Game Market 1983

“You can count on it. ”

Yeah, you'd better hope so...

Suzuki and I smiled at each other holding hands.

Shortly after, the production announcement of the NEGA began in a very lavish atmosphere.

The home console industry was behind Mintendo a lot, and I recently had to give Laon the second title, but I felt the pride of the NEGA that was holding the first place so tightly that no one could follow it.

Me and Kawaguchi sat at the table with the Pentagon's plaque up and looked around the atmosphere of the chairman.

“The Third Party has a low attendance, unlike the lavish courtyard atmosphere. ”

“It seems that there are many companies loyal to Mintendo side. It's relatively low. ”

“We're doing our best to get the Third Party back together, but so far, the penetration rate is less than Mintendo. Rarely do I get the wrong company. ”

Two years after the launch, the superfamily's device penetration rate has been phenomenal at 85% of the next generation consoles, with the NEGA drive in second place at 9%. Laon was later ranked third at 6%.

No matter how expensive royalty may be, this industry is a world where device penetration rates everything.

With over a million superfamilies already launched in Japan, with over 80,000 new releases coming out of Raon…

The answer was already obvious.

At that time, the interior lighting dimmed slightly and Suzuki, the gaming director representing the NEGA, stepped up to the top. Hmm, are we starting now?

“Hello, and in the meantime, thank you very much for attending our NEGA Gamemaking Conference. ”

While looking around the intestine with a confident smile, Suzuki stepped out for a moment, made eye contact, and opened his mouth again.

“Our gaming industry is in a big crisis right now. But our customers, the gamers, don't know it very well. the tyranny of the dinosaur company Mintendo. ”

Hmm... It's a dangerous idea to gain empathy like that from the start.

The game company must battle only as a game.

If you have a fun game, it's because gamers buy a console by looking at only that one game. That's why the exclusive games released by the First Party are so important.

In the distant future, I knew that there were fan boys buying consoles that only Maridge and Karin believed in the legendary series of Mintendo's consoles that had lost all their Third Parties.

“Mintendo is currently demanding immense royalties from the Third Party. And that's what happens to gamers who love video games. To break the chain of this vicious cycle, everyone in this room has to work together against Mintendo. ”

However, unlike the Pentagon, his mood was very cold.

Because there were absolutely not enough third-parties at the venues in the country.

Most of the people here are second parties to the NEGA. I also saw some companies that wanted to stay and stick to Mintendo.

There were more than one or two works that made such a great game and still had low sales.

For example, while we are currently holding a second party at the NEGA, Desaiya, the manufacturer of the next Mintendo Sword Ranger, may be considered the most notable victim.

The reason why the Pentagon's production announcement was successful was because no one knew that the Pentagon was going to announce a new kind of console.

Many of the West De Parties were able to attend the event without any pressure because they only knew it was just a production presentation for a slightly more prominent gaming company.

If the Pentagon had proclaimed that they were building a console before the announcement, the Third Parties would have gathered as much as Mintendo did.

Suzuki looked slightly embarrassed by the cold president's reaction than he expected.

Then Kawaguchi, who was next to me, spoke to me.

“If I don't get this right, I'm going to be in a headwind. ”

“Today is not just a production conference. As for the second parties, today is the shareholders' meeting. I think I'm going to be able to trust the NEGA drive and decide whether I want to continue making games. ”

Suzuki quickly turned up the projector's switch to ventilate the reactions at the cool venue.

At the same time, when the white screen in the center of the stage reminded me of the sales figures for the NEGA drives in North America and European markets today, the market started to panic.

"Gosh... I put Sonic on it and sold a lot of it..."

“I can't believe that's the NEGA drive in North America.”

“Yeah, well, I thought I'd gone a few thousand more, but it's almost equivalent to a superfamily.

No, you're a little ahead of yourself!? ”

Then Suzuki's face lifted one mouth tail and returned with a confident smile.

“As you can see, during the Christmas season, about 2.5 million of the NEGA drives were sold yesterday. It's actually a little bit ahead of Mintendo's superfamily sales, which is a competitor. ”

“Oh, that's amazing. ”

“These sales figures were made possible by aggressive marketing, which lowered the net price of the NEGA drive and provided the most popular 'Sonic the Hedgehog’ in the arcade center today as a bundle title. ”

The sales graph of the NEGA drive certainly shocked the people gathered here. In the meantime, it has been very rare for Mintendo's super family to be so driven by sales competition.

Kawaguchi was also impressed by the amount of sales on the NEGA drive.

“This is... sneaking out of the country? ”

“ ……. ”

I quietly folded my arms and focused on Suzuki's presentation. Soon after, he calmed down the prowler.

"The counterattack on the NEGA drive begins now. And then we're going to introduce you to some new games that have the advantage of an outstanding computing CPU. The first game you're going to see is this one. ”

Suzuki stepped back from the stage with greetings and a full introduction began. The first game that appeared on the screen was one of the games representing the NEGA drive.

Shining fresher?

The second piece of Shining Fresher, which was very popular as a dungeon exploration RPG in the book, was changed to SRPG genre. Moreover, during the battle, the protagonist's rear view was illuminated and he expressed a strong sense of perspective against the enemy.

“Huh? Was Shining Fresher originally an SRPG? ”

“Looks like you switched genres. ”

The atmosphere of the interior slowly started to rise as the new shining refresher appeared.

That battle map reminds me of Dragon Knight2 I enjoyed on PC when I was a kid...

I slowly stroked my chin and watched a demonstration of Shining Fresher without saying a word.

Soon after the demo video was ready, a message came to mind about the issue date. I spilled a bloody smile.

- Released daily, March 22, 1992. -

This looks a lot like Dragon Emblem II. ’

A few more demonstrations of games specific to the NEGA drive that I was familiar with came out later. One of the things that responded well was Bear Knuckle, one of the most popular games in the game center, and Shinobi, one of the leading games in the country.

Unlike mintendo first games, which can be described as a minority elite, NEGA, which has many of its own games through the implantation of arcade games, has quite a number of famous games just by name.

Especially when the ‘Golden Axe2’ for NEGA drives was finally unveiled, the atmosphere within the venue was at its peak.

“Looks like the NEGA is going to blow up big time next year. ”

“I'm looking forward to this. ”

Suzuki revealed the stage with a very satisfied look on his face.

“Thank you. This is a demonstration of the games that are coming out next year. ”

With cheers and applause surrounding the president, I also quietly applauded Suzuki.

“Actually, I'm here to make a surprise announcement to you. ”

Another shout came from Suzuki's announcement at the event, where excitement had not yet subsided.

“Here's some information about a new third-party game we've been discussing with our NEGA recently. It's a little early because it's not done with them, but it's a small soft company that's trying to get them into our country somehow. You were briefly introduced to Palmy Communications last month, right? ”

Then Jun Fei, who was sitting at the table next to me, cried out, raising his butt.

“No way!? Tripos Soft?”

Then Suzuki smiled and replied.

“That's right. You must be the Pammy reporter. The title is not set yet, but enjoy. ”

As soon as Suzuki's words were finished and it got dark, the Kawaguchi next to me whispered in my ear.

“This is shocking. We were in the middle of a consultation with Tripos Soft, and I didn't expect the NEGA to have a hand in it.”

I smiled slightly at Kawaguchi's words and replied.

“We'll see about that. ”

After a while, the view of the rainy town catches my attention as the bright sunlight shines on the screen.

RPG games in a fantasy atmosphere were not so different from the ones that had come up so far. Just a little more graphic?

But after a while. I didn't know the mouths of those gathered at the chairman in the battle would shut.

“What is that? ”

“You think you can manipulate characters in combat?"

People look stunned as the knight holding the shield and sword moves to the left and to the right to face the enemy directly.

In fact, I have never seen a game that uses cross-scrolling in combat so many times before (such as Karin's Legend 2), but I have never seen a game that embodies such a neat battle scene.

The warrior who appeared on the screen was wielding a sword in his hand in battle and performing a unique battle scene.

“Wow!!!! ”

As the warrior rushes toward the monster, she strikes the sword with all her might, and the wizard in the broom, who appears to be a colleague, flies a fireball behind him and assists him in his attack.

A warrior who stopped a golem from swinging his fist at him with a shield, this time a priestess in a monk costume, immediately restored his HP.

All of these battle animations were performed in a single battle scene using a cross-scrolling technique, and amazement came from the mouths of those gathered in the president.

For RPG games of this era, turn-on battles were common, such as Dragon Warriors and Final Frontiers, because the battle motion shown on the screen was so dull that it was just an action game.

The introduction of the voice system, which was especially heard in arcade games, surprised people once again.

With a jump attack, the warrior thrusts his enemies into the right corner of the clash as he fires his sword at the approaching enemy from the left.

“Storm Blade!! ”

“Oooh!! Voice!!"

Though it appeared to be an ordinary RPG, the work slowly faded out of the screen and disappeared into the darkness.

“That concludes our surprise announcement of Tripos Soft. ”

Then Jun Fei, a Pammy reporter, asked Suzuki as if he was waiting.

“Are you sure that Tripos Soft announced production on the NEGA Drive Platform? ”

Suzuki looked embarrassed for a moment at Jun Fei's question and replied.

“We don't have an answer yet from Tripos Soft. However, we can assure you that this video is live footage ported for your NEGA drive. ”

Suzuki's response that it was ported for the NEGA drive seemed to be somewhat positive.

Kawaguchi also opened his mouth with a sad expression.

“If you've already completed that kind of battle scene, you can see that Tripos Soft is almost over the NEGA drive. ”

“Well, we don't know that yet. ”

I asked Suzuki, raising my hand slightly towards the smiling face.

“Suzuki, I have a question. Can I ask you a question? ”