Feature
The humble, sometimes innovative arcade days of today’s biggest game companies.
By Jess Ragan
Your favorite game developers didn’t start out big. In fact, they may not have even been making videogames when they first opened their doors. Over the next page or two, we’ll look at the origins of four industry giants, their first few actual videogames, and surprising revelations about their early years. What creative mastermind was hired purely by chance? What was the first game console sold by Nintendo? Which release was SNK’s first breakout success? The answers may surprise you!
Konami
Konami quickly made big splash in the videogame industry during the ’80s and onward, but back in the distant year of 1969, they were making smaller waves in the entertainment business by repairing and distributing jukeboxes. Founder Kagemasa Kozuki wisely made the transition to the arcade business after the explosive success of Taito’s Space Invaders in 1978. It was an even smarter move when you consider that the Sony’s Walkman cassette player was released just one year later — people could be a lot more reluctant to drop coins into a jukebox bolted to the floor when they could just take their favorite music with them wherever they went.
