Chapter 35  

Chapter 35   : Case by Case (3)

“Woahhh~!!! It’s the developer of duck hunt?”

“According to Mr . Shige, that guy is extremely capable, and he’s also a Korean . ”

“A Korean… ? Now that I think about it, the developer of Dragon Emblem was also Korean…?”

The conference room was filled with murmurs in response to Mr . Gunpei’s introduction . I slowly stood up from my seat and went up to the podium with the floppy disk .

“Hello everyone, it’s an honor to stand in front of so many people to introduce my first project . Like Mr . Gunpei had said, I’ve only been able to partake in supporting roles, so I haven’t released any works that I could call my own up until now . The controversy regarding Dragon Emblem has been a big issue recently . As a fellow Korean [to the developer], I made this game with the goal to satisfy the Family gamers . The genre of this game is a unique genre called the “Multiplayer warfare shooting action” . ”

“M… Multiplayer… Warfare shooting action? But if it’s multiplayer, does it have something to do with battling against an opponent?”

As the murmurs came in about at the description of an MMO, I inserted the floppy disk into the spot and turned on the power .

“Is there anyone that would like to try this out?”

Junpei who was sitting behind me rapidly shot his hands up .

“Mr . Ishimoto Junpei . Please come to the front . ”

Mr . Junpei wore an awkward smile on his face as he made his way up the podium .

Actually, I had planned this out with Junpei before the conference; to have him raise his hand as soon as I called for the experiment and come on to the podium…

Of course, it would’ve worked out with other people as well, but them dying too easily wouldn’t have made for a good show, so Junpei, who was well versed in playing high difficulty games, was the best choice .

“Please pick up the pad lying in front of you and go ahead and start the first stage of the game made as a Demo . Ah~ The title of this game is “Psychic battle” . ”

“Psychic battle? So it’s a battle of superpowers… Not a bad plot . ”

As Mintendo’s logo faded away and the BGM (Background music) started trickling out along with the Psychic Battle text, the enthusiasm of the people inside the conference rose higher and higher .

Junpei pressed the start button, and three attractive female characters popped up on the screen as characters to choose from .

“Girls!? Didn’t he say it was a shooting game?”

“They could be a pilot . ”

“Ah… that’s right…”

In this time period, there was a strong notion that shooting games had to take characteristics of 1945 or TwinD, but seeing the emergence of the beauties on the screen, they must have automatically judged the girls as pilots .

But as Junpei chose a character, and after the awesome cutscene, he started traversing the skies and attacked the stage .

“Ah!! So this is the reason for the name psychic . ”

The battle system for Psychic used a type of swing scroll to simulate shooting . If there was a comparison to be made, it was based off the popular arcade game “Tengai”

As Junpei was smoothly controlling the character back and forth, he pressed the A button to fire a blue-colored projectile at the enemy .

:Hmm… the plot of this game is unique, but the play system is like any other shooting game . ”

This Junpei, he’s publicly shitting on the game made by his friend . But that’s one of the reasons why I trust him more…

“Please continue playing further . ”

There was no particular strategy in a shooting game . Avoiding the projectiles of the enemy and attacking them with your own was an intuitive system that anyone could easily learn .

The surrounding enemies shot a barrage of projectiles towards the main character . And at that instant . The CPU of the demo computer encountered a massive resource overload and the gameplay started lagging .

Even for the tiniest projectile on the screen, it had to calculate the pathway, and calculations had to be made to inflict damage onto the character when it made contact . These profusion of calculations caused the overload on the system .

Junpei clenched his teeth and steadily progressed through the incoming barrage . To the people watching, this scene exuded a bitter-sweet sensation of a stifling sensation as well zipping thrill .

“Ohh… It’s almost like a slow motion…”

This point of being unable to add anymore projectiles onto the screen . Preparing for this exact moment of not being able to express any more projectiles, I implemented a special device beforehand . The mouth of the giant insect bursted open .

“What the hell!?”

Krooomm~!!!

A lazer cannon swallowed more than half the screen and the barrage of projectiles disappeared, and Junpei’s character along with it, with any trace . With the screech of him… .

“Guahhhhhhh!!!”

Poof~~!!!

GAME OVER

In the end, Junpei wasn’t able to clear the first boss and ended in complete failure . This game allowed only one life in exchange for the HP bar .

“I…To think I couldn’t even clear the first stage in a shooting game…”

Junpei must’ve received quite a shock; he was looking at the screen with a blank expression . I patted the shoulders of the crestfallen Junpei and grinned .

“You did plenty well . Actually, it would’ve been awkward for me if you’d defeated the boss . The first stage still has yet to be fully developed so I was worried that you might clear it .

But why is the conference room this quiet even after the demo? I expected at least some applause and congratulatory remarks, but as I looked up at the faces of the audience, they were all wearing blank expressions .

“Then… we’ll end the debut of Psychic Battle with thi…”

“Wooahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!”

A tremendous clamor rose up as if the spell on time had been broken . Junpei who had been sitting directly in front of the screen was also clapping with a proud expression .

“This is the first ever game he developed? Unbelievable!!!”

“It’s as if I’m seeing a completely new type of shooting game . ”

Mr . Gunpei who had been watching the conference came up to me and thumped my shoulder as he spoke .

“I knew you would come out with an unbelievable dude, Kang-kun . Incredible . I’m shocked~!!”

“Haha… thank you, Mr . Gunpei . ”

But in the midst of the cheering crowd, one person wasn’t smiling . Mr . Shigeru had been sitting on a chair with a solidified expression and took a long stare at me before leaving the conference room .

The debut presentation for Mintendo’s new game was a big success . President Yamauchi was very satisfied knowing Psychic Battle and Super Marigee 3 would be great successes by watching the reactions of the audience in the conference room .

Following this, the participants had a chance to try the new games out, and the funny thing was more people were flocking over to Psychic Battle than Super Marigee 3 .

The allure of challenging this new shooting game must’ve tickled the competitive spirit in the audience . But most of the audience weren’t even able to progress through the halfway mark and encountered a GAME OVER .

“Look at this~!! It’s not because I’m doing bad, okay? This game is just ridiculously hard…”

Junpei had been watching the various challengers failing and was grinning ear-to-ear as he came over to me .

“That’s why I wanted you to be the demonstrator . If the play time was too short, the game would end before all that excitement was built up . ”

“You, you bastard . You used me!”

“Friends should be helping each other out . You’re thinking of this as being used? You had fun up there too . ”