Game Market 1983

There were no schools near here, but a hoard of male students in uniforms stepped off the train . A corporate employee stared at the door with a hesitant look, before making the sudden decision to step off the train just as the door was about to close, and was followed by several other employees .

“Are all these people really here for Dragon Warrior 3…?”

“We should be getting off here as well . ”

With a doubtful mind, Mr . Shige and I stepped out of the Akiba station only to be greeted by a huge crowd in front of the station .

“Hoh… Isn’t today a weekday? Why are there so many people here!?”

“Y . . . Yeah . ”

Lines were formed in front of every game shop; the Dragon Warrior theme song was blaring from the speakers to create a lively atmosphere .

In the middle of the event was a female reporter who was covering the current situation of Akiba into the camera .

“The release date for the highly anticipated Dragon Warrior 3 game has finally arrived . There’s a huge crowd gathered here in Akihabara, Tokyo, and despite today being a weekday, many students in school uniforms are standing in line to buy the game . It seems that there are many corporate employees here as well . Let’s have a talk with someone standing in line . ”

However, everyone was covering their face like a criminal because they were too shy to appear on TV . Why were they embarrassed when they came out here to buy a game today? Oh, they must have been worried about being caught skipping school or work!

As no one wanted to talk with the female reporter, she started looking around helplessly . At that moment, she spotted me and Mr . Shige . Mr . Shige, who was beside me, muttered under his breath .

“Woah… That reporter is hot . She’s just my type~ . ”

“Excuse me, you guys are company employees, right!?”

Oh? Is she trying to interview us? My prediction was correct; the reporter gestured the cameraman who was taking pictures to follow her and ran

over to us . As a result, Mr . Shige turned red and shouted at me .

“Hey!! Let’s run!!”

“What? Why?”

“Oh? Uhm… We’re going to be recorded . ”

“What’s wrong with being recorded?”

As a matter of fact, this was an incredible opportunity for me .

“Hello, I’m Katsura Misato from Fuji TV . Would you like to talk with me about today’s event?”

I almost bursted out in laughter when I heard her name . With her appearance and name… She would turn into a huge star in 1995…

“Excuse me? Would you…”

“Ah, my friend over here would love to be inter…”

As I turned my head to my right, Mr . Shige had vanished into the crowd and was staring at me, hidden from view…

“You seem to be a corporate employee; why are you here today on a weekday morning? Are you here to buy the Dragon Warrior 3?”

Ms . Masato seemed anxious to start the interview and dived straight into the questions .

I responded .

“No . ”

“What?”

Ms . Misato’s face turned into shock as my answer went outside her prediction .

The gamers in the plaza started to gather around me as the interview seemed to intrigue them . Or maybe it might’ve been because of Ms . Misato’s face~

They didn’t want to be interviewed themselves, but they were fine with watching someone else being interviewed . Ms . Misato hesitated for a moment before brightly smiling and started asking her questions again .

“Then what business do you have in Akihabara today?”

“I came here to analyze the market; I am an employee at Mintendo . ”

“Ah~ That’s great . So you wanted to see the reception of Dragon Warrior 3 today~”

She really wanted to turn the topic around to Dragon Warrior 3, didn’t she . . .

So I responded .

“No . ”

“What?”

Her left eyebrow twitched ever so slightly . She seemed to be getting annoyed as the interview wasn’t going her way . After all, the people that she hoped to interview were students or employees who skipped school or their job to buy the Dragon Warrior title .

“Th, then what market are you trying to analyze?”

“Dragon Warrior 3 isn’t the only game being released today . ”

“Ah . that’s right . What’s the title of the other game?”

“Psychic Battle . ”

At that moment, one person from the crowd spoke .

“What? Psychic Battle is being released today too?”

“I’ve never head that before… I thought the FamiTong magazine said Psychic Battle was going to be released around spring time . ”

“Right? Now we have more titles to purchase!”

“Then which one should I buy?”

“What’s there to think about? Just buy both!! I’m going to buy both and survive this month with ramen, and ramen only . ”

“Oh!! Right!! A true man would not hesitate in buying both!!”

“Woooah!!!!”

In response to the last man’s words, the crowd roared in agreement . Right . There was nothing to think about . Of course, that was only if they had enough money to spare . I asked Ms . Misato, who was shocked speechless by the crowd’s reaction .

“Is this a live broadcast?”

“No, the footage will be edited before airing in the evening news . ”

“Then can I have a word?”

“Ah, sure . Go ahead . ”

With Ms . Misato’s permission, I took out a golden ticket from my jacket and showed it to the camera . Due to that slightly gloomy weather, it wasn’t overly ostentatious, but it was enough to draw the attention of the crowd .

“Inside a select few Psychic Battle cartridges will be this golden ticket . Whoever finds the golden ticket will gain automatic admission to Mintendo’s sponsored Psychic Battle event . ”

In response, one man who had been standing behind me yelled out .

“What kind of an event1? We can’t enter without that ticket?”

“No, you can gain entrance without the ticket . All you have to do is bring a cartridge of psychic battle with the entire game cleared . In the Psychic Battle event, you can purchase various products; we’re also planning to host a competition with prize money for the participants . Please read this month’s edition of the FamiTong magazine for specific details . ”

“So the all-cleared cartridge itself can be the entrance ticket as well… Very unique!”

“I tried Psyhic Battle out at the last Mintendo event, and the difficulty level is no joke . The prize for clearing 2 stages was a free demo cartridge, so I tried three times, yet I couldn’t even clear the first stage…”

“Really? Sh*t . . . Should I buy Psychic Battle instead of Dragon Warrior? I don’t have much money left…”

The news regarding Psychic Battle began to spread at a breakneck pace . Misato looked around with vacant eyes before coming to her senses and backed away from me .

“You, what did you do just now!?”

“I’m in the middle of promoting a game that I made?”

She immediately realized that she’d been used by me and instantly turned red . Looking at her face, it seemed like she was ready to explode .

“If you didn’t like that, you can edit it out later . ”

“Of course!! You’re using our news channel to promote your own product; I’m at a loss for words!!”

“Haha, I’m sorry . Then, I’ll be off~”

I turned my back to the fuming Misato and called out to Mr . Shige who was still hiding in the crowd .

“Mr . Shige!! Come on!!”

“Uh? Oh, right~”

Mr . Shige took a few glances at Ms . Misato while he ran towards me .

“Hey, weren’t you nervous?”

“What’s there to be nervous about? It wasn’t even a live broadcast . ”

“That huge camera was placed right in front of your nose, and the beautiful reporter was asking questions right next to you; you’re telling me you weren’t nervous at all!?”

“That aside, I’m getting hungry, and we have time to spare; shall we go out for breakfast?”

“You want to have a meal in this situation? When Super Marigee was first released, I couldn’t touch a glass of water for the whole day . ”

“My Psychic Battle will be completely sold out in 10 minutes . Let’s have a meal first; we can walk around and watch the Dragon Warrior sales after . ”

“In 10 minutes? What’re you talking about? And what’s the deal with that golden ticket!?”

“I’ll tell you in the restaurant . ”

&

Mr . Shige and I walked to a Yoshinoya around the train station . A Yoshinoya was a chain restaurant specializing in beef bowls; there was bound to be one near a train station . In exchange for a cheap price, the food was also ordinary…

The restaurant could be called the combination of Mcdonald’s, a rapidly growing fast food chain, and a traditional Japanese restaurant .

I stirred the steaming beef bowl as I talked to Mr . Shige .

“There’s 200 . ”

“What is?”

“The total number of Psychic Battle cartridges in stock today . ”

“Pfftt!!”

Mr . Shige spurted the water out from his mouth .

“Eyy… We’re eating right now…”

“Hey! Does that make any sense? Why did you only have 200 in stock?”

“That’s why today was a surprise release day . ”

“Even then… Anyways, 200 cartridges will definitely be sold out in 10 minutes . So you’re going to release 200 cartridges every day?”

“No, I’ll release 100 cartridges after three days .

“Cough… Cough…”

Mr . Shige started continuously coughing while holding the cup of water as if he had a cold . I patted his back a few times and went back to eating my meal .

“What was the golden ticket for?”

“It’s a golden ticket, just like it’s name . Mr . Shige, are you familiar with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?”

“Yes, it’s a children’s book . ”

“A children’s book? It’s a piece of marketing genius . ”

“Marketing genius, huh?”

“There are only 5 golden tickets hidden amongst the hundreds of millions of chocolates that are distributed throughout the entire world . Compared to Willy Wonka, I’m being incredibly generous by distributing 500 tickets within Japan only . ”

In response, Mr . Shige looked at me with a stunned look on his face . Every game developer wanted his game to be enjoyed by many people . But seeing me deny selling to people who wanted to buy my game, it was no wonder he was shocked .

After a while, Mr . Shige spoke while chewing on a piece of beef .

“Actually, I was a bit jealous of you because of the overwhelming reception of Psychic Battle . That’s why even though it may have seemed petty, I proposed the popularity competition with Super Marigee 3 . But,”

Mr . Shige stared at me for a while before opening his mouth again .

“Would you have done the same if Super Marigee 3 was being released today?”

“Yes . ”

“Scary B*stard . ”