisement a bit.”

“Oh, then next time, shall we come together with Manager Park?”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll do it, but I’d like to ask Jewoo Electronics to do it for me.”

“Jewoo Electronics will do the advertising for me?”

“Yes, I plan to do that.”

I smiled silently as I looked at Manager Choi Han-il, who had an expression of incomprehension.