One Nintendo Company made a big move, launched an 8-core arcade ninja, and also launched the 3D game "Mario Adventure".

It still caused a huge shock in the industry, after all, the gimmick of the 8-core arcade platform and 3D games is enough to make industry insiders and onlookers feel unclear.

"From the third quarter onwards, the calm arcade game industry has been making waves. In July, the largest game manufacturer, New Venture Electronics Co., Ltd., released the 10-core Phoenix class platform and the 2.5D masterpiece "Court of Avalon" after the release of the second generation of Palm Entertainment. Because the configuration requirements of "Court of Avalon" are extremely high, even if it can be called a high-end 8-core phoenix, it needs to spend $2,000 to upgrade the video memory and memory in order to run "Court of Avalon" smoothly.

Because, Xinchuang Electronics has released a number of multi-core models on the host and arcade platforms. Through publicity and gameplay, the player base has established the concept that a multi-core platform is better than a single-core platform. Other game manufacturers have also begun to move and join the multi-core club.

In August, Nintendo released a class platform called Ninja, and the biggest feature of this arcade platform is also an 8-core processor. However, compared with the same chip used by Xinchuang Electronics, Nintendo uses four cores with four small cores to optimize. At the moment, the Ninja platform is a very advanced model, at least the platform's unique 3D acceleration effect, even ahead of the Phoenix platform. At present, "Mario Adventure" released with the ninja platform is a 3D game, and the market response to this game is fierce. Although, the graphics are not as flashy as in Court of Avalon, the playability is still high.

The multi-core ninja platform has also been popular in the market. Although it doesn't sell as well as the Phoenix platform, it is definitely the hot-selling model second only to Phoenix in the recent arcade machine platform. Within a few days of its release, thousands of orders were obtained.

Of course, compared to the industry hegemon of Phoenix Arcade, the game resources of the ninja platform are relatively weak. However, Nintendo has been focusing on cheapness since the console era. This time to force the arcade market, 8 core ninja platform, the price is only 5000 US dollars, at the same time, you can also get 1000 US dollars worth of "Mario Adventure" when you buy the whole machine! Its price is equivalent to half of the Phoenix platform, cheap and powerful, so that some hardcore players, even buy a ninja arcade machine, ready to experience high-end games at home! Perhaps, Nintendo will be able to turn over with this model......

In fact, the ninja arcade platform has indeed injected new flow into Nintendo's depleted financial accounts.

And, because the gross profit of a single machine is very high, Nintendo began to make announcements to announce good news for shareholders - 85 years is expected to turn a profit!

Because, in the past few years, a lot of capital has been invested in R&D and marketing, so that Nintendo has lost money for the first time since its listing in 84.

This time, Nintendo sincerely declared to its small and medium-sized shareholders that its company had found a new market positioning--arcade game manufacturers! Because of the particularity of the arcade market, there will be no winner-takes-all. Any good game will have enough orders in the arcade market, so the arcade market can be very promising.

At the same time, Nintendo even listed the arcade version of its predecessor "Donkey Kong" a few years ago, and the cumulative global sales have exceeded 60,000 units, which shows that its company is strong in making arcade machines.

Making a ninja platform now can be regarded as "returning to the right path" and continuing to make efforts in the right direction.

……

Seeing that Nintendo, which was supposed to withdraw from the arcade market in 85, actually regarded the arcade business as its main business in the future, Lin Qi couldn't help but be a little surprised.

Historically, Nintendo is a company with a champion temperament, and its handheld production performance is not the best, but it has become a perennial champion in the handheld industry by virtue of its proper positioning and some games that fit the handheld.

The game console market is also like a divine help, after its product launch, the world's largest game company collapsed, allowing it to successfully counterattack and become the successor hegemon.

In the arcade market, although Nintendo's works are not many, only "Donkey Kong", the first arcade game, has become the industry champion.

Originally, Nintendo abandoned the lucrative arcade business because its console platform was booming, but the number of games was far from enough to meet the consumption needs of players on the platform. For the sake of the interests of the console platform, the arcade game team had to give up the arcade research and development work, and use the limited human resources on the development of more promising console games.

Now Nintendo's console business can't be said to be dead, but it's just a scrap. Hardware is sold at a loss, subsidizing players to expand the market. However, many gamers have not purchased enough game software to make up for the loss of Nintendo's hardware, so they abandon FC and let their consoles eat dust. According to the stock of an appropriate number of players, it is estimated that it is promising to earn back the money subsidized before, but it is impossible to make huge profits!

It is precisely for this reason that Nintendo chose to temporarily abandon the console market and chose to use the arcade market as a breakthrough.

"That's good!" Lin Qi said with a smile, "Mario is really a very strong IP!"

"Boss, you also think too highly of Nintendo!" Zhao Ruofei shook his head and said, "Just take a department of the company, it is enough to beat Nintendo! I think Nintendo is more promising to sell cards and electric toys!"

"No, you're wrong!" Lin Qi shook his head and said, "Without us, after the collapse of Atari, Nintendo would have become the hegemon of the game industry." FC is a good host in the 8-bit console, and it can realize that the more critical places that affect the game experience are the display chip and sound card chip. If we have worked hard in this area, we can know that Nintendo actually has the potential to be a hegemon! Unfortunately, we have substituted the console market into the 16-bit era......"

"Now Nintendo, there is no need to worry. Zhao Ruofei shook his head and said.

"Not necessarily!" Lin Qi asked, "Where is the biggest consumer market for games right now?"

"Japan!" Zhao Ruofei replied without hesitation.

If this question is asked in 81, the answer is undoubtedly the United States!

But after the collapse of the Atari empire, the U.S. gaming market was hit hard. Even now, the global gaming industry, driven by new venture electronics, has reached new highs than before. However, the American market is even worse than it was in the late 70s!

Previously, the development of the American game market was mainly due to pioneers like Atari who established strong publicity and marketing channels. After the collapse of the Atari empire, its sales network also collapsed. Many dealers have even ceased to exist, and have also dampened the confidence of players. As a result, the U.S. game industry and market size have shrunk significantly.

Japan, which has a population of less than half of the U.S. market, has a large economic growth and its citizens do not have as many entertainment options as those in Europe and the United States, so the game industry is growing much faster than in Europe and the United States.

Today, Japan's game market is about to account for one-third of the world's game market!

"That's right!" Lin Qi said solemnly, "It is precisely because of the factors of the Japanese game market that we cannot ignore any Japanese competitor! Because this fertile soil, if it were not for the constant attacks of foreign natural enemies, would have been able to give birth to the world's largest game company!"

Previously, Nintendo was not a video game manufacturer, but a traditional Japanese card company. Before Yamauchi came to power, this company was a notable enterprise in the card industry, and after inheriting the ancestral business developed by Yamauchi for several generations, its start was much stronger than that of most entrepreneurs. However, Yamauchi is dissatisfied with the traditional business of his previous generations, and likes to pay attention to the latest fashion trends in the world. In the 50s, seeing Disney's popularity, Nintendo represented Disney's cartoon characters, using Disney's cartoon copyright as a weapon to further dominate the Japanese card industry.

Later, Yamauchi began to encourage the company's employees to invent and innovate, and in the 60s he began to make a bunch of popular electric toys. After that, with the rise of video games, it wasn't too late for Nintendo to enter the video game industry.

Moreover, when Nintendo entered the video game industry, the largest game company was Atari. So, naturally, I learned to imitate Atari and developed the game with 6502, the god U of the 70s. It's a pity that no one would have thought that a generation of God U would be so unassuming, and there have always been only 8-bit improved versions, but they have not been upgraded to 16-bit and 32-bit. And with the development of the times, the original God U has gradually become garbage, relying on the video game industry with the starting price of God U, Apple has paid a huge price!

Because, it is impossible for 6502 to be upgraded to a 16-bit chip, which means that manufacturers using 6502 chips cannot focus on performance, so they can only use cheapness as a selling point!

At present, Nintendo's home console FC, although the minimum price has been reduced. As a result, the pirated FC game consoles that were originally rampant in history simply do not exist in this world. Because, Nintendo sells consoles at a loss, and gains the market by losing money.

Originally, with only the powerful opponent of Pangu host, FC can still live very well. After all, the price of Pangu has not yet been reduced to the point where it can be used in less developed markets.

However, when New Venture Electronics saw that Nintendo's FC was developing well, it was motivated to suppress it. cut off the cassette game of the Pangu platform, and packaged this part of the game resources to the 8-bit console platform Xiaobawang.

The hardware cost of Xiaobawang is lower than that of FC, so it is absolutely not intimidating to start a price war. The price is even gradually reduced to $20, and the price of a low-end handheld can buy a console. Although it is a low-end 8-bit console, after all, performance is the king of 8-bit game consoles. Therefore, Xiaobawang has sprung up and has accumulated 40 million sales!

Not only is the console cheap, but in terms of game resources, many third-party game developers who feel struggling to compete on the Pangu console platform have regarded the Xiaobawang platform as a new blue ocean. This market does not want the rapid technological development of the Pangu platform, so developers need to adapt to the development of platform technology and continuously improve their own R&D capabilities.

The technical upgrade of Xiaobawang's hardware has almost stagnated, and now the hardware is at this level, even after ten years, Xiaobawang is still about the same. This makes many manufacturers do not need to bother to research new technologies. Moreover, as a low-end game platform, Xiaobawang's players are also better served. Some games that players of the Pangu console disdain are regarded as high-quality games by players on the Xiaobawang platform.

It is precisely because of this that some manufacturers who have hit the streets on the Pangu console platform have actually become popular when they reach the Xiaobawang platform.

At present, Nintendo's FC can survive is mainly because the level of Nintendo's self-developed games is still good. Unable to attract a large number of third-party manufacturers, Nintendo had to take care of the development of the console platform and game software on its own. And the "Mario" series is the most popular IP of FC, it can be said that it is this IP that supports half of the FC platform!

Now, Nintendo's ninja arcade platform is also based on "Mario".

The biggest difference in Mario Adventure is that the previous 2D game has been changed to 3D.

In the case of a large-scale game as complex as Court of Avalon, the 3D effect can only be counterproductive, because the hardware configuration is poor, and the poor hardware configuration will reduce the player's experience. So, 2.5D is just right.

But Mario Adventure is a small game, because it is short and concise, so 3D can bring players a more three-dimensional and different experience.

Lin Qi played the 2D version of "Mario" and could have easily cleared the level, after all, the AI of the game levels is all pseudo-AI, which is nothing more than an established program script. As long as you have a good memory and can remember the characteristics of the AI actions of the major levels in the game, you can easily pass the level.

The 3D stereoscopic "Mario Adventure" is to add RPG elements to the elements of the original "Mario", that is, Mario is no longer touched by a monster and dies, but has a health bar. If you are touched by a monster at close range, you will lose your health bar, so you will not be so fragile as you will die if you touch it.

However, in terms of difficulty, it is not lower than "Mario" on the FC platform, because "Mario" on the FC platform tests the player's memory. After playing a few more times, I gradually memorized the details of the major levels, and almost cleared the level with my feet.

In the 3D version of Mario, a health bar was added because the monsters were more complex than the previous 2D version. Moreover, Mario's various attacks are not quick to kill the monster, but also to reduce the monster's health bar.

And its biggest selling point may be the art style and battle mode of the "Mario" series, which is very different from all RPGs. Forget about ranged attacks, jump up and use the fall to step on the monster with your foot. This strange style of painting, even decades later, is still a very distinctive feature.

After experiencing "Mario Adventure", Lin Qi said: "This 3D is just the result of the manufacturer's transition and optimization, and third-party manufacturers may not be able to develop such a high-level 3D game! In short, it 3D is still a gimmick, but it is also a trend in the future, our future 32-bit game platform, we need to develop a powerful 3D accelerated graphics card! At the same time, we also need to make some real 3D games!"

16-bit host is still difficult to play 3D, so Lin Qi is ready to start working on the supporting 3D acceleration graphics card after the 32-bit CPU comes out.

After the real 3D effect comes out, the experience of gunplay, racing, RPG and other games will also develop to a whole new level.

Knowing the creativity of a large number of 3D games in the future, Lin Qi certainly attaches more importance to 3D graphics cards than anyone else!