Game Market 1983

Starting with the ‘Legendary Shinsword’ in 1987, Korea's gaming industry quickly grew in a short period of time.

In Japan and the United States, if the gaming industry had grown due to the development of the console market, South Korea could have grown due to the dissemination of PCs, and because of the lack of such legal formulation for illegal replication of gaming software, soft companies collapsing into undersales despite developing the famous ones.

What's even creepier is that everyone who had a PC at the time had enjoyed the game software that this sale was lacking.

That is, if at least half of the users who have played the game had bought the genuine game or even a third of it, Korea's package industry would not have collapsed so easily...

Unlike that hilarious and epic story, the story of Actonicia was a title that remained sad for me.

Illegal replication of the game was actually more to blame by the retailer who was in middle distribution at the time than the consumer.

Rather than selling the genuine product blind to the profits ahead of us, we were encouraging users to copy the illegal software.

I saw the story of Actonicia in the famous PC magazine from my childhood, and finally a masterpiece like Japan's Dragon Warrior or the Final Frontier was launched in Korea.

I thought.

No, I think it was better graphics or gaming than Japanese games at the time

The ‘Symbol in Count’ combat method that enters a battle when encountered by monsters roaming the field.

And when we entered combat, we turned it into a simulated RPG system, creating a very groundbreaking way of combat at at at the time of combining the two genres.

The moment I first saw the knight riding a horse under the blue sky opening across the bridge. I stood in front of the game store and froze.

‘I can't believe there was such a game. ’

Console games were not the only ones. Moreover, it was a moment of trembling that my fingertips felt awkward because it was not a Japanese language I didn't understand.

But there was a problem.

I didn't have a computer at the time.

No, I wasn't the only one. I didn't have a PC everywhere I went. The computer was one of the most expensive appliances at the time.

Some might laugh, but at that time 286 PCs were super-expensive, which was about two to three million won per person. Moreover, the role of the home PC was merely paperwork or graphics work through Basic, since the Internet was not even in its preeminent period.

The South Korean government's future development industry has set up computer booths at public schools across the country, pushed for computer replenishment with the slogan of one-family 1PC, but the price of one PC was still higher than the monthly salary of a decent worker.

However, there wasn't much you could do with such an expensive home PC, so it was like a 3 million won game machine for adults.

And to buy something like that for an 11-year-old. My house wasn't rich.

Nevertheless, I had to buy Gear the 'Actonician Story'.

Unlike the family softs, the package that was the size of my young body was very large.

The authentic package that reminded me of the thick grimoire that would appear in the fantasy world was very impressive with the face of the humanized sun in the middle.

I bought the game package because it was too much freshly made, but I couldn't return the game, so I just remembered seeing the manual in the package dry and worn out.

It was the year I turned 13 two years later...

However, there was another challenge waiting for me when I first played a game that looked like I had been in a New Orleans for two years.

It was a ‘bug’ that poured out endlessly.

In particular, a particularly severe bug could cause an enemy character to be unable to intervene among the trees in a battle impersonating a simulated RPG, or be unable to move because of me.

For some events, there was also a bounce to the DOS at the start of the event, so every moment of playing the game was a tense sequence.

When I forgot to SAVE, if the game stopped or bounced, I really wanted to punch the monitor once or twice in the head.

By the way, is that... is that the bug that fixed everything and sent it off?

&

The next morning.

As soon as I got to work, Hayashi approached me.

“Sir, this game is amazing. The demo version doesn't tell the whole story, but it also brings a sense of purpose to find the sacred staff stolen from the enemy and a unique way of fighting that brings the gamesmanship of SRPGs to life. It was really fun to play. But…”

I felt anxious and turned Hayashi's last words upside down.

“But…? ”

“It's a bunch of bugs. I wonder if you've done enough debugging work...”

I knew it.

“But I think it's a pretty promising piece if you get the bugs right. ”

“Really, sir? Can I try that, too? ”

In Hayashi's stern appreciation, some members of the development team began to take an interest in the curiosity.

A leisurely morning after all. Employees from the second development team had time to copy and enjoy the demo version of Actonicia together.

“This is fun. ”

“Especially the Pas-Man? This character is really funny. It feels so good to have Han on illegal replication. ”

“Kick, queek. Oh, this is my favorite in-between gag code. ”

Again, a good game is how to cross the border.

In particular, the way Actonicia plays was able to digest in large numbers on its mobile device, Raon. Rather than playing it on a PC, do you feel like you're getting a cold in your hand?

That afternoon.

While having lunch with Kawaguchi for a long time, I brought up the story about Actonicia from Mantra in Korea.

“If there's such a good game, shouldn't it be launched in Raon? ”

“But I have a technical problem. It seems that the development environment is poor, so it's a little difficult to commercialize it as a console version. ”

Unlike PC games that can be partially patched, bugs are fatal in console games.

Because if a bug breaks that prevents storytelling, you might have to recall the sold cartridge itself.

In fact, when I was working in Mintendo, a recollection incident occurred due to an out-of-progress bug, and I was forced to become sensitive because I had experienced several cases of a single company squatting.

So I decided at the end of my thought.

“Kawaguchi, can I go to Korea for a while? ”

“Yes!? No, Joon-Hyuk. It's the company business, but what about the wedding? ”

Oops... I see. I didn't realize the wedding was coming up for two weeks.