Chapter 97: Part 2

Although Ethan had played a lot of electronic games in his past life, whenever he twisted his mind, only a few related to the minimalist pixel style came to mind. In the era when he played games, arcade performance had already gone up, and popular ones were games like "Street Fighter," "King of Fighters," and "Mortal Kombat."

However, even when Ethan played games, the primitive charm of the black screen had disappeared. But the pixel games that survived until that time were true classics. Games like "Northern Block," "Space Invaders," and "Pac-Man" that he wrote on paper were all super IPs that leveraged a market worth billions! Just creating one of them could cover all the development funds Silicon Valley companies needed in that era! What if he created two? Countless people would worship him! And if he managed to create three?

In notebook terms, that would be the god of games!

There was no choice because Ethan's past life witnessed someone achieving the feat of creating three epic hits in their lifetime.

"Donkey Kong," "Mario," and "Zelda" crowned Shigeru Miyamoto at the peak of electronic games.

What was even more terrifying was that "Pokémon" was also made under his influence. Ash Ketchum represented the game producer himself, Satoshi Tajiri, and Oak represented Tajiri's mentor, Shigeru Miyamoto, according to Tajiri's words.

Of course, these home console games didn't concern Ethan at the moment because of the high hardware costs in this era. As he set his sights on the basic pixel charm, what he, as a commoner, wanted most was — I want them all! He had already abandoned financial speculation and started his own business. If he didn't create a legendary reputation, all his efforts would be in vain!

So, when he rolled up his sleeves to get to work, he directly brought out the trump card in his mind.

However, he faced a dilemma in choosing which one to create first.

Should he start with "Northern Block"? Ethan circled the name of this game.

After much thought, he decided to black it out.

Though Ethan didn't understand the technicalities, he knew "Northern Block" was the most challenging of the three games.

Firstly, the game involved various types of blocks controlled by the player, and the design of their display and the pseudo-random formula required a lot of effort to write.

This workload couldn't be completed in a short time.

Secondly, the elimination setting of this game was challenging to write. When the player manually eliminated blocks, the game had to recognize the height of the highest filled grid block and constantly calculate the maximum number of blocks on the screen, leaving a lifeline for the player to ensure that later pseudo-random calculations wouldn't affect the player's gaming experience.

This had completely transcended the realm of arcade circuit boards. Even with brilliant physics, it couldn't be achieved.

In addition to these two points, there were issues like game speed increasing based on score detection mechanisms.

When these requirements appeared, Ethan felt it would be better not to trouble Evelyn.

He didn't know if Evelyn could create "Northern Block," but he knew he couldn't waste time on this.

In this arcade era, the emphasis was on being quick, accurate, and ruthless. When the technology was insufficient, developing for an extra second was akin to committing suicide.

Moreover, "Northern Block" wasn't suitable for release in arcades because—

"This game is only suitable for players to purchase themselves. If it's put in arcades, the owners will go crazy."

Ethan chuckled and shook his head because he could already imagine arcade owners being driven to madness by skilled players.

After strategically deciding to develop "Northern Block," Ethan shifted his focus to "Space Invaders."

To be honest, Ethan hadn't played the original "Space Invaders." What he played was probably a clone called "Little Bee," produced by Namco if he remembered correctly.

But that wasn't important, right?

Because the game content was similar!

"Little Bee" and "Space Invaders" were both fixed-shooter games. Players could only move their ship or cannon horizontally at the bottom of the screen, press the fire button to shoot bullets, and clear the descending alien enemies. The only difference was that in "Space Invaders," the enemies moved as a group, while in "Little Bee," enemies could attack individually, diving down to hit the player.

Although this game also deviated from simple physics feedback, from a technical perspective, it should be simpler than "Northern Block," Ethan dared not be certain. He circled the name of this game.

What made him hesitate even more was another memory fragment in his mind.

Because that memory fragment told him—

"It seems this game really became popular because of 'Star Wars'?" Ethan scratched his head, muttering to himself.

Yes, in Ethan's memory, the release of "Space Invaders" was somewhat coincidental. It rode on the popularity of "Star Wars."

When "Star Wars" captivated countless hearts with its breathtaking visual spectacle, "Space Invaders" was officially released shortly after, becoming an overnight sensation in the market and then sweeping across North America with irresistible force.

Because of this legendary tale, Ethan was impressed. So, when Steven Spielberg mentioned that his friend wanted to create a big news, Ethan would proactively ask if it was George Lucas, if it was "Star Wars."

If it was—

Ethan actually wanted to hitch a ride on the publicity.

Not inside, of course!

As for the reason?

Historical inertia — that was the best recipe for success!

However, he couldn't confirm whether his memory was correct, so he was currently in a bit of a dilemma.

Temporarily skipping ahead, looking at "Pac-Man," the game instantly reassured him.

"Pac-Man" was a maze-chase game. Players controlled a yellow ball in a closed maze, avoiding four ghosts chasing them, and ate all the dots in the maze. After that, they could move on to the next level.

Ethan felt this game was the most suitable for him because he had already created "Snake."

When the elements of an enclosed environment and eating things appeared simultaneously, "Pac-Man" was practically a spiritual sequel to "Snake."

Or maybe...

It was an upgraded version of creativity.

With this gimmick, who wouldn't go crazy buying it?

"It seems 'Pac-Man' is the most suitable game for now."

Ethan thought for a moment and ultimately put a checkmark after the name of "Pac-Man."

Then, he wrote a two after "Space Invaders."

As for the blackened "Northern Block," it was his number three in his mind.

After this arrangement, Ethan felt relieved.

"Start with 'Pac-Man' to open the real situation, then sweep the world with 'Space Invaders,' and finally release 'Northern Block' to show these foolish people what a real pixel game is!"

With this plan in mind, Ethan's mouth curled up with an inexplicable curve.

Because in his mind, scenes of three games being released consecutively emerged.

The roaring scene...

The anticipation of the crowd...

He raised his right hand slightly, gesturing toward the constantly signaling crowd...

Just thinking about it made one's heart surge!

"Hehehehehe..."

Ethan couldn't hold it in.

"Hahahahahaha..."

He laughed happily.

And just as he erased all the content

, preparing to sketch out the concept of "Pac-Man" in his mind...

A knocking sound entered his ears, disrupting his daydream.

"Come in." Although annoyed, Ethan didn't show it.

The door opened, and the company's administrative clerk, the blonde girl Eulise Noble, walked in.

"Mr. Jones, there's a gentleman who claims to be the CEO of Sega visiting the company, wanting to meet you."

'?'

Ethan was somewhat surprised by these words.

'Sega?'

'What does it want with me?'

Ethan was a bit puzzled and directly asked, "Did he say what it's about?"

"Yes, he said he wants to discuss cooperation with us," Eulise Noble replied.

'Cooperation?'

This statement made Ethan even more bewildered.

Because he didn't have any projects on hand that could collaborate with Sega!

Patent authorization for video games?

That was entirely impossible! Not to mention that Ethan didn't have any authorization; he bypassed the patent entirely using Ralph Baer's big banner. Even if he had it, Sega didn't need it!

Because in April this year, after settling with Atari over "Pong," Milowah immediately sued Sega.

Later, the two parties quickly reached an agreement.

If nothing unexpected happened, Sega should have obtained Milowah's patent authorization by now, but the price might be quite high.

After thinking about it for a while, Ethan couldn't figure it out, so he decided not to bother.

Putting on his pen, he asked, "Is the reception room on the second floor available?"

"It is."

"Then please take him there."

Ethan tossed the blackened paper into the shredder.

Since he wasn't clear about the purpose of the visit, he might as well meet with him and find out.

Note:

Although "Northern Block" is a Game Boy game, its difficulty in production is indeed the highest among the three mentioned. A paper has been published on the difficulty of designing the display of various block types controlled by the player and the pseudo-random formula. The design philosophy of not letting pseudo-random affect the gameplay is what makes the game challenging, leading to the observation that failures are often due to the player's reaction lag, not the game's miscalculation.

"Space Invaders" did benefit from the popularity of "Star Wars." The creator, Tomohiro Nishikado, himself stated that "Space Invaders" borrowed from various games and TV shows, including "Star Wars." To make the game more successful, "Space Invaders" even used the opening sequence of "Star Wars" as the reference for its first promotional poster, with the word "Space Invaders" in the same angle as the "Star Wars" logo (this image is available on the English Wikipedia). Furthermore, the game was officially distributed in August, shortly after the official release of "Star Wars" in bookstores on June 30, 1978. When it was sold in North America, it directly capitalized on the promotion of "Star Wars."