Dragon Steps

    It's 1986, Japan is booming with all sorts of programs called video games. These softwares are back to life thanks to a toy company named Nintendo. After what appeared to be an eternity of a business crash for developers around the globe, Nintendo releases a machine called the Family Computer (Famicom for short) during June of 1983. They later release the Machine for North America in 1985 as the Nintendo Entertainment System (Different look and colour scheme). After multiple hits like Super Mario Bros and Zelda no Densestu (The Legend of Zelda for America) are sold for the system,  a developer enters the fray to provide a new experience that would change video game history forever.

    Enix Corporation,  known for their anime, mangas and toys at the time, are looking into developing a new game for the Famicom after multiple ideas from a programming contest were transformed into game cartridges for Japan's gamer market. Fantasy stories were becoming more popular due to anime and manga. One of them, later to become Japan's most popular Anime of all time, was created by a Japanese mangaka by the name of Akira Toriyama. Mr Toriyama was friends with Yuji Horri who worked as a Weekly Shonen Jump (Manga magazine) journalist at the time. Mr Horri, being hired by Enix, requested that Dragon Ball's artist, Mr Toriyama, be hired as Concept Artist by Enix to design medieval characters and fantasy monsters. At the time, Enix had received a fan letter from Koichi Sugiyama for a previous game they released for home computers. They later requested he join them as the music composer in the development journey for a game called Dragon Quest.

    November 1990, Nintendo Power magazine starts a campaign where people can get their hands on a free copy of a new Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) cartridge when subscribing to their 12 month plan. 9 Million letters are sent out throughout America in a special envelope to promote this campaign: (Source)

What I did not know at the time, being born the month before, was that my dad would be one of the 9 Million people who got the message. He would get a copy with his first Nintendo Power magazine in January of 1991.

    In 1994, on a weekend morning, I wake up to the soft smell of kettle coffee and an urge to watch morning cartoons. I rush to the other end of the house to find my dad sitting cross legged on the floor and playing a video game. I remember it too well: ''Good Morning sleepy head! Want to try this out?'' my dad asked me. Without hesitation, I sit down on his lap and get to hold the controller. I remember my dad telling me about this game that came as a gift with the magazines my sister and I loved to look at. He said ''This is called Dragon Warrior. There's a lot of text, but I guess you'll be able to play even if you can't read haha!'. The character on the TV had a blue armor and appeared to be dancing all the time. I press the cross on the controller to move around and... A black swirl appears on screen and a blue monster is drawn in the middle of the screen. ''Press the A button to attack it'' he said. A couple button presses later, the enemy had disappeared and I was back on the world map. 

    Later that day, I asked to check the game manual and map. I couldn't get enough of the drawings and character arts. The map had different regions shown which indicated what type of monsters could be encountered. After putting everything away, I asked my dad ''Can we play again soon?''.

    The next day, we played some more. I was mesmerized by the amount of colour on screen and the music that was playing. A memory between father and son that marked the beginning of an unbound love for a franchise which I still love to this day: Dragon Warrior.

 

 

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