36 EP. 10: Odd Games (1)

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One spring day in 1987, a game called Final Frontier was released without a sound.

At the beginning of issuance, no one paid any attention to the story of the warrior who defeated the Darkness thanks to Crystal.

During the week after the release of the game, Finel Frontier sold about 3,000 of them by Yamano Yoshitaka's illustration. Of course, the results were satisfactory compared to the sales volume of the original King's Quest, but Kawaguchi's mind was not.

“As a director, I guess I lack my qualifications. ”

A gloomy voice comes from across the handset. I was also busy at headquarters, so I was not frequently travelling to Tokyo recently, so I was on the phone with Kawaguchi at the dormitory after work.

“It's only been a week, and I don't think you need to be so depressed. There will also be a Fame review coming out this month, so stay tuned. ”

“But thank you for helping me finish my last game. Joon-Hyuk, I really won't forget this grace. ”

“You've worked hard to get ready for the launch, so take a few days off and relax. ”

“I'm still wondering how many days of ocean fishing I'm going to do. ”

“That's a good idea. If you go out to the sea and come back, you might have some good news!”

“I wouldn't have wished for that. We'll be in touch. ”

After disconnecting from Kawaguchi, I immediately contacted a family-communications journalist, Jun Fei.

Previously, I told you about Karin's legendary golden cartridge, and now I'm one of my closest friends.

In the absence of the Internet, the only game information was through magazines. In addition, the marketing of the games had to be done in the same way. After a while, you hear the sound of an elongated typewriter as well as a man's voice.

“Thank you. This is Junpei Ishimoto from Pammy Communications. ”

“Jun Pyo? You're not home yet? ”

Jun Fei, who is my comrade, always had a habit of talking fast like he was being chased by something. Because of this, if I don't listen carefully, I often don't understand.

“The deadline is killing me. There are a lot of games to play, but I'm going to lose my mind when I finish this and write a review article. ”

“You've been busy. Did you get the final frontier review scores we released about 10 days ago? ”

“Final Frontier? Well... I'm not the only one who writes review articles. Maybe someone else did. ”

“Haven't you tried? What... what kind of answer is that? ”

“You know, are there a couple of family games these days? I'm at least three days short. You want to borrow a cat's hand? ”

“Whether the cat wrote it or the dog wrote it, find out if the final frontier review was written. ”

“Now?”

“Yes, now. ”

“Hey, take care of me! I haven't been inside in two days!”

“Well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, so

“Bitter bastard. ”

“Thank you. ”

Soon, I heard Jun Fei yell at other employees to see if anyone had written a Final Frontier Review. And after a while.

“No, they haven't written anything yet. Due to the high volume of games released this time, Final Frontier Review should be postponed to next month. ”

“What!? What kind of game magazine is that if you push the newest game just released to the next month's review? ”

“One or two of the latest games just came out. I'm the reviewer, but the kids on the tac team are half dead. They haven't been able to get in the house in two weeks and they're just playing games. ”

“Then look at me and write me a final frontier review. And, by the way, let's put it on the top of the list this month. ”

“Ugh? What?!? ”

“You owe me one of Karin's legendary limited edition knights, right? Think of it as payback. ”

“Joon-Hyuk, but that's a little...”

“Please, Jun Fei. You're my friend, right? ”

“Oh, I was gonna go home today, but...”

“But play. It'll be fun because it's someone I recommend. ”

“I'm sure you'll try it right away, but I'll kill you for your game of junk!! ”

“I'd love to finish this, but I'm going to buy you a drink, so try harder!! ”

“Th-that's good. Okay, fine. You have to keep that promise!! ”

“Got it. Good job, man. ”

A week later, I stopped by a large bookstore in Osaka. In the corner of the magazine, there was a line of boys dressed in uniforms reading pammy communications.

“Wow, there's so many new ones out there. We're running out of allowance. What can I get you? ”

“Buy something that lasts a long time. RPG or something."

“I woke up the Dragon Warrior 2 last week, but I'm sure it was fun... The story's a little childish... Is there anything new I can do?" ”

Then a student reading a review article next to him replied.

“Final Frontier... I think this will be okay. Jun Pyo, RPG, gave me 36 out of 40 points. ”

“Really? The Dragon Warrior 2 was 38 points. ”

Get their attention. The boys started reading the review articles for them.

“Final Frontier. The first work of a new company called Pentagon Soft. Content where the protagonist of the Light Warrior alone defeats the forces of Darkness under the protection of a crystal. Although the beautiful BGM and Amano Yoshitaka illustrations seem similar to the Dragon Warrior 1, there is a unique battle scene in the Final Frontier Bay. You can feel another attractive fantasy than the Dragon Warrior. ”

“Strange? After all, a dragon warrior's tribute? ”

“I thought the battle was fun, but the review scores are good, so you should try it." ”

“Well, I'm concerned. I'm gonna go to the game shop and ask him if he's having fun. ”

At that time, a student who was just listening to his friends' stories opened his mouth with a cautious look.

“Do you guys... do you know a game called Dragon Emblem? ”

At that moment, my fingertips stopped turning over the bookshelves next to them.

“Dragon emblem? What is that? I've never heard of it. ”

“That's right. Where did it come from? Is that another RPG? ”

The student gave a slightly embarrassing face to the questions that were being asked by his friends. He hesitated for a moment to talk around his mouth, shaking his head and saying in a voice of confidence.

“Oh, no. I don't want you to know.”

“What? That's a dirty secret? What kind of game is that? ”

“Yes! If you're having fun, let me know!”

I can't stand people asking me questions. When he told the story, the student finally opened his mouth because he couldn't win the beating he had with his friends.

“Actually, I heard it from my cousin. I got a call the other day, and he was bragging that he had a huge game in hand. Other than that, I don't know.”

“If the game was released, it would have been in the magazine. When did you get out? ”

“I don't know. It's just a urban myth. The game's never been released.”

I casually handed over the bookshelf and smiled at the student's words. Well, there's nothing wrong with that. The friends began to inquire in earnest whether they were intrigued by the beautiful words of their friend. One of them was going through the game magazines in the bookstore and looking at the issue date of the family game.

“There's no such game. ”

“I mean, you said it wasn't on the market before.”

“What is that? By the way, how did your cousin play the unpublished game? ”

“I heard you got it at a secondhand game shop. ”

“You bought a game that has not yet been released in the second hand game shop!? What kind of game is this? What is a genre?”

“That's the first genre I've ever seen. The background is fantasy, and the characters on the screen are standing on chessboard maps and moving them around to fight the enemy. Problem is...

“Problem? ”

“When a character is killed by an enemy, the data disappears in that game...”

“What? What do you mean?" So when a character dies, it disappears? ”

“Yes."

Then a friend who was listening to the story laughed.

“Then turn the machine off and on. Or you can reload it to the save point and try again. ”

“They say that even if it loads, it doesn't have that character.”

“What!? So, what do we do from the beginning? ”

“Not even that. If all the characters die, it's just game over. And I can never play again. ”

“Crazy... where's the producer? You made that game, and you're selling it for money? We should protest now.”

“The producer doesn't have one, so there's no customer service to complain about. As I said before, the game was bought in a second-hand shop with a caseless Al Pack, and it sounded ridiculous, but it was 1000 yen.”

“Thousand yen!? That cheap? No way. Isn't your cousin lying? ”

“It's not like that, but he lost all of his characters, so he ended up being over-gamed. So he's been wandering around each thrift store recently looking for a game called Dragon Emblem.”

“Phew... What the... If that's true, let's find out. The game?”

Soon after the children ran out of the bookstore, the bookstore owner shouted at the children in a loud voice.

“You guys!! Be quiet in a bookstore!!

As soon as I stepped out of the bookstore, I looked at the children running down the street and covered the book. A mysterious game that no one can play. Dragon emblem...

The description of the game that the student mentioned earlier was somewhat accurate.

This game was a genre that would later be called simulated RPG, in a map of fantasy backgrounds lined up like a chessboard, in a way that would move an ally against an enemy.

The title Dragon Emblem was the first title I created alone with three letters of my name after a time slip. And the worst difficulty in the history of the current game.

Cleared, of course. But I could never clear it all at once. The moment a character dies. Dragon emblem has become a game that can never be cleared...

I was able to sprinkle this game on the market without going through the cartridge factory in Mintendo. How is that even possible?

First, we did not use a formal distribution network. As the student said earlier, I handed this game over to a second-hand shop for a relatively low price of 500 yen per person.

And they doubled the amount and sold it to the user for 1,000 yen.

I sold 2-3 cartridges for each of the major game outlets around Osaka on the weekends. I first sprinkled about 200 titles and waited quietly until word of mouth circulated.

There was no rush. I was busy working, too. Sometimes I would stop by the game shop after work just to check if there were any dragon emblems I had sold, but I did nothing else.

After scattering dragon emblems gradually back and forth... strange urban legends began to circulate.

- A fantasy game with devil difficulty...

I collected a little cartridge each weekend and sold it in a second-hand game shop. If you were to ask me where I got the mintendo game cartridge... you don't think I'd throw out all the bad stock I got from the triangle?

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