10 EP. 4: Two Geniuses (1)

Hang on, hang on, hang on.

‘Oh, shut up. Let's get some sleep…’

Hang on, hang on, hang on.

Goddamn cicadas. After a while, I was lying in a hotel bed, and I got up off the bed. Today is the summer of August 17, 1983. It was the peak of annual temperatures. However, the hotel I was staying at was recently built, so I had air conditioning installed in every room. In the meantime, I took out a business card that I had put in my wallet that I enjoyed the tourist attractions of the country, Kobe and Kyoto areas.

“I've had all the fun for a month and now I'm going to make a phone call? ”

I turned the dial on the phone with the card I received from Mr. Nisekoi in my hand. A dial with a number returns to its original position, waiting for a moment, and a woman with a gentle voice answers the phone.

“Thank you. Mintendo is a portable toy development part. ”

“Oh, excuse me. Is Nisekoi Gunpei here? ”

“Nisekoi is here, but where can I tell him? ”

“Kang Jun-hyuk, a Korean student. ”

“Yes, one moment, please. ”

I felt bored and knocked on the wooden table, and there was a pleasant sound in the room. After a while, I heard Nisekoi's excited voice. His voice was full of joy.

“The Force!? You? Why are you calling now? I've been waiting so long!! ”

No, that's my heart. The next day, you call Holland and ask him to meet you, and he looks like he's losing weight.

“How are you? I was running late looking around here and there. ”

“Where are you right now? ”

“I'm staying at the Likuten Hotel near Nihonbashi, Osaka. ”

“Good. I have business tomorrow at Osaka. Can I see you for a second? ”

“Sure. Where do you want me? ”

“Can you give me the contact information for the hotel you're staying at? I'll call you before I get there. ”

“Yes, I understand. ”

&

The next morning. After breakfast, I came up to my room and a call came from the front of the hotel. It was a telephone connection with Mr. Nisekoi.

“Stronghold. I'll be there in an hour, but is it a good time?" ”

“Yes, but where do I meet you? ”

“You don't have to worry about the place. I'm on my way to your hotel right now. ”

“Yes!? ”

“I missed your call yesterday. What would happen if two geniuses met today?" I'm looking forward to it. ”

Two geniuses? Who's coming with you?

About an hour after that, I was sitting in the hotel lobby waiting for Gunpei. Soon as they were thorough in their time promises, two men stopped in front of the hotel and got out of the cab. One was a familiar Gunpei, and a man who looked like he was in his early 30s came into the hotel with a shy expression.

“Strong!! ”

“Mr. Nisekoi, how are you? ”

“I'm glad you look well. So, how was your trip to Osaka? ”

“Yes, there's more to see than Tokyo. But who's with you? ”

“Oh, right. Hey Kumamoto, that young man from Shinkansen I was telling you about. ”

“Hello, I'm Shigeru Kumamoto. ”

“Kumamoto Shigeru!? ”

When I didn't know his name, Kumamoto asked me with a puzzled look.

“Do you know me? ”

“Oh, I'm sorry. I've never seen you before, but you're the director of the Dongking Com, right? ”

“Yes, that's right. You've enjoyed Dongking Com. Thank you. ”

I shook Kumamoto's hand and waved lightly. I didn't expect to see the legendary director so soon. At least I thought it would be hard to weave Gunpei into Mintendo, but I didn't think Gunpei would bring him here...

Kumamoto Shigeru. Even if you don't know the game well, you know the character with the mustache, SuperMaridge. It's also the legend of Karin and the Animal Village. All of these games, representing Mintendo, such as Foxstar, were to be born from this person in the future.

“I am Junhyuk Kang. Nice to meet you, Kumamoto. ”

“Gunpei asked me to meet him, so I followed him, but I don't know if this is an excuse. ”

Khumamoto Shigeru was quite the image in 2015 at the age of 62, and in 1983 he was a passionate young man who had just surpassed thirty.

“Come on, let's keep talking here. Let's move. A little early, but why don't you join us for lunch? ”

“Yes, of course. ”

We moved out of the hotel to a nearby restaurant. After ordering a simple meal, I talked to Mr. Kumamoto with a smile.

“Congratulations on being so popular in the American arcade market. ”

“I never thought my game would work like this. Minten also requested a ROM substrate from the Game Center at the U.S. office, which I made briefly because I was free.”

I know that story. Mintendo, who was in the American arcade market in 1980, asked for a new ROM file to run at the Game Center. However, it was Mr. Kumamoto who had no work in Mintendo at the time who was borrowed because he said, 'We can't consume useless people in the business that may or may not be profitable.'

He majored in engineering design, but was able to create characters and photograph dots on his own, so he created a simple level design to save the beauty captured by King Kong.

After entering the US market, the game brought a tremendous upheaval and became a glimmer of hope for the arcade market, which was entering its recession period. And from there, Marige Brothers, who was the player-character of Dongking Com, was launched, and in 1985, a Grand Supermaridge appeared in the family, and Mintendo began to withdraw the arcade business and focus solely on the home gaming industry.

He was a young man who could feed Mintendo's gaming business until 2015, starting with the idea of one genius over 100 individuals.

“By the way, when is the sequel to the '80s Dongking Com due to be developed? ”

“Almost finished, actually, and we're about to launch. ”

“Really? Can I ask you what the game is? ”

Kumamoto began to unravel the game he had developed because of the lack of copyright in the game.

“This time, I turned a little bit upside down and made a new game out of a character who was looking for a beauty in the original Dongking Com. ”

As expected, it was already completed to empower the family we launched last month. Gunpei was delighted to witness our conversation. Kumamoto's Marige Brothers was a two-man game to defeat mushroom soldiers and turtles pouring down from one stage like the Donking Com. I offered him one while I was talking about Kumamoto and Marige Brothers.

“By the way, Kumamoto.”

“Yes. Do you have any questions about Maridge Brothers?

“No, I'm actually more curious about Maridge's next walk than talking about the finished game that's already coming out. ”

“Are you talking about the next chapter? While I'm not sure how this new game is going to be evaluated by users yet, I'm a little bit burdened with preparing for the next one.”

In the 1980s, when the next issue of Tum was relatively long, in 2015, it was already a yard for producing new IPs, so it felt strange in Kumamoto's relaxed remarks.

“The character, Maridge, has become a very familiar image, as I see it, through the Dongking Com. So you can expect the Marige Brothers you've created to be a little over midnight. So, why don't we try a new approach to this game called Maridge next time? ”

“A new way? ”

Kumamoto looked at me with a puzzled look, and Gunpei, who was folding his arms next to him, lifted his glasses up with a strange smile that seemed to be 'it started...’.

&

Cross-scrolling. A magical word to save in the rectangular framework of the screen. It is one of the most common ways of playing in 2015, but it is now 1983. All games of this period were trapped in a rectangular frame called the Monitor. The beginning and end of every play had to be displayed on one screen, and it was the same with its famous Geller and Dongking Com.

Just as humanity left its first step on the moon, I was trying to leave a huge game-changing footprint here.

“Scroll the background. ”

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