Building a Gaming Empire In 1984

The first Friday after Thanksgiving, this day, marking the beginning of the Christmas shopping season was Black Friday.

Multiple retail giants, including Walmart, and Target, had already been rubbing their hands in anticipation, fully prepared to join this fierce battle.

Early in the morning, the sky was just turning light. Long queues had already formed in front of the major hypermarkets, and there was no shortage of hardcore individuals who brought their own tents.

However, slightly different from the past, the proportion of young people in the queue this time had clearly risen by a large margin. They gathered in groups of twos and threes, revealing their absolute excitement in their tone without any disguise.

As early as half a month ago, the promotional work regarding GAMENOVA's new type of hardware, the "NovaPocket" portable game console, had already been underway in full swing.

This time, GAMENOVA had absolutely spared no expense, not letting any single promotional channel slip by.

The first to disclose the information was a recent issue of Electronic Games. Aside from not having official pictures, the content was written with remarkable detail and plausibility, instantly sparking a lot of discussion.

Mike, who was standing in the middle of the queue, shivered slightly. The final stretch of time before dawn was always the coldest.

"I say... stop flipping through your broken magazine, pack up your things, it looks like they are getting ready to open the doors."

Hearing this, John then reluctantly put down the latest issue of Electronic Games in his hand.

In this issue of the magazine, the information regarding the NovaPocket was completely declassified, with both the exterior illustrations and the detailed specifications sheet fully and thoroughly displayed.

"It's really hard to believe that a game console that you can actually hold in your hands and play exists in this world."

Recalling that miraculous promotional video starring Arnold, which possessed an immense sense of contrasting charm, John could not stop his heart from surging with excitement.

A game console that even Arnold would hide backstage to play during breaks from acting, how great must it be.

"John, this time you are the biggest contributor."

Mike stood up, rolled up and put away the picnic mat used for cushioning his butt, and patted John on the shoulder.

Who could have imagined that John would actually find the hidden Easter egg in Contra. The prize money was as high as 10,000 dollars. Not to mention that medal made of gold and platinum that was completely identical to the one inside the game.

Originally, the two of them had only prepared 300 dollars for this shopping event. The money saved throughout the entire year was just for these few days. Now it was great, they could directly go on a reckless shopping spree without any inhibitions.

"I never thought in my life that playing games could actually make money, you are truly incredible."

"Hehe... I just played it for... Hey, Mike, look!"

As they were speaking, the television sets placed in front of the supermarket's large glass windows suddenly lit up. Advertisements placed by various manufacturers began to be displayed one after another.

The first to catch John's attention, naturally, were several frames bearing the large GAMENOVA logo. He had already watched the NovaPocket promotional video starring Arnold countless times, but this time it had actually changed to another person.

"It's Brandon Lee!"

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Aha, I knew he would definitely star in it too."

Brandon in the footage was dressed completely identically to his appearance in Street Fighter, standing before a wooden dummy.

Da, da, da...

Every move and every stance, every opening and closing, fully displayed the subtlety of Kung Fu. Jeet Kune Do, perfectly fitted this body, and every single strike felt as if it landed right on the hearts of the audience.

After a few breaths, Brandon stopped, exhaled a breath of turbid air, seemingly reflecting on which of his actions just now was not concise enough. He suddenly grabbed the NovaPocket from the side, casually inserted the Street Fighter cartridge, and actually started playing just like that.

As his fingers pressed at high speed, Fei Long followed by unleashing equally gorgeous moves. Brandon nodded thoughtfully, and only then did he put down the handheld console to resume striking the wooden dummy.

The second promotional video was very short, but the concept it wanted to express was also seen by everyone.

"Oh my god, this small gadget can even play Street Fighter?"

John directly ignored the promo and locked his eyes straight onto that Street Fighter cartridge.

Thinking back, his biggest dissatisfaction with the NovaBox, this groundbreaking revolutionary game console, was that it was not convenient to carry around. The fragmented free time during work could not be put to good use by him and the NovaPocket was practically born with an eye on this demand of his.

A game console that could be carried around and could be opened for a round anytime, anywhere.

"How did they stuff so many components into such a tiny gadget?"

Mike likewise clicked his tongue in wonder, but immediately after, he noticed a problem, "Hey? But if that's the case, doesn't the handheld version mean you can only fight against the computer?"

Only then did John wake up as if from a dream, looking carefully at the illustrations in the magazine.

"Indeed, it itself is equivalent to a controller, there is fundamentally no space for a Player 2 to participate, this is indeed a flaw, what a pity."

Fighting against humans, that was where the boundless joy lay.

"Wow…"

Just as the two of them were pointing at the illustrations in the magazine to critique the situation, they suddenly heard the surrounding people let out a gasp of surprise in unison.

Following their gaze, the television, at some unknown point, had actually begun playing a new segment of the promotional video.

Brandon and Arnold stood on each side of the screen, portraying their respective characters from Street Fighter. Under the rendering of the music and scenery, for a moment, that strong sense of destiny arose spontaneously.

Especially for this group of Street Fighter super fans on the street, the sense of deja vu from this frame was simply strong enough to go crazy.

Guile took out a comb and tidied up his hair style. The smell of gunpowder between the two could be clearly smelled right through the screen. It was entirely a state as if they were about to start strangling each other immediately.

In the next moment, both sides indeed... strictly speaking, Fei Long struck first, rapidly closing in before Guile.

Just when everyone thought the two were about to launch into a satisfying fight scene right there, both sides suddenly, by a common understanding, reached their hands into their pockets and pulled out two NovaPockets.

"?"

John's brain went dead on the spot, this contrast was truly a recurring trick.

While he was dazed, Arnold found a peculiar cable from his pocket again, connecting each of the two ends to the communication ports of the two machines.

Subsequently, the screen transitioned to the handheld version of Street Fighter, which had significantly lower pixels.

"Holy Shit! So the communication port mentioned above is used for this!"

John hastily flipped open the magazine, finding the page with the detailed interface configuration.

It had long been marked here that the NovaPocket came standard with an infrared communication module and a wired communication module.

In the beginning, he still did not know what this gadget was used for, but now seeing the two connecting for a match, it was simply an instant enlightenment.

The stable connection and data exchange of the wired setup could provide both sides with a multiplayer experience almost identical to that on the NovaBox and arcades.

As for the infrared, although its communication efficiency was poor, it was more flexible and convenient, making it a great tool for uploading and comparing scores.

The three promotional videos were still looping on the television. They were placed together with the advertisements from other manufacturers. However, almost everyone's attention was concentrated on the few advertisements from GAMENOVA.

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