Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

Because of the foundation laid by the first game, players have begun to accept games with female protagonists. Those who like it genuinely like it. For the first time, women appear to be very powerful in games, even if it's just in a game and not in reality, it still satisfies the tastes of some people.

In particular, you can see different forms of Samus depending on the completion time of the first game, and in the end you can even see a bikini version of Samus.

This, to some extent, satisfies the LSP's sense of accomplishment, making them willing to try the challenge more often, and then, through repeated challenges, they can experience the charm of the game itself more and more deeply.

It turns out that playing a game once isn't enough; some games are truly worth exploring and refining multiple times, even dozens of times.

Then came the speedrunning challenge, which further boosted the popularity of Midrod.

Then we arrived at the second generation's timeline.

The second game's title simply didn't include any numbers; it was named Metrorod: Samus Returns.

The name alone foreshadows that our protagonist will continue to fight and return with the feeling of a hero fighting again, making people even more eager to know what exactly happened in the game.

However, due to the limitations of the GB's own game console capabilities, it was only comparable to the FC game console in terms of performance. Therefore, the gameplay itself was only slightly improved, without adding much new content.

However, since GB didn't need to consider producing a color version, it saved some resources. So, the story itself was lengthened, making the character arcs of each character more complete, and even the villains had some backstory.

The second-generation Samus scientific expedition is once again preparing to explore SR388, the planet set in the first generation's story. They clearly want to investigate more about Metrorod.

It is clear that the Galactic Federation also wants to control the power of Metrod.

However, the expedition team lost contact immediately after entering planet SR388.

Having successfully defeated the space pirates in the past, the Galactic Federation once again hired Sams Alan, a female bounty hunter, to investigate SR388.

Of course, there is another foreshadowing: the ancient bird-men race is also secretly pushing for Samus to be designated as the main operative for the mission.

This wasn't just random addition; it was a prelude to the future, and it's what players are most curious about—why the ancient bird-people race would treat Samus with such special care.

The secret was fully revealed in the second part.

Samus was raised by the Bird People, and to some extent, she can be considered their representative, and she can also use some of the ancient powers passed down by the Bird People.

Therefore, apart from Samus, no one else can take on the missions related to Mitrod.

In Samus Returns, the protagonist arrives on planet SR388 to begin rescuing the science expedition.

This time, players also learned for the first time that Metroid's form is not singular, but rather diverse, which better highlights Metroid's inherent power.

There are various creatures, from small insects and planktonic animals to larger insectoid creatures. Each type of metrod has its own advantages and disadvantages. If you skillfully target the weaknesses, you can defeat the metrod more quickly, adding extra fun to the game.

After a long adventure, Samus finally defeats the final boss, Queen Metrodes. A tiny Metrode cub then appears and comes to Samus's side.

Sams wanted to eliminate this last remaining threat.

However, this Metrod was different; he came to Sams's side and seemed very affectionate, as if he regarded Sams as his mother.

This is probably partly because Samus himself was raised by the bird people. After all, Metrod was created by the bird people, so it's normal for a Metrod cub to feel close to Samus.

Samus, moved by compassion, ultimately abandoned his plan to destroy the last Metrod cub and instead took it with him as he left.

However, at this moment, the story took another dramatic turn.

It turns out that the space pirates were not completely eliminated. A mechanical creature that looks like a pterosaur, named Proteus Lidley, suddenly appeared, snatched the Metrod cub from Samus, and tried to kill Samus.

This sudden and dramatic change shocked, yet also delighted, the players who experienced it for the first time.

The ups and downs of the storyline kept them hooked, so they threw themselves back into the battle against Lidley.

Of course, Lidley was very powerful at first. In the end, it was the unique energy absorption ability of the Metrode cub that was used to absorb most of the energy in Lidley's body and then feed it back to Samus, which gradually narrowed the power gap between the two. Eventually, Samus was able to overwhelm Lidley and finally succeeded in destroying Lidley himself.

Samus finally finished his mission and left SR388 with the last remaining Metrod cub, preparing to return to the Galactic Federation to report back.

However, at the very end, another animation appeared, in which something called the X Virus infected the creatures on planet SR388, plunging the planet into chaos once again. What will happen after that is obviously something to be revealed in the next game.

Meanwhile, what will happen to the Metroid cub that Sams brought back after returning to the Galactic Federation is also a suspense, making countless players who are already immersed in the world of Metroid eager to know.

However, more than a year has passed since the release of the GB version of Metroid: Samus Returns, and they have yet to receive a new Metroid game.

In the past, game series like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy would release a new generation every six months to a year on average.

But the game had kept players waiting for over a year, and they were starting to feel a little resentful, so they began posting frantically, begging for the game's release.

They don't expect the game to be groundbreaking; they just want the story to be told well.

In fact, it's not just on the website; every day, Yusei Electronic Entertainment receives at least two or three emails from players requesting a sequel to Midrod.

However, Zhu Youxing had been too busy before and hadn't had much time to spare. It wasn't until he saw this post that he remembered it.

Looking at the post, Zhu Youxing muttered to himself, "So Metrorod is that popular? That's a bit surprising. Even though it was very popular in my previous life, it didn't achieve a significant breakthrough in sales. I thought there weren't actually that many people interested."

Chapter 236 To Do It or Not?

In this respect, Zhu Youxing miscalculated slightly.

He now realizes that he seems to have overlooked something.

In his previous life, it wasn't that Midrod wasn't interesting enough, nor that he was too obscure or niche; rather, Midrod was simply born at the wrong time.

Midrod once had a chance to rise and break out.

Because the game itself is of truly outstanding quality; its action, gameplay, and story are all top-notch.

However, he was attacked by several ruthless men during the same period.

First came the crushing defeat from Sega's 16-bit console games, followed by the blockade from PCE consoles.

The two companies released a wide variety of games at the time, which made it difficult for players to choose. Even though Metrorode was indeed outstanding, it still suffered a considerable setback under such circumstances.

After finally achieving some success in the US market, an even more formidable competitor emerged: Sony's PS1.

The release of the PS1 was truly a game-changer.

It can run true 3D games, allowing players to experience the 3D game world for the first time.

The game's graphics alone attracted more than half of the players.

As for Super Metroid, released on the Super FC, it only managed to sell a million units in the end due to such a series of setbacks within a year.

While a million-level sales volume is considered a great success, it depends on who you compare it to.

Within the Nintendo family, every product of its generation is a bestseller.

With sales figures often reaching five or six million, or even seven or eight million, the sales of Super Metrorod really seem rather lackluster.

So sometimes it really is a matter of being born at the wrong time.

It's like 1994 was a year of epic battles in the film industry.

Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, To Live, Ashes of Time, The Mask.

If these films and television series had been released in different years, they would all have been able to dominate the market in the same year, but they were all released in the same year.

And that was pretty much the case with Midrod back then.

If you're encountering only gods and immortals, then it's a matter of who's stronger.

Speaking of which, the previous version of Metroid was also released in 1994. In both the film and gaming industries, it was a fierce battle among top-tier games in the same year, which is quite a coincidence.

However, these are all stories from a previous life.

But what about in this world?

Perhaps the situation isn't as bad as it seems.

So far, there haven't been many opponents that can match them.

I am a god now. The future is uncertain, but who can stand against me now?

Zhu Youxing immediately summoned the people who specialized in market research and asked them to provide a market statistical report on Metrorod as soon as possible.

This includes online statistics on requests for a sequel to Midrod, as well as statistics on the frequency of Midrod's appearances in various surveys.

At the same time, statistics should be collected separately for the United States and Japan to determine the level of popularity of the game in the two regions.

About three days later, the statistics department finally finished compiling the data, and Zhu Youxing immediately took it over to take a look.

In over 100,000 surveys of various types, more than 15 percent of players mentioned Metrorod to some extent.

Online, there are also more than 400,000 discussions about Mitrod, including posts and replies.

Next, we have the sales data for the two generations of Metrorod products so far.

The total sales figures for Metroid in Japan are currently 1 million units sold across the Super Famicom and Famicom consoles.

In the US, because the game console was released later, sales figures were around 400,000, which was significantly lower than the heavily promoted Castlevania. However, judging from the level of online discussion in the US, it seemed to be doing better than Castlevania.

Castlevania is indeed a game specifically designed for Western aesthetics, but Western audiences are clearly more interested in a futuristic sci-fi world, and the medieval vampire story isn't much more appealing than the sci-fi setting of Metroid.

Looking at recent sales data, Castlevania's sales have been declining, but Metrorode's sales in the United States have been steadily increasing, so the overall outlook is very positive.

The second generation of Metold Samus Returns on the Game Boy sold over 1.3 million copies in Japan and over 100,000 copies in the United States.

The lower sales volume in the United States is mainly due to the fact that GB's sales data in the US is not particularly good at the moment, but it has been improving rapidly recently, and it is expected that a period of rapid sales growth will follow.

Looking at this series of data, Zhu Youxing tapped on the table, deep in thought.

He was wondering if it was appropriate to develop Metrorod now.

Clearly, this is a very opportune time.

Players have been waiting for this for a long time, and this is the perfect opportunity to expand the game's audience with the latest generation of games.

Especially in the United States.

The third generation of Metroid was very popular with American players. Although there was no sequel for eight years due to poor sales, the later Metroid was specifically designed for American players and was more Westernized.

Therefore, there is obviously no need to worry too much about sales in the United States.

"Okay, let's get started."

Zhu Youxing made a decision and immediately began to check the current game development progress of the game development team.

The biggest advantage of a larger team nowadays is that it's easier to allocate manpower.

Even though all ten game development teams have their own work to do now, most of their work is relatively easy, so we can give them more responsibilities.

Seven of the ten game development teams are now in the critical stage of game development, each responsible for different types of games. Obviously, it is not feasible to transfer manpower from those teams at this time.

He roughly estimated that with the current capabilities, it would take at least fifty people to develop the SFC version of the third-generation Metroid.

From animation and sound effects to the game's basic architecture, everything needs a significant upgrade.

Otherwise, simply creating a game with a new story wouldn't be very challenging.