What if this had happened in gaming?

If you found this web-site, welcome. It’s very obscure, hidden away in a little corner of the Inter-Connected Network (Internet) and hosted by Angelfire, so I doubt many people will ever read my strange articles of an alternative universe of the video game industry. However, it is here. This is version two, as the first version was just made to give people a taste of the imagination I have.

No pictures or graphics of any kind are displayed in this web-site, as I rely solely on data that has already existed in either magazine or digital form. This web-site is for the highly educated in the video game industry, which is inter-connected with the computer industry, and now the movie industry. If such information doesn’t exist in your memory to recall or produce the strict possibilities that I propose, then this cheap, simple web-site is not for you. I write this only for the educated, to ask the question of, “What if . . .”

Lastly, please note the way I write Anglo-American (not English). I write very properly, with proper words in the proper places. I write for an educated elite that the Marxist Democrats and Communist Republicans of America have done their damn best to destroy. Too bad for them that I exist, and I’m educating more like me. Look at it this way, as long as there are people like me in this world, people like that always finish last (that’s why they became politicians).

To contact me about any possibilities, and I may post your e-mails (no spam, death threats or stupidity will be accepted), just send the e-mail to: thematrixmainframeisatapedrive@yahoo.com

Links:

www.classicgaming.com

www.planetgamecube.com

www.007forver.com

www.classigaming.com/castlevania

www.workingdesigns.com

The first system on this hit-list is the NEC TurboGrafx-16. I was going to do one on the possibility of a strange Federal computer law, but I’ll save that for later. The theories of the TurboGrafx-16 will be more fun (for me) to start this site from, and will demonstrate how I will go about from this point on-ward.

NEC TurboGrafx-16

Reality Check: 1987 (Japan) until 1997 (Japan). 1989 (America) until 1993 (America).

In 1983, Nintendo released the FamiCom in Japan, an version of the ColecoVision featuring a better graphics chip and more RAM than any computer has ever been built with up to that point in time. Many of the internal silicon semi-conductors inside the FamiCom and Nintendo’s Game and Watch series of portable games were manufactured by mostly three Asian companies: NEC, Motorola (Japanese division), and Samsung. The main CPU of the FamiCom, which is made by Motorola, is the same as the ColecoVision and a few other home computers at the time, like the Apple II and Apple Lisa. Even certain early IBM compatible computers were using Motorola CPUs instead of Intel and AMD. However, in Japan, this was not the situation, where PCs were made by NEC, not IBM. In 1985, NEC computers in Japan were using Windows 1.0 as the main OS, and NEC was supplying the chips for the majority of Japanese electronics. Even though the CPU of the FamiCom was a Motorola micro-chip, the other chips were mostly made by NEC, and the game cartridges by Samsung. Even with a new computer format, MSX, now competing against NEC’s PC line, NEC is still (as of this writing) the second largest electronics manufacturer and producer in the world, following right behind Panasonic, and followed by Samsung, Philips Magnavox and RCA General Electric. Sony is like tenth is world ranking or something.

(Funny how Americans, and employees of Sony, will dispute this till their blue. Off topic, but when a person is dead wrong, they will pull “facts” out of their ass while I’ll just throw down one report from Wall Street or a financial analyst’s office and walk away. They’ll scream their last words at me, and I’ll be moving on, since I already proven my fact, not facts. I don’t need facts when I’m right. Too bad more wrong people exist in America than the right. You can give thanks to the Marxist Democrats and Communist Republicans for that, via the illegal public education systems that exist.)

In 1986, Nintendo, readying a nation-wide American release of the FamiCom (now named the Nintendo for America), has doubts about NEC’s intention as a chip supplier for them. Nintendo’s president reports that NEC is in the best position to topple their new FaimCom imperium because all of the computer chips can be manufactured by them, except the cartridges. Though this worries Nintendo, the American release of the FamiCom is the top priority for them and their financial focus shifts to our market. Meanwhile, in Japan, NEC joins forces with a producer of Nintendo games, Hudson Soft, and they jointly design a console based on the same processor the Nintendo and ColecoVision has. NEC simply adds a 16-bit graphics processor that can do 256 colors. Though this number is disputed by FAQs on the TurboGrafx-16 and programmers, I have never seen any game on the PC Engine or TurboGrafx-16 push past this. If the machine could do more colors, why did all the games released after the introduction of both the Mega Drive and Super FamiCom look so pale and dithered? E-mail me if you have an answer to this, because I do know the technical/programming answer. Anyways, though, NEC also adds a better sound processor and adds more RAM to the machine than what was needed at the time. It is powerful enough to port software over from the NEC PCs, and has future expansion capabilities. The PC Engine is released in 1987 in Japan, and crushes the FamiCom and Mark III in a matter of months.

Looking to make better, cheaper games, NEC creates the HuCard, and starts looking into CD-ROM technology. FamiCom went with a floppy disc, which has run-away piracy. NEC knows that CD-Rs are quite expensive in the ‘80s, so using CDs as the next form of media for the PC Engine is a natural. However, Pioneer gives them a call about using LaserDisc. NEC declines, as Japanese gamers live mostly in small houses. LaserDisc players are quite large, and NEC doesn’t see it as practical either in cost or size. Pioneer will get back to them, though. NEC does give Philips Magnavox a call about MPEG codecs. A deal is made and the first Japanese movies start to appear on VCDs in MPEG-1. NEC doesn’t like the idea of switching discs in the middle of the movie, and in 1988, Sony, NEC and Philips creates MPEG-2 and MPEG-3. MPEG-2 can do DVD quality movies (with menus and features) on one CD, also holding 4:20 hours on a single disc. MPEG-3 is being used in the NEC CD games for music and sound, which NEC points out that in high-quality, MPEG-3 can hold 12 hours of music on a single disc, so games should have zero problems will great music and sound. All manufacturers of the old VCD players release NEC’s upgrade cartridge, and NEC is now ready to release the CD-ROM System 2 in Japan. Hudson steps in, and asks NEC to do a machine for America, to compete with Nintendo and Sega in that market, too. While NEC plans that, the CD-ROM System 2 is released with the MPEG-1/2/3 card and system ROM/RAM in a HuCard that allows the PC Engine to play the software. Though the price is somewhat steep for many Japanese, by the end of the year, many Japanese own the CD-ROM unit along side the PC Engine.

In America, NEC thinks for a moment about how to get to a mass market in a Mario-dominated playing field. They have no mascot. NEC notices how this has hurt Sega, and asks Hudson to ditch the Nintendo license they have. Hudson agrees, and NEC buys the rights to Adventure Island and signs a deal with Tengen to supply games for the upcoming TurboGrafx-16. It is now May 1988. Tengen’s deal with NEC is converting Sega’s arcade library to the TurboGrafx-16, enhanced to the system’s capabilities. Hudson suggests in June that NEC needs 15 launches titles that make the Nintendo look cheap and that the HuCard with the MPEG-1/2/3 and CD-ROM System 2 ROM/RAM be included on the motherboard of the American version. Hudson then obtains the rights to all Taito and Technos Japan games for conversion to PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16. Though some won’t be ready until Christmas, Hudson focuses on two games in particular: Operation Wolf and Double Dragon. NEC has a plan, and takes a que from Nintendo: Nintendo is offering the Action Set with Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt with two controllers, a light gun, A/V cables and an RF switch for $99.99. NEC discusses the plan with Hudson, who tells them that they’re going to take a loss in hardware, but gain in software, since NEC, Hudson, and Tengen will be doing all of the games for a few years in America. NEC agrees, and decides to launch the TurboGrafx-16 with two games, Adventure Island and Operation Wolf, in one CD-styled Turbochip case, two controllers, a TurboTap, a light gun, A/V cables and an RF switch. NEC calls this deal the Extreme Set (at $149.99), and released it in July along with 15 other games: Double Dragon, Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, Tetris (Tengen version), Pac-Land, Castlevania (by Hudson, which is just Haunted Castle converted), Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (by Hudson, but it looks like the deluxe version on PC that I know of), King’s Quest (by Sierra and Hudson, and it’s been Japanimated), After Burner, Mega Man (by NEC, greatly enhanced), Street Fighter, Ultima Collection (first three games in the seires, by NEC and Origin on one gigantic 1 MB Turbochip, supervised by Lord British himself), Final Fantasy (by Hudson and Square together), Monopoly/Clue double pack (two cards, one case), and Contra (by Hudson, now arcade perfect). NEC wants to wait until Christmas for the CD-ROM in America, and wants to get it in at only $49.99 with a movie and game packed in. Hudson starts work on the CD game and NEC obtains the rights to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? for the pack-in. Sierra talks to NEC, and convinces them to Japanimate King’s Quest II-IV, and include II and III on one Turbochip, like the Ultima Collection. King’s Quest IV gets a Christmas release. Disney signs a deal, and starts releasing VCDs with their animated classics, which people will soon discover works just fine in the upcoming CD-ROM unit.

In September, electronic stores report that the TurboGrafx-16 is a hit, and is the number one selling system, even with the release of Super Mario Bros. 2. Nintendo can’t figure it out. How could this happen? The number one selling game is Double Dragon, followed by King’s Quest, Ultima Collection, Final Fantasy, and Contra. Electronic Arts releases the first John Madden Football, aided by NEC and Hudson both, and released a year earlier than in our universe. Double Dribble is also released, as is many other sports titles. Many Nintendo games are converter and enhanced, the flood of PC translations and arcade translations never stops. By Christmas ’88, the TurboGrafx-16 has 150 games on Turbochips and goes one step further when NEC and Sega jointly release a converter cartridge that converts Master System games to play on TurboGrafx-16. NEC, not wanting to lose any money, releases two more converters: a 2600 converter and a Nintendo converter. The Nintendo converter angers Nintendo, and they sue NEC, which is thrown out a week after Thanksgiving. Now, TurboGrafx-16 owners can play Super Mario Bros. 2 on their systems. Disney agrees to not release Roger Rabbit on VHS for a year after the CD-ROM’s release in America. This drives sales of the CD-ROM unit up. Hudson surprises everybody by releasing Dragon’s Lair I and II as the pack-in with the CD unit, and making it onto one CD. Commercials and ads are everywhere, and NEC and Sega come-up with a slogan, “Turbo Does what Nintendon’t.” NEC stuns everybody when, the day after Thanksgiving, bundle units of the Extreme Set with the CD unit are sold at only $199.99. NEC also releases a PC ISA card that converts a PC or Tandy into a TurboGrafx-16, by adding an MCGA graphics card and doubles as a sound card. Tandy, in 1989, starts to include the card as standard on their PCs. Everything appears on the up and up for the TurboGrafx-16. Right before the end of the year, Sega announces the cancellation of the Genesis and Mega Drive system to focus on their new partnership with NEC in the Turbo and PC games business.

1990 is a year in which the game industry is quiet, but the console leader shifts, like it had in Japan. Pioneer releases LaserDisc players about to play Turbo games and movies, and Windows 3.0 gets a VCD player and VGA support, dithering the movies and games down to 256 colors. Konami unleashes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the arcade and NEC announces a modem for the Turbo. Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros. 3 in America, and a slight boost in NES sales is seen, but, because of NEC’s “unofficial” adaptor, many Turbo owners by the NES cartridge and play it on their systems. By the end of 1990, Nintendo announces a CD-ROM for the regular NES, but this is a bluff and is called by Electronic Gaming Monthly and GamePro just as that.

At Winter CES 1991, Konami announces that Ninja Turtles Arcade is going to a home console. Which home console is unknown at the time, but Nintendo nabs the rights first, and puts in a security chip into the game to prevent it from playing on Turbo machines. In February, the game is released on the NES with the chip and will not play on adapted Turbo machines. The consumers strike back by returning the carts as defective to the stores they bought the game at. In May, Konami releases an enhanced version of the original arcade game on the Turbo CD, and that kills Nintendo’s 8-bit business altogether. In September, the X-Band 28.8 kbps modem arrives for the Turbo, and players get to send e-mails, messages and play over the Internet for the first time. NEC charges only $4.95 a month, or allows players to use their existing ISPs, even AOL, on the modem. Also in September, Nintendo releases the Super NES, but it can’t move systems anymore. Magazines report and bash the system, writing that Nintendo should’ve released an add-on CD-ROM unit for the regular Nintendo. The game is over for Nintendo, and by the end of 1992, Nintendo cancels the Super NES and liquidates their stock at a super low price. 1992 is a good year for NEC, though no advances are made other than Sanyo and Yamaha’s development of a 1.4 GB CD which NEC quickly licenses for Turbo use.

1993 in the year full-motion video games flood Turbo CD. Turbochips are still made, mainly for the TurboExpress portable game console. Atari lets Tengen translate all Lynx games over to the TurboExpress, and NEC pulls corruption again by creating a Game Boy adaptor for the TurboExpress. Nobody, though, saw what Nintendo does in September: Nintendo 3DO. NEC thinks nothing of it at first. Until the first games start to come out. Fully rendered polygons, a 2x CD-ROM, a codec able to hold 2.8 GB per disc, JPEG video compression, MPEG-4/5/6 for video, MPEG-3/7/8 for sound, a 56.6 kbps modem, broadband support (thought years away), a Turbo CD emulator (because NEC never filed an original patent), memory cards using Turbochips, and Microsoft Windows 3.9 CE. The machine is such a joy to program for, many companies license up for development. Atari jumps ship, as does Sierra, Electronic Arts, and Working Designs. Square makes Final Fantasy VI on the 3DO, and makes it pale the Turbo CD version. Sega gripes to NEC about how the Turbo CD can’t even do games like Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter. And Namco is developing a racing game, Ridge Racer, on 3DO hardware. Sony and NEC hold a summit, and declare the PlayStation 32X add-on for the TurboGrafx-16. Sega and Sony work closely to develop the bulky thingy, and creates two versions, one for the consoles and one for the ISA cards inside of PCs. The console version is a small cart that sticks on the back of the TurboBoosters, and adds everything we see a PlayStation can do in our world, more or less. The PC version goes through a serial port, and works the same way. Pretty simple. By Christmas of 1993, Nintendo and NEC battle it out, and Donkey Kong Country smashes the PlayStation 32X at first, but a surge in sales, plus Virtua Racing as the pack-in game, puts the race at a dead heat.

1994 sees Nintendo announcing the Jaguar, an add-on for the 3DO that will make it a 64-bit system. Produced by Atari, Nintendo is confident in the upgrade carts success. NEC quickly calls Sega to enhance the PlayStation 32X, and Sega tells them to release the Saturn module, which will upgrade the X-band to 56.6 kbps, add a serial port, and make the PlayStation 32X cart 64-bit as well. EGM runs an article about these crazy upgrades going on in the console business, but, despite their opinion, the Saturn is a success with Virtua Fighter as the pack-in. Ridge Racer goes for a September release on the consoles, and is released on both Turbo CD (will upgrades) and 3DO (with upgrades). The companies only sell bundles, and everything is bundled. Prices are dirt cheap (NEC’s TurboGrafx-16 Super Extreme set is Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter on one 5.6 GB CD, with two controllers and a TurboTap, 5 classic Turbochip games, three movies, and the add-ons for $99.99, while Nintendo’s 3DO and its one add-on is also $99.99, with 5 games, also.) Another Christmas is a dead heat, with Nintendo still at second.

1995-1998 are the lackluster years. All games are released for both systems, and both systems are redesigned into one, slim unit per company. Windows 95 is released, and Nintendo releases a 3DO card for computers, too. Game Boy Color is also released, but all is quiet. The good news is that both gaming giants are doing very well, with Nintendo always in a close second place. By July 1998, the CDs on the consoles are at a huge 34 GB in compression (no DVDs in this strange universe). Games are better than ever. Imagine 7 times more games, with 28 times the quality of our best games for these denizens. In 1999, though, one game will kill Nintendo.

Metal Gear Solid. NEC has it, along with Crazy Taxi and SoulCalibur. Nintendo has no hope, but counters with the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and some lackluster games. It doesn’t matter by then, and 3DO sales slip further down, down, down. By Christmas, Nintendo is talking a new console with Sony. The GameCube. NEC counters with Dreamcast, co-designed by Sega. Both offer 100% backwards compatibility with their current systems. Both are released in 2000, at Christmas-time. The TurboGrafx-16 is discontinued in 2003, and the 3DO in 2000. The new console war wages, in a strange, different universe.

Next system is the Philips/Magnavox/Memorex CD-i multimedia systems.