Back when the Governator was still cheap

An hour later, a "soldier" made of crude blocks of color began moving across the screen.

When he pressed the assigned fire key, a single pixel shot out.

On the right, three enemies running on simple loops moved stiffly from side to side.

When Lin Lixin tried to move the protagonist forward, the scrolling background caused severe tearing and flickering.

Even the enemies and bullets began to stutter as they moved.

Gerald frowned slightly. He had watched Lin Lixin's entire development process from the sidelines.

Despite his technical expertise, there were actually parts he could barely follow.

But he could tell that Lin Lixin had made a great many aggressive optimizations.

"Just like this, Mr. Lawson."

Lin Lixin stopped what he was doing and turned to Gerald.

"This is what the game I want to make looks like on the C64. Even if we move it to an arcade machine, it'll only be slightly better. It's nowhere near the effect I want."

The mainstream arcade boards currently on the market typically used the Zilog Z80 processor. This 3-6 MHz CPU already crushed the MOS 6510 and 6502-the processors used in the C64, running at only around 1 MHz-in every respect.

Gerald pondered for a long while, then began looking for viable alternatives.

"What about reducing the number of bullets? Cut down on enemies and bullets, simplify the background too, and combine the background and middle ground to some extent? Use a single scrolling layer with raster interrupts to create the illusion?"

"No, Mr. Lawson." Lin Lixin immediately shook his head. "You know I wouldn't have come to ask for your help if that were what I wanted."

Lin Lixin closed the software and drew a rough, rudimentary concept sketch on paper.

In his memory, Contra had never been one to compromise.

It was a perfect work, developed with top-tier technology at exactly the right time.

Gerald's gaze fell on that exceedingly crude concept sketch. After a long while, he looked Lin Lixin in the eyes and said, "I understand. Give me some time."

Before leaving, Gerald took the initiative to extend his hand and shake Lin Lixin's.

Gerald Lawson had found a direction to work toward again, rekindling his passion for video games.

And Lin Lixin had gained the help of someone who might be one of the finest electrical engineers in the world.

That evening, Sam also returned from the contract manufacturer with good news.

"We've got a deal. Sixteen hundred dollars a unit. If our shipment volume increases later, we can bring the cost down further."

He looked very excited. Especially when he thought of the staggering $2,500 price Lin Lixin had quoted him, Sam felt hot blood rush straight to the crown of his head.

No wonder Lin Lixin hadn't been excited at all when Sam counted the coin boxes, and instead kept sighing at him with the look of someone gazing at a son who would never amount to anything.

Now this was making money!

Setting aside shipping and other miscellaneous expenses, each machine could earn over a thousand dollars!

"Great work, Sam." Lin Lixin patted his shoulder. "We need lots and lots of money, and the faster it comes, the better."

Contra would be the key to reviving the North American market, and also the key to cutting Nintendo off at the pass.

No amount invested in this project would be too much.

Lin Lixin turned his head, his gaze accidentally falling on the Star Wars videotape on the bed.

"Oh... huh? I almost forgot about this!"

Lin Lixin's eyes suddenly lit up. He shoved Sam aside and rushed into his bedroom.

Besides game cartridges, Sam's bookshelves were densely packed with plenty of other entertainment products.

Movie videotapes, for instance.

The two protagonists who appeared in Contra hadn't been created out of thin air by Konami.

Each had his own real-life model.

Lin Lixin quickly rummaged through the videotapes and soon found what he was looking for.

First Blood.

This action film, released on October 22, 1982, could be called one of the defining works of the tough-guy genre.

It had also given the world one of the most iconic tough guys in history-John Rambo.

He was played by none other than Sylvester Stallone.

Sam followed Lin Lixin into the room, watching in puzzlement as he rummaged through the videotapes.

Lin Lixin waved the videotape in his hand at Sam and asked:

"Sam, if I wanted Stallone to endorse our new game, how much would the endorsement fee be?"

"Huh?!" Sam nearly choked to death on his own spit. "S-Stallone? Man, he's a top-tier action superstar with the highest pay in Hollywood..."

Never mind getting him to endorse something-even meeting him would be difficult.

"The starting price would probably be around three million dollars, and he definitely wouldn't agree to endorse video games when everyone despises them."

"That expensive?"

Lin Lixin inwardly clicked his tongue, but after thinking it over carefully, he understood.

Rambo was such an iconic figure that even a young man like him, raised in the spring breeze, still remembered him vividly.

First Blood had been the first American action film imported into mainland China, and its influence on the entire world went without saying.

He had been too simplistic in thinking he could get a Hollywood superstar to endorse a video game.

The last company to do something like that had been Atari, which had paid a fortune for the E.T. license and was now nailed to the pillar of shame.

"All right, pretend I never said anything."

Lin Lixin shrugged and shoved the videotape back onto the shelf.

If Rambo's appearance fee was this high, then the Governator, the model for player one, surely wouldn't...

Wait!

Lin Lixin froze, then hurriedly searched the entire shelf, only to come up empty-handed.

He turned back to Sam, his voice a little excited:

"Sam, don't you have any movies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger?"

"Schwarzenegger?"

Sam scratched his head. He had only a vague impression of the name.

"Let me think. Schwarzenegger... Schwar... ah, I remember."

He rummaged through his treasured videotapes and pulled out one with Conan the Barbarian written on the cover.

"This should be him, right? He's a bodybuilder or something? I heard there's a new Conan movie coming out in a couple of days, and he's in that too."

Lin Lixin took the videotape. Looking at that familiar face on the cover, still somewhat youthful, his heart skipped a beat.

Stallone was currently a hugely popular action superstar, but 1984 was still the upward climb of Schwarzenegger's career, when he was a newcomer to acting.

The two adventure films Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer had branded the Governator's muscleman image into audiences' minds.

But most importantly...

On October 26, 1984, a movie called The Terminator would be released.

"Sam, what if I wanted to get Mr. Schwarzenegger to endorse my game?"

"Hmm... I'd estimate it would only take a hundred to two hundred thousand dollars."

With a definite answer in hand, Lin Lixin's mood soared.

He seemed to have found the perfect spokesman for Contra.

The compatibility between the Governator and Contra was enough to drop a blockbuster bomb into the domestic gaming market, which had already become a pool of stagnant water.