Game Market 1983

Chapter 28

Chapter 28 : Strange Game (2)

I, who was leisurely browsing the bookshelves, let out a smirk after I heard that comment from the student .

‘Mmm~ Well, he’s not totally wrong I guess . ’

As if the curiosity of the other students were perked him, they started to barrage him with even more questions . One student looked around the bookstore and inspected the games released for the Family .

“There’s no game like that here?”

“I told you already that it wasn’t officially released…”

“What the hell do you mean? Then how did your cousin get a hold of an unreleased game?”

“That’s… He said he bought it at a second hand store?”

“He bought an unreleased game from a second hand store!? Just what kind of game is it? What’s the genre?”

“My cousin said that it was a new genre that he’d never seen before . The theme is a fantasy setting, but the characters inside the screen are standing on top of some kind of chessboard map . You’re suppose to move the characters around to fight the enemy . The problem is…”

“The problem…?”

“He says that the data inside the game will restart when his character dies…”

“What? What are you talking about?? You’re saying that if a character dies, then it’s gone forever?”

“Yeah…”

In response, one student, who was listening to the story, scoffed and remarked:

“Then you can just turn the device off and on or load back into a checkpoint . ”

“Apparently that specific character disappears even after a load…”

“What did you say!? Then how about starting from the beginning?”

“That’s not possible either . If all of the characters are dead, it’s game over . And the game is unplayable after that . ”

“Crazy f*cking… Who’s the developer? They’re making money off of a game like this? They should be protested against . ”

“He said that there were no mentions of the developers, so there was no customer center to complain to . Like I’ve said before, that game was bought in a second hand store in its bare disk form without the cartridge . Plus, its price might seem peculiar; he said it was 1000 Yen…”

“1000 Yen? It’s that cheap? No way . Is your cousin a liar?”

“He’s not that type of person . Anyways, he lost all of his characters and suffered a game over… So recently, he has been going around the second hand stores to search for a game named Dragon Emblem…”

“Phew~ That’s amazing . Perhaps we should search for that game too?”

Soon after the students stormed out of the bookstore, the store owner shouted in a loud voice to them:

“You rascals!! A book store is a place of serenity!!”

As soon as I stepped out of the bookstore, I watched the students running through the streets and closed my book . The mystical game that not anyone could play: Dragon Emblem…

The student’s explanation from a while ago was pretty accurate .

This game that required you to move your characters in a fantasy setting and fighting the enemies within would be called a simulation RPG genre in the future .

The title named Dragon Emblem was my first ever creation after the time slip . And… it currently boasted the highest difficulty in the history of games .

Of course, I made it so that it was possible to beat the game . However, it was impossible to clear the game on the first try . As soon as one character died, Dragon Emblem would turn into a game that would be impossible to beat…

I was able to distribute this to the market without going through Mintendo’s cartridge production factory . How was that possible?

First of all, I didn’t utilize the standard supply chain . Like the student said before, I passed this game to the second hand stores at a base price of 500 Yen per unit, which was more economical compared to other games .

And the shops would double the base price into 1000 Yen and sell it to the customers .

In the weekends, I sold 2~3 cartridges to each of the bustling game shops in the middle of Osaka . After spreading about 200 units of the title, I quietly waited for the word of mouth to go around .

There was no need to hurry . I was also busy working . Once in awhile, I would visit these shops and check if any copies of Dragon Emblems were sold, but other than that, I payed no attention .

The result of slowly spreading Dragon Emblem between the places was… A strange urban legend that started to go around .

-A fantasy game that boasted a satan level difficulty…-

On the weekends, I sold the slowly gathered cartridges to second hand game shops . If someone asked how I got my hands on a Mintendo game cartridge… You didn’t think I threw away all of the unsold products of Triangle Soft, did you?

—

Starting with the reputation that Junpei brought, Final Frontier was starting to receive great responses from the players . Junpei was one of the most respected reviewers that the players listened to . No matter how spectacular a prequel to a game was, he critiqued what needed to be critiqued so he didn’t even give Dragon Warrior 2 a perfect score .

As a person like that gave a 36/40 review score to this new game, it piqued the interest of players and caused them to buy the game . As a result, the responses were immensely positive .

The Final Frontier that had sold 3,000 units in the first week, after being publicized in the FamiTong, sold over 30,000 units every week after one month had passed . Mr . Kawaguchi, who had returned from his fishing hiatus to the ocean, called in with a shaking voice at this unbelievable situation .

“Mr . Kang, what is going on?”

“That’s why I told you to have a little more patience . A good game will definitely be recognized by the players~ The word of mouth has started to go around, so it should sell like the speed after a sail is holstered onto a boat . You should also send a request to Mintendo before the stock runs out . ”

“Thank you very much . Please stop by my office when you visit Tokyo, I have many things that I want to discuss with you, Mr . Kang . ”

“Alright . I’ll contact you before I visit . ”

He was like a deadbeat man a half-step away from the gates of hell before he left for fishing; now, he’s overzealous to the extreme… I shook my head left and right and put down the receiver . At that moment, the telephone rang with a loud racket .

“Hello…?”

“Junhyuk!? It’s me, Junpei . Are you off work yet?”

“I answered your call because I’m off work…”

“Then come to Osaka . ”

“Osaka!? You’re here in Osaka right now? When??”

“Just now . You told me that you would take me someplace nice last time~ Quickly pop out here . I, your older brother, will be waiting . ”

“You travelled all the way from Tokyo just to get a meal off of me!?”

“I have something to ask you about this month’s article; I need your help this time . ”

“Alright . I’ll be there in a moment . ”

A brief moment later .

I rode my car and arrived at Dotonbori, Osaka and looked around at the meeting place . I could meet him easily if I had a cellphone… Although there were some uncomfortable moments like these in the 80s, there were other times where a profound sense of uniquity could be felt…

“Oii~ Here, I’m over here!!”

As I turned my head to Junpei’s voice, I saw the scene of him waving at me while wearing a hat . Who said he wasn’t a reporter? The bastard was walking over to me with a professional film camera that was holstered on his shoulders . He approached me and spoke:

“It’s been a while . How have you been?”

“Well~ so-so . You should’ve gave me a call before you came to Osaka . ”

“Then you would run away with the excuse of having work to do . ”

“… Quick witted bastard . ”

“Keke . Let’s find something to eat, first . You said you’re paying today, right? Should I embrace myself with the storm of Osaka and eat myself to death today~?”

“Alright, alright~”

Dotonbori was recently formed and a popular place of entertainment . It was located around the Dotonbori river which ran from the north .

Located at the 500m road between Ebisubashi to Senichi, Dotonbori hosted popular stores, restaurants, and flashing ostentatious signs that were hung all over the place like a complicated tetris game .

The bastard, Junpei, chased after me with a yakitori in his mouth saying that he must eat it every time in Osaka .

“Ah~ hot~!! Hah~ Haht~!!?

“You would come to your senses after burning your mouth…”

I shook my head and smirked at the scene of Junpei rolling the yakitori around his mouth .

Since I came here, aside from Mr . Gunpei and Mr . Shigeru, I did not have very many people around my age that I would call my friends .

Should I say that this bastard was one friend that I could freely speak my heart to?

After a while, we arrived at a raw fish restaurant with a unique crab sign and rented a room inside the restaurant .

“Was the nice place that you talked about… here?”

“Why? You don’t like it? Wanna go somewhere else??”

“Nah… I must’ve been possessed by a confused ghost for a brief moment . Of course…”

“Man . You probably ran over here anticipating that I would take you to a strip club…”

“Shut up~!! I work everyday so I don’t have time to meet a girl . ”

“What, you think I’m eating and playing every day?”

As I slowly lifted the shot glass, Junpei clanked his cup against mine with an unsatisfied expression . In the midst of filling our stomach with the raw fish and talking about recent game industry happenings, Junpei laid his chopsticks down at the table and wore a serious expression on his face .

“Actually, the reason I visited was to personally ask you a question . ”

“Yeah?”

As I half-heartedly responded and grabbed a piece of raw fish, Junpei slightly crinkled his face .

“Alright . I’ll pay attention, what is it?”

“Do you perhaps know about a game called Dragon Emblem?”

What, it was about this? I swallowed my laughter inside and answered .

“Yeah, I know about it . Why? Are you also interested in that game?”

“My job is a reporter for a game magazine, why would I not be interested? But, have you played it before?”

“Yup, I played it . ”

“What? Where did you find it!?”

“I bought it from a second hand game store like the rumors said . ”

“What game store was it? Please tell me . ”

“It’s a place in Kyoto, but we can’t go there right now . We’ve even drank… and there was only one copy left when I bought it . I was lucky…”

“The rumors were true after all!! It would appear at Kyoto or Osaka rather than Tokyo!!”

That was because I live here, so it was obvious that I would spread it near me…

“But was that game especially expensive? I bought it at 8,000 Yen from the second hand game store . I heard that it was 1,000 Yen from the rumors…”

“It’s glaringly obvious that the price would rise~!! That game is an incredibly hot topic amongst the Family game maniacs . ”

Like Junpei had said, Dragon Emblem that sold in the beginning for 500 Yen was now going for around 6,000 Yen . Of course, it was for the brand new copies that did not have the game data deleted…

After emptying the shot glass down into my throat, I took out a game cartridge from inside my jacket . Subsequently, Junpei’s eyes widened like a circle and opened his mouth .

“Uh…? You… that, you…”

“I knew you would ask about this, so I acquired another copy a couple of days ago . ”

Even though I actually brought this copy that was laying around my house…

“Junhyuk~!! You bastard~ Aaooohh!! You lovely object!!”