If I Had Never Seen "Contra"

With Lin Lixin demonstrating, Sam soon understood exactly what this so-called "password save" meant.

When saving, the game would give the player a string of numbers.

All they needed to do was enter that mysterious code the next time they played, and they could return to their previous game state.

"Shit... this design is absolutely brilliant."

Once Sam understood how it worked, he naturally understood exactly what Lin Lixin intended to do.

Simply adding an encoding function to the software would give the game a save feature without increasing hardware costs at all.

Lin Lixin returned to the computer, sat down, and began making preparations.

In this era, saving files was very difficult.

The first to accomplish it was actually Nintendo, which was gathering its strength across the ocean.

They released a peripheral for the FC Famicom that could read floppy disks.

Only after that did saving data on consoles become standard.

And the first game to use that system was called "The Legend of Zelda."

At that thought, the urgency in Lin Lixin's heart could not help but grow a little stronger.

Against such an absurdly powerful opponent, the little capital he currently had was nowhere near enough to put up a fight.

Fortunately, "Contra" was not Zelda. It needed to save very little: only the current stage, number of lives, and weapon status.

That was also the key to its being able to use password saves.

July, New Mexico.

"If only I could have muscles as beautiful as Mr. Schwarzenegger's..."

"John, you've already watched 'Conan the Barbarian' five times! Five times!"

"Just one last time, Mike, I promise!"

Inside a small apartment, two young men were embroiled in an argument.

An old television sat in front of them, playing the opening of "Conan the Barbarian."

In their cramped, low-rent apartment, that secondhand television was one of their few sources of entertainment.

But there were two of them and only one television.

And so arguments over the right to use the television erupted every day.

Veins bulged on Mike's forehead, his temples throbbing.

He shot a fierce glance at the television beside him, wishing he could yank out the "Conan the Barbarian" videotape inside and smash it to pieces.

God damn it! Mike admitted that the movie had indeed been very entertaining the first time he watched it.

But...

Five times!

From this morning until now, John had watched it a full five times!

"Listen, John, I know you love Schwarzenegger, but I need to watch my shows! Please go keep fantasizing over his poster!"

Ignoring John's attempts to stop him, Mike forcibly interrupted the movie, unplugged the videotape player, and switched to broadcast television.

He turned the dial a few times, intending to find a program that interested him.

Before he could change channels more than a few times, a burst of pounding synthesizer music suddenly came from the speakers.

The extremely fast tempo and powerful beat instantly caught his attention, stopping him from changing the channel.

But when he saw who was on the screen, he regretted it bitterly.

Schwarzenegger, whom John idolized, stood in the center of the screen, holding a machine gun and dressed as a special forces soldier, looking imposing.

As the music grew increasingly rousing, the camera shifted, and a horde of bizarre alien monsters appeared.

Schwarzenegger showed not a trace of fear, displaying his tough-guy style to the fullest as he raised his machine gun and sprayed the monsters with bullets.

The scene changed, actually becoming pixel art, while the perspective shifted to side-scrolling 2D.

This was actual gameplay footage of "Contra"!

The large title appeared in the center of the screen, its letter "C" blazing with flames.

Then came text announcing the game's release and the name [GAMENOVA ENTERTAINMENT].

The brief promotional clip quickly ended on that shot.

Mike's hand froze as he was about to change the channel. He looked at John, and the two stared at each other in equal shock.

"A... a video game? Mr. Schwarzenegger actually endorsed a video game?!"

John swallowed hard with an audible gulp.

Living in New Mexico, they had witnessed Atari burying vast quantities of unsold cartridges in the Alamogordo Landfill.

Now that the video game market had shrunk by over 97%, John could not understand why Schwarzenegger, the muscular man he idolized, would endorse a video game.

Surely, as long as he kept making movies and steadily built on his abilities, he would become the next great action star.

John looked at his own scrawny arms, and Schwarzenegger's beautiful physique appeared in his mind again.

If he could, he really wanted a body like his idol's.

But his busy studies and part-time work gave him no chance to work out, leaving him to satisfy his fantasies by watching Schwarzenegger's movies over and over.

"A video game..."

He murmured, looking at Mike with a complicated expression,

"Should we... go take a look?"

He still wanted to believe in Mr. Schwarzenegger.

Perhaps this game was different from that buried plastic garbage?

There was indeed a fairly lively arcade near where they lived.

After a journey of a little over ten minutes, the two arrived.

But the sight before them nearly made their jaws drop.

People!

Nothing but people!

The usually deserted arcade was somehow packed so tightly today that not even water could trickle through.

As they drew closer, they heard a deafening uproar at the entrance.

"Boss, where are the 'Contra' machines? You still haven't bought any?!"

"Several places in the next state already have them installed! Can you get the job done or not, boss?!"

"We're all waiting to play! If you can't even buy the machines, why bother running an arcade?!"

Cold sweat covered the owner's forehead, and he could only plaster a smile on his face as he tried to smooth things over with the crowd.

"Everyone, calm down! I've already paid the deposit, and the seller said there would definitely be stock this month!"

Of course he wanted "Contra" machines in stock. With the money those things could pull in, he would recoup his investment in less than a week and rake in a fortune besides!

But getting his hands on available stock was hardly that easy.

He turned to look at "Tetris" and "1942," which also had long lines inside his arcade, and helplessly wiped away more sweat.

"Please play these two new games for now. I promise I'll get the machines as quickly as possible!"

Those two alone had cost him quite a bit of money.

No matter what he said to that damned Jew, the man stubbornly insisted there was no stock.

Insufficient production capacity!

"F**K! If production capacity is insufficient, expand it! What the hell are they doing?!"

He spat out the words bitterly, then put his smile back on and continued dealing with the players, who had already gone completely mad.

The famous poet Emily Dickinson once wrote:

I could have borne the darkness, had I never seen the sun.

Now these lunatics had seen "Contra."