Chapter 56: Fighters’ Club

As Ras sent the game to Barbal Soft through the ever-reliable Tshtet, a thought suddenly came to him.

Wait, couldn’t we handle selling this ourselves too?

He wondered whether they should try handling distribution completely on their own. After starting all sorts of businesses lately, Ras had gained confidence.

But after sending Tshtet off and properly thinking it through, it seemed a little too early for that.

For one thing, although Ras had started many different things, he still had no business that extended beyond this city. Of course, since the goal was franchising, Arcade Game Land would soon expand into other cities.

But that did not involve distributing a product, so it was not meaningful in this context.

It seemed like something he should consider later, once he had something to sell nationwide. No, once he thought about it a little more coldly, even then he was not sure whether he would break with Barbal Soft.

After a rough calculation, it did not seem as though doing it himself would dramatically reduce costs. And if Barbal Soft eventually opened an overseas distribution network for him, that would be even more true.

In the end, Ras concluded that unless something uncomfortable happened and their relationship soured, it would be better to continue working together.

Still, just in case, he felt he needed to prepare an independent distribution network to some degree.

In any case, Fighters’ Club was safely delivered to Barbal Soft.

“This time, it’s an action game?”

“Yes. Meta Soft’s development ability really is incredible.”

Jennifer agreed with Roxy’s admiration. Every game they made was high quality, yet they kept producing such varied genres. It was almost unbelievable.

Even more astonishing was that most people naturally kept searching for a path in the field where they had succeeded, yet Meta Soft had the courage to keep challenging new things like this.

Digging deeper into a successful field was not strange at all. People eventually learned, whether they wanted to or not, that they had limits, so it was actually a rational choice.

It was simply that Epek Ras was an existence outside the standard.

“But this was developed for the new computer’s specifications, right?”

“Yes. It apparently has compatibility with older models too.”

“Then we should run it on the new one!”

Roxy had already been feeling disappointed. A computer with greatly improved graphics had come out, but there still was not much software corresponding to it.

That was not because software development companies were slow. As Ras himself had briefly considered, they were reluctant to spend too much development power on a newly emerging market that was still small. It was what people called a rational choice.

But from Roxy’s position, that meant there was nothing to sell to the new market. Of course, aside from that, as a gamer, he also wanted software that would let him enjoy the new computer’s graphics.

“Ooh... as expected, this is good.”

As soon as he turned on the software, Roxy exclaimed in admiration at the richly colored illustrations that appeared.

A boxer with an intense expression and gloves on his hands, apparently related to boxing, burst out of the darkness, swung his fists several times, then thrust a straight punch toward the player. The white glove rapidly grew larger until it filled the screen, and the screen transitioned.

In truth, it was an animation made from only a few illustrations, with nothing that could truly be called frames, but in this world, even this much could be called a shocking presentation.

Fighters’ Club.

Then, against a red background, the title, written in vivid colors and bold strokes, popped out one letter at a time as if stamped onto the screen. This too was a fairly impressive presentation.

Full of anticipation, Roxy examined the menu that appeared. First, he entered Story Mode, which looked like the most basic option. Then, before the story properly began, a character selection screen appeared.

This too was worth looking at. On the left were several rectangular boxes, each containing an intense image that seemed to be part of each character’s face with the eyes emphasized. And whenever he pressed the directional keys to select one, a full-body illustration appeared on the right. Each character had clear traits and a wild charm.

After admiring the illustrations, Roxy chose a character named Golovkin, who resembled one of his employees, Amans.

Ooh...!

When the game began, a boxing ring with a dark background that gave the impression of being underground appeared. The background illustration was truly high quality. Spectators stared from the darkness, some with only their eyes shining and others with their faces hidden behind masks, and some of them moved in very simple ways, giving the scene a sense of life.

“Oh, Jennifer. Look at this. The characters are big.”

“Yes. They are.”

Jennifer also brought her face closer to the monitor with interest.

Until now, game characters had not been very large. There were boxing games and other fencing games with fighting as the theme, but those also gave the impression of tiny characters wriggling around.

Of course, that method was not meaningless either, since it had its own effect of making the world containing the characters look more realistic.

But the presence of large characters that immediately took up a large part of the screen was certainly appealing.

The screen layout was very intuitive. His character was on the left, the enemy was on the right, and above them was a yellow bar that he immediately recognized as health even though it was his first time seeing it. There were other things as well, but he had not fully read the manual yet.

Oh. It’s starting.

The word “READY!” appeared on the screen, and without any countdown, “FIGHT!” immediately appeared as the enemy character quickly began approaching.

Since Roxy had at least checked the movement keys and attack keys, he began responding with them. At first, the picture seemed fairly decent.

They swung fists at each other and moved back and forth, giving the feeling of boxing. But at some point, the unaccustomed Roxy began getting hit once or twice, then was finally pummeled by the computer’s flashy technique and fell flat in an instant.

Roxy scratched his head when he saw the countdown appear.

“Huh! What the hell! How do you use that?!”

Unlike his own plain punches, the technique had flashy movements, impact, and even sound effects, so rather than feeling frustrated, Roxy felt a desire to try using it himself.

“These are command techniques. That is why you should read the manual properly before playing.”

“Really?”

Only then did Roxy take the manual from Jennifer and begin reading it properly. His first thought was that it was fairly complicated. Techniques activated by inputting several keys within a short time, but when he recalled the fight with the enemy just now, it had been quite urgent, so he wondered whether this was even possible.

In any case, after memorizing the techniques, he started the game again. Then he immediately tried a command technique. At first, he failed and kept swinging his fists meaninglessly, but before long, simple techniques like an uppercut began coming out into the air.

“Ooh!”

Roxy felt an inexplicable sense of achievement filling his chest and let out that sound without realizing it.

Then, when he began fighting an enemy that approached him, he was getting beaten up, but when a technique luckily triggered and took off a chunk of the enemy’s health in one blow, the thrill was no joke.

On top of that, the first round had apparently been set to low difficulty, so he somehow ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠knocked the enemy down that way, and it felt incredibly exhilarating. It felt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as if he had truly knocked the enemy down with his own fists.

After that, Roxy continued Story Mode, and whenever he lost, he immediately fought again and again. Originally, he had only meant to see what kind of game it was, but at some point, he was shouting for just one more round.

However, in fighting games, the speed at which one’s skill improved eventually slowed sharply at a certain point. Because of that, there was no choice but for a wall to appear. So when Roxy was knocked down more than ten times in the fourth round by a character named Dempsey and his storm-like left and right hooks, he finally came to his senses and was able to exit the game.

“Wow... this isn’t just a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠boxing game, is it?”

Roxy let out a short angry sigh, then poured out his admiration. At first, he had simply thought it was an unusual action game. But this was truly a completely new game.

Then, after returning to the menu and looking around, he discovered something called Versus Mode.

Oh... so I can fight another person too? Ah!

Roxy imagined himself beating up his subordinate employees, who would start later than him, instead of that computer that seemed like a gatekeeper from hell, and grinned.

“Copy this so the other employees can test it too.”

“Yes.”

As he said that, he handed the diskette to Jennifer. Of course, it went without saying that he also received one of the copies himself.

The Barbal Soft employees who began testing it were struck by the same shock as Roxy.

“He really is a genius. A genius.”

Amans adapted quickly and soon reached the point where he could chain several techniques together. Once he did, the game became even more fun. Waiting for the right moment and shaving off the opponent’s health all at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠once made him feel as if he had become an incredible boxing master.

“Right? How can every game he releases be like this? Besides, this one really feels completely different, doesn’t it?”

Kadanio also agreed, his dark-circled eyes flashing. In truth, he was not especially fond of action games. But this fighting game was too new. Its freshness and more primal satisfaction kept making him pound the keyboard.

“But this seems intentional, doesn’t it?”

“What does?”

“I mean, it’s a style of game that suits arcade games more than PC, isn’t it?”

“Ah. That’s true. It does seem like pounding a joystick would be better than a keyboard.”

Kadanio nodded at Amans’s words.

“No, not just that. Each round is really short too. He started that business called Arcade Game Land lately, didn’t he? Didn’t he make one to match that?”

“You’re right.”

That did not disappoint them in particular. If it were a terrible game, perhaps it would have, but when the game was this excellent, whether it was made for money or for whatever reason did not matter.

Rather, since connecting Meta Soft’s games to arcade game companies had naturally become Amans’s responsibility, he simply began thinking about how to talk to Panchi Games.

“Well, anyway, let’s test it first. This Versus Mode has been bothering me since earlier.”

“Ah, that? What? You wanted to fight me?”

Amans laughed faintly at Kadanio’s provocation, then dragged his chair over to Kadanio’s seat and sat beside him.

The two then pounded the keyboard furiously to beat each other. At first, they only focused on the controls, but later, in order to win somehow, they started throwing all sorts of verbal provocations like real boxers and even engaged in noisy psychological warfare.

Normally, if things became this loud, someone would have warned them, but Barbal Soft’s office was currently absorbed in playing Fighters’ Club. Everyone looked the same, so there was no one who could point it out.

After Barbal Soft tested it diligently and found no problems, the game was released with rapid speed.

Meta Soft had already gained a reputation in the market, so its first sales volume was on another level. For a nameless new developer, selling ten thousand copies, no, even five thousand copies, would be a goal, but Fighters’ Club had an initial shipment of fifty thousand copies, and it sold out in an instant.

“A fighting game?”

Jundar, who lived in Jannin City in the eastern Republic of Smite, was one such core fan of Meta Soft. He was a Dwarf who turned thirty this year. He had always been interested in computers and did not earn badly, so he already had a Hammer 1 Computer.

Since it was Meta Soft’s new work, and on top of that, a game compatible with the new computer, he bought it first and only then scratched his right cheek, thick with brown beard, at the unfamiliar genre name.

It does seem to be an action game, at least.

He would know once he tried it, so he did not think for long and inserted the diskette first. Then he admired the opening screen.

At this level, there’s really no need to envy arcade game machines, is there?

It certainly seemed to make full use of Hammer 1 Computer’s performance. The graphics were incomparable to the previous computers. Honestly, since the new computer had only just been released and this game came out as if chasing right after it, and since Meta Soft, like other companies, had only made old-computer games until now, he had been a little worried.