Chapter 27: Nintendo Has Arrived

  Jester received a call from the company and had to rush back ahead of schedule.

  However, things in Los Angeles were basically over for him. After explaining the situation to his grandfather, his grandfather also understood and let Jester hurry back to deal with company affairs.

  Jester also promised his grandfather at the same time that he would go to the mainland investment delegation, no matter how many people would eventually participate, as long as it was formed, he would definitely go.

  If he can't make it, then he'll have to accompany Grandpa back to the mainland to take a look.

  This also delighted his grandfather, who directly said that he did not expect that his rebellious son would actually raise a good son.

  As for Ben, he had planned to visit Zhang Le'an's home tomorrow, but now it seems that plan has been foiled. Jester also had no choice but to call Zhang Le'an and explain the situation.

  White Wolf is naturally open-minded and not a petty person. When he heard that Jester said that the people from hell found his company and wanted to discuss the transplantation of "American Blocks" on home consoles, he even encouraged Jester to rip off the Japanese again.

  Jester just smiled and didn't explain, he never had any intention of collaborating with Ren Tsurugi on "American Blocks".

  Just kidding, Tetris was a huge hit in the original world of Russia, not only on arcade and handheld consoles, but also sold over 5 million copies on FC, ranking top ten in the entire FC game sales chart.

  How could he give this kind of goose that lays golden eggs to his future greatest opponent?

  This is his absolute ace in the hole for initial sales!

  He wanted to go back and see the people of Ren Diyu, just wanting to hear about their true circumstances. He knew that in the original history, Ren Diyu didn't start selling their FC version of NES in America until October 1985, but he couldn't be sure about this era.

  After all, the self-published "American Block" has already made the arcade market hot again to some extent, and the next few games that will be launched will inevitably pour a large bucket of hot oil on it.

  The video game market was already closely connected and would inevitably have a large number of players rekindle their interest in home console games.

  Will Nintendo change its mind and release NES ahead of schedule?

  Jester is uncertain.

  He drove back to the company at the fastest speed, and he didn't even ask about the completion of the tasks he had arranged before leaving. He came directly to Mark Senny's office with a gust of wind.

  Inside, Mark Cerny is drawing setting pictures for his new game "Avengers", the ground is piled up with various discarded drafts like a garbage dump.

  Before Jester arrived, Mark Senny had already been notified. After Jester's arrival, Mark Senny didn't waste any words and directly pulled out a file folder from the pile of drafts on the table and threw it into Jester's hands.

  "Inside is the information of the people who came to the meeting this time, they are very sincere and determined to get it done. They had called a few times before to inquire about it, but I told them to discuss the matter of 'American Blocks' after you return."

  "Hmm!"

  Jester responded with a sound, then quickly flipped open the folder and began to examine it carefully.

  There was a file inside with detailed information about the person. Jester had no idea how Mark Sweeney got it, but thinking of his connections in Sega Japan made sense.

  Sega is also an enemy of Ren Tianyou now.

  The person on the information is someone he knows, or rather, he is very familiar with.

  Ara Kawa, president of Jigoku USA Corporation and son-in-law of Shigeichi Yamauchi, the founder of Jigoku, married Yamauchi's eldest daughter, Yoko Yamauchi, while in school.

  As a seasoned gamer, So Dog has always regarded Ren Gehou as the conscience of the industry's poisonous tumor. Jester is naturally extremely grateful to this person who was crucial during his rise in Ren Gehou.

  He was the first person to be called Yamashina Yū's successor, born in 1946, the second year after Japan's Emperor declared surrender. He was born into the Arakawa family, a samurai clan, and his mother was also from a noble family - the eldest daughter of the Yoriie family. These two families owned a large amount of wealth in post-war Japan, with some estimating that they controlled one-fifth of Kyoto's land at the time.

  AraKawa Minoru grew up in such an environment of luxury, although his family managed a traditional textile industry, he chose civil engineering as the path for further study, and studied at Kyoto University's Graduate School of Engineering and MIT. In 1980, AraKawa Minoru, who was working at Marubeni, one of Japan's five major trading companies, was inspired by his father-in-law, Shigeo Yamauchi, to leave the company and establish American Rag in New York, where he served as president.

  This is where the legend begins.

  At that time, Arakawa Akira was basically alone in going to the United States, and Yamauchi Fusajiro also gave him great trust. At that time, the upper limit of funds available for mobilization was $10 million, which was a huge amount for Ren Diyu at that time. If it failed, Ren Diyu would almost be ruined.

  Of course, Arakawa Minoru did not betray his father-in-law's trust in him.

  Although Arakawa was a non-gamer executive of a game company, in 1980 America, there were no dedicated arcades and coin-operated machines were merely an adjunct to bars and other entertainment venues. Americans could only play simple games like Honey Bee, so they didn't need someone who knew much about games to manage them.

  Arukanai is not a gamer, but he's a genuine business genius who knows that arcade games are just another product, no different in essence from other commodities.

  As a business genius, he was full of expectations. Before "Donkey Kong", Jumpman had failed several times, and this attempt in the United States could be said to be Jumpman's all-or-nothing gamble.

  Success leads to heaven, failure leads to hell.

  At that time, the transaction method of the arcade was "one hand for money and one hand for goods", but this sales method was not suitable for a street machine like Donkey Kong which had no fame and was expensive.

  Because those willing to buy these arcade machines were mostly bar and mall owners, whether or not they had these arcade machines did not have a significant impact on them. Therefore, Donkey Kong, which was twice as expensive as other arcade machines, naturally would not be favored.

  So, the bold Arakawa Minoru made a decision behind Tanaka's back, which was to use first and buy later. This decision seems extremely correct in hindsight.

  Also followed Jester's method of promoting "American Blocks" from the beginning.

  "Donkey Kong" was a crushing shock to Americans who thought they were playing the best game in the world with minor games like "Pitfall!" and made them feel for the first time that video games could be played this way?

  In a very short time, the first batch of 2,000 Donkey Kong arcade boards were sold out. Seeing the market's enthusiasm, Ikegami boldly asked Japan's headquarters for 6,000 more Donkey Kong boards. Before they even arrived, these 6,000 boards were pre-sold to enthusiastic Americans at a fair price in US dollars.

  In just over a year, Donkey Kong sold more than 60,000 machines in the United States alone, earning Nintendo over $100 million in profits.

  From then on, Arakawa Akito became famous overnight and established his absolute core position in the hell.

  Jest clearly knew that Arakawa's eyesight was so sharp, Tetris was decided to be acquired at all costs after Arakawa saw it, and he eventually spent nearly $10 million on the copyright of Tetris.

  But he did not disappoint, relying solely on Tetris, he earned unimaginable profits for Atari Games, and the initial success of GB was largely due to Tetris.

  In the previous life, before Tetris became popular in Russia, Arakawa Minoru could see the charm of this game, and so did this world.

  "Is the ruler of Hell's US branch coming in person? Does Hell even consider us worthy?"

  Jester closed the documents in his hand and smiled at Mark Senni, who was still frowning and drawing a sketch.

  Perhaps dissatisfied with the one he had just finished, Mark Senyi sighed and crumpled up the drawing paper on the table, tossing it aside.

  He looked up at Jester, shrugged and smiled: "It's not that they look down on us, it's that they look down on 'American Blocks', the charm of this game is something that even people in hell can't help but notice."

  "They didn't say how they plan to talk to us?" Jester pulled over a chair and sat down, propping up his legs, asking casually.

  Mark Seni furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before saying, "I didn't discuss it with them in detail, but from what I can tell, they want to directly buy our copyrights. If that doesn't work out, at the very least, they plan on obtaining the rights to 'American Blocks' for home consoles."

  "Buy the rights to 'American Blocks'? Don't even think about it!" Jester snorted disdainfully after hearing Mark Senni's words.

  Then Mark Senn looked at Jester again, his face turned serious and said seriously: "In my personal opinion, even if it's a home machine authorization, we can't give it to them. Our home machine R&D progress is very fast, and it will be completed before the end of the year. At that time, it just happens that we are relying on "American Blocks" to quickly lay out goods. Giving the home machine version of "American Blocks" to Ren Difu, in my opinion, is a very wrong decision."

  "I thought so too." Jester nodded, stroking his chin in thought for a moment before speaking up, "I mainly want to get some information out of Arakawa's mouth, when are they planning to release their FC in the US?"

  "Do you think Nintendo will enter the US market? They can't see how bleak the current home console market is in America?" Mark Cerny was puzzled by Jester's words, he wanted to make a home console because of his dreams and responsibilities, but Nintendo's President Yamauchi was a shrewd businessman who wouldn't do something that would obviously lose money.

  So even hell is optimistic about the future of electronic games?

  "FC sales in Japan were too explosive, completely sold out, which may have given them enough confidence. After all, the game made by Yuzo Takahashi is indeed well-made, and the US market is ten times that of Japan's. He wouldn't want to try it out? That would be unbearable." Jester explained carefully, then asked, "When did Arakawa say he was coming?"

  "He said he'll definitely arrive before noon today, and he's booked a hotel, it's that Japanese restaurant on Riberg Street. He said if you can make it by noon, please come visit." Mark Senni nodded and said.

  "Then let's go at noon." A cold glint flashed in Jester's eyes, and then he made a decision.

  Then Jester brought up the tasks he had set for Mark Senni before he left Los Angeles, and as soon as Mark Senni heard them, his face immediately showed excitement, and his eyes looking at Jester also carried a hint of admiration.

  "The alpha versions of the three games you designed are all done, and all employees are very enthusiastic about the games. They all agree that these three games are not inferior to Tetris! Of course, everyone still has different preferences, for example, I like Zuma the most, while Will Wright likes Bejeweled a bit more... However, it can be predicted that if we release them, we will definitely achieve great success!" Maxsen exclaimed excitedly, with some uncontrollable gestures, clearly showing his excitement.

  "That's good, take out a portion of the people to finish the remaining work, after completing the beta version, put five units on each floor in the trial area on the first floor, let players try it out and see what opinions they have, if it's good we'll improve it, strive to finalize the full version before mid-next month."

  Jest made his own decision after a moment's thought, then turned to Mark Cerny with a smile that made Mark look somewhat uneasy. "Mark, I'm going to make a new game, not something like 'American Blocks' but something big like your 'Avengers', only static screens. I'd like to borrow someone from your production team to help me."

  Upon hearing this, Mark Senni's face changed instantly, hesitating for a moment before saying: "Alright then, I can give you one, but I'll have to pick another from the remaining people."

  "No problem." Jest smiled broadly. "Not one, take two if you like, I'll have Will Wright from your side, I see..."

  Before Jester could finish speaking, Mark Senny's face suddenly turned iron-gray, and he grabbed a stack of drawing paper on the table and slammed it over, shouting "Get out!"

  Then Jester fled from Mark Senny's room in disarray, shouting loudly as he ran: "Damn it! He's such a petty ghost! Not even willing to lend someone, I'll find a better one!"

  Although it was only a short time of three or four days, Mark Cerny had already sensed the kind of genius Will Wright has for designing great games, that feeling is like seeing fireflies on a summer night, or seeing a gold beetle in a field, just one glance is enough to be etched in your heart and can't be forgotten.

  Juster immediately wanted to borrow Will Wright, which was absolutely not allowed in Mark Serny's heart. In his heart, Will Wright was irreplaceable in his design team.

  "This damned Jester! Always taking advantage of others."

  Mark Sweeney was still fuming as he thought this way.

  PS: There is no draft, so it will be updated as soon as it is written. Therefore, there is no fixed update time. However, unless something urgent comes up, I will definitely update every night and won't stop updating.