Chapter Summaries

Konami’s American branch decided to begin an arcade port of Kung-Fu Master, while Lin Lixin recorded fighting moves with Brandon Lee and brought Schwarzenegger in to model Guile. The chapter ended with Lin Lixin instructing Schwarzenegger to shout “SHOOTING!” while performing Guile’s Sonic Boom.

• Tanaka persuaded Konami’s American branch to start work on an arcade port of Kung-Fu Master for North America.
• Lin Lixin told Sam that Konami would seize the arcade opportunity, then watched Brandon Lee record moves for the game.
• Lin Lixin recognized footsies in Brandon Lee’s Jeet Kune Do footwork and joked with Sam about knowing kung fu.
• Schwarzenegger arrived at Lin Lixin’s studio and agreed to model the selectable soldier character Guile.
• Lin Lixin insisted Schwarzenegger wear Guile’s yellow wig and told him to shout “SHOOTING!” while recording the Sonic Boom.

Lin Lixin solved the arcade game’s voice playback and storage problems by developing an audio compression algorithm, then tested Gerald’s prototype joystick for special-move inputs. The chapter ended with Lin satisfied that the joystick could handle circular motions.

• Lin Lixin and Sam realized their arcade machine could not play recorded voices without costly extra hardware and storage, but Lin insisted the character voice effects were essential.
• Lin Lixin studied digital audio at the University of Southern California and gained proficiency in the field.
• Gerald proposed using a YM2151 for synthesized audio and an MSM5205 to decode prerecorded samples, while Lin introduced his Vorbis Codec compression algorithm.
• Lin Lixin tested the compressed recording and decided to combine his algorithm with Gerald’s hardware plan, reserving samples for important special moves and victory lines.
• Gerald showed Lin Lixin a prototype joystick, and Lin tested its circular inputs and approved it for executing special moves.

Lin Lixin showed the unfinished Street Fighter to Brandon Lee and Schwarzenegger, who tested its joystick controls and characters. After Brandon Lee defeated Schwarzenegger, Sam demonstrated Guile’s projectile tactics, and Lin Lixin offered to take over against him.

• Sam impressed Lin Lixin by using the joystick and buttons to control his character precisely during an early playtest.
• Lin Lixin completed Street Fighter’s test build with a roster that included Ryu, Zangief, Cammy White, Chun-Li, Fei Long, and Guile.
• Brandon Lee chose Fei Long and Schwarzenegger chose Guile, then they began testing the game’s controls and moves.
• Brandon Lee used careful spacing, blocking, and attacks to defeat Schwarzenegger, who complained that Fei Long seemed too fast and Guile too slow.
• Sam took Schwarzenegger’s place and used Guile’s projectiles to pin Brandon Lee at the edge of the screen.
• Lin Lixin patted Brandon Lee’s shoulder and asked if he could take care of Sam.

Lin Lixin showed Brandon Lee and Schwarzenegger Street Fighter’s special moves and move list, winning Sam’s challenge and inspiring Brandon to acknowledge the game. Brandon then told his mother, Linda, about his work on it, but she reacted angrily until Shannon urged her to see the game for herself.

• Lin Lixin used Fei Long’s combos and Shinryu Hassai to defeat Sam’s projectile-spamming Guile.
• Lin Lixin gave Brandon Lee and Schwarzenegger a move list, and Schwarzenegger learned to perform Guile’s Sonic Boom.
• Brandon Lee and Schwarzenegger played a close match that Brandon won 2-1, while Lin Lixin received a system attribute boost.
• Brandon Lee told Linda about Street Fighter, but she condemned video games and criticized him for working on one.
• Brandon Lee insisted Mr. Lin was different and said he had played Bruce Lee in Street Fighter.
• Shannon Lee came out of her bedroom and told Linda to go see the game, saying she believed in her brother.

Linda Emery watched Brandon Lee and Lin Lixin test GAMENOVA’s Street Fighter prototype, then Shannon Lee showed unexpected skill against Brandon. Meanwhile, Konami finished its upgraded Kung-Fu Master arcade port, only for its North American vice president to discover Street Fighter’s release.

• Linda Emery refused to play Street Fighter, so Brandon Lee challenged Lin Lixin to a match, with Lin choosing Chun-Li and Brandon choosing Fei Long.
• Lin Lixin won the first round, but Brandon adapted to Chun-Li and defeated him in the second, prompting Linda to praise Fei Long’s resemblance to Bruce Lee while demanding that he be strengthened.
• Shannon Lee asked to try the game and quickly beat Brandon’s Fei Long with Chun-Li.
• Konami completed an upgraded arcade version of Kung-Fu Master, adding stages, bosses, improved graphics, and better sound.
• A Konami subordinate showed the vice president a television broadcast of Street Fighter featuring Brandon Lee and Schwarzenegger, revealing the competing game.

Konami expected its successful launch of "Kung-Fu Master" to outshine GAMENOVA’s "Street Fighter," but arcade operators soon began switching their orders after seeing Street Fighter’s appeal. In California, players flocked to the new game, and Henry celebrated a ten-win streak at ArcadeArea.

• Konami’s vice president worried that GAMENOVA’s "Street Fighter" would compete with "Kung-Fu Master," but first-day sales of Kung-Fu Master convinced him to expand production.
• Meyer told Lin Lixin that he was struggling to sell the Street Fighter machines he had bought exclusively, and Lin urged him to wait for the game’s potential to show.
• An Arizona arcade operator ordered fourteen Street Fighter machines and returned two Kung-Fu Master machines, while lamenting that a Phoenix rival had ordered Street Fighter first.
• Californians began talking about Street Fighter and debating whether Bruce Lee or Chun-Li was stronger.
• At Henry’s ArcadeArea, Henry defeated Guile with a True Dragon Eight Destructions and celebrated his tenth consecutive victory.

Lin Lixin saw Street Fighter overtake Kung-Fu Master, thanked Brandon Lee and Schwarzenegger for helping promote the game, and warned them to stay safe on film sets. He then went to a juvenile detention center in Kansas to find fifteen-year-old John Carmack, who had been jailed for stealing an Apple II.

• Konami's vice president saw engineers absorbed in Street Fighter and decided to stop Kung-Fu Master production and deal with the unsold machines.
• Street Fighter overtook Kung-Fu Master in arcades as players queued up, practiced combos, and argued over characters.
• Lin Lixin thanked Brandon Lee and Schwarzenegger for their roles in Street Fighter, and Brandon Lee said the game had earned him offers for two kung fu films.
• Lin Lixin warned Brandon Lee and Schwarzenegger about unsafe film-set practices and asked Schwarzenegger to look out for Brandon.
• Lin Lixin traveled to Kansas to meet John Carmack, whom the staff said had been sent to juvenile detention for stealing his school's Apple II computer.

Lin Lixin visited the juvenile detention center to recruit the gifted young John Carmack, offering him an IBM 5170 and early release if he built a 3D renderer. Carmack accepted the challenge and grew curious about Lin Lixin and his game company.

• Lin Lixin recognized fifteen-year-old Carmack, who was sleeping through class at the juvenile detention center.
• Lin Lixin showed Carmack his code in a PC magazine and praised his programming talent, while Carmack boasted about breaking into a school computer room to steal an Apple II.
• Lin Lixin offered to buy Carmack an IBM 5170 and secure his early release if he completed a programming challenge.
• Carmack dismissed 3D rendering as an easy task and asked for an Apple II, but Lin Lixin revealed the work had to run on an arcade board using the company’s N Language and assembly.
• Carmack accepted the challenge, asked who Lin Lixin was, and called out for him to wait as Lin Lixin left the development supplies behind.

Lin Lixin persuaded Carmack to join GAMENOVA by challenging him to build a project and return to school. Back in California, Lin pushed ahead with adding a costly floppy disk drive to the NovaBox and planned a score-upload system, aiming to capitalize on the technology before it became commonplace.

• Lin Lixin revealed to Carmack that he owned GAMENOVA and had developed Metal Gear and Street Fighter.
• Carmack asked to join GAMENOVA, but Lin criticized his attitude and explained the company would not hire him yet.
• Lin offered to arrange Carmack's early release, challenged him to build a project, and told him to return to school and aim for the University of Kansas.
• After Lin returned to California, Sam showed him the floppy disk drive he had obtained and warned that it would add over a hundred dollars to NovaBox's hardware costs.
• Lin insisted that the NovaBox needed floppy disks for their capacity and write capability, and proposed fax machines at game stores for uploading players' scores.

John Carmack arrived at GAMENOVA with a working 3D rendering program, prompting Lin Lixin to shift plans toward developing Wolfenstein 3D. Meanwhile, Minoru Arakawa prepared Nintendo’s NES for North American sales, relying on its game lineup and a bundled copy of Super Mario.

• John Carmack showed Lin Lixin his University of Kansas admission letter and said he had made what Lin wanted.
• John Carmack demonstrated a movable 3D room rendered with a ray-tracing algorithm, impressing GAMENOVA’s technical staff.
• Lin Lixin decided to change plans and develop Wolfenstein 3D.
• Minoru Arakawa approved the NES prototype and ordered trial sales in New York without changing its specifications.
• Minoru Arakawa planned to bundle Super Mario with every NES purchase to compete in North America.
• Lin Lixin loaded Wolfenstein 3D on the NovaBox prototype and remarked that its cover had a Schwarzenegger-like style.

Lin Lixin launched NovaBox alongside Nintendo’s early NES test, but NovaBox’s first-week sales fell far behind. He countered by distributing Wolfenstein 3D as a bundled launch game, whose first-person 3D gameplay stunned viewers.

• Lin Lixin, Carmack, and Sam tested Wolfenstein 3D, a first-person shooter built for NovaBox.
• Lin Lixin asked Meyer to distribute NovaBox and chose to test-launch it in Los Angeles alongside Nintendo’s NES in New York.
• Nintendo’s NES outsold NovaBox, helped by its lower price, its presentation as an entertainment system, and its bundled Super Mario.
• Meyer told Lin Lixin that NovaBox’s test sales were poor and urged GAMENOVA to return its focus to arcade games.
• Lin Lixin unveiled gold-cased Wolfenstein 3D cartridges and began offering the game to NovaBox buyers at California arcades.
• GAMENOVA aired gameplay footage of Wolfenstein 3D, shocking viewers with its first-person 3D graphics.

Mike and John bought GAMENOVA’s expensive NovaBox and tried its new Wolfenstein 3D game, which proved far more impressive than Mike expected. Mike was left awestruck by the first-person 3D graphics, and the NovaBox became the last hope of American video games.

• Mike pedaled John, who had broken his foot, to the arcade to see GAMENOVA’s new games.
• Mike and John balked at the NovaBox’s high price, but John paid for the console and Street Fighter while Mike contributed toward the cartridges.
• At home, John connected the Street Fighter-themed NovaBox to the television and started Wolfenstein 3D.
• Mike returned with snacks and was stunned by the game’s first-person view, detailed walls, spotlights, and falling enemies.
• John offered Mike a turn, and Wolfenstein 3D’s graphics transformed the NovaBox’s prospects.

Lin Lixin showed Meyer a motion-sensing light-gun prototype and a floppy disk fax machine for uploading game scores, while NES sales continued to grow. He then explained that GAMENOVA’s next game would be a 2D open-world role-playing action-adventure game based on The Legend of Zelda.

• Atari launched its Atar7800 in Chicago at a lower price, but NES and NovaBox shipments quickly overshadowed it.
• Meyer visited Lin Lixin to praise Wolfenstein 3D’s success and saw Gerald and Sam working on a NovaBox peripheral prototype.
• Lin Lixin demonstrated a motion-sensing light gun that controlled the player’s facing direction in Wolfenstein 3D, and Meyer tried it.
• Lin Lixin showed Meyer a floppy disk fax machine that could upload players’ saved scores to GAMENOVA headquarters, and Meyer left with both prototypes.
• Despite the light gun’s impact, NES sales kept growing because families preferred games like Super Mario, so Lin Lixin began preparing The Legend of Zelda.
• When Sam questioned the return to 2D, Lin Lixin explained that hardware and floppy disk limits ruled out 3D and presented his plan for an open-world role-playing action-adventure game.

Lin Lixin showed Sam the enormous maps for The Legend of Zelda: The Hyrule Fantasy and demonstrated how pseudo-seamless scrolling could make them work on NovaBox. He also met with Zilog to discuss the RISC-based Z80S, whose performance had impressed the company’s engineers.

• Lin Lixin showed Sam the overworld and the many dungeon maps for both quests, revealing the game’s vast scale.
• Sam questioned whether NovaBox’s limited memory could support the maps, and Lin Lixin demonstrated pseudo-seamless scrolling on an IBM 5170.
• Carmack praised Lin Lixin’s game design and dismissed the technical implementation as a minor detail.
• At Zilog headquarters, Richard praised the Z80S’s performance despite its reduced instruction set.
• Lin Lixin explained that RISC shifted complexity onto programmers and said his N Language could help overcome that difficulty.

Lin Lixin explained that he was commissioning a low-power 8-bit CPU and showed Sam and Carmack how the large, interconnected world of The Legend of Zelda required floppy-disk saves. When Sam asked about Link’s missing stats, Lin Lixin revealed that the game’s progression came from gaining items that opened new routes, leaving Sam astonished by the design.

• Lin Lixin argued that reduced-instruction-set processors were the future and commissioned a low-power 8-bit CPU running at least 4.19 MHz.
• Sam finished drawing the dungeon room while Lin Lixin and Carmack implemented The Legend of Zelda’s underlying systems.
• Lin Lixin showed Sam and Carmack the game’s interface and explained that its many world and character variables required floppy-disk saves.
• Sam noticed that Link had no conventional level, attack, or defense stats and offered to design a stats panel.
• Lin Lixin pointed out that the map had few impassable routes, and Sam realized that items such as the raft and bombs unlocked new paths and defined progression.

Emma let Vincent buy a Zelda-themed NovaBox after trying the NES, while The Legend of Zelda's success drove console sales and profits at GAMENOVA. Lin Lixin planned to expand into another kind of home gaming system and began preparing Story of Seasons as the next part of his image-rehabilitation plan.

• Emma reluctantly gave up the controller, then took Vincent to buy a Zelda limited-edition NovaBox after he said he no longer wanted one.
• The Legend of Zelda became the hottest title of the quarter, selling more than a million copies in less than a month and outselling NovaBox shipments.
• Sam told Lin Lixin that console sales had risen and Zelda-themed NovaBox units had sold out in several areas.
• Lin Lixin explained that Zelda's slower pace and save feature let players explore its world over weeks or months, helping cartridge revenue cover console losses.
• Lin Lixin said GAMENOVA would not focus entirely on home consoles and planned to pursue another gaming system after Zilog finished his custom chip.
• Lin Lixin marked the countryside setting as the next step in his plan and chose Story of Seasons as his next game.

Emma let Vincent try the NES, then bought him a Zelda-themed NovaBox despite his newfound enthusiasm for its cartridges. Lin Lixin explained how The Legend of Zelda had driven console sales and outlined Story of Seasons as the next step in his image-rehabilitation plan.

• Emma played the NES for half an hour before Hunter persuaded her to give up the controller.
• Vincent told Emma that Super Mario and Battle City were fun, but Emma bought a Zelda limited-edition NovaBox and made him put the cartridges back.
• Sam reported that The Legend of Zelda had sold over a million copies, sold out themed consoles, and helped offset the NovaBox's losses.
• Lin Lixin explained that Zelda's slow-paced exploration and save feature set it apart and made it a major home-console game.
• Lin Lixin planned to develop Story of Seasons as the next part of his image-rehabilitation plan.

Lin Lixin explained his slow-paced farming game to Sam before traveling to recruit Howard Scott Warshaw as GAMENOVA’s first third-party developer. Howard, blamed for Atari’s collapse after making E.T., was stunned by the offer.

• Lin Lixin described a farming game inspired by Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, and Sam doubted its appeal to arcade-minded players.
• Lin Lixin explained that the game targeted homebodies, women, and children, then asked Sam to take him to the airport.
• Howard Scott Warshaw reflected on his reputation as the developer of E.T. and typed about his contrasting reputations for E.T. and Yars' Revenge.
• Lin Lixin visited Howard and invited him to become GAMENOVA’s first third-party game developer.
• Howard froze in surprise at Lin Lixin’s offer.

Lin Lixin recruited Howard Warshaw as a GAMENOVA developer and persuaded the team to approve his farming simulation concept, Story of Seasons. The game, released as Harvest Moon, surprised the public with its gentle premise and left GAMENOVA at a disadvantage in public opinion.

• Lin Lixin offered Howard Warshaw a third-party development contract and argued that a better-resourced game could clear his name after E.T.
• Howard agreed to join GAMENOVA after Lin Lixin required him to use N Language as his primary development language.
• Vivian and Sam questioned whether players would enjoy a game centered on farmwork, but Gerald supported Lin Lixin's idea and recognized growth and harvest as its core appeal.
• Lin Lixin explained that rewarding player effort and adding NPC relationships would make the farming simulation engaging.
• GAMENOVA released the floppy disk Harvest Moon on the first day of the harvest moon, and its unexpected style put the company at a disadvantage in public opinion.

On his birthday, John received Harvest Moon instead of the Zelda cartridge he had hoped for, and he and Mike started the game despite its childish appearance and bad reviews. The game prompted John to enter a character name, leaving him curious about the immersion it might offer.

• John celebrated beating a Wolfenstein boss and wished he had a portable console.
• Mike arrived with a GAMENOVA birthday present, and John initially thought it was The Legend of Zelda.
• Mike revealed that the cartridge was Harvest Moon, and John hid his disappointment while Mike offered to exchange it.
• John stopped Mike from exchanging the gift and inserted Harvest Moon into the NovaBox.
• John and Mike watched the cheerful opening, then John saw the character-naming screen and anticipated that NPCs would use his name.