Building a Gaming Empire In 1984

"Why not just announce the new game now and start building hype ahead of time?"

Steve toyed with the exquisitely made handheld in his hands, his eyes practically shooting lasers.

GAMENOVA was really going all out this time.

"I want to give the players a surprise. But we can already begin the promotional campaign for the NovaPocket."

Electronic Games had always excelled at hardware reviews, so this time Ethan contacted Steve directly and invited him to conduct a hands-on review. Carrying the prototype unit and several game cartridges that had already been successfully ported, Steve hurried back to the editorial office.

After seeing Steve off, Ethan didn't have a moment to spare. Sam immediately floored the accelerator and drove him straight to the filming set.

Arnold, whom he hadn't seen in quite some time, was sitting on a small stool, fiddling with the bright blond flattop wig on his head. Ever since Street Fighter had become a nationwide phenomenon, Arnold had come to realize that he'd probably never escape this label for the rest of his life.

No matter where he went, people pointed at him and shouted, "Guile!"

There were even some truly remarkable individuals who sent him threatening letters because Guile had beaten them too badly in versus matches.

Still, as someone in the film industry, if he couldn't handle that much, he had no business staying in it. In fact, Arnold had gradually come to enjoy it. Many celebrities spent their entire careers without leaving behind a single unforgettable iconic image in their fans' minds, but he had already achieved that.

Whether it was The Terminator, Contra, or Street Fighter, each had given him an iconic role worthy of being remembered in cinematic history.

And a large part of that was inseparable from the man standing before him.

"Ethan, we finally get to work together again."

Ethan smiled and looked around.

"Where's Brandon?"

"In the makeup room."

As they spoke, Brandon pushed open the door and walked out, wearing the same outfit he had worn while working in Street Fighter.

"Ethan!"

The moment he spotted Ethan, his eyes lit up as well, and he quickly ran over.

After his standout performance in Street Fighter, Brandon's value in Hollywood had skyrocketed. Action film offers came in one after another. So, when he heard that Ethan wanted him to appear in the promotional commercial for GAMENOVA's new handheld, he accepted without a second thought.

Seeing that both men were ready, Ethan took two small boxes from his bag and opened them on the table. Inside lay two NovaPocket handhelds, one red and one blue. The handheld's exterior had been personally designed by Vivian.

Unlike the Game Boy, the NovaPocket featured a layout much closer to that of modern handheld consoles, with a horizontal orientation.

On the left side were four separate directional buttons, up, down, left, and right, avoiding any patent conflicts with Nintendo's D-pad. At the same time, to compensate for the less intuitive feel of separate directional buttons, Ethan incorporated a "slide pad" design.

Its surface consisted of a flat textured pad with an anti-slip finish that could move freely within a circular range. The inspiration for this design naturally came from classic handhelds like the PSP.

While its feel couldn't compare to modern analog sticks, it offered unmatched advantages in terms of size.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

On the right side were the four action buttons: A, B, X, and Y.

The entire handheld featured smooth, flowing lines, perfectly embodying industrial aesthetics without a single unnecessary decorative flourish.

On the back were the battery compartment and cartridge slot, utilizing virtually every bit of internal space to its fullest.

A machine like this, forget actually playing it. Simply looking at it was a pleasure in itself.

"My God..."

The instant the two of them saw it, their eyes went wide.

In Arnold's imagination, a handheld should have looked like a Game & Watch, or perhaps a home console with a built-in screen that you could simply set down somewhere to play.

But he had never imagined that a portable device could be designed with such elegance and such beauty.

Arnold carefully lifted it out of the box. The contrast between his enormous muscular hands and the tiny handheld made the scene look especially bizarre.

Four AA batteries had already been installed. With a gentle push of the power switch, the GAMENOVA logo flashed across the screen.

Besides accepting cartridges, the NovaPocket came with Tetris pre-installed in its onboard ROM, so even without inserting a cartridge, it was ready to play right out of the box.

Arnold glanced up at Ethan, and after receiving an approving nod he pressed the Start button.

The graphics were incredibly pixelated! Compared to the CRT displays of arcade cabinets and home consoles that Arnold had long grown accustomed to, the tiny LCD's meager 160×144 resolution was almost painful to look at.

Yet surprisingly, the low resolution caused him very little discomfort. In fact, Tetris looked every bit as good as the original arcade version.

The feeling was remarkably strange. It was as though Tetris, a game he had played countless times before, had been completely transformed simply by moving it onto a handheld, it really felt like an entirely new game.

Originally, Arnold had only meant to play it for a few minutes, but he quickly became completely absorbed. It wasn't until half an hour later that Brandon, who had recovered his senses first, finally snapped him out of it.

Brandon's own reaction wasn't much better. He swallowed hard as he stared at the red handheld in his hands, already realizing that it was destined to become a product that defined an era.

"A game console you can play anytime, anywhere... standing, sitting, or lying down..."

Never mind a console that supported interchangeable cartridges. Even if it only came with Tetris, that alone would have been enough to make the NovaPocket a timeless classic.

"Anyway, today we'll finish filming most of the performance scenes. The rest can be handled in post-production."

Ethan clapped his hands to get their attention. The commercial was divided into three segments.

One featured Arnold alone.

Another featured Brandon alone.

The final segment had the two of them appearing together.

...

"Action!"

With a sharp clack of the clapperboard, the lights instantly went dark.

Boom!

A burst of flames suddenly erupted in the silent set. As the lighting changed, the scene gradually came into view.

Dressed as Guile, Arnold crawled through a jungle battlefield, occasionally throwing out a Sonic Boom.

After an intense montage of action shots, a crisp click suddenly rang out. He stopped moving, casually wiped the sweat from his forehead, and, with the camera following behind him, walked off the set and sat down in a chair in the rest area.

It turned out the previous battle had merely been a film shoot. With his back to the camera, Arnold focused intently on fiddling with something in his hands.

As the camera moved closer and circled around to the front, it revealed that he was holding a game console smaller than the palm of his hand. On its screen, a long Tetrimino slowly descended into a perfectly prepared gap.

Beep.

An entire line disappeared.

"Woohoo!"

"Arnold, we're ready for the next shot!"

"Got it."

Only after hearing the call did Arnold pick up a cup, take a sip of water to wet his throat, slip the handheld into his pocket, and, with the camera following behind him, walk back onto the set.

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