If one Street Fighter becomes a hit, there will be thousands upon thousands of Street Fighters. Especially since the coin-consumption rate of Street Fighter is terrifying.
Generally speaking, since the main revenue for arcade games comes from the number of coins consumed, in order to get players to insert more coins, arcade games are designed not only to be fun but also to have maximum difficulty, pushing players to insert coin after coin.
Slot machines, coin pushers, claw machines, and the like are, of course, the fastest at consuming coins, but due to relevant laws and regulations, even in Japan, they cannot be set up in large numbers.
As for regular games.
How could side-scrolling arcade games ever compare to a fighting game like this!
Two people playing against each other—if they are bad, a game might be over in a minute. That's one coin inserted in a minute. In ten minutes, that's 2,000 yen spent, with both players having to insert coins.
There is no need for anyone to even calculate "Street Fighter Economics"; several old arcade game manufacturers had already keenly realized this problem.
This is a legal and compliant coin-guzzling giant!
Japan, Osaka.
Osaka is probably a place where hidden talents reside. Besides Capcom, another game company is also based here. Unlike Capcom, which has only recently emerged, this company had already entered the gaming industry in 1979 and established its own reputation.
While its profitability is certainly not on par with an anti-human company like Atlas, it is still a fairly well-known company in Osaka.
This company is called SNK.
It stands for "Shin Nihon Kikaku" (New Japan Project).
In 1987, SNK released several games, including Athena and Guerrilla War, which saw pleasing profitability.
At this moment, the SNK development department had gathered to discuss their next development plan.
"A fighting game, there is no doubt about this. Arcades everywhere are filled with Street Fighter, sucking in dozens of game coins every ten minutes. We should also make a fighting game!"
President Eikichi Kawasaki stated this conclusion very straightforwardly.
Although Eikichi Kawasaki is the president of a game company, like Kunio Taki, he doesn't look like a typical game company president.
Because Eikichi Kawasaki had been a professional boxer, after retiring, he used his wealth to successively open a cafe, a construction company, and invest in SNK.
Kawasaki looked at the programmers, game producers, and others before him.
"Street Fighter is the hottest thing on the market right now, so let's make something like it. But let's not make it exactly the same; let's add a few changes."
The group discussed, everyone chiming in at once.
"A fighting game system obviously can't exist without fighting."
"Street Fighter's combat mechanics are already quite well-made."
"Hmm... maybe there are shortcomings? For example, hit reaction."
"Street Fighter already has hit reaction. Not only that, but when doing combos, there's damage scaling, and the other player can even use Burst to escape."
"Can't you just defend the whole time?"
"The opponent can use throws to break through that."
"Throws can also be countered with throw techs, as long as you predict the opponent's throw."
"Street Fighter also has special moves, where you have to execute motion inputs with the joystick and buttons."
After the discussion, Eikichi Kawasaki fell into silence.
This Capcom is so devious! It seems like they've already implemented everything that could possibly be done in Street Fighter!
Almost every feature related to fighting games that they could think of could be found in Street Fighter.
After much thought, Eikichi Kawasaki suddenly asked, "Can't we just change the names? For example, if they call it 'throw tech,' we call it—'throw break'."
A staff member on the other side immediately raised their hand, "I've already checked. Capcom's parent company, Atlas, has registered the gameplay mechanics with the Tokyo Patent Office. The licensing fee is one yen."
Eikichi Kawasaki almost fainted on the spot.
That one yen was a real trap!
Anyone could afford one yen, but paying it would be an admission that their gameplay was based on theirs.
And if they didn't pay it? That would be even worse. If they didn't even pay one yen, yet the gameplay was the same, that wouldn't just be plagiarism!
"How could Atlas be so despicable!"
Eikichi Kawasaki rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.
However, contrary to his expression, the SNK developers were actually quite excited.
Because Street Fighter was so complete!
Looking at the game Street Fighter as a whole, it wasn't without reason that it had become such a trend during this period.
The coin-op rate is secondary; what's important is that Street Fighter provided a very complete fighting game system, covering everything from the interplay between throws and throw techs, to blocking, bursting, motion inputs, punishments, and the neutral game, etc.
These systems, one could say, have already set the benchmark for every subsequent fighting game.
"President, I don't think that one yen is not worth paying. Although paying this one yen is tantamount to admitting that SNK borrowed their gameplay, so what? This system is already so perfect that even if we tried to dream something up now, I'm afraid it would be hard to go beyond its scope; at most, we could only simplify it, not completely circumvent it."
"Atlas didn't register the fighting game gameplay, because gameplay cannot be registered. They registered the systems underpinning the gameplay, including a series of functions like throws, throw techs, and bursts. While we could try to circumvent this by changing the names, even then, anyone who knows what they're looking at would see right through it. Since that's the case, we might as well acknowledge Street Fighter's status as the pioneer and just obediently pay that one yen."
Another person also urged Eikichi Kawasaki: "Besides, it's Atlas, after all."
Eikichi Kawasaki sighed, tacitly consenting to this action.
"Then let's buy the license!"
He had to admit that Street Fighter really had created an iconic production. It was likely that future fighting games would never be able to move beyond its framework. All the systems related to fighting game mechanics seemed to have been perfected here as a template; any subsequent works could only simplify them, not completely avoid them.
From this perspective, even if Street Fighter hadn't been well-made, it would still absolutely hold the position of the founding father of the genre. You had to respect it.
Eikichi Kawasaki thought about it carefully, and he felt a little bitter.
What kind of rinky-dink company is Capcom? Kenzo Tsujimoto, screw you! You're just a boss who got kicked to the curb, how dare you flaunt your power in Osaka! It's all because you're being kept by Atlas!
Eikichi Kawasaki slammed his hand on the table.
"So boring! SNK wants to be kept, too!"
Tetsu Kobayashi had only set a licensing fee of one yen for the fighting game gameplay, which was effectively a kind of entry ticket.
If you bought it, you had the ticket; if you didn't, you wouldn't be able to come up with any other gameplay anyway.
In any case, it was impossible to design a system more perfect than Street Fighter's.
Konami, Namco, and even other smaller manufacturers sent in applications, which didn't surprise Tetsu Kobayashi.
However, he was quite surprised to receive an application from SNK.
He looked up at Takashi Nishiyama.
Takashi Nishiyama was a bit dazed by the look, but he still bowed in return to Tetsu Kobayashi.
Takashi Nishiyama is truly a man of high caliber. He developed Street Fighter 1 and Fatal Fury, having worked at both Capcom and SNK. He can be said to have inherited Capcom's glorious tradition of job-hopping, but at the same time, the title "father of fighting games" is well-deserved.
Speaking of which, SNK actually has a bit of history with Capcom. Back in the day, Capcom's boss, Kenzo Tsujimoto, teamed up with others to start IREM, only to be kicked out eventually, which led him to found Capcom.
Meanwhile, another boss of IREM, Yoshihiko Kodo, went on to invest in SNK.
So, the relationship between SNK and Capcom was actually quite hostile.
Moreover, both companies were based in Osaka.
The King of Fighters and Street Fighter could be called a sort of "Osaka Derby."
It's just that later on, Capcom did better and better, while SNK fared worse and worse, so the idea of a "derby" faded away.
"SNK, huh? At this point in time, it's definitely not The King of Fighters, but it's not Fatal Fury either, right?"
Kobayashi Tetsu didn't intend to get hung up on SNK here; if they wanted to buy it, he would just sell it to them.
He looked up at Takashi Nishiyama.
Takashi Nishiyama was a bit stunned by the gaze, but he still bowed back to Kobayashi Tetsu.
Anyway, gameplay mechanics cannot be trademarked. His move was nothing more than a high-profile declaration: no matter how good you guys make it, I am the original founder.
Anyway, game mechanics can't be trademarked. His move is nothing more than a high-profile announcement: no matter how well you guys do, I am the founding father.
Tetsu Kobayashi quite enjoyed playing The King of Fighters back in the day.
The King of Fighters '97, '98, 2002.
After that, Tetsu Kobayashi stopped playing arcade games.
The King of Fighters was more streamlined than Street Fighter, and the character designs were trendier, so there was a reason it became a hit.
However, Tetsu Kobayashi's only impression of The King of Fighters was Mai Shiranui.
He admitted that Athena Asamiya was a very cute girl. He could also appreciate the more elegant and mysterious type like Shermie, and getting whipped by Whip wouldn't be bad either. Come to think of it, Yuri Sakazaki, aside from her weak performance, had a rather sweet and cute character design as well.
Starting from Fatal Fury, the King of Fighters series introduced so many female characters.
But.
His little friend wouldn't listen to him.
After thinking for a long while, Tetsu Kobayashi finally spoke up.
"Nishiyama-kun."
"What is it, President Kobayashi?"
"Besides Capcom, there's another company in Osaka called SNK, right?"
Takashi Nishiyama's head snapped up.
Why are you asking about that!
Tetsu Kobayashi coughed twice. "If you have some free time, go take a look at SNK, do some research. Since you're both in Osaka, you should know the area well, right? If the situation is right, maybe we could invest in them."
Nishiyama recoiled instantly.
If SNK and Capcom ended up under the same parent company, always running into each other in Osaka—that would be a huge mess!
As a current Capcom employee, Nishiyama's conscience told him he should refuse. However, there was another voice deep inside him.
So what if I'm at Capcom! Anyway, I'm currently seconded to Atlus, and I might leave Capcom soon. I'm wearing an Atlus badge right now, after all!
So, Nishiyama quickly nodded.
It's just SNK! What's the big deal about checking them out?
Who knows, maybe we'll all be colleagues in the future!
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