When Meyer left, his steps were unsteady, and he felt as woozy as if he had drunk too much.
This Mr. Lin really could always come up with something new for him.
Henry rubbed his tired eyes, the bags beneath them alarmingly swollen.
He stopped in front of his shop and quietly looked up at the sign, which looked somewhat shabby in the early morning sunlight.
Arcade Area
This was the small arcade he ran.
Henry sighed, fished his keys out of his pocket to unlock the door, and hung up the "Open" sign.
The impact of the Atari Shock had not been too severe on small arcades like his. Although he had chosen an extremely ill-suited time to enter the business, he could still manage to keep food on the table.
Henry simply had not expected things to change so quickly.
What had changed his peaceful life was a small arcade machine called "Tetris."
As the owner of a small arcade in Riverside, California, Henry had been lucky enough to get his hands on the first shipment, buying two machines at a very low price.
No one could have imagined that these two machines would be so outrageously profitable.
In less than a week, players from half the neighborhood had flocked over.
Naturally, he had stopped hesitating, taken out another loan, and gritted his teeth to buy two more machines, this time "1942."
The result had been plain to see.
The already enthusiastic players had heaped even more praise on his shop, spending all day inside trying to beat the records.
Henry loved that feeling.
Not just because he had made a lot of money, but because he had seen the first signs of video games coming back to life.
He loved watching the pure joy players experienced as they immersed themselves in video games.
Henry walked over to the counter and gave the glass display case a quick wipe with a rag.
A small bronze trophy sat inside.
He had gone out of his way to have a manufacturer custom-make it.
He had planned to hold a simple Tetris tournament in his shop, and had even prepared free drinks and snacks for it.
But sometimes God simply refused to play fair.
"Contra" had been released.
With its market-friendly tough-guy hero narrative and over-the-top visuals, "Contra" had become a phenomenon in one fell swoop.
With Schwarzenegger's endorsement on top of that, people across the country had flocked to the game.
Jingle.
The doorbell rang, and Henry put on a welcoming smile.
"Morning, Henry. Am I the first one here today?"
The newcomer offered a casual greeting, sat down in front of a Tetris machine, and glanced around, discovering that Henry was the only person in the room.
Henry gave a couple of wry chuckles.
"They've all gone to that place on 14th Street. You know, the one with..."
"'Contra.'"
The player clearly understood too, picking up where Henry had left off as he fed a coin into the slot.
"Why don't you buy one, Henry? Then your shop wouldn't be so quiet."
He still remembered the bustling days when more than half the neighborhood had gathered here.
In the blink of an eye, the place had become this deserted, all because it did not have the new "Contra" machine.
"I'd like to, but guess how much one costs?"
Henry rubbed the space between his eyebrows. Just thinking about that figure sent a shiver of dread through him.
"Five thousand dollars! And they don't even have any in stock! If you want to get one, you have to pay extra to jump the queue!"
Henry was only a small shop owner. Even if he emptied his savings, he could not scrape together that much cash.
He had already needed a loan to snap up "1942."
"Is that new game really that fun?"
The player clearly had not played "Contra" at all yet.
The arcade with "Contra" was on 14th Street, nearly seven full miles from here.
Factoring in the time spent waiting in line, he probably would not even get to play two rounds in an entire day.
So his strategy was very simple: while everyone else ran off to line up for "Contra," he could let loose and enjoy these two older games to his heart's content!
"Haha..." Henry's laugh was a little stiff. He really did not want to lie. "I went and tried it. It really is a lot of fun..."
The player nodded, said nothing more, and turned his attention back to the screen.
He was not an impatient fellow. Once the craze passed and the crowds thinned out, he would naturally get his chance to play.
Henry sat behind the counter like that, occasionally coming out to do a little cleaning.
Over the course of the morning, a handful of players trickled in, but none stayed very long.
Noon.
The doorbell rang again, and Henry forced himself to perk up and rose to greet the newcomer.
But the man clearly had not come to play.
Unlike the others in their light casual clothes, he wore a neatly arranged business suit.
Henry jolted to attention and hurried over to him.
This was someone from the bank. His appearance at the shop could mean only one thing...
"My secured loan application was approved?"
Henry had put up his car as collateral in exchange for ten thousand dollars in cash.
The bank employee nodded, took several documents out of his briefcase, and gestured for Henry to sign them for the records.
Without the slightest hesitation, he quickly filled in the signature fields.
Although he no longer even had his car, as long as he used this money to buy two "Contra" machines, his shop could quickly get back on track.
"Hello, thank you for calling Silicon Oasis..."
"'Contra' is out of stock? Are you kidding me?"
Henry's voice was somewhat agitated.
He had finally managed to get the money, only to find he still had to wait through the lengthy production process. Was this some kind of joke?
"Mr. Henry, please don't worry," the operator reassured him. She had encountered this situation countless times over the past two days. "Although 'Contra' won't be in stock anytime soon, we do have a new machine released by GAMENOVA. Would you like to hear about it?"
"A new machine?!"
Henry was startled. As an arcade owner, he was naturally familiar with GAMENOVA's name.
The three current legendary machines had all come from GAMENOVA.
"That's right, 'Metal Gear.' You're very lucky. We only received the first shipment today."
"...Roughly how much does it cost?"
Henry quickly calmed down.
Judging by the name alone, it was probably a science-fiction action game about mechanized combat.
That would put it in direct competition with "Contra."
He was still a little hesitant to spend all his savings on two machines when he did not know whether the game would become a huge hit.
"Twelve hundred dollars per machine, sir."
"Hmm... Huh?!"
Henry let out a yell.
"A little over a thousand each? You're not joking?"
"That's correct, sir."
"Then... I'd like to order two. No, four! And one 'Contra' as well."
Henry decided he still could not put all his eggs in one basket.
An arcade machine this cheap was surely a small game like "Pac-Man."
Although it might be a lot of fun, it could not compare at all to a major title like "Contra."
If he wanted to turn things around, he still needed to focus his efforts on high-end arcade machines like that.
"Very well, Mr. Henry. We'll arrange delivery right away."