1988 Retro Game Tycoon - Chapter 99



Only Noblemtl

Episode 99 – Star Beat

What is happening now?

“Nice to meet you. My name is Isamu Nishikawa from Sega.”

“I’m Seo Nam-joon. Nice to meet you too.”

I met Sega’s Managing Director Nishikawa at the company.

Yesterday, I suddenly got a call from Mr. Hwang, the CEO of Osung Electronics, and he asked me where the best arcade in Seoul was, so I recommended Gangnam Computer Arcade.

When he asked if I had any Sega games, I told him that I had several, including Afterburner 2, and hung up.

I was thinking that might be it and going back to work when Director Hwang called me again and asked if I could have an urgent meeting.

I said it was possible, and this morning, ta-da, a Sega executive showed up at our company.

“Is this Starbitto’s office? The entrance is very impressive and full of personality!”

“Thank you. I thought that if the space where the game is made is heavy and stuffy, the game will be affected, so I tried to make it as unique as possible.”

“Your Japanese skills are also amazing. How do you speak Japanese so well?”

“There are so many good games coming out of Japan. I ended up learning Japanese to play games, and that’s how I ended up like this. I learned English while studying programming. So, all my foreign languages ​​are thanks to games.”

“Ah, I see. I see. So you are from a generation that grew up with games. I see.”

Managing Director Nishikawa nodded as if he understood something on his own.

I introduced the company and its people to the Sega executive who suddenly appeared, and glanced at Director Hwang of Osung Electronics.

He whispered to me.

“Didn’t you ask me to let go of Sega’s bridge before? The sales executive happened to be visiting Korea, so I brought him along. He’s leaving this afternoon, so you can talk to him leisurely until lunchtime.”

“Oh, yes. Thank you for not forgetting and taking care of it.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s a natural thing.”

Director Hwang said it as if it was nothing serious, but somehow he seemed more nervous than usual.

I don’t know what their plan is, but anyway, it’s good for me to get to know Sega executives.

I bowed my head slightly to Director Hwang to express my gratitude and whispered to Captain Go Dae-ryong.

“Tell the development team not to do any coding work in the morning, and to either organize past work or just rest. You never know what Osung Electronics might see next.”

“All right.”

While I was guiding the VIPs to the arcade we had set up in the company, Captain Ko relayed my message to the development team.

I doubt that he would use the excuse of being a Sega executive to spy on our company, but I couldn’t completely relax because of the precedent he had with Oseong.

“Hey, did you make an arcade in your company?”

“Yes, as a game developer, you have to play a lot of games made by other people. You have to actively accept the good ones and avoid the bad ones. I’m learning a lot from Sega games.”

“That’s a nice thing to say. It may sound like bragging, but I think Sega is definitely the best game company in the world. It’s not inferior to Nintendo in terms of technology or fun. It’s just that while Sega is concentrating on arcades, Nintendo has taken over all the home systems, so it only seems that way.”

“The wall that Nintendo has built is really high and strong. I also think about how I can overcome that wall every day.”

“Aren’t you developing games for the Famicom?”

“If you join them, you will be completely tied to Nintendo for several years. It is also difficult to undergo Nintendo’s inspection and confirmation every day. I understand that it is a necessary procedure considering the Atari Shock, but I think Nintendo’s current policy is a bit excessive.”

“That’s right. But, are these three games of Starbitto?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

I introduced the games one by one to Managing Director Nishikawa.

“Would you like to do with me?”

“Is that okay? If you don’t mind.”

I enjoyed playing a two-player game with Mr. Nishikawa, and while I was at it, I invited two more developers and played a four-player game.

I also recommended it to Director Hwang, but he politely declined.

“It’s amazing how smooth the game moves even when four people are playing. If you don’t mind, which company’s board are you using?”

“It’s not a license. We use an arcade board that we developed ourselves.”

“Yes? Is that true?”

Nishikawa asked with a surprised expression.

It was funny to see a Sega executive make that kind of expression.

Of course you’d be surprised. Even in Japan, making an arcade system isn’t easy, so they say they made such an excellent board in Korea.

“If you don’t mind, how long has it been since you started the company?”

“We released our first game in December last year, so it hasn’t even been a year yet.”

“What? So you’re saying that you developed the board yourself and created this game? Is that really true?”

“Why would I lie?”

I briefly explained the founding process of our company and the development process of the A1 board. I didn’t necessarily mention the story of Lee Ki-cheol.

Director Nishikawa, who was quietly listening to my story, had a serious, if not grave, expression on his face.

“It’s an unbelievable story. In such a short period of time, even an arcade system… There are many game companies in Japan, but none have achieved this much in such a short period of time. But I heard that there’s only one game company in Korea?”

“We’re not the only company making games, but Starbeat is still the only one that has succeeded with originals. It’s a little embarrassing to say that.”

Although I said I was changing the Korean game market, the gap between Korea and Japan was still too big. Korea was still in a situation where it could not keep up in terms of scale or content. Japan was even going through the bubble economy of the 80s.

“I can’t believe I’m actually doing this. Next time, I want to try a baseball game.”

“Yes, this one can be used by two people.”

Mr. Nishikawa enjoyed every single game our company made, from to .

“Ohhhhh~, that’s a hit. It hits the bat perfectly! It feels so refreshing when it hits.”

Managing Director Nishikawa, who hit the ball, was delighted like a child.

I watched his reaction while playing the game in reception mode.

Suddenly, a Sega executive came to our company and paid a special visit, so I couldn’t help but wonder about his intentions.

Seeing you playing games, it seems like you just came out of curiosity.

I was confused.

“Ah~, Suzy’s poster. She’s so beautiful. She’s the most elegant and charming game character I’ve ever seen.”

“This was designed by AD Choi Han-il here.”

“Oh~, that’s great. I’m really sorry, but could you please give me just one autograph for Suzy’s character?”

“My autograph? It’s not that hard, but…”

AD Choi Han-il tilted his head and signed the poster. Then, Managing Director Nishikawa rolled up the poster in a tube and carefully kept it.

He felt like a very ordinary neighborhood otaku uncle.

I guess he just happened to see our game in the arcade and came here because he was curious.

I decided to put aside my worries and just have fun together. Once we got to know each other, it would be helpful in some way when I had to deal with Sega later.

After the game, we had tea and chatted in the conference room.

It was easy for me to please Nishikawa.

Because he is an executive at Sega, and there are tons of games he wanted to play when he was young.

If we just talked about Sega games, a whole day would not be enough.

“Sega’s games always feel clean and not too over-the-top. That’s why I feel a sense of relief when I play them. Racing games like Out Run and Hang On are great, as are 3D action games like Afterburner 2 and Space Harrier. Space Harrier’s music is especially great, so I sometimes play it for hours while I’m working.”

“Ah~, the music from is really exciting. Once you hear it, you can’t forget it, right? Every time I listen to that song, I think that Mr. Kawaguchi is truly a genius.”

“Yes, when I listen to it, I feel like I’m heading into the future. By the way, Mr. Sangmu, you’ll be meeting Mr. Hiro (Kawaguchi Hiroshi’s credited name) in person. I’m jealous. Our company doesn’t have a composer yet, so it would be great if we could bring him in.”

“Oh! I was thinking of inviting you to Sega later and setting up a meeting with Mr. Kawaguchi. But if I were to do that, it would be difficult because I would be in trouble later.”

Although we had only known each other for a short time, we were already joking around and talking about games.

Although Mr. Nisaka and Managing Director were older, they were also very knowledgeable about games, so we had a lot in common.

As I hummed the BGM melody of , Director Nishikawa followed along.

Director Hwang couldn’t keep up with our conversation and just laughed awkwardly next to him. The interpreter next to him was diligently relaying our conversation.

As we continued talking about this and that, the conversation turned to home consoles, and naturally the Mega Drive came up.

“So, sir, have you tried our Mega Drive?”

“Of course. I bought it as soon as it came out.”

“I see. How was it?”

“It goes without saying that it is by far the best home game console in existence. However···”

“but?”

“It’s a shame that the game software doesn’t support it. Even Sega’s hit games like Super Hang-On, Golden Axe, and Afterburner 2 haven’t been released for the Mega Drive yet.”

“Yes, that is clearly wrong.”

Nishikawa, who was full of pride in Sega, nodded in agreement.

Now that I think about it, when I opened my eyes back in 1988, Yang Geun-seok called me and told me he had procured a Mega Drive.

In the meantime, I had released three games and even developed an arcade board, but Sega was still unable to properly release games for the Mega Drive in 1989.

Although the Mega Drive was released much earlier than Nintendo’s Super Famicom, it didn’t really have any games, so it didn’t really take advantage of that.

It wasn’t until after 1990 that third parties started to actively work on the Mega Drive. So, although it did much better than the 8-bit consoles, Sega ultimately failed to take the throne of 16-bit home consoles.

“It’s really unfortunate. Sega, which started way ahead in video games, is falling behind Nintendo like this. Everything has changed so much since Nintendo took over the American market. They need to show us how to do it with the Mega Drive, but if you listen to the developers, it’s not that easy.”

“I know it’s a bit harsh, but I think Sega still tends to think of arcade games as the be-all and end-all of gaming. Home games are different from arcade games.”

“Can I hear your opinion on how it is different?”

“It’s not that I have any opinions. Arcade games are much more technologically advanced than home games, but the genres of the games are heavily skewed toward shooting and action. It’s an inevitable problem. In order for arcade owners to make the most money, they have to make the games short and intense.”

“That’s because that’s how the business is structured.”

“Yes, but home consoles are completely different. You have more freedom to play at a more leisurely pace. You don’t have to react as responsively as in a shooter game, and you can enjoy it even if you’re not good at controlling, so the genre range is much wider. RPG games like The Legend of Zelda and Dragon Quest are good examples.”

Sega, the king of arcade games, was particularly lacking in the RPG genre on their game consoles. It was a big difference when you consider that there were numerous RPG games on the Famicom masterpieces.

“It may be presumptuous of me to say this, but Sega seems to think of arcade games and home consoles as one entity. It may be inevitable because they have been so successful with arcade games. However, we must acknowledge that consoles have their own unique characteristics. Paradoxically, you can only achieve new success by breaking away from your previous success.”

“Get away from the success that you have had…! That is true. However, Sega has a history of success over the past 20 years, so it is not easy. They have always made their own games, so it is not easy to recruit third parties. Even if they wanted to recruit them, it seems that developing games for the Mega Drive is not that easy.”

“I guess I had to learn 16-bit 68k assembly after developing an 8-bit game.”

“I may have misheard, but somehow it sounds like we can do it.”

“Well, I won’t deny that there is such a meaning. The A1 board we made also uses a 68k CPU. Doesn’t the Mega Drive use a Z80a as a coprocessor for the Motorola 68k CPU? It’s a processor we are all familiar with.”

The Motorola 68k CPU was a processor that was used so much that it was almost a standard CPU for 16-bit games.

However, the world had not yet transitioned from the 8-bit to the 16-bit system, and it was natural that companies that mainly developed console games had difficulty adapting because they had no experience with it.

I don’t know if Sega would provide thorough production support to third-party developers, but they themselves are a very arrogant company and cannot do that.

Even if developers wanted to make games for the Mega Drive, it was a situation that was doubly difficult.

“Indeed. If that’s so, sir.”

Nishikawa straightened his posture and clasped his hands together.

“Can I understand that there is no particular difficulty in making a game for Starbit or Mega Drive?”

“Yes.”

“Well… then.”

Managing Director Nishikawa thought for a moment and then looked straight at me.

Suddenly, his gaze and mood changed.

Sensing something, I sat up straight.

“How about porting to Mega Drive?”

You’re such a sly snake.

When do you act like you just like games and want to take a look around the company?

As expected, there was another real reason for coming all this way.

So, the Sega executive was just telling me this.

You, be my third party!

1988 Retro Game Tycoon Episode 100