Chapter Summaries

Lin Lixin showed Gerald Lawson that the C64 could not deliver the game he envisioned, and Gerald agreed to work toward a solution. After Sam secured a low manufacturing cost, Lin Lixin began looking for an affordable celebrity to endorse Contra and settled on Arnold Schwarzenegger.

• Lin Lixin demonstrated the game's choppy C64 prototype to Gerald Lawson and rejected Gerald's suggestions to simplify it.
• Gerald Lawson understood Lin Lixin's ambitions, agreed to find a way forward, and left with renewed enthusiasm for video games.
• Sam told Lin Lixin that the contract manufacturer would build each machine for $1,600, with lower costs possible at higher volumes.
• Lin Lixin considered asking Sylvester Stallone to endorse Contra, but Sam estimated the fee at around $3 million and said Stallone would likely refuse.
• Lin Lixin found a Conan the Barbarian videotape and learned that Schwarzenegger might endorse the game for $100,000 to $200,000.

Lin Lixin and Gerald Lawson cobbled together a 256KB storage board that cleared the way for Contra, while arcade sales brought them the money and connections to take their next step. The chapter ended with Lin Lixin and Sam attending the premiere of Conan the Destroyer, where Lin spotted Schwarzenegger.

• Gerald Lawson brought Lin Lixin a dual-processor prototype board and 32KB EPROM chips, calling the project his last adventure after shutting down VideoSoft.
• Lin Lixin began assembling an expansion card, and Gerald took over the soldering to produce a neat board that could switch between eight EPROM chips.
• Lin Lixin completed the initial development of Contra on June 29, 1984, leaving only bug testing and final optimization.
• Strong sales of Tetris and 1942 earned Lin Lixin and Sam enough money to pursue new opportunities.
• Lin Lixin and Sam attended the Conan the Destroyer premiere in Los Angeles, where Lin noticed Schwarzenegger in the front row.

Lin Lixin tried to recruit Arnold Schwarzenegger as a spokesperson for his game, Contra, but Schwarzenegger’s agent dismissed video games as a dying industry. Schwarzenegger became curious after hearing the game’s pitch and agreed to try the prototype on the theater’s projector.

• After the film ended, Lin Lixin and Sam joined the crowd around Schwarzenegger, and Lin Lixin asked him to consider endorsing a game.
• Schwarzenegger’s agent Dave intervened, warning that video games were in decline and would damage Schwarzenegger’s rising career.
• Sam defended Lin Lixin’s business, pointing out that Tetris had sold to arcades across California.
• Schwarzenegger asked about the game’s tough-guy protagonist, and Lin Lixin described a soldier saving the world like Stallone’s Rambo.
• Lin Lixin offered to demonstrate the game, and Schwarzenegger set aside ten minutes despite Dave’s objections.
• Lin Lixin connected the prototype to the theater projector, and the title CONTRA appeared on the screen.

Schwarzenegger tested Lin Lixin’s Contra and was astonished by its advanced graphics, animations, and controls. After losing to the first miniboss, Schwarzenegger and his agent Dave agreed that he should endorse the game.

• The audience returned to their seats when they saw Contra’s cover art depicting Schwarzenegger and Stallone.
• Schwarzenegger started the game and amazed the crowd with its detailed scenery, smooth animations, and responsive controls.
• Sam pointed out a weapon power-up, and Schwarzenegger collected it to upgrade his gun to a machine gun.
• Schwarzenegger lost to the first miniboss, the Wall of Sighs, and regretted missing an attack-speed power-up.
• Dave apologized to Lin Lixin for doubting the game, and Schwarzenegger declared that they had to take the endorsement.

After Schwarzenegger praised Contra, Lin Lixin prepared to produce the game and negotiate an endorsement while rumors about it spread across Los Angeles. With arcade distributors clamoring for machines, Lin agreed to an exclusive sales deal with Meyer at a steep price and turned to expanding the business.

• Schwarzenegger praised Contra and decided to postpone his meeting with 20th Century Fox to discuss an endorsement with Lin Lixin, who said he needed time to arrange the fee.
• Rumors about Contra spread through Los Angeles, and Meyer called Lin Lixin after distributors across California began searching for the game.
• Lin told Meyer that Contra production would begin soon, and Meyer asked for an exclusive sales agreement.
• Lin agreed to work with Meyer and quoted a wholesale price of $4,000 per machine with thirty percent due in advance; Meyer asked to see a demo first.
• Lin reviewed the high production costs and asked Sam about registering a new company, and Sam produced documents for GAMENOVA Entertainment (Nova Entertainment).

Lin Lixin secured Meyer’s order for Contra, then considered how to address the game’s length for arcade players. He showed Sam a code-based save system from Survival Island and explained that players stored their progress in their own minds.

• Meyer inspected the Contra prototype and recognized Arnold Schwarzenegger on its concept art, learning that Lin Lixin had signed him for an endorsement.
• After playing Contra, Meyer offered a fifty-percent deposit for an exclusive supply agreement.
• Meyer warned that Contra’s eight stages and final boss made the game too long for arcade players, prompting Lin Lixin to consider a save system.
• Lin Lixin showed Sam Survival Island’s twelve-digit save code and explained that players memorized it to save their progress.

Lin Lixin devised a password-save system for Contra, while the game’s ad in New Mexico sparked intense demand that local arcades could not meet. John and Mike went to see the game, but the arcade had no Contra machines in stock.

• Sam understood Lin Lixin’s password-save design, and Lin Lixin began preparing to add it to Contra.
• Mike switched off John’s fifth viewing of Conan the Barbarian and saw a television ad featuring Schwarzenegger endorsing Contra.
• John and Mike decided to visit a nearby arcade after seeing the ad.
• John and Mike found the arcade packed with players demanding Contra machines, but the owner said he was waiting for stock.
• The arcade owner urged the crowd to play Tetris and 1942 while he tried to secure Contra machines.

John and Mike played Contra after the arcade machines arrived, and John became absorbed in the chance to experience an action hero’s adventure firsthand. When work forced him to consider stopping before finishing, a player behind them suggested saving the game.

• A delivery truck brought two Contra arcade cabinets to the arcade, where a huge crowd gathered to play.
• John and Mike started a game together, but Mike lost his lives while John fought on.
• John pulled off a dangerous move to destroy a turret and felt exhilarated as he took on the role of a hero.
• Mike noticed how late it had become and reminded John that they had to get to work.
• John hesitated to leave his unfinished game, and a waiting player told him to save it and give someone else a turn.

After Contra helped Schwarzenegger land the lead in Commando, Lin Lixin considered how to grow GAMENOVA beyond its arcade successes despite its limited staff and resources. Searching for another proven arcade idea, he remembered Hideo Kojima and Metal Gear, leaving his next project in view.

• John learned to save his progress in Contra by recording a one-use code, though continuing would require another coin.
• Dave told Schwarzenegger that Fox had cast him as the lead in Commando, and Schwarzenegger credited Contra with helping him get the role.
• Schwarzenegger invited Lin Lixin to attend The Terminator’s October release, and Lin Lixin agreed.
• Lin Lixin handed Sam more financial records while considering GAMENOVA’s next game and recognizing that the team lacked the resources to build a home console.
• Lin Lixin thought of Hideo Kojima and Metal Gear as a potential next arcade project.

Lin Lixin planned Metal Gear as a low-cost stealth game to address the market imbalance caused by Contra’s expensive arcade machines. He then proposed interchangeable arcade boards to Gerald Lawson and asked whether the same low-end specifications could support an affordable home console.

• Sam warned Lin Lixin that Contra’s high price meant only large arcades could afford it, hurting the lower-tier market.
• Lin Lixin revealed that Metal Gear was designed to address the problem with stealth gameplay that required less powerful hardware.
• Sam doubted the appeal of avoiding combat, but Lin Lixin dismissed his concerns and refused to reskin 1942 instead.
• Lin Lixin gave Gerald Lawson a hand-soldered arcade board and a specification for interchangeable arcade boards.
• Gerald Lawson understood that the design could reduce production costs by separating arcade board and cabinet production.
• Lin Lixin asked Gerald Lawson whether the 8-bit specifications could also work for a home console, noting that 16-bit processors were still too expensive.

Lin Lixin received a skill that let him understand assembly and machine code, reviewed Gerald’s modular circuit-board plans, and recruited Vivian to lead GAMENOVA’s new graphics-chip subsidiary. He then called Ho Kwok Yuen in Toronto, leaving the conversation just as Ho answered.

• Lin Lixin gained The Art of Language, which helped him read assembly and machine code.
• Vivian delivered Gerald’s circuit-board specifications, and Lin Lixin had Sam arrange for the contract manufacturer to adopt modular production.
• Lin Lixin offered Vivian the chance to head GAMENOVA’s graphics-chip subsidiary, and she accepted despite being its only current employee.
• Ho Kwok Yuen reflected on his unsatisfying work in Toronto and considered investing his savings in Metallurgical Heaven ATI.
• Ho Kwok Yuen answered a call from Lin Lixin, who greeted him in Mandarin with an affected Greater Bay Area accent.

Lin Lixin recruited Ho Kwok Yuen with an impressive salary offer, but Ho thought GAMENOVA was a scam when he arrived at its run-down office. He was about to leave until he recognized Gerald Lawson, who confirmed that the company genuinely wanted him to join.

• Lin Lixin called Ho Kwok Yuen and offered him a $100,000 salary and profit sharing to join GAMENOVA’s graphics chip division.
• Lin Lixin described the company’s Silicon Valley plans and told Ho Kwok Yuen that Gerald Lawson had joined Micro-NOVA.
• Ho Kwok Yuen flew from Toronto to California and cursed when he found GAMENOVA operating out of a shabby, shuttered VideoSoft office.
• Ho Kwok Yuen rejected Lin Lixin’s invitation and turned to leave.
• Gerald Lawson greeted Ho Kwok Yuen and urged him to join, leaving Ho stunned that Gerald was helping Lin.

Ho Kwok Yuen joined Lin Lixin’s new company, Micro-NOVA, after learning about its graphics-card ambitions. Lin Lixin shifted his game design toward a fluid, low-resolution Metal Gear demo, which Sam tested as Vivian monitored the graphics chips.

• Ho Kwok Yuen realized Lin Lixin had misled him about the company’s appearance, but the graphics-card concept excited him enough to accept a job at Micro-NOVA.
• Lin Lixin abandoned his realistic tank design and began adapting Metal Gear: Ghost Babel for the arcade machine’s dual graphics coprocessors.
• After a month, Lin Lixin completed a test demo, and Sam began playing while Vivian recorded the coprocessors’ status.
• Sam questioned the low resolution and stealth-focused gameplay, then experienced how smoothly the character responded to movement.
• Sam continued through Mei Ling’s mission instructions as the game introduced its radar, an early form of a minimap.

Sam discovered that the demo’s stealth gameplay turned each area into a puzzle with multiple solutions, while Vivian examined how Lin Lixin had achieved its graphics on limited hardware. Lin Lixin revealed plans for thirteen main-story levels and two hundred levels in total, then introduced a tile map system and editor to make that scale possible.

• Sam used a cardboard box to distract a guard, slipped through a blind spot, and reached the demo’s ending.
• Sam and Vivian recognized that the game rewarded stealth and offered many ways to solve each area.
• Vivian inspected the board and confirmed that the game ran on a single eight-bit Z80 with two graphics coprocessors.
• Lin Lixin said he planned thirteen main-story levels and two hundred levels including Virtual Training Mode.
• Lin Lixin demonstrated a tile map system and its accompanying map editor on the C64.

Lin Lixin showed Vivian and Sam a tile-map editor and N Language that made game development far easier, then unveiled an ASIC graphics chip that sharply reduced arcade-machine costs. Meyer tried the Metal Gear prototype and offered to pay upfront for a hundred machines.

• Lin Lixin showed Vivian how the tile-map editor stored levels as compact numerical grids and explained that he was developing the easy-to-read N Language.
• Sam used the documentation to design a cross-shaped corridor and successfully loaded it into the game, demonstrating how quickly others could create levels.
• Ho Kwok Yuen submitted a report confirming that GAMENOVA had produced a new ASIC graphics card, and Lin Lixin told Sam the graphics chip could cost as little as three dollars in large-scale production.
• Lin Lixin showed Sam a Metal Gear arcade-machine quotation estimating production costs at about five hundred dollars per machine and a selling price of about one thousand dollars.
• Meyer played the Metal Gear prototype and offered to pay upfront for a hundred units.

Henry struggled to keep his Riverside arcade afloat after players flocked to Contra and the game’s machines became prohibitively expensive and scarce. After using a loan secured against his car, he ordered four affordable Metal Gear machines and one Contra, hoping the new games would revive his shop.

• Henry recalled how Tetris and 1942 had drawn crowds to his arcade before Contra became a nationwide hit.
• A regular player visited Henry’s quiet shop and chose to play Tetris rather than travel to wait in line for Contra.
• Henry secured a $10,000 loan by putting up his car and planned to buy two Contra machines.
• Henry learned that Contra was out of stock, but Silicon Oasis offered him GAMENOVA’s new Metal Gear machines for $1,200 each.
• Henry ordered four Metal Gear machines and one Contra machine.

Henry installed Metal Gear boards in ArcadeArea’s new universal cabinets, and the game drew a crowd that celebrated his clearing all thirteen stages. Meanwhile, Lin Lixin pushed GAMENOVA to begin developing a home console and revealed its name, NovaBox.

• Henry discovered the delivered Metal Gear machines were universal cabinets and installed the boards himself.
• Henry introduced Metal Gear to customers at ArcadeArea, where the four machines attracted a packed crowd.
• Henry became the first player to clear all thirteen stages and ordered four more Metal Gear machines from Silicon Oasis.
• Gerald worried that developing a home console would strain GAMENOVA’s finances, while Lin Lixin argued that their games belonged at home.
• Ho Kwok Yuen recognized that Lin Lixin intended to compete with Nintendo’s Famicom, and Lin Lixin presented a document labeled NovaBox.

Lin Lixin persuaded Zilog to partner with GAMENOVA on a dedicated Z80-based processor and SoC for its NovaBox console, using a strict royalty system to avoid the failures of Atari’s open game market. Back at GAMENOVA’s office, he found that Sam had brought in a Famicom for the team to study.

• Lin Lixin presented Zilog’s Richard with an SoC design and proposed a modified Z80 for GAMENOVA’s NovaBox home console.
• Richard questioned whether a console using the more expensive Z80 could succeed after the Atari Shock, but Lin Lixin said GAMENOVA would sell its hardware at cost or at a loss.
• Lin Lixin explained GAMENOVA’s royalty system, requiring the company to control cartridge production and developers to pay royalties in advance based on estimated sales.
• GAMENOVA and Zilog reached an agreement to jointly develop a dedicated Z80 processor and a complete SoC for a home console.
• Sam showed Lin Lixin the Famicom he had brought from Japan for GAMENOVA to study.

After testing the Famicom, Lin Lixin planned a new fighting game for both arcades and home consoles. He recruited Brandon Lee to consult on martial arts and design the Chinese character Fei Long, leaving Brandon surprised by the offer.

• Lin Lixin, Sam, Gerald, and Vivian played Famicom games, and Gerald concluded that GAMENOVA had to make its own home console.
• Lin Lixin proposed developing the next game for both arcades and home consoles, then got the idea to make a fighting game after seeing a copy of Kung-Fu Master.
• Lin Lixin decided to create Street Fighter with moves such as fireballs and uppercuts, rather than imitate Konami's Kung-Fu Master.
• Lin Lixin called Schwarzenegger, who arranged for him to meet Brandon Lee.
• Lin Lixin invited Brandon Lee to serve as Street Fighter's martial arts consultant and design Fei Long's moves, leaving Brandon stunned by the request.

Lin Lixin developed a prototype for a head-to-head fighting game and won Sam over with its distinctive combat. Brandon Lee offered to seek his mother Linda’s approval for using Bruce Lee’s name if the finished game proved good enough, leaving Lin Lixin tasked with building the game and earning her support.

• Sam named Bruce Lee, Lin Lixin, and Ho Kwok Yuen as the Chinese people he knew, prompting Lin Lixin to reflect on Bruce Lee’s influence in North America.
• After reading Lin Lixin’s proposal, Brandon Lee offered to ask Linda for permission to use the name Bruce Lee instead of Fei Long if the game turned out well.
• Brandon Lee left after exchanging contact details, while Lin Lixin worried that Linda would be difficult to persuade.
• Lin Lixin quickly built a prototype fighting game, and Sam initially doubted that two pixel characters fighting each other would be fun.
• Lin Lixin demonstrated dodges, combos, and a special move, and Sam became excited about the game’s arcade potential.