Game Market 1983 Chapter 35

Chapter 35 : Case by Case (3)

“Woahhh~!!! It’s the developer of duck hunt?”

“According to Mr. Shige, that guy is extremely capable, and he’s also a Korean.” 

“A Korean… ? Now that I think about it, the developer of Dragon Emblem was also Korean…?” 

The conference room was filled with murmurs in response to Mr. Gunpei’s introduction. I slowly stood up from my seat and went up to the podium with the floppy disk. 

“h.e.l.lo everyone, it’s an honor to stand in front of so many people to introduce my first project. Like Mr. Gunpei had said, I’ve only been able to partake in supporting roles, so I haven’t released  any works that I could call my own up until now. The controversy regarding Dragon Emblem has been a big issue recently. As a fellow Korean [to the developer], I made this game with the goal to satisfy the Family gamers. The genre of this game is a unique genre called the “Multiplayer warfare shooting action”.” 

“M… Multiplayer… Warfare shooting action? But if it’s multiplayer, does it have something to do with battling against an opponent?”

As the murmurs came in about at the description of an MMO, I inserted the floppy disk into the spot and turned on the power.  

“Is there anyone that would like to try this out?” 

Junpei who was sitting behind me rapidly shot his hands up. 

“Mr. Ishimoto Junpei. Please come to the front.” 

Mr. Junpei wore an awkward smile on his face as he made his way up the podium.

Actually, I had planned this out with Junpei before the conference; to have him raise his hand as soon as I called for the experiment and come on to the podium… 

Of course, it would’ve worked out with other people as well, but them dying too easily wouldn’t have made for a good show, so Junpei, who was well versed in playing high difficulty games, was the best choice.  

“Please pick up the pad lying in front of you and go ahead and start the first stage of the game made as a Demo. Ah~ The t.i.tle of this game is “Psychic battle”.” 

“Psychic battle? So it’s a battle of superpowers… Not a bad plot.” 

As Mintendo’s logo faded away and the BGM (Background music) started trickling out along with the Psychic Battle text, the enthusiasm of the people inside the conference rose higher and higher.

Junpei pressed the start b.u.t.ton, and three attractive female characters popped up on the screen as characters to choose from. 

“Girls!? Didn’t he say it was a shooting game?”

“They could be a pilot.” 

“Ah… that’s right…” 

In this time period, there was a strong notion that shooting games had to take characteristics of 1945 or TwinD, but seeing the emergence of the beauties on the screen, they must have automatically judged the girls as pilots.  

But as Junpei chose a character, and after the awesome cutscene, he started traversing the skies and attacked the stage.  

“Ah!! So this is the reason for the name psychic.” 

The battle system for Psychic used a type of swing scroll to simulate shooting. If there was a comparison to be made, it was based off the popular arcade game “Tengai”

As Junpei was smoothly controlling the character back and forth, he pressed the A b.u.t.ton to fire a blue-colored projectile at the enemy.  

:Hmm… the plot of this game is unique, but the play system is like any other shooting game.”

This Junpei, he’s publicly s.h.i.tting on the game made by his friend. But that’s one of the reasons why I trust him more… 

“Please continue playing further.” 

There was no particular strategy in a shooting game. Avoiding the projectiles of the enemy and attacking them with your own was an intuitive system that anyone could easily learn.

The surrounding enemies shot a barrage of projectiles towards the main character.

“Uh… Huhhh…!?” 

Junpei was able to dodge the first couple projectiles easily, but seeing the barrage that filled the entire screen he started making weird screeching noises. 

I had heard this screeching before at the game center before. When Junpei is completely immersed in something, he unconsciously makes these odd screeching noises.

My presentation progressed smoothly aside from this banshee-like screeching noise.

The speed of the projectiles were set to random firing speeds in Psychic Battle. Some projectile flew in fast while others flew at a turtle pace. But if a combination of these different types filled the screen, what would be the result? 

“Uhh!!! Arrrrggggghhhhh!!!!” 

Junpei was somehow miraculous dodging the incoming projectile even as he was screaming.

“Oh~~ That’s incredible. He’s a reporter for FamiTong magazine? The quality of the game is great, but how could be dodge all those projectile?” 

“R…right? I feel dizzy just from watching…?” 

“Argghhh~!! A bomb!! Is there no bomb in this game?” 

As Junpei was forced to a corner and he had no path to run, he desperately shouted towards me. In shooting games, a bomb was often used to give a brief period of respite to the players by clearing the screen.  

“Turn the cross player b.u.t.tons and press the B b.u.t.ton.”

“T…turn the cross player b.u.t.ton?”

Yes… Psychic battle was the first sequence command type shooting game.

After Junpei followed my advice and completed the command sequence, Boom!!  A refreshing roar resounded and the translucent barrier around the character started intercepting the enemy projectile.

“Woahh!!!” 

The people who were watching this impressive game let out a cheer. Junpei took this moment to draw a quick breath and hurriedly rushed out of the corner and immersed himself in the game again.

But that was only for a moment… Another wave of barrages corned him into a tight spot, and Junpei let out a yelp and begin maneuvering the projectiles again.  

On the first stage of Psychic battle, the projectiles consisted of a small ball and a thin needle which flew at different speeds towards the player. This was the first time Junpei was playing this game as well, so he was forced to take some of the incoming damage with his body.

At that moment, one employee who was watching the game spoke.

“He’s not dying easily even after taking some hits, is that the health bar on the top of the screen?” 

“Psychic Battle is different from other shooting games in that getting hit once doesn’t spell death. There’s a HP bar just like an action game along with an SP gauge to use special abilities with. The SP gauge could be expended to attack enemies, and recover by consuming items. Mr. Junpei, press the Arrow keys front and back 2x and press the B b.u.t.ton.”

Junpei followed my tip and moved the character forwards and backwards and pressed the B b.u.t.ton. Subsequently, multiple laser beams shot out from the character in various angles and instantly annihilated the enemy forces.

“Ohh!!!! That’s awesome!?” 

“Next, try up, down, up, down, B b.u.t.ton.” 

Wiiing!!!  

As the beams of light the sprouted out from the character, and the projectiles that filled with screen disappeared, the audience led out a sigh of relief. 

Junpei developed a basic sense for this game, slowly filled up the SP bar, and eventually confronted the first boss shaped like an insect.  

The threat of the giant boss along with the barrage of projectiles made the difficulty insanely high. As big as the body of the boss was, that was how much the movability of the character was reduced.  

Especially for this boss, the most evil thing was…

“Kurghhm!! What’s this!!!” 

Because these missiles will multiply and sprout multiple projectiles… 

The giant missile that was slowly squeezing the air pipes of the player as it came nearer was programmed to burst into mini-missiles at a certain distance.  

And at that instant. The CPU of the demo computer encountered a ma.s.sive resource overload and the gameplay started lagging.

Even for the tiniest projectile on the screen, it had to calculate the pathway, and calculations had to be made to inflict damage onto the character when it made contact. These profusion of calculations caused the overload on the system. 

Junpei clenched his teeth and steadily progressed through the incoming barrage. To the people watching, this scene exuded a bitter-sweet sensation of a stifling sensation as well zipping thrill.  

“Ohh… It’s almost like a slow motion…” 

This point of being unable to add anymore projectiles onto the screen. Preparing for this exact moment of not being able to express any more projectiles, I implemented a special device beforehand. The mouth of the giant insect bursted open. 

“What the h.e.l.l!?” 

Krooomm~!!! 

A lazer cannon swallowed more than half the screen and the barrage of projectiles disappeared, and Junpei’s character along with it, with any trace. With the screech of him…. 

“Guahhhhhhh!!!”

Poof~~!!!

GAME OVER

In the end, Junpei wasn’t able to clear the first boss and ended in complete failure. This game allowed only one life in exchange for the HP bar. 

“I…To think I couldn’t even clear the first stage in a shooting game…”

Junpei must’ve received quite a shock; he was looking at the screen with a blank expression. I patted the shoulders of the crestfallen Junpei and grinned.

“You did plenty well. Actually, it would’ve been awkward for me if you’d defeated the boss. The first stage still has yet to be fully developed so I was worried that you might clear it.

But why is the conference room this quiet even after the demo? I expected at least some applause and congratulatory remarks, but as I looked up at the faces of the audience, they were all wearing blank expressions. 

“Then… we’ll end the debut of Psychic Battle with thi…” 

“Wooahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!”

A tremendous clamor rose up as if the spell on time had been broken. Junpei who had been sitting directly in front of the screen was also clapping with a proud expression.

“This is the first ever game he developed? Unbelievable!!!” 

“It’s as if I’m seeing a completely new type of shooting game.” 

Mr. Gunpei who had been watching the conference came up to me and thumped my shoulder as he spoke. 

“I knew you would come out with an unbelievable dude, Kang-kun. Incredible. I’m shocked~!!”

“Haha… thank you, Mr. Gunpei.” 

But in the midst of the cheering crowd, one person wasn’t smiling. Mr. Shigeru had been sitting on a chair with a solidified expression and took a long stare at me before leaving the conference room.

The debut presentation for Mintendo’s new game was a big success. President Yamauchi was very satisfied knowing Psychic Battle and Super Marigee 3 would be great successes by watching the reactions of the audience in the conference room.

Following this, the partic.i.p.ants had a chance to try the new games out, and the funny thing was more people were flocking over to Psychic Battle than Super Marigee 3.  

The allure of challenging this new shooting game must’ve tickled the compet.i.tive spirit in the audience. But most of the audience weren’t even able to progress through the halfway mark and encountered a GAME OVER. 

“Look at this~!! It’s not because I’m doing bad, okay? This game is just ridiculously hard…”

Junpei had been watching the various challengers failing and was grinning ear-to-ear as he came over to me. 

“That’s why I wanted you to be the demonstrator. If the play time was too short, the game would end before all that excitement was built up.” 

“You, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d. You used me!”

“Friends should be helping each other out. You’re thinking of this as being used? You had fun up there too.”