Chapter 108: Bubble Bobble Released

The first game he played was a shooting game called Andromeda Salvation. He completely fell into games at that time. After that, he got his hands on all sorts of games and played them, then heard that arcade games could be played at home and tried a few Meta Soft games.

They were fun, so he bought one or two more games from the same company, and before he knew it, he had become a complete fan.

That was why, when he went to the electronics store and heard that a new title had come out, he bought it immediately. Meta Soft games had never disappointed him so far.

Oh... It’s cute.

He felt intrigued when he saw the Bubble Dragon, various colored bubbles, and monsters on the package cover. But soon, his expression turned lukewarm.

He liked Meta Soft’s games, but he had some complaints about their recent releases. It was not that he was dissatisfied with the games themselves. The problem was that they were being released to match the specifications of the Hammer Computer.

Older games had no issue. But from Fighters’ Club onward, the graphics were far too different from the Arcade Game Land versions. Of course, he had heard that the Hammer Computer versions had similar graphics.

But I don’t have that damned Hammer Computer.

Grumbling internally, he felt deeply disappointed. If the Hammer Computer had been officially released here too, he would have bought one immediately.

It was not as if he was particularly short on money. But he did not have enough to instantly buy and use an already expensive Hammer Computer at the inflated prices brought in through smugglers.

No, even if he tried to buy one in the first place, there were too few units. In fact, Kiljizan himself had once failed to resist temptation and tried to buy one, only to give up because he could not find the product.

In any case, the downgraded graphics were deeply unsatisfying. Part of it was because he knew what the original flashy colors looked like, but more than anything, they were not clean.

Games originally made with lower graphics, such as Sea King or Land of Adventure, were not flashy, but they felt harmonious.

That was probably because they could not redraw all the graphics, so they used a method where pixels that originally contained various colors had some of those colors merged into one. That made things look somewhat mottled. And because there was also a difference in output speed, the movement naturally became awkward as well.

Meta Soft had paid attention to it in its own way, but the fundamental difference in graphical performance was too large, so there was nothing they could do.

That was why Kiljizan was happy about the new title but tried not to expect much from its graphics.

“Oh?”

But contrary to his expectations, the opening illustration was clean.

It was not as flashy as Meta Soft’s recent new releases, but it expressed the Bubble Dragon cutely with simple colors. He had tried not to expect anything from the graphics, but with such a pretty illustration, it suddenly drew him in.

The menu afterward also had a rather simple feel. It did not have the brilliant colors of Meta Soft games he had seen in magazines. But since those were things Kiljizan, who used an older computer, could not experience anyway, this version was actually more welcome.

When he entered the game, a simply designed stage popped up. Rather than a computer game, it felt somewhat like an arcade game.

The structure was extremely intuitive, so he felt like he understood what kind of game it was the moment he saw it. When he actually tried it, his guess was correct.

Kiljizan was slightly disappointed.

That was because he tended to like games with somewhat complex systems, such as simulation or role-playing games. Or to be more precise, he was the type who thought computer games were best when they made good use of the system’s strengths in that direction.

Something like this would be fine on arcade machines or Talados...

Still, it was not as if he outright disliked simple games, and since he had already bought it, he decided to just play.

At first, it was easy. From the cute Bubble Dragon character shooting bubbles from its mouth to trap equally cute enemies, to jumping up and popping them to send the enemies flying away, it was perfect for enjoying with a small smile.

“Huh?”

But after he progressed only a little further, the monsters started getting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠faster. They moved around even faster than his Bubble Dragon, and when he tried to flee with the same sense he used in Pac-Man, he was caught quickly.

“Damn it!”

After this repeated several times, Kiljizan grew slightly annoyed. Only after repeating the same thing a few more times did he take his hands off the keyboard and start thinking about how to clear it.

Then he realized he could not simply chase or run away. He had to memorize the pattern.

After dying a few more times, he memorized the pattern and used it to plan where to move and when to shoot bubbles.

This whale keeps circling around, then comes slightly this way sometimes...

He quickly moved to a safe area, then placed his fingers on the keyboard while waiting for the moment the enemy charged in.

Then, as the blue whale seemed to be wandering around, the instant it entered the corner where Kiljizan’s Bubble Dragon was lying in ambush, he shot a bubble.

“Yes!”

His strategy worked beautifully, and the enemy was trapped in the bubble at once and began floating upward. Feeling triumphant, he rushed out to pop it and finish it off.

But because of the other enemies, he could not approach it immediately and fumbled for a moment. In the meantime, the bubble suddenly seemed to turn red, then burst on its own.

“Huh?!”

The whale escaped right in front of him, and its body slam immediately took down Kiljizan’s Bubble Dragon. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Kiljizan, unable to even react properly before being hit, clutched his remaining hair in frustration.

As soon as he revived, he focused again and used the same method. This time, thanks to moving more carefully and quickly, he somehow managed to pop the bubble.

But I should probably trap the next one in a bubble too before going in, right?

He had captured it that way because he got heated, but once he cooled down and thought about it, he realized he needed to plan the strategy differently. The time spent dodging the flying one was longer than expected, so it seemed faster to wait for that one too.

Kiljizan had already cleared this stage, so he thought he should use what he had realized on the next stage, or on a similar one.

After that, he became completely absorbed.

It was the immersion and enjoyment that came from starting a new game for the very first time, especially when that game was fun. Nothing else existed to him anymore, whether customers coming to the furniture store or anything else. Only his Bubble Dragon and the monsters on the monitor dominated his mind.

“Ah...”

That immersion broke when he kept retrying Stage 37 and still could not clear it. It felt like he could catch the enemies, but whenever he tried to pop the bubbles, the timing always slipped.

Because of that, he came to his senses and realized he was hungry, and that the room had grown dark. He hurriedly looked outside the window and saw that the sun had already set.

Ah. How many hours did I play?

For this moment alone, he felt he could slightly sympathize with the claims of parent groups who called games demons that stole children’s precious time.

In this way, the new game Bubble Bobble gave even people with older computers an amazing experience. Across the whole world.

Bubble Bobble Is Conquering the World!>

Gamers even published an article with that headline. It was not something Ras had instructed them to do. By now, Gamers was doing well on its own, so he rarely interfered with their articles.

And if Ras had interfered, he would not have let them publish it with such a patriotic-hype-filled feeling.

“Wow...!”

Other people around him, even Ella, read the article with considerable interest and pride. Ras alone had to endure the embarrassment by twisting around and occasionally scratching his head furiously.

In any case, it was good that the game was selling well. Releasing it with downgraded graphics aimed at overseas markets seemed to have been especially effective.

And after seeing this result, he could be certain. He did not know about the domestic market, but if they aimed overseas, releasing a new computer would be quite competitive.

Hammer Computer still had not solved its chronic supply shortage.

It was difficult to know every last detail of their internal situation. But including Utaro’s connections, Meta Soft had extended so many branches by now that general information came in easily.

The high price was also a problem, but even then, it was only about twenty percent higher than existing computers. The reason domestic penetration had stalled and exports were not taking place was the shortage of production volume.

Since Hammer Computer was earning well, Ras had thought the issue would be resolved quickly, but it seemed there was some kind of problem.

“Perhaps they’re simply operating conservatively.”

Utaro answered Ras’s thoughts that way. Then again, Ras had certainty about the future, but from the perspective of people who did not, they might not know how the computer market would develop and could feel burdened by recklessly expanding factories.

In any case, what mattered to Ras was that there was an opening he could exploit.

But that too could only begin after Meta Hardware’s development team finished developing the new computer. So Ras could only wait impatiently.

At least since the existing projects were all finished and Karkov could focus entirely on this side, Ras thought it would not take very long.

Returning to games, around the time Bubble Bobble was released and gaining popularity, Puzzle Bobble was also completed.

“It feels kind of nice to see this.”

Jenny said while looking at the large Bubble Dragon character illustration displayed on the game’s start screen. Pana, who had launched the game with her for testing, tilted her head and asked because she did not understand what Jenny meant.

“What feels nice?”

Jenny herself had only spoken about the feeling that suddenly came to her, so she could not answer immediately. After smiling awkwardly for a moment and organizing her thoughts, she opened her mouth again.

“Ah, it’s just... I’ve been having a lot of fun playing Bubble Bobble lately. But even though this is a different game, the same character appears in it, so it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠feels kind of nice to see it again.”

“Ahh. I get what you mean.”

Pana smiled faintly, as if she roughly understood.

If someone had played Bubble Bobble enthusiastically, it was just about time for the freshness to start fading. But now, a completely different style of gameplay filled that freshness back in, while the cute character they liked returned unchanged. That was why it felt welcome.

Aspa carefully pressed the directional keys and adjusted the angle to shoot the bubble.

Then, after stopping the directional input and hesitating for one beat, he pressed the launch button. It was a point where if the shot did not fly properly, it would get caught on the red bubble hanging below, bringing game over closer.

The yellow bubble he shot flew quickly.

“Yes!”

Thankfully, it flew without getting caught, stuck exactly where he had aimed, and burst the nearby bubbles. Watching that gave Aspa a thrilling feeling.

“I think this one is more fun.”

Aspa, who was not particularly strong at action games, had struggled quite a bit with Bubble Bobble. But Puzzle Bobble seemed to suit him better.

“Well, this one has its own flavor too. It’s kind of like billiards.”

Garazt did not feel that one was necessarily better than the other, but Puzzle Bobble was undeniably fun, so he agreed. Since he knew how to play a little billiards, aiming and shooting at angles like this reminded him of it, which was entertaining.

When this was released, many players would probably feel something similar. Of course, aside from bouncing off the wall once, the bubbles simply flew and stuck according to the shooting direction. So compared to billiards, it might feel a bit plain. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠But the fact that it could at least remind people of billiards would likely draw a certain amount of interest.