History and Culture of Video Games in Japan I. Early History The beginning of video games came from many different people, trying to discover a new form of interactive entertainment, on many different mediums. Nolan Bushnell, one of the founders of Atari, had visions of arcades filled with computer games, but decided that this was too expensive. But as computers became cheaper and with the advent of CRT monitors, the dream became a reality. Released in 1971, Pong, a relatively simple game to design and also to play, was an instant hit. After witnessing Pong’s success, many other companies tried to jump on board. Magnavox and Coleco made home video games and consoles, and Nintendo began making arcade games in Japan. Several years later, Space Invaders was released by Midway, and caused coin shortages in Japan. Asteroids was also a widely popular game, and in 1980, Namco released Pac-Man, the most popular arcade game of all time. In 1981, Nintendo released Donkey Kong to make their first move toward producing games in the US. Several years later, many of the video game companies were locked in a race to produce the fastest machines with the best graphics, and the competition drove several of them into the ground. Atari produced E.T. (possibly the worst game of all time), and lost a lot of money from the game. Atari would continue to make games and consoles over the next twenty years, but it would never regain its past reputation. At the same time, Nintendo is producing the Famicom in Japan, its first home game console. When it is apparent to Nintendo that the American industry is falling apart, Nintendo decides to produce the Famicom (renamed the NES “Nintendo Entertainment System”) in America. It debuts with Super Mario Bros. in 1986, and is very popular. After Nintendo has a successful launch of the NES, Sega decides to make consoles and games in America and Japan. They release the Genesis, and then the Saturn some years later, but can never keep up with Nintendo’s success and eventually decide to stick to making games only. Other companies, including Tonka and 3DO, try making consoles and games but have limited success. Nintendo dominates the market again in 1991 by releasing the Super Famicom (SNES in America). Nintendo enjoys its huge successes in America and Japan for several years. Then, in 1995, Japanese company Sony decides to jump onto the scene
by releasing the PlayStation. It was quite successful, with a good number of sales and some strong games to go with it. Since then, Sony has been tough competition for Nintendo’s control of the video game market in both North America and Japan. II. Modern Era N64/Playstation/Dreamcast generation: This generation marked the beginning of Nintendo’s fall from power as the number one video game system manufacturer. Riding on two generations of success, Nintendo put out the Nintendo 64 with a strong launch featuring Goldeneye, one of the most acclaimed first person shooters of all time, Super Mario 64, considered to this day to be one of the greatest of the series, and, a while later, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, considered one of the greatest games of all time. However, despite these titles and a few other large titles, there was not a large amount of third party developer support and thus not a constant stream of games. Sony, which had launched the PlayStation in Japan in America a while before Nintendo put out the Nintendo 64, was already establishing a strong library of games with a consistent flow of strong titles, including the acclaimed Metal Gear Solid series. Also, Sony had acquired an exclusive deal with Square, allowing them all of that generation’s Final Fantasy titles, including Final Fantasy 7, another game considered to be one of the greatest games ever created. Also with this, Sony’s support of the CD worked in their favor, and a lower price tag led them to be the victor of that generation. Last Generation: Sony, continuing to ride on the coat tails of the PlayStation’s success, created and released the PlayStation 2. Although the launch was not very strong, and it was plagued with problems of undersupply, robberies, and bad memory cards, it’s library continued to grow strongly. It also had the advantage of backwards compatibility (not featured in any other console to date) allowing owners to play any PlayStation game on the PlayStation 2. Its adoption of a DVD drive also helped its growth, as it doubled as a DVD player. Nintendo’s counter consisted of the Gamecube, which was technically weaker but cheaper. However, Nintendo suffered from the same problem as last generation: a lack of a strong library of games and droughts of few game releases between the big name games. Between this, and a growing image problem resulting from this (people began to see the Gamecube as more of a kid’s console, since most games released by Nintendo were not bloody and violent), Nintendo’s success in this generation was very limited, while Sony pulled ahead with an enormous library of games, and, in the end, over 100 million consoles sold. Microsoft’s Xbox also appeared in this generation, performing better than the Gamecube overall, but performing very poorly in
the Japanese market. Current Generation: Nintendo and Sony released their consoles at around the same time in 2006, nearly a year after the Xbox360 (the current generation Microsoft console). Both consoles had been known to the public for a while before the launch, and Nintendo had built up a strong basis with its innovative new motion-sensing controller and the promised of the next Zelda game at launch. The PlayStation 3, Sony’s attempt, however came with more doubt. Although it has a massive computational potential, its high price tag ($600 for the non-striped down version) and Sony’s inclusion of a Blu-Ray player (raising the price and lowering the supply, while betting on a new format that would not necessarily gain dominance) made consumers wary. Both launches were plagued with a lack of supply, and the PlayStation 3’s launch was surrounded by robberies and shootings. Nintendo’s launch consisted of mainly next Legend of Zelda game, which is now considered at least the second best game of the series, if not the best, and Wii Sports, a game designed around playing simple sport games (such as tennis and boxing) using the motion sensing controller. PlayStation’s launch feature of Resistance: Fall of Man, but no other title caught people’s attention. Between Sony’s lackluster launch titles and the Play Station 3’s high price tag, demand soon dwindled. However, the Wii thrived, even with few other large games released, and is still very difficult to get, having almost reached the same amount of sales as the XBOX360 with less than half the time in the market. III. Japanese Video Game Culture Current trends in gaming: Handheld systems have become the dominant gaming systems over the larger mainstream consoles. Companies such as Nintendo and Sony are appealing to the on-the-go nature of the Japanese lifestyle, in addition to creating games and systems that are easily accessible and playable by all demographics. In a culture of advanced electronics with an ever increasing trend to miniaturization of electronic devices, items like portable gaming systems and all-in-one cell phones are hot commodities. Since most large cities have an integrated mass transit system, portable, handheld gaming systems and phones lend themselves well to being played on trains and buses. Additionally, since cell phones are so pervasive in Japan, the cell phone video game market is decidedly larger and more complex than the U.S. market. While the North American market thrives on genres such as first person shooters and sports titles, Japanese interests have traditionally been in RPGs (role-playing games), dating simulations, and games that focus on characters
and stories taken from either manga or anime. First person shooter games originally came from PCs; the home PC market in Japan is not as extensive as the U.S., so PC-type games are not as popular. Fighting games and sports games (soccer) are also fairly popular as well. Dating simulations and music-type games (Dance Dance Revolution and Beatmania) are not very popular in the United States; however the music type games seem to be slowly becoming more popular, with the advent of games like Guitar Hero. While Japan and the United States do not hold all the same interests in game genres, there are certain games that bridge the culture gap. Such games like Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney in the U.S.) and Brain Age, a simple exercise game for the mind, are extremely popular both in Japan and in America. Additionally, video arcades are much more popular in Japan than in the United States, where arcades are in decline. Also, since space is at a premium in Japan, arcades are usually much larger, multi-story buildings with various games on each floor. Fighting games, such as the venerable Street Fighter and Tekken, are usually present, in addition to music simulation games like Beatmania and Dance Dance Revolution. Like the home consoles, arcades have many popular games based on anime shows and manga. Each floor usually has a theme: fighting games, music games, games of chance (like claw machines) etc. Japanese video game history and culture is both fun and exciting. It is the basis for many of the great franchises and games that exist today in the United States and Europe. As time goes by and our cultures blend more and more, one can hope that video games will be a useful tool in both teaching and understanding one another, in addition to providing a virtual world for people to play in.