As soon as the time arrived, the shopping mall opened precisely on time. The massive crowd swarmed inside, instantly splitting into two streams.
The smaller stream headed straight for the daily necessities section, almost all of them housewives. As for everyone else, they sprinted at full speed towards the electronics department without a single moment of hesitation.
Damn it, I have to get one!
This was a launch console, even if one didn't play it, just reselling it would be well worth the price.
Mike was already a skilled cyclist, and John had done plenty of manual hard work. The two of them arrived in front of the shelves almost instantly. Without even glancing at the $99.99 price tag, they snatched up two units without hesitation and then scooped up all the launch cartridges along with them.
"Mike, cover me so I can break out!"
"Roger that!"
In front of them, a few fast-running buyers who had also taken the lead were blocking the path further inside completely. Behind them was an endless wave of latecomers, completely intent on swallowing them up.
This scene was probably no different from people scrambling for supplies during a zombie apocalypse.
"Ethan, guess what the first-day sales for the NovaPocket are?"
In the room, Sam hung up the transition phone call from the sales section and asked Ethan with an air of mystery. However, the twitching muscles on his face completely gave him away.
"Hmm... 500,000 units?"
This figure already far exceeded the launch numbers of the Game Boy.
"Too low…"
Sam wagged his finger.
"Counting accidental losses and other circumstances, as of right now, we have sold one million NovaPocket units!"
Sam's voice was trembling as he announced this number.
This explosive scene was a completely different story compared to the initial launch state of the NovaBox back then.
Even Sam, who had already prepared himself mentally, felt his head throbbing slightly from the shock of this number. Yet, the most terrifying thing was not how large this number was.
"Sold out??"
Ethan was stunned. For this Black Friday, GAMENOVA had contacted their contract factories to work overtime day and night to manufacture, preparing a full stock of one million units.
This had already consumed all the production capacity of the Z80Y and the NovaWonder.
Ethan originally thought that preparing twice the stock based on the Game Boy's original data would be more than enough, at least lasting until the next batch of chips finished tape out and delivery.
"Exactly! All sold out! All fucking sold out! Hahahaha!!!"
One million was the upper limit of their stock, not the upper limit of the NovaPocket.
You have to realize that this was a game console costing a full hundred dollars, not some household breadmaker or other appliance.
Aside from being used to play games, it had absolutely no other purpose.
"Is it because of the built-in Tetris..."
Tetris, this soul that spans the beginning and end of video game history, had finally found the most suitable and perfect physical vessel for itself.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
After the sudden emergence of a succession of content-heavy masterpieces like 1942 and Contra, players' attention towards this founding forefather game of GAMENOVA had once dropped to an all-time low.
Street Fighter, Wolfenstein 3D, The Legend of Zelda... One game after another that shattered common sense and annihilated established norms kept raising the players' thresholds.
Everyone was waiting to see what kind of even more astonishing product GAMENOVA would bring out next and then, what appeared before everyone was this most rock-solid foundation of GAMENOVA.
The invincible god of handheld gaming, praise the lord of video games, the Tetris Messiah.
Ethan picked up the NovaPocket from the table, watching the blocks slowly falling on it, and suddenly felt a bit at a loss.
"I originally planned to rely on Pokémon to further stimulate consumer spending, but now, it's the factories' turn to get anxious instead."
He looked at the two cartridges of Pokémon Red/Green on the table and shook his head.
We haven't even exerted ourselves yet? How did we already win?
The second day of the Christmas shopping season. Not only did the people queuing up not decrease, but the scene became a few degrees more exaggerated. As the hype fermented and the gameplay experiences of the first batch of players spread, the popularity of the NovaPocket hit a new high.
However, what awaited them was a devastating bad news.
"Gone? Not a single unit left?"
The players who originally thought the second day wouldn't be as crowded and planned to score a leftover deal were collectively dumbfounded. Selling out on the first day is one thing, but on what grounds do you not restock on the second day.
"Let me see the seller's contact number..."
Meyer, like all the other distributors of GAMENOVA, felt as if he was undergoing the most terrifying trial of his life.
It was painful, yet joyful.
The customer service department's phone lines, which had already been expanded several times, rang incessantly without a single moment of quiet. Game shops, arcades, and retail hypermarkets from all over the country were calling in non-stop like crazy and their questions were completely identical.
When exactly can the stock be replenished!
"Sir, I am really not lying to you. We've had a cooperative relationship for so many years, if there were any, I would definitely supply your side first."
Meyer wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, having managed with great difficulty to placate a major client they frequently cooperated with.
When would there be stock?
He was just one of the distributors, it wasn't up to him to decide this kind of thing! Right now, every major big distributor across the United States was facing a similar or even worse situation and all of them were mad at GAMENOVA.
Only pre-producing one million units, what was that even enough for!
Meyer recalled that he was still a bit worried when he first heard Ethan say the initial shipment volume across the country was a full million units. Looking at it now, he felt like a complete fool.
Let alone one million units, even two million or five million units would probably have been completely sold out this Christmas season. However, what truly made Meyer feel alarmed was just how many massive projects GAMENOVA had prepared for this Christmas slot.
"Pokémon hasn't even hit the shelves yet, what on earth are they going to do..."
Never in his life had he thought that what restricted him from making money would be production capacity rather than sales volume. They could only sell as many as they could produce.
A week later, a local California newspaper published an interesting little news piece.
A reporter obtained a photograph taken by Arnold's manager showing him completely absorbed in playing the NovaPocket on a plane by himself.
Meanwhile, after a full week of being out of stock, supermarkets across the country finally welcomed a new batch of NovaPocket physical stock. Concurrently, centered around California, the long-hidden areas inside various major arcades finally revealed their true appearance.
"The Pokémon Center is officially open!"
This piece of news instantly ignited the community, effortlessly eclipsing the level of discussion surrounding the NovaPocket. After all, players had long been curious about GAMENOVA's grand, ostentatious construction activities this time.
Today was the moment of the grand reveal. However, as soon as they rushed inside, quite a few people froze on the spot.
This place was practically a miniature gift shop. On the shelves were all sorts of bizarre and peculiar plush dolls and daily use merchandise.
A garlic turtle, a real turtle, a pink ball, a yellow rabbit, a red... lizard?
Although their appearances were strange and varied, the design style was surprisingly unified, while being adorable, each possessed its own distinct features.
Aside from these most eye-catching plush toys and the few extra sets of new cartridges named Pokémon on the shelves, what naturally drew the most attention were the several oddly shaped machines set up on the tables.
What on earth is a Pokémon Trade Machine?
No, wait, grab the cartridges first.
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