LES MEMOIRES DU JEU VIDEO JAPONAIS - RACONTEES PAR 50 DEVELOPPEURS

At the end of the 1970s, Japan was on the verge of exploding in the best sense of the word. The country's economy was booming, ready to support the digital revolution that had already begun in California with the rise of the personal computer. Japanese electronics manufacturers were in awe, producing their own models, and soon machines like the NEC PC-8001 and Sharp MZ-80K were giving schoolchildren and students an introduction to programming. At the same time, Space Invaders was a worldwide success, and many software programmes were imported from the United States. Logically, our budding young programmers turned their attention to video games.

In the space of just ten years, Japan has taken the video game and put its own spin on it. This book aims to give a voice to some of the developers who have contributed to this movement. Some are well known, others less so. Some invented new genres, others enhanced existing ones. There have been friendships and rivalries, successes and failures. This overview is by no means exhaustive, and the testimonies gathered here should be taken for what they are: personal accounts of an era during which Japan redefined the notion of video games. An era of unbridled creativity, hard work and economic strategy, influenced by supply and demand, piracy and the ambition of an entire generation. This is the story behind Memories of Japanese Video Games.