Chapter 9  

Chapter 2 part 5: Toy Company

“Currently, nobody is willing to jump in . Thus, if you take the risk and do so, you would be able to monopolize the market as the president of Mintendo . ”

“A monopoly~ Haha . That’s truly a delightful thing to hear as a business man . ”

President Yamauchi wildly laughed as he must have liked my answer .

“You talk about very interesting stories, just like Gunpei said . You’re young for sure; however, you have a view that makes it seem as though you can see through to the future . ”

After president Yamauchi said that, I felt a prick in one corner of my heart . He didn’t age for nothing; there was a saying that as you get older, you may lose sight in exchange for wisdom…

“But… You know what… There’s no meaning in succeeding just within Japan . Rather than being restricted to a tiny island-country, we have to break through to the American market to call it a true success . ”

“Doesn’t Mintendo currently have a branch in the States?”

“Yes, but it’s focusing more on the toy business than the game industry . The game industry in the U . S . is currently completely dead due to the Atari Shock . I’m saying that no toy shop is ordering our Family consoles . ”

Even in the states, the 1980s was a period where toy shops ordered gaming consoles and sold them rather than the gaming-specific stores that sold them . In other words, no matter how great a gaming device was, if it couldn’t get passed to the toy store and be displayed there, there was no where to sell them; thus, I answered like this .

“We can say they’re not games . ”

“What!? You’re saying we should not call a gaming device a gaming device? You must not know something since that’s against the product seles regulation . ”

“Put a simple robot that moves back and forth with the package and call it a toy . ”

“What…?”

President Yamauchi stared at me with a bewildered expression before picking up the phone on his desk and dialing a number .

“Is this the overseas department? Come here right this instant, to my office, and take in this new recruit . ”

This was how I was not assigned to the game development department nor the console invention department, but the overseas branch .

Something was not right here?

Hey you bastards! I’m a game developer!! You’re making a big mistake!!!

&

The next day .

I opened my eyes in the dorm that Mintendo had provided for me .

Hmm… This is worse than a hotel, but it’s the housing that Mintendo provided~ Eh~ It’s not bad? More than anything else, it’s close to the company; I felt like I was being bred for work, but I’ll just say that’s because of my mood .

To think that the start of the day for this company in the 1980s began with morning exercise… I stood in front of the office building and moved according to the instructions of the announcer . I tried to do the exercises half-heartedly at first, but seeing the employees around me pouring their heart into the movements, I also tried my best to follow the announcer .

“Let’s . Work . Hard~!!”

“Waaaahhhh~”

As the last command ended, the employees of Mintendo marched forward like soldiers with a stiff walk . “This is the end of what I wanted to say . ”

“From all the years that I was the President of Mintendo, this is the first time I’ve seen a employee that could confidently charge in and speak his mind . Yo Gunpei, are all Koreans like this?”

“I- I don’t know?”

“Your personality is like a breath of fresh air~ Alright, I’ll let you do what you want . Shigeru, take Kang-kun and quickly start making that Marigee or Massagee or whatever . ”

“Yes sir~!!”

Shigeru replied with vigor, as if he was satisfied with the President’s decision, and circled his gaze to me . Yes~ Let’s make it together . A legendary game that would be the biggest hit in the entire world…

&

“This is not right… Why is this so awkward?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah Kang-kun, you came at just the right time . The application of the Side Scrolling technology for the new Marigee game is proceeding smoothly, but don’t you think the movements look awkward?”

“Ah~ Is that so?”

Mr . Shigeru and I were concurrently sharing a project, so it was very fun for me . The basic formula for Super Marigee was being coded at a crazy speed with Mr . Shigeru and I working together . However, for the past few days, Mr . Shigeru was resolutely moving Marigee around in an empty stage .

I already had a possible solution to the problem, but I didn’t spoon feed him the answer . Was this like how one might feel when they looked down at a student taking a test while holding the answer sheet?

If I told him the answer, Super Marigee would be released that much faster, but I was waiting for a special something right now .

Time flew by and on a certain day in November .

“Mr . Shigeru, the demo disk for the Family console has just arrived?”

“Ah, I’m a little busy right now so please put it on top of that table . ”

Mr . Shigeru, who was intensively researching the movement of Marigee, did not even take a glance at the package that the employee brought . Mintendo took the lesson from the Atari Shock to heart and was directly inspecting the games that would be produced for the Family console . The inspection was a system where, we at the inventions team, personally tested the games and if it was satisfactory, we would send it to the cartridge manufacturer . If it was to be compared with 2015, it was similar to how an application producer would have the app tested before it was released in the app store .

I opened the package that was on top of the table in the place of the busy Mr . Shigeru . The package was from a strange company by the name of ‘HEG’ research facility . The moment I looked at the name of the sender, my fingertips wildly trembled .

‘It came . It finally came!!!’

I quickly tore open the package that was from the sender, Katawa Satoshi . The label on the small floppy disk read ‘Balloon Fight’ .

Yes, this was what I’ve been waiting for all along!!

“Kang-kun? What’s the matter…?”

“Mr . Shigeru, do you want to play this game together as a mood refresher?”

“Should we? Ah~ I can’t figure this out at all… It was moving left and right according to my commands, but why is it that when the Side Scrolling is switched on, I feel this frustration welling up?”

“Let’s cool our head and play this instead of thinking too deeply . ”

“I think my already terrible mood would get even worse when I play this kuso game?”

(TL: ‘kuso’ = garbage)

“But we’re gonna have to test this out anyway . ”

I sat on the stool along with Mr . Shigeru and turned on the floppy disk that the HEG research facility sent us .