What kind of paper is Nintendo's "playing card"?

Many friends may know that Nintendo, the oldest game company in the world, was an ordinary card shop more than 100 years ago. And this card, which is Huatian. You may not have heard of it, or you may have played it twice, but at most you just dabbled in it and never delved into it.

However, in the history of the game industry, Hua Zha, who has a "underworld background", was once a brother who carried the handle.

In the pre-game era, let Fujijiro Yamauchi, the founder of Nintendo, take a ride to make a fortune. Keeping the fire of entertainment for a hundred years has become a prairie fire.

In the meta-era of video games, the technological revolution has just begun. Now, almost all Japanese game makers you have heard of-SEGA, Sony, Glory, Capcom (including Nintendo, of course) have crossed paths with Hua Zha. It can be said that when the development of technology can't keep up with people's growing demand for video games, Huaza can't be said to be the mainstream, but it enriches the content of games to some extent and helps many players who have bought consoles but can't afford large-scale games for the time being to spend it smoothly.

Not only that, many well-known Japanese game IP, such as monster hunter, super Mary series and so on. , also launched a lot of peripheral products related to flowers.

Bao Meng ke Hua Zha

Of course, there are also many manufacturers or games related to flowers, which gradually fade out of people's sight and get lost in the torrent of history.

But below, I still dig them all out, talk about the history of Hua Zha, and talk about this mysterious force from the East.

Old memories

Now let's look at the game "Hua Za", which has a long history, elegant patterns and a scholarly atmosphere. However, its origin is not that deep.

The process of making traditional flower letters. Image source: Shirakawa Academy, Kyoto 1977 65438+ 10 monthly.

More than 600 years ago, as a gambling project, Gepai, the predecessor of Huazha, was very popular among the samurai class in Japan and was particularly addictive. Therefore, after the Edo era, the leaders felt good, but gambling, which affected the social atmosphere too much, was completely banned.

However, the wisdom of the ancients should not be underestimated. At this time, they will play the edge ball of policy. They erased the numbers on the cards and used flowers, birds and romantic patterns, euphemistically called "for education". I bought these flowers to teach children to read (JIE) and draw (ZHE) and say (du) and draw (bo) correctly. Now think about this group of working people, we really bought a bully to practice typing; Wenquxing is bought to look up the dictionary; I bought a notebook to find the originator of information.

1969 Sumiko Fuji and Gao Cangjian starred in the film "Fei Mudan wins and loses". Very good restoration of the face of Japan's Meiji mid-casino.

However, the parents (government) at that time were also unambiguous. "Don't think I don't know what you want." So I immediately banned this thing (gas). However, the improved flowers were preserved because of their exquisite pictures and elegant contents.

Then "that man" appeared.

Join the dark side of the Force.

1886 Finally, someone stood up and said, "Gambling is a crime, which cannot be refuted, but cards themselves are entertainment toys and should not be banned." So there was a man named Maeda Shibei, who was familiar with the law and knew how to play the policy edge ball scientifically. So I took the lead in opening a flower shop in Ginza, Tokyo, to let people separate games from gambling. It laid the foundation for the popularity of Zhazha in China and opened the era of great entertainment in Japan.

Three years later-1889, Fujijiro Yamauchi, the founder of Nintendo, couldn't hold back his inner excitement and became a trendsetter of the times. He opened a shop that makes and sells flowers. The name is simple and violent. It's called Shannei Fusajiro Store. However, it is conceivable that the shops that made flowers at that time were fiercely competitive, and the benefits of Jiro Fuso's shop were not good.

Fukujiro Yamauchi is an excellent product designer. He added bark and soil to the original making process of flower cards, and used petals to make dyes, which increased the hardness and quality of the cards and enhanced the aesthetic feeling. Therefore, Nintendo's cards are well received.

Because it is popular again, a pair is enough for a family or a circle of friends. So Fusajiro targeted the casino again. For the sake of fairness, casinos prevent gamblers from cheating by making creases or scratches on cards, so they need to use new cards every time. Because of its high quality and low price, Tomijiro suddenly became the main supplier of casinos in China (government voiceover: I knew you couldn't control it after the lifting of the ban).

Nintendo's product line in the past

As a result, it is no longer called "Fusajiro Store in the Mountain", but changed its name to "Nintendo".

As for why it is called "Nintendo", the most popular version is the explanation of Nintendo's godfather Yamauchi Pu: "Do what people can do well and leave the rest to heaven."

This is a good word, but it can't stand exquisite, because even the name of Yamauchi Pu was later changed by himself. The original name given by Tomijiro Yamauchi is Yamauchi Bo, which means to inherit the family business of China's largest gambling supplier left by your grandfather. However, judging from the fact that Yamauchi Pu changed his name, it is obvious that he has some small feelings for his grandfather and wants to express his determination to bid farewell to the old Nintendo and start a new era, so he changed the name "Bo" to "Pu". Later, Japanese business scholars used to rename Nintendo before Yamauchi Pu from 65438 to 0977 "Old Nintendo".

Jiu Nintendo Ben branch

Xin Nintendo Ben branch

And the origin of the real "Nintendo" is these two statements:

One is the combination of the word "person" of "Ren Xia Road" believed by the underworld in charge of the casino and the word "heaven" of the largest traditional flower shop at that time.

The other is "entrusting your destiny to heaven", which is the ultimate meaning that gamblers believed in at that time. In order to please gamblers, the abbreviation "Rentian" is mainly used to open the casino market.

Either way, it is closely related to casinos and flowers. Although it is not very pleasant to explain, this change made to promote products contains the business wisdom of the old Nintendo.

When it comes to flowers and casinos, we have to mention this word: "ヤクザ(YAKUZA)". Some friends may know that this word stands for underworld in Japan. However, don't get me wrong, this is not a triad statement, but a derogatory term for outsiders.

March curtain sakura, August mango, September chrysanthemum.

There is a game in the flower book. Simply put, the number of months represented by the pattern adds up to a position, and whoever is the biggest wins. August (YA), September (KU) and March (ZA) seem to have a lot of numbers, and the single digits are all 0, which is the smallest one. Metaphor is seemingly awesome, but in fact it is scum.

Although Nintendo, now famous for its family orientation and children orientation, had a deep relationship with casinos and flowers at that time, it naturally had a lot to do with the Yamaguchi group.

Especially for a period of time, underworld gangs defrauded the ransom of joint-stock companies in the form of "the home of the general assembly" and ran rampant in Japanese business circles. Only Nintendo survived. Legend has it that Black Boss got a lot of care from Nintendo because of the flowers, and then he was instructed to give him this "gold medal to avoid death". Perhaps it is precisely because of this "underworld identity" that Nintendo saved the primitive accumulation of capital and finally created the glory of the red and white machine.

It is said that Yamauchi Pu looks like the black boss.

Of course, some people say that Yamauchi Pu may be the leader of an iron-fisted dictatorship party (black boss) rather than being related to the underworld.

Do you think I'm joking?

Just search on Yahoo Japan.

At that time, there were no video games, and Nintendo made a fortune by taking pictures. But on the other hand, it is precisely because of the promotion and promotion of Nintendo's production technology that Huaza has become a household name. So that when I mention flowers to the Japanese now, he will tell you, "Ah, that game company (Nintendo) did it that year."

passion

The spring breeze of reform blew the door, and players all over the world were full of energy.

With the popularization of the concept of game machines, electronic games have entered a golden age.

The first is the arcade. While other manufacturers are busy studying gambling machines, there is a clear stream in the arcade world-Dynax. At that time, DYNAX released a series of games called "Flower Dance", which was deeply loved by the people, and was also called arcade game, a series of flower stripping.

The plot of the game is Diana's attempt to invade the earth, pretending to be the elder sister of the earth for generations, and fighting against mankind. The way to duel is not force, but flowers (although I doubt the real purpose of this alien).

However, there is only one way to defeat Diana, that is, to disguise Diana as a variety of sisters (divine logic) and humiliate her, and win a game to make Diana take off one, one * * * three. Although I don't want to humiliate my sister, I can only sacrifice myself for world peace.

DYNAX, who has been working for the welfare of the people since then, may feel that his burden is too heavy, and now it seems that he doesn't play games either. But the series they once created also added their own unique color to the history of arcade (especially this magical setting). It is said that this arcade can still be played in Okinawa today.

On the FC/SFC platform, Hua Zha game has become the first choice for many companies to join the video game craze because of its simple production and concise picture. Typical examples are Super Flower Magazine/Super Flower Magazine 2 of I'MAX Company and AV Flower Magazine Club of Hacker International (HIN for short).

So adhering to the spirit of scientific exploration, I opened the "AV Flower Show" on the simulator, trying to feel the restless mood of young Japanese players in front of the game machine 30 years ago when there was no Internet or even dvd. It is said that the heroines are the famous AV actresses Reiko Hayama and Mayako Katsuragi.

Annual Packaging and Entities

But this rough picture has seriously affected nostalgia, because I can't even tell the pattern on the card face clearly. If I had been born in those days, I might have written to the developers, hoping that their card faces could be designed a little bigger.

By the way, I also checked for you what the heroine of this game was like in those days.

I watched my score being eaten away by the opposite girl, and the hope of victory was extremely slim. Just when I was angry and wanted to smash my handle to save face, I felt the burning eyes of the audience looking forward to welfare and passed the customs smoothly (all the above are true stories). )

That's not all. Because "Five Lights" is difficult to achieve, Miss Jie specially prepared the ultimate kill that only playing "Five Lights" can give. If you want to see another heroine, you have to work hard on your own.

In short, in that era of separatism, Huazha became one of the first choices for game companies attached to major platforms and eager to come up with products and rich content. Finally, we can achieve the achievement of all-platform hegemony.

Game making at that time can be said to be a high-threshold industry, with high costs for programs, pictures and music. Not every company has such strong financial resources to complete it, so "easy development" is very attractive to small companies, which can save costs and open the market quickly. For large companies, after the launch of the new platform, it is also a good choice to cast a flower tour to test the water in the case of uncertain market prospects.

Isn't it because of the charm of the bottle that the new wine is put in the old bottle?

Now many companies with financial resources are also keen to develop their own games, or add relevant elements to the games. In addition to cost reasons, the traditional mild brand itself is a good selling point.

In addition, compared with traditional chess and cards, even in Japan, the popularity of Huazha among young people can no longer be compared with that of 100 years ago, which is also because of its light entertainment and shallow depth. This can be said to be a short board of the flower script to some extent. But because of this, it is more acceptable to spend some money to play Hua Zha's game or buy a set of related games than mahjong that every family in Japan has. If you look closely, you will find that many common Japanese works have made similar attempts.

The product of Capcom's deal with EMI PY —— Chasing Zagreb, the theme flower of monster hunter

In addition, in the film and television animation works, Hua Zha has also become a representative of traditional Japanese games. In the summer war released in 2009, it tells a future world where people can send emails and use e-wallets at will, and there is a huge virtual space (eight years later, many of them have been realized).

The movie The Battle of Summer

In fact, what the author wants to express is nothing more than the contradiction between modern technology and human nature. Metaphorically, while people are crazy about the development of science and technology, they have left many things worth preserving in traditional culture. Therefore, at the end of the film, the heroine will make a decisive battle with the final BOSS who represents a powerful scientific and technological force through the flower manuscript representing Japanese traditional culture.

Some friends may say "The Battle of Summer" is an animation, not a game. This topic is beyond the scope. Although I also know this, the official of "The Battle of Summer" took advantage of the popularity of the film to launch the official flower card mobile game of "The Battle of Summer". It can be seen that in this era, the art form as a carrier has been transformed very efficiently, but what remains unchanged is the cultural core with those characteristics.

"The Battle of Summer" Mobile Tour

Having said so many works related to flowers, you must have seen and played them. If you are interested, you might as well find their flowers and play a game with friends around you. It is not only simple, but also full of fun. Or simply buy a pair of original paintings of Nintendo's Grand Commander and feel the craftsmanship and ancient business wisdom of Nintendo's founder.

Now Nintendo official website is still on sale, always remind yourself not to forget your initiative.

In fact, after so many years of development, Hanako has changed from a gambling tool to an entertainment toy, from a toy to a cultural symbol and a part of Japanese traditional culture. If we want to investigate the reasons for its popularity, it is sometimes because of policies; Sometimes it is artificial promotion; Or the difficulty of friendly development.

However, at any time, Hua Zha has two incomparable advantages over other board games: one is exquisite pattern design. Romantic flowers and birds, changing seasons, with a little gloomy beauty unique to Japanese culture. Whether in ancient times when life was monotonous or in modern times when things were expanding, it made it so fascinating. Then there is his entertainment gene. Getting started is easy and the rules are simple. It is also a traditional board game. It doesn't have to be like chess, and it doesn't have to do all the calculations like Go, and it doesn't have the thick copper smell of mahjong.

This is why the flower script is active in our life as a cultural symbol. So I'm writing this article and recommending it to everyone.