The focus of Mr. Iwatani's speach was arcade gaming. Mr. Iwatani spoke about how the differences in cost per play and arcade culture between the U.S. and Japan affected the design of arcade games released in the two countries. In Japan, arcade games usually cost 100 yen (~$1.00) whereas in America most arcade games cost only 25 cents. As a result, U.S. arcade owners wanted a higher turnover rate - in other words they wanted a single game to be over in a couple of minutes as opposed to an hour. So the difficulty level was increased for arcade cabinets bound for the U.S. market.

Not only did the increased difficulty satisfy arcade owners, but it appeared to satisfy the American arcade gamer as well. Mr. Iwatani's observation was that American's tended to enjoy high risk, high reward gaming experiences. In other words, the more difficult the game, the greater the sense of accomplishment for the American arcade gamer when the high score is achieved.

(Interesting Side Note: Mr. Iwatani's opinion stands in contrast to that of Howard Lincoln, the former President of Nintendo of America. Remember the real Super Mario Bros. 2, or Lost Levels as it has become known in the U.S., was not released state side because Mr. Lincoln felt that the game was too difficult for the American market.)

Next, Mr. Uemura discussed the success of the Famicom. Mr. Uemura started with a little stroll through Nintendo history to explain the progression from card maker to Japan's #1 videogame publisher. In the late 70's or early 80's, Nintendo, with its roots in card manufacturing, rode the wave of popularity of LSI games and created the Game & Watch series of portable games. According to Mr. Uemura, Nintendo decided to combine gaming entertainment with a utilitarian function, a clock, so that the would have a purpose when not being played.

The next success for Nintendo was Miyamoto's arcade hit, Donkey Kong. In 1983, two years after Donkey Kong's arcade release, Nintendo launched the Famicom in Japan.

According to Mr. Uemura, when the Famicom launched, Nintendo had no idea what kind of console games would sell, so they launched the system with three arcade ports: Donkey Kong, Mario Brothers and Popeye. The Famicom sold one million units in the first eleven months, and then, thanks in part to third party software support, the Famicom went on to sell another million units in just three months. By the end of the Famicom's life-cycle, Nintendo sold 19 million units of hardware and 140 million units of software.

By all accounts, the Famicom was a success. Mr. Uemura shared his opinion as to why he thought the Famicom emerged as the 8-bit champion.

1. Beautiful graphics.

2. Easy-to-use controller with the digital pad being the key feature.

3. Famicom's Donkey Kong arcade port looked and played similar to the arcade version.

4. Third party software support.

Although not listed as a factor by Mr. Uemura, having Mr. Miyamoto to make great games like Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros. and Zelda certainly didn't hinder the Famicom's success.