While the Puyopuyos were wreaking havoc in the arcade known as the Bayoen,
Super Thomas 2 was leveling homes to the ground.
“Both of you! Stop gaming and eat your meals!”
“Wait! Just a minute, Mom! I’m almost done with this!”
“Yeah, honey! Just this and I’ll be right there.”
Many families were buying Super Thomas 2 for their kids, only to find fathers getting sucked into the game as well.
It was only natural for Super Thomas 2 to show such overwhelming power.
The game it was built upon, Super Mario 3, remained a historic title that consistently ranked among the top ten for decades since its release.
This Super Mario 3 established the world map, course themes, and various transformations and actions of Mario.
The subsequent Super Mario series had plenty of fun games, but everyone agreed that the foundation was laid by Super Mario 3.
To start with, transformations had been significantly expanded.
Not just raccoons, but hammers, frogs, and boots turned into a plethora of power-up items, allowing players to enjoy new power-ups across different worlds.
The themed environments were also diverse—plains, deserts, coastlines, skies, ice, and nearly every conceivable setting was available.
On top of that, there were hidden areas unlocked through special actions like sitting or jumping, creating even more engaging exploration elements.
It was the concentrated product of fun,
and that was Super Mario 3, with Super Thomas 2 being built on top of it.
In a way, the success of Super Thomas 2 was to be expected.
“This game is also a huge success, Master.”
“Of course it is! Look at what kind of game it is!”
A week had passed since the game was released.
I and Jiren were at the Harmon Game Store, watching the crowd and chatting.
Harmon Game Store in Zephia was still packed with countless gamers and tourists trying to purchase Super Thomas 2 and Puyopuyo.
Watching the delighted faces of people who were excited to play the game at home made me happy too.
“But Master, why are we here every day watching people? We’ve confirmed the games are selling well, isn’t that enough?”
“I’ve seen enough, but that’s not what I’m interested in right now.”
I had come to the game store every day for a week since the game’s release.
Naturally, I wasn’t just indulging in my fandom.
[Market Research]
To be more specific, I was checking how well the gaming market was developing.
It had been over a year since I created my first game, heading towards two years now.
Since a year in this world is 20 months, I could safely say that essentially, 3 to 4 years had passed.
During that time, not only the games made by the Irene School but also those from various game schools had come out, delighting people.
After the Legend Fighter incident, many serious gamers emerged.
An increase in gamers was fantastic for me as a game developer.
However, there was a problem.
Just as in every place where people lived, gamers always exceeded developers’ imaginations.
And this place was no exception.
“There’s just nothing to do!”
“Didn’t you just buy Super Thomas 2?”
“I cleared it ages ago!”
The speed at which users were consuming content was insane.
I had seen many people in my previous life who played games for 20 hours a day and still expected them to be fun like rabbit dugongs.
One of the most memorable was a user who was constantly logged in for four years, excluding maintenance times.
With a total connection time of 33,002 hours, what on earth was that person up to?
And the situation was the same in this world.
Not rabbit dugongs, but perhaps buff dugongs or warrior dugongs—people who were fiercely devoted to their games,
and I knew from my past experiences what kind of game would satisfy them.
The gaming market was indeed maturing.
*
The Yura Republic was a country bordering the eastern side of the Zers Empire.
The main races were humans, beastkin, and dwarves, with its most notable feature being its advanced “Magical Engineering.”
Born from the concept that “magic can manipulate mechanical devices and magic stones,” magical engineering, while less powerful than magic, provided much inspiration for magical tools that could be used by people without or with little magic.
For example, the magic scrolls that Yuren created for spells and crystal balls were influenced by magical engineering.
Games had also infiltrated this land of magical engineering and naturally caused a massive cultural shock.
Moreover, since the Yura Republic was trading well with the Zers Empire, they could introduce game crystal balls more quickly than the Kingdom of Ra.
Initially, the magical engineers in the Yura Republic saw the game crystal balls as a waste of Zers Empire’s talent.
Constructing a world by applying “Void Magic,”
Applying various physical law magics like “Gravity Magic” to establish physical laws,
and compressing that so it could be used in the crystal balls without damaging the compressed magic power,
it was a product with immense magical technology, and it was the first time they had seen something of such technological caliber, except for the protective barrier known as “Zers Barrier Stone,” which protected major cities in the Zers Empire.
However, as the magical engineers tried to analyze the game crystal balls, they began to experience startling phenomena.
First, their time seemed to disappear.
They clearly started Tetric on a Monday, but when they came to their senses, it was Sunday.
What they thought was an hour turned out to be seven hours that had vanished.
This was the same for other magical engineers who used the game crystal balls.
One magical engineer who played Super Thomas was found after three days in his room, having quit eating and speaking only about Princess Apple… Princess Apple!
A dwarven team assigned to analyze Legend Fighter realized what they truly wanted to do and left together to train in the “Irene Arena.”
At first, they thought the game crystal balls might be enchanted with illusions or mind control spells, but none were discovered.
Only then did the magical engineers of the Yura Republic shudder at the fearsome conspiracy of the Zers Empire.
The Zers Empire was beginning to invade the Yura Republic with the terrifying weapon of the game crystal balls.
No aggressive magic was detected or used, but the creation of crystal balls that only a top-tier wizard could craft was simply inexplicable.
It was a grand plot to waste the time of the Yura Republic’s people and turn the nation into a cultural and economic vassal through its wealth.
Surely, it was the scheming of the cunning queen of the Zers Kingdom and her advisor Herness.
They could not just sit back and let this happen.
However, taking physical action was difficult without evidence, and the people of the Yura Republic would hardly be convinced.
Would they really start a war because the games were too fun?
They would be met with stones from their citizens questioning their sanity.
Thinking this way, the Yura Republic gathered its magical engineers and decided to act.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,
and to ‘game’ with a ‘game’.
“So, how is the game crystal ball development coming along, Howard?”
“It’s going well, Dean Einhardt.”
In the meeting room of the Yura Magical Society,
Dean Einhardt, with his dry white hair and piercing gaze, listened intently to Professor Howard, who had a robust brown-haired build.
“Just going well isn’t enough; you remember how many of the first game crystal balls sold in the empire, right?”
Professor Howard’s team had created a game using magical engineering.
They had hacked Tetric to create a game where users could get a straight block at any time they wanted.
A perfect game that catered to users’ complaints,
but sadly, it only sold 30 copies (purchased by Yuren) and ended up failing miserably, teaching Professor Howard just how critical fun was in a game.
“Of course, Dean. After that, our team thoroughly analyzed the game crystal balls and worked to create a masterpiece that could be sold in the Zers Empire.”
“Go on, keep talking.”
Professor Howard continued his presentation.
On his presentation screen were images of citizens of the empire playing Super Thomas.
“The market research showed that the most sold game in the Zers Empire was ‘Super Thomas.’ So, we aimed to create a similar game.”
“And?”
The next screen showed the protagonist Thomas from Super Thomas.
“Strangely enough, the main character had a mustached old man. We decided to differentiate ourselves by adding cute animal characters.”
“Good, not bad.”
Then a graph appeared.
It seemed to be a survey of what made Super Thomas fun, detailing elements like jumping, power-ups, hidden fields, etc.
“Finally, to stand apart from Super Thomas, we added the most crucial new element of ‘speed.’”
“Speed?”
“Yes! Watching Super Thomas, people seemed to enjoy running fast. We specialized that speed to enhance the game.”
The screen Howard displayed featured the game visuals and what appeared to be a machine used to create it.
“All of this was possible thanks to our academy’s genius, Sora, who developed the magical engineering device.”
“Very good, so what’s the name of this game?”
The final screen appeared.
There it was, a blue rabbit speeding through the stage, and Howard spoke.
“It’s called ‘Speed Rabbit,’ Dean.”
