America: The Godfather of Game Development

Chapter 30 feels inferior to arcade games... performance

"Lin, there's a little trouble."

Sam finished processing the report documents in his hand, his brow furrowing slightly.

"What's wrong?"

Lin Lixin looked away and asked him with a puzzled expression.

The phenomenal success of Contra is undeniable, and it's currently selling like hotcakes. What could possibly go wrong?

"It's not the bad thing," Sam scratched his head, gathering his thoughts. "It's just that we've been selling too well, a little too well."

"What's the problem?"

"Tetris and 1942 are fine, the problem is with Contra."

Sam showed Lin Lixin a set of data, comparing several orders and reports.

"It's too... expensive, so expensive that only medium to large arcades in each region can afford it."

Several documents compiled the sources of recent orders, all of which came from some fairly large stores.

Small businesses like arcades or convenience stores simply couldn't afford it.

"monopoly……"

Lin Lixin murmured, immediately understanding what Sam was worried about.

While the explosive popularity of Contra did revive the gaming industry to some extent, it also had an intangible impact on the lower-tier markets.

"That's it." Sam nodded, his gaze catching the new content on Lin Lixin's screen. "If you're planning to develop new games, continuing to pile on high-end components might... backfire."

Unlike home consoles, arcade machines only require a few per block.

If problems arise in the lower-tier markets, it could have a devastating impact on the arcade market.

The better the sales, the more problems arose.

However, once Lin Lixin understood what Sam was worried about, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Seeing how nervous you are, I thought something serious had happened."

He smiled, looked back at the screen, and typed the title: 【METAL GEAR】

"Don't worry, the new project is designed to solve this problem."

……

The Metal Gear IP is actually divided into two parts: Metal Gear (MG) and Metal Gear Solid (MGS).

In fact, what later generations referred to as the "beginning of a legend" more often refers to the latter.

MGS was a reboot of the series personally overseen by Hideo Kojima. It was released on Sony PS in 98, an era when 3D technology was just beginning, which is why it became a classic.

No matter how you look at it, with the current weak infrastructure, it's impossible to achieve that true legend.

However, the first MG was not necessarily an unremarkable work.

The original MG was released in 87 on the MSX2 platform, and it was also the first game that Ichigo joined Konami after graduating from university.

The MSX wasn't an arcade machine, but rather a home PC, similar to the C64 in his hand.

Its weak performance makes it completely incapable of rendering gorgeous and high-end graphics, making it impossible to create exhilarating battle scenes like those in Contra.

To this end, Hideo Kojima found a solution that was truly ingenious.

"Infiltrate and avoid combat, but failure means being discovered??"

After listening to Lin Lixin's account, Sam was completely dazed.

"That's right, it's a stealth spy game, or you can think of it as—hide-and-seek."

"This... is simply outlandish..."

Sam tried to imagine the game Lin Lixin had described, but he couldn't understand the fun in it at all.

Who wouldn't want to wield a powerful weapon and defeat the enemy amidst a hail of bullets?

It's so frustrating to hide around like a cowardly little bastard!

Lin Lixin's idea is simply a deliberate attempt to go against the mainstream.

"Lin, this is too risky. If it's about lowering the system requirements, why not just use the '1942' system for a different genre?"

Sam had it all figured out: even if it was just rehashing old material, a reskinned version of "1942," he would still buy it.

Wouldn't it be just as interesting to use tanks or warships as the subject matter?

"Let's wait until we're so poor that we can start rehashing old ideas."

Lin Lixin laughed heartily, unconcerned about Sam's doubts.

Before he actually saw the SNAKE hidden in the cardboard box, he never thought that infiltrating would be fun.

After all, he's the kind of person who chooses to dual-wield greatswords even when playing the latest Assassin's Creed game.

……

Mountain View, Santa Clara County.

Gerald Lawson took the hand-soldered arcade board from Lin Lixin, his eyes wide with surprise.

Although this substrate was hand-made, it was neat and elegant, with no material wastage, and every wire was neatly connected to the board.

This technique is completely different from the "Indian-style flying wire" that Lin Lixin demonstrated last time.

How could someone grow so quickly in just one month?

"Okay... I guess I should get used to your unconventional ways sooner rather than later."

Gerald quickly composed himself and carefully examined the paddle in his hand.

"What is this for? It only has one 8-bit Z80 processor."

He had assumed Lin Lixin would have new high-configuration requirements, but he never expected it to be such a low-end substrate.

Lin Lixin took a document out of his bag and carefully placed it in front of Gerald.

The title on the first page of the cover tells Gerald what the document contains.

[Replaceable circuit board arcade machine specifications]

His eyes narrowed, and he instantly understood what Lin Lixin wanted to do.

"Mr. Lawson, as you probably guessed, I plan to implement a more flexible arcade standard that allows for the free replacement of circuit boards, just like changing cartridges on home consoles."

The reason they sought out Gerald was because he was the creator of the world's first home console with replaceable cartridges.

I believe no one is more suitable to take on this task than him.

"Is this to...reduce production costs?"

"That's right." Lin Lixin nodded in agreement. "The games we currently release at GAMENOVA, such as Tetris, 1942, and Contra, are completely identical in terms of their frame and button layout, except for the different configurations."

"If we can split the production line into two parts: the production of arcade game boards and the production of game frames, we can effectively control both flexibility and cost," Gerald said, picking up where Lin Lixin left off, and they immediately agreed.

"Oh, right," Lin Lixin said, just as he was about to leave, when he suddenly remembered another important matter. He pointed to the circuit board and asked, "If we were to develop a home console with this configuration, do you think it would be a viable option?"

Don't be fooled by the fact that they are only 8-bit machines. Whether it's the Famicom (NES) that is currently dominating the market or the Sega MS that will be released next year, they are actually still 8-bit configurations.

It wasn't until the Sega Mega Drive in 88 and the Nintendo Super Famicom in 90 that 16-bit processors began to be widely used.

Lin Lixin was eager to improve the hardware bottleneck so that he could come up with more game projects that were currently difficult to realize.

However, the price of 16-bit processors remains high at present.

Even with Contra, it's pointless to expect players to spend four or five hundred dollars on a home game console.