In New Mexico, on the way to an arcade, a bicycle carrying two young men speeds along the road.
"Faster, Mike, faster!"
"That's fast enough! SHIT!"
Mike spat, glancing out of the corner of his eye at John's outstretched leg, which was in a cast.
John, being both Schwarzenegger and a huge GAMENOVA fan, naturally received the news immediately upon hearing about GAMENOVA's new game release.
However, he had broken his leg while doing odd jobs, which made it difficult for him to move around, so Mike to give him a ride on his bicycle.
Well, Mike had to admit that the main reason was probably that he also wanted to try out the new game.
The previous Contra had completely won him over.
Mike did have some recollection of the name Wolfenstein.
That must have been a game released by Muse Software for the Apple II in the early 1980s.
The graphics are simple, rendered entirely by ASCII art, making it a fairly good PC game.
GAMENOVA borrowed this name and even added "3D" to it, which made Mike quite curious.
"I'm serious, John, I don't think Gamenova has the capability to produce 3D effects on an 8-bit machine."
Mike, panting heavily, spoke to John in the back seat.
John dragged him out on the road as soon as he got home, and he didn't even get to see what the promotional video that John had been praising so much looked like.
Atari also claimed to have made a 3D game almost ten years ago, something like " Night Driver ".
The reason Mike has such a deep impression of this game is naturally because it was the first game he played in the arcade when his dad took him there as a child.
Back then, Mike was just a kid with a dream of racing, so he was immediately drawn to the beautiful designs painted on the arcade machine's casing.
A race car driver in a racing suit speeds along a road at night.
Furthermore, the promotional materials claimed that this was the world's first 3D game.
Wow, that's so cool!
But all he saw was a bunch of rudimentary graphics, a little trick disguised by perspective.
Admittedly, this technique was very clever, and it was indeed very interesting for players at the time who already knew what video games were like.
But back then, Mike was just a little kid.
He has no idea what game design or the ingenuity of visual implementation are.
He was very disappointed.
This time, GAMENOVA's use of 3D technology awakened a long-forgotten memory in him, almost triggering his PTSD.
"That's because you haven't seen the promotional video! Ride faster! You won't regret it!"
If John weren't lame, he would have jumped down and run over there.
Being even one step behind is disrespectful to this game.
"Robbery? $250 a unit? Plus the Contra cartridge, that's $290 in total?? You guys are robbing me!"
Mike, with John on crutches, pushed through the line of players in front of the Street Fighter arcade machine and arrived at the shelf.
Several beautiful machines were displayed on the shelf, somewhat similar to the square shape of the NES, but with a more flat design. They included both black and white solid color versions as well as themed versions of several launch titles.
Mike naturally focused his attention immediately on the Contra limited edition console.
The game console itself, a Wolfenstein 3D cartridge, and a Contra cartridge—that's all, and it costs nearly $300!
" Mike, let's buy this!"
John yelled at him and pulled him to a Street Fighter themed arcade machine.
Because Street Fighter had an enhanced audio chip built into its cartridge, it was priced $10 higher than Contra.
It's simply unbelievable.
Keep in mind that an Atari only costs around $140.
Even the NES, which Nintendo is supposedly very powerful at, only costs less than $200.
"This is too expensive, John..."
John and Mike didn't come from wealthy families, otherwise they wouldn't be doing part-time jobs.
This price exceeded Mike's expectations.
"I can pay for the game console and the Street Fighter cartridge."
However, John simply pulled out his wallet from his pocket and flicked out three hundred-dollar bills.
This is the workers' compensation his boss paid him.
" John, you..."
Mike knew how much effort John had put in to get this money, but he didn't expect him to hand it over so readily.
John sat on the back seat of the bicycle holding a brand new NovaBox packaging box, smiling innocently, forgetting all the messy trivial matters for a while.
In the end, Mike still paid out 100 dollars to cover the cost of the Street Fighter and Contra game cartridges.
As soon as he got home, John hobbled over to the television on crutches, unplugged the VCR, and replaced it with a NovaBox.
A brand-new Street Fighter -themed limited-edition NovaBox sits on the small TV cabinet, its spotless exterior creating a stark contrast with the dilapidated surroundings.
After quickly setting everything up, the two of them stood around the three equally brand-new cartridges, and their eyes were simultaneously drawn to the only gold cartridge.
"The casing is quite exquisite..."
" Mike, believe me, even real gold wouldn't be good enough for its casing."
"Is that really such an exaggeration... Zhang..."
Mike saw an image of a muscular American man on the screen, grinning and holding a pistol.
Mike's heart skipped a beat.
Oh no! John got ripped off by an unscrupulous merchant!
It turns out to be a new way to scam fans by using Schwarzenegger's persona.
"Forget it, the money's already spent." Mike shook his head, hoping John would learn a lesson this time and be a little more timid towards his idol.
He stood up and said, "You play first, I'll go prepare some snacks and drinks, we can play Street Fighter later."
When Mike returned to the TV with chips and soda, he swore he would never forget what he saw.
The game character is not visible on the screen; instead, it's a first-person perspective where you can only see the protagonist holding a pistol.
The brick walls standing before me, the flashing spotlights, the falling enemy corpses...
That instant dragged Mike back to that afternoon ten years ago.
Those were the days when he could carefree squander his time in the arcade.
This is what I imagined a 3D game should look like.
John heard the sound behind him and turned around.
When he saw Mike's dazed expression, he was also taken aback.
Do you want to play?
"May I?"
"Certainly."
With just one cartridge, NovaBox was transformed from a critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful product into " America's last hope for video games."
Go out and ask around, see which company in the world can produce 3D graphics of this caliber!
Far ahead!