The light saucer shooting system is not good
After the light gun was introduced, Yamauchi read a news report about the game of "Flying Saucer Shooting". He asked Junpei Yokoi, "Can the light gun simulate a flying saucer shooting?" A few days after Yamauchi made his request, Yokoi asked Yamanouchi to buy him a rifle. He intended to design a "simulated flying saucer shooting" based on a rifle, and assisted him in developing Masayuki Uemura and Genyo Takeda. The project was approved in 1971 as the "Light Saucer Shooting System."
Clay pigeon shooting is a shooting sport that uses firearms to shoot round clay discs thrown in the air. The English name for flying saucer is "clay pigeon" or "bird", because in the past, live pigeons were used as targets in British shooting competitions, although in 1921 it was banned by legislation and the use of clay saucer to simulate birds was retained, the name was retained, and the target was called "kill", the failure to hit was called "bird away", and the machine that fired the flying saucer was called "trap".
Japan is at the height of the bowling fever, and the bowling alleys scattered around Japan are being transferred everywhere and replaced by karaoke systems. Unlike Akio Nakanishi, who puts arcade machines in bowling alleys, Hiroshi Yamauchi thinks about how to make a big business with an abandoned bowling alley, and the light flying saucer shooting system is the preparation for this big business.
In 1973, Nintendo opened the nation's first large-scale light gun shooting range at a closed bowling alley. New entertainment facilities immediately triggered a new tide, and everyone wanted to play fresh. Bowling alleys across the country are closing in batches, and Yamauchi saw a good start, so he made a large number of shooting systems and acquired abandoned bowling alleys in major cities. Each bowling alley is equipped with a projector to show the mountains or the city, and users can use rifles to shoot flying targets on the projection. To this end, Yamauchi also established a company that sells and maintains optical flying saucer shooting systems: Nintendo Leisure System Co., Ltd. Nintendo Leisure Systems.
The picture shows the pomp and circumstance of the Nintendo Light Gun Shooting Range.
Nintendo Leisure Systems received many pre-orders, and in order to fulfill the order, Nintendo's factory went into full operation.
In October 1973, OPEC raised oil prices dramatically, triggering the first oil crisis. Japan, which relies on imports for more than 98 percent of its oil, immediately fell into recession, and recreational facilities became the first project to be curtailed. Nintendo Leisure Systems' orders were all reduced to air, and all orders were canceled. Nintendo lost 1 billion yen on this project. Hiroshi Yamauchi had to cancel the electronic flying saucer shooting project, and even worse, he had to pay off his debts. Fortunately, in 1970 Nintendo was already relisted on the Osaka Exchange, and shareholders continued to support Hiroshi Yamauchi's operations.
"I don't know how long I can hold on, but every day is like walking a tightrope," Yamauchi said. Although the Light Gun Pavilion project failed, the technology investment and sales channels at that time could be used for the next step of the arcade game business. Hiroshi Yamauchi, who decided to work deeply in the toy and entertainment market, believes that with the recovery of the economy, the entertainment industry will surely usher in the dawn again.
In 1974, Nintendo released an arcade game based on the miniaturized "Light Saucer Shooting System": Wild Gunman, Wild Gunman.
Pictured is the Wild Gunner.
Along with Wild Gunners, Nintendo also designed an adult game called Fascination. The protagonist of the game is not a cowboy, but a European woman in an evening dress. She would dance on the projector. When posed, the player shoots her dress until she is completely naked, and the game is never released to the public.
Pictured is the Fascination game.
In 1975, Nintendo released the EVR Race developed by Genhiro Takeda, an arcade game that randomly switches screens.
Genyo Takeda and Nintendo R&D
Genyo Takeda was born in Osaka on March 7, 1949. He graduated from Shizuoka Government University in Honshu with a degree in electronics. In 1971, at the age of 22, Takeda joined Nintendo to develop the failed light gun shooting range project in Masayuki Uemura's R&D2 team.
Research and development (R&D) for short.
After 9 years at R&D2, Takeda was appointed to form R&D3 and served as the general manager of R&D3's division. R&D3 is Nintendo's smallest R&D division, primarily working on hardware design and software development for arcade systems and subsequent home consoles. For example, the memory card switch of the later Nintendo console, R&D3 will make a series of games in the future.
Nintendo's R&D department is very complex, and the simple names are R&D1, R&D2, R&D3. R&D1 is an abbreviation for Nintendo Research & Development No. 1 Department.
In 1972, Nintendo set up its own R&D department, with Junhei Yokoi as the general manager of the R&D center. In 1978, the R&D department was divided into two: R&D1 and R&D2. R&D1 continues to be led by Junhei Yokoi, while R&D2 is led by Masayuki Uemura. Led by Masayuki Uemura, R&D2 has developed a series of home console products.
R&D3 is a research and development team led by Genyo Takeda.
Pictured: R&D1 Junpei Yokoi.
Pictured is R&D2 Masayuki Uemura.
The picture shows R&D3 Takeda Genyo.
These are the three fiercest of Nintendo's fiercest generals.
One less.
Yamauchi changed his name to the incident and the arcade business
In 1977, Hiroshi Yamauchi flipped through the phone book at home and found that many people had the same names as himself, so he changed his name: Yamauchi.
In 1978, Nintendo released Arcade: A Computer Board Game. In the beginning, Nintendo's level of making original games was not high, and it needed to get licenses from other game companies to produce arcade machines.
In 1978, the Space Invaders of Taitung were released. It was Nintendo's unattainable superstar, when Japan's 100-dollar coin was out of stock, and an overwhelming crowd of people lined up in front of the space invaders arcade. In order to grab money, many manufacturers can produce space invaders games without the authorization of Taidong. Similarly, Nintendo released a product that was very similar to the Space Invaders: Space Fever, a space fanatic.
Pictured is a Nintendo space fanatic.
For Taidong's products to be copied in large quantities, Yamauchi said: "The gameplay is not patented. Therefore, if there is an idea that you want to copy, you can copy. In contrast, there is no right means to prevent plagiarism, and even if the invaders decline, computer-centric games will flourish. I think it's important to put aside the idea of secrecy and communicate with each other about the good things that have been developed. “
Yamauchi's claims changed later, and witnessing the collapse of the game market caused by Atari, he began to rethink the copyright issue of games.
Nintendo USA Corporation
In 1980, Yamauchi considered expanding his business to the United States, but because his son Katsuhito was still young, the matter fell to his eldest son-in-law, Shigeru Arakawa.
Arakawa is the second son of Arakawa Corporation. The Arakawa family is an ancient family that flourished in Osaka during the 1716 period (8 – 1736). Arakawa's older brother is the chairman of Arakawa Corporation, and the two sisters are married to university professors and physics professors, respectively. Arakawa's mother, Michi Ishihara, was a descendant of Emperor Uta of Japan in the 9th century. The Ishihara family owns the land and owns many copyrights. When Ishihara and Arakawa and Ichiro married, the two families jointly owned one-fifth of the land area of Kyoto City.
Arakawa graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University in 1968, and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with graduate studies. He joined Marubeni, a well-known Chaebol in Japan, in 1972 and was responsible for the sales of overseas hotels and office buildings in the Overseas Development and Construction Department.
In 1980, at the request of his father-in-law, Hiroshi Yamauchi, he formed the Nintendo American Company.
Yamauchi's family
Speaking of Yamauchi's son-in-law, I would like to add some stories about Yamauchi's family.
In 1950, Yamauchi's wife, Michiko, gave birth to their first child, Yoko Yamauchi. In 1957, the two of them had another daughter, Fujiko Yamauchi. The third child was a boy named Katsuhito Yamauchi.
Yamauchi's father, Inaba Shikanosuke (yamauchi Shika no Shō, who had abandoned his wife and son), had come back to visit his son, but Yamauchi refused to speak to him. Around 1956, Yamauchi's half-sister told Yamauchi that Shikachi had died of a stroke. He attended his father's funeral and also saw his father's wife and four daughters.
He had never seen his sisters before, and Yamauchi began to regret that he had not reconciled with his father during his lifetime. This is the same as Jobs who has seen his biological father, but does not know that it is his biological father, or he is still happier.
Yamauchi suffered for several months, cried a few times, and then went to his father's cemetery to visit his father.
I hope that this small episode can give everyone an understanding of the deep emotional world of Yamauchi.
Shigeru Miyamoto appears
Shigeru Miyamoto was born on November 16, 1952, in the garden department of a rural town northwest of Kyoto, Japan. His father, Miyamoto, taught English, and his mother, Hinata, was a housewife. When Miyamoto and Yamauchi were young, they had a good friendship.
The geography of the garden is complex, with rice paddies, gorges and rolling hills. Shigeru Miyamoto loves to explore around his home, and discovering bamboo forests and new small lakes will excite him. According to his recollections, the most exciting memory of his life was the discovery of a hole in the ground, which he plucked up the courage to explore with a homemade bamboo lantern. It is said that this was also his original inspiration for the design of The Legend of Zelda.
Shigeru Miyamoto did not like to learn, he loved art. Shigeru Miyamoto said that when he was a child, he especially wished that he would get a disease that would not hurt his life. This way he could stay in the hospital all the time and just paint. Shigeru Miyamoto's family takes a 1-hour train to Kyoto every few months to watch the latest movies as a pastime. Shigeru Komiyamoto's favorite movies to watch are Disney animations, such as Peter Pan and Snow White Work.
In 1970, Shigeru Miyamoto was admitted to Kanazawa Municipal Craft College, and for him, learning was not the main task. After 5 years in school, he graduated. Shigeru Miyamoto's main tasks at school were to draw manga and listen to music, rarely listening to lectures. He has long hair and doesn't like to take a shower, and his classmates think he might become a tramp.
Pictured here is Shigeru Miyamoto when he was young.
Shigeru Miyamoto didn't know what he wanted, he didn't want to go to work for the company, and he would become a manga artist after getting his degree.
In 1977, Shigeru Miyamoto received a degree in industrial design.
At that time, Nintendo was an important partner of Disney in Japan, and out of love for Disney, Shigeru Miyamoto asked his father to arrange for him to go to Nintendo for an interview. At that time, Nintendo was in short supply of engineers, technical talents like Junhei Yokoi and Masayuki Uemura, rather than artists. Despite this, Yamauchi agreed to interview Shigeru Miyamoto.
During the interview process between the two, Shigeru Miyamoto showed Yamauchi Ura his creative paintings, which impressed Yamauchi. He was hired to become Nintendo's first art-based employee who didn't understand technology.
The members of the Nintendo Gaming Team are finally made up, and the next story is the story of Nintendo's three-line battle in the family console, arcade machine and handheld.