Chapter 10: Two Geniuses
Thump, thump, thump, thump...
"Ugh... So noisy. Let me get some sleep..."
Thump, thump, thump...
Those damn cicadas. After a moment, I tossed the blanket aside and got up from the hotel bed. It was August 17, 1983, the peak of summer when the annual temperatures soared. Fortunately, the hotel I was staying in, not too far from Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto, had modern air conditioning in every room. After thoroughly enjoying the tourist attractions in the area, I took out a business card from my wallet, given to me by Mr. Gunpei.
"I've had a great month, time to make that call."
With Mr. Gunpei's business card in hand, I dialed the phone. The dial returned to its original position with a soft click, and after a brief wait, a friendly female voice answered.
"Thank you for calling MinTendo's Portable Toy Development Department."
"Oh, excuse me. Is Mr. Gunpei there by any chance?"
"If you mean Mr. Gunpei, he's here. To whom should I say is calling?"
"I'm Kang Junhyuk, a Korean exchange student."
"Yes, please hold for a moment."
I tapped the wooden table, feeling a bit bored, and pleasant sounds resonated throughout the room. Shortly after, Mr. Gunpei's excited voice filled my ears. He was brimming with joy.
"Kang? Is that you? Why did you call now? I've been waiting for ages!"
Well, that's just my feeling. If I call him the next day and suggest meeting, it might seem less burdensome.
"Are you doing well? I've been a bit slow to get in touch because I've been busy exploring here and there."
"Where are you right now?"
"I'm staying at the Ricoten Hotel near Nihonbashi in Osaka."
"Perfect. I actually have some business to take care of in Osaka tomorrow. Can we meet briefly?"
"Sure, where should we meet?"
"Don't worry about the location. I'm heading to your hotel now, so I'll contact you before I arrive."
"Okay!"
"Yesterday, after your call, I couldn't sleep at all. When two geniuses like us meet, I wonder what will happen. I'm looking forward to it."
Two geniuses? Who's coming with him?
About an hour later, I sat in the hotel lobby, waiting for Mr. Funayura. True to his punctual nature, he and another man in his early thirties got out of a taxi that stopped in front of the hotel. One was the familiar Mr. Gunpei, and the other, a young man with a bewildered expression, entered the hotel with him.
"Kang!"
"Mr. Gunpei! How are you?"
"You look healthy; that's a relief. Did you enjoy your trip to Osaka?"
"Yes, there's so much to see here compared to Tokyo. But who is this with you?"
"Oh, right. Hey, Kumamoto, come say hello. This is the young man I mentioned, the director of Shinkansen."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Kumamoto Shige."
"Kumamoto Shige!?"
I couldn't help but exclaim upon hearing his name, and Kumamoto looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Do you know me by any chance?"
"I'm sorry; this is the first time I've seen you in person, but aren't you the director of Dorking Kong?"
"Yes, that's me. You're a fan of Dorking Kong? Thank you."
I extended my hand to shake with Mr. Kumamoto, his legendary status as a game director catching me off guard. I didn't expect it would be this easy to meet the legendary director! I thought it would be tough until I joined MinTendo, at least, and I didn't expect Mr. Kumamoto to bring me here.
Kumamoto Shige. Even if someone didn't know much about games, they'd recognize the mustached plumber character from Super Marigi. Furthermore, The Legend of Carin and Animal Village, along with Foxstar, were all games that would spring from this man in the future.
"I'm Kang Junhyuk. Nice to meet you, Mr. Kumamoto."
"Kumamoto Shige. Your brother Gunpei insisted that I absolutely meet you, so I came along. I hope it's not an inconvenience."
In 2015, Kumamoto was 62 years old and had a rather rigid image, but in 1983, the year we met, he was a young man full of passion, just over thirty.
"Well, there's no need to continue our conversation here. Let's move somewhere else. How about having lunch together, even though it's a bit early?"
"Yes, that sounds good."
We left the hotel and relocated to a nearby restaurant. After ordering a simple meal, I spoke to Kumamoto with a smile.
"I heard that Donkey Kong is incredibly popular in the U.S. arcade market. Congratulations."
"I didn't expect my game to be this successful either. I requested a simple ROM board to run in game centers from the MinTendo U.S. branch. I had some free time, so I made it myself..."
I knew that story too. In 1980, when MinTendo entered the U.S. arcade market, they requested a new ROM file to operate in game centers. At the time, Kumamoto, who had no work within MinTendo, was the one assigned to the task because they couldn't waste resources on what was essentially an uncertain venture.
Although he was a complete novice when it came to programming, with a major in engineering design, he was able to create characters and produce sprites on his own, allowing him to create the game, Donkey Kong, which was based on the idea of the hero character rescuing a beautiful woman.
The game made a significant impact when it was released in the U.S. market, and it became a ray of hope in the declining arcade market. From there, based on the success of Donkey Kong, he developed Mario Bros., featuring Mario as the main character. Then, in 1985, the highly anticipated Super Mario made its debut, and MinTendo withdrew from the arcade business, dedicating themselves solely to the home console gaming industry.
The young man in front of me was the genius who had the ability to sustain MinTendo's gaming business until 2015, all based on the philosophy of "One genius is better than 100 mediocre talents."
"By the way, when can we expect the sequel to Donkey Kong released in 1980?"
"In truth, it's almost complete, and it's about to be released soon."
"Really? Can you tell me a bit about the game?"
Back in the 1980s, when copyright laws were relatively lax, Kumamoto started to describe the game he had created.
"This time, I took a slightly different approach and created a new game based on the main character who saved the beauty in the previous Donkey Kong."
Indeed, the game was already completed and about to be released, providing a boost to the Family Computer. While I was talking to Kumamoto about Mariji Brothers, Mr. Gunpei was observing our conversation with a pleased expression. Kumamoto's Mariji Brothers was a two-player game in which mushroom soldiers and turtles fell down in a single stage, and the characters had to defeat them. Although the sequel's release schedule was long in the 1980s, in 2015, they were already working on a new IP during the development of a single game, which led to a sense of alienation in Kumamoto's relaxed speech.
"Marigi is a character that, by now, has a very familiar image through Donkey Kong. Therefore, I can anticipate that the Mariji Brothers will achieve above-average success. So, I wonder if the next game could apply a new concept to this Mariji game?"
"A new concept?"
Kumamoto looked at me with a puzzled expression, and Mr. Gunpei, who was standing beside him with a clenched fist, raised his glasses as if to say, "It's begun."
&
Side-scrolling. The magical word to save the world within a square frame called the screen. In 2015, it's one of the common play styles, but now it's 1983. Every game at this time was confined within the square frame of a monitor. Every play had to start and end on one screen, and this applied to famous games like Galaga and Donkey Kong as well.
It was like trying to make a mark as big as mankind's first step on the moon. I was here to leave a big mark in the game world.
"I mean scrolling the background."
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