anovelconsole Chapter 18 Does Contra really require high-end hardware?
Chapter 18 Does Contra really require high-end hardware?
Sam was so shocked by the sudden news that he was too excited to sleep all night.
On Sunday morning, just as dawn broke, he contacted the contract manufacturer and prepared to discuss production details.
As for Lin Lixin, he was to take over Sam's job and go to GAMENOVA early to manage the store.
"It looks like we'll have to hire a shop assistant."
Lin Lixin stretched and made up his mind.
Despite having the advantage of his skills, he actually only needs to sleep for two or three hours to ensure a full day of sleep.
But given the chance, who wouldn't want to sleep in late?
'Clang'
He placed a large cardboard box on the table behind the counter, inside which was a brand-new C64 and some miscellaneous development tools.
With this machine, his development work wouldn't be delayed, even when he was in the store.
"Boss, open the door quickly!"
"Open the door, manager! We're on the same side!"
"It's already six o'clock and you're still not open? Don't you even want to work?!"
……
Before Lin Lixin had even finished packing his things, the players lining up at the door were already getting impatient.
The shouts and yells came in waves.
The number of people today is even more outrageous than yesterday!
"This is the power of word-of-mouth..." Lin Lixin rubbed his temples, reopened the shop door, and turned on the lights that were on during business hours.
Upon closer reflection, the term "word-of-mouth effect" seems to have been first coined by Nintendo's president, Hiroshi Yamauchi.
It took Lin Lixin a long time to squeeze through the packed sales area to the back of the counter.
Leaving those guys completely caught up in the party aside, he turned his attention back to his computer.
For the past two weeks, although his progress seems to be going smoothly, there is still a world of difference between him and those real giants and big shots.
Whether it's Nintendo, Namco, or Sega, they can all easily handle this greenhorn.
Especially considering that it has been less than a year since Nintendo fully entered the North American market.
If he cannot build up his own power before then, he will have little chance of resisting.
Before that, all he could do was develop as many hit games as possible, or even snatch away a number of masterpieces from the NES, in order to weaken Nintendo's control over North America.
Once his capital reaches a considerable level, he can begin to establish a presence in the home console market.
"Super Mario and Contra..."
Lin Lixin tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table as he pondered countermeasures against the two games.
In terms of influence, there are probably only a handful of works in the world that can rival the influence of ultramarathons.
Contra, on the other hand, was the first game developed by KONAMI after Nintendo opened up the development process to third-party game companies.
But when he thought of Contra, Lin Lixin's eyes suddenly lit up.
This seems like a good option.
Based on the Contra storyline, this heroic narrative of a single soldier storming an enemy base to save the world seems to have a strong affinity with the American domestic market.
The two Contra games on the FC were on par with Super Mario Bros. in their time.
Choosing it as a counter to Nintendo's work can also secretly trip up Konami, which is a win-win situation, winning twice.
Having made up his mind, Lin Lixin didn't delay any longer and immediately began planning the development process.
But right from the start, they encountered a major problem.
The configuration is inadequate!
Contra was not a game released at the same time as Super Mario Bros., but rather three years later, in 1987.
Back then, Contra ran on KONAMI's self-developed arcade board, and its performance completely crushed the current arcade machines in every aspect.
From the processor perspective alone, there's not much point in comparing them.
The 16-bit Motorola 68000 and Zilog Z80 dual-CPU architecture had already crushed all single 8-bit processors of the same period.
The custom-designed graphics chip elevates the level of visual sophistication to a next-generation level.
Compared to current graphics chips, just implementing the background scrolling and texture effects of 1942 completely squeezed out all the graphics performance.
Not to mention its massive 256KB capacity, finding a storage medium to accommodate it is a real challenge.
"What are you thinking about?"
Vivian's voice rang out from ahead, interrupting Lin Lixin's thoughts.
From the moment she started, she noticed that Lin Lixin was frowning and deep in thought, occasionally making notes on a sticky note.
"If there's anything I can help with, I might be able to lend a hand."
"Senior Vivian." Lin Lixin nodded in greeting, a hint of surprise in his eyes.
It seems that Vivian's stats have increased by several points in just one day.
"Senior, what level do you think... with the current arcade machine capabilities, if the algorithm were improved to its limit, what could it achieve?"
Vivian tilted her head slightly, as if deep in thought.
"Actually, what you did in '1942' was already very good. If you want to optimize it further, you will lose the picture quality, which I think is not worth it."
Vivian played 1942 all day and learned something new in almost every game.
While his technical skills may not be top-notch, his problem-solving approach is very interesting and worth learning from.
"As expected?"
Lin Lixin nodded, having more or less guessed this.
In terms of the capabilities of this era, there isn't much room for improvement in algorithms.
The limitations of hardware performance are almost unsolvable.
"But why are you asking this? Aren't you satisfied with the visual presentation of '1942'?"
"I guess so. I'm planning to develop a new game, but I've run into a hardware bottleneck, and it's giving me a real headache."
If Contra is too difficult to achieve, he will have no choice but to go back to doing platforming and Super Mario head-on.
Unfortunately, although Vivian majored in electrical engineering, her main focus was on computer graphics.
Sam's skills are on par with his own without cheating, so he can't rely on him at all.
If only he could know a master in the field of hardware.
"Hardware issues?" Vivian nodded slightly. "Junior Lin, I really don't know anything about this and can't be of much help."
"However..." she changed the subject, "Do you remember I mentioned that I worked part-time at a small company?"
"Huh?" Lin Lixin was taken aback, wondering why she brought this up at this time.
"Although I work for a software company, my boss might be able to help you."
She reached out and borrowed Lin Lixin's notepad, writing down an address and a contact number on it.
[VideoSoft] Gerald Lawson
The moment Lin Lixin saw the name, his eyes widened in shock.
He knew the name.
Gerald Lawson, former Fairchild Semiconductor engineer.
This African-American engineer is also known to later generations as the father of the modern game console/the father of programmable game cartridges.
The world's first game console with interchangeable game cartridges, Channel F, was designed by him.