Inside a Pokémon Center in New Mexico.
Mike, wearing the Fire-type Gym Badge on his chest, stepped onto the chair John had pulled over.
He took a deep breath and scanned the bustling crowd.
"Gentlemen! Fellow Pokémon enthusiasts! Please raise your heads and look at me!"
His shout, delivered from his dantian, resounded throughout the Pokémon Center, drawing the attention of many.
Mike's badge on his chest reflected the overhead lights, making it particularly eye-catching.
He held up the copy of " The Legend of Clefairy " high in his hand.
"Gentlemen, I believe that all of you here are excellent Pokémon Trainers, but I must tell you—the Pokédex is lying!"
Mike looked at the puzzled crowd and John, who was so ashamed he wanted to disappear into the ground, and took another deep breath.
"No. 151! Or rather, -- ' Mew '!"
"There is still a legendary Pokémon in this world that we have never discovered!"
"Whoosh--"
Those who can spend an entire day at the Pokémon Center are undoubtedly Pokémon fans, and their words caused an uproar.
Soon, someone figured out the name "Mew".
"I knew I'd heard that name somewhere before— Mewtwo from Cerulean Cave! It must be the evolution of Mew."
"Now that you mention it, I do recall. It seems the game mentioned that Mewtwo was created by recombining a Pokémon named ' Mew ' for research purposes!"
"That's right! Gentlemen!" Mike shouted, "We all know what Gamenova is like, this definitely couldn't have been unintentional, look here."
He displayed the comic book in his hand to everyone, read out the page numbers, and gestured for those who had a copy of " The Legend of Clefairy " to look at it together.
"Hidden behind the tree must be the Mew! The storyline of ' The Legend of Clefairy ' is synchronized with ' Pokémon Red and Green.' GAMENOVA wants to use it to tell us that No. 151 really exists!"
"WE SHALL FIND Mew!"
"WE SHALL FIND MEW!!!"
"Click"
A reporter, squeezed into the crowd, quickly raised his Minolta a7000 hanging around his neck and captured this amazing moment.
Historically known as the " Mew Incident "
"So, Mr. Lin, the next question is one that our fans, including myself, have been very eager to know."
Steve stared intently at Lin Lixin. GAMENOVA's marketing campaign surrounding the Pokémon IP over the past two days had been nothing short of textbook-perfect.
The licensing of games, comics, merchandise, and even daily necessities has allowed this IP to ride the wave of the Christmas shopping season, transforming it from a nascent game IP into a comprehensive commercial IP.
Even the Eight Gyms have become a must-visit attraction for locals.
The recent " Mew Incident," which has caused a nationwide uproar, has created countless urban legends.
With this massive influx of traffic, he has to find a way to handle it today, no matter what.
"Does the Legendary Pokémon No. 151 that players are talking about really exist?"
Lin Lixin chuckled, putting on an innocent expression.
"Well... I can't say for sure."
Steve raised an eyebrow; judging from the tone of his words, there was definitely a chance.
"Mr. Lin, do you mean you don't deny the possibility that Mew exists?"
Sometimes, silence itself is a statement.
Since the Mew Incident became known, the groups involved are no longer limited to just Pokémon players.
To solve this astonishing mystery, multiple geek teams have announced their involvement, attempting to unpack and reverse engineer the game's source files in search of answers.
However, the Gamenova cartridges were encrypted and obfuscated by Lin Lixin and Carmack.
To date, there have been no successful cases of decrypting game source files or developing cheat codes.
But this very point has become the most compelling evidence.
If you're not hiding anything, why are you covering yourself up so tightly?
"If Mr. Steve has nothing else, then we'll conclude today's interview?"
Lin Lixin cleared his throat, not intending to reveal any more information.
Steve smiled, ending the topic briefly, and glanced at the contents of the manuscript.
"Regarding this Christmas season, I wonder if GAMENOVA has any other game releases?"
Although the recent gym challenges and related events such as " The Legend of Clefairy " have been very popular, GAMENOVA has only prepared one game for such an important shopping season.
Although it has already surpassed the 10,000 works Atari released for Christmas.
Even Nintendo doesn't have such a sparse game lineup as Gamenova.
The quality is truly excellent; it would be even better if production capacity could be higher.
"Isn't Pokémon enough?" Lin Lixin chuckled. "GAMENOVA doesn't have any new games at the moment."
"All right..."
Steve was slightly disappointed, but he quickly recovered.
Just the two games he hasn't finished yet, Pokémon and Story of Seasons, are enough to keep him entertained for quite some time.
But suddenly Lin Lixin changed the subject. "However..."
"Um?"
"For the sake of my dear players, I worked through the night to persuade NWC to develop a fundamentalist D&D-style RPG for NovaBox!"
To Steve's stunned gaze, Lin Lixin, as if by magic, suddenly produced a floppy disk he had never seen before in his hand.
Might and Might and Magic.
When traditional DOS games received technical Support from Gamenova and benefited from the development speed boost of the N Language...
Steve returned to the magazine office with the demo floppy disk.
Under the watchful eyes of all the employees, it was slowly inserted into the floppy disk drive.
Judging from the starting screen alone, apart from the numerous adaptations made for the NovaBox controller, it looks like a traditional CRPG with slightly better graphics.
Until Steve led his team into the map.
3D...
The pseudo-3D map rendering, just like in Wolfenstein 3D, clearly presented the appearance of the town to him.
This is absolutely unprecedented in past RPG games.
Unexpectedly, GAMENOVA's second demonstration of 3D magic came in such a work.
Caneghem, the then owner of NWC and the company's only employee, paced anxiously in the room.
He would occasionally sit back down in front of the computer, staring blankly at the landline on the table, then suddenly jump up from his chair as if he were sitting on pins and needles, continuing to hesitate.
Might and Magic is officially available today.
Although he had full confidence in this work that he had painstakingly worked on for many years.
But it will be released at the same time as Pokémon.
I play Pokémon?
Will we win?
Caneghem scratched his greasy hair, pulling out a large clump due to the stress of the past two days.
According to the contract, the release date must be arranged by GAMENOVA; they have no say in the matter.
When something like this happens, should we say Pokémon is amazing, or that we're just unlucky?
Just then, the landline on the table suddenly rang.
Caneghem grabbed the receiver.
"Congratulations, Mr. Caneghem..."