According to a 2023 report by the Japanese Financial Times, in 1986, Japan boasted a total of 44,000 game arcades, each averaging 46 arcade machines. These ranged from massive establishments housing hundreds of machines across multiple floors to small roadside booths with just five or six. Several game companies even operated their own arcades; for instance, Sega ran its own chain called Club Sega, exclusively featuring Sega's arcade games.
On this day in 1986, even the smallest street arcades purchased at least one Demon Tower arcade machine. Game coins were split evenly between the arcade and the manufacturer, and aside from an installation fee, the arcades incurred no additional costs.
TBS Television reporter followed up with a live broadcast: "We spoke with several players who've been at the arcade all day, spending over seventy game coins just to reach the highest floor of Demon Tower!"
"Other players told us they're not just climbing the tower for the challenge, but searching for clues to win the pure gold Sonic Statue from Atlas."
"The player known as Xiao Gao claims this game is outstanding, with a rare and captivating worldview—it's a must-play classic!"
"Just based on estimates from Club Sega alone, it's said that players spent three thousand game coins within the last twenty-four hours!"
The reporter spoke rapidly, exaggerating his claims as he recounted his observations.
"Three thousand game coins! According to information from Sega, game coin revenue is split evenly between the arcade halls and the manufacturer at a 1:1 ratio. So, three thousand game coins equal three million yen, meaning the manufacturer could earn one and a half million yen in profit!"
"And that's just from a single arcade hall with a dozen or so arcade machines! Reliable sources indicate there are ten thousand arcade halls in Tokyo alone. Based on this, we can estimate that the manufacturer could earn three billion yen in just one day!"
The TBS Television reporter spoke with such fervor that he nearly sprayed saliva on the camera lens.
It was no wonder he was stunned.
Three billion yen! Revenue on that scale was simply terrifying!
"That can't be right."
Kobayashi Tetsu finished reading the newspaper and casually tossed it aside.
"Three billion? That's ridiculous. The reporter was just talking nonsense."
In reality, Sega's directly operated game centers were among the largest, ordering over a dozen arcade units of Demon Tower, while most other centers only had a few units.
Kobayashi Tetsu had more detailed figures on game console orders: a total of 45,000 Demon Tower arcade units had been ordered across Japan, with a significant portion still uninstalled. Other centers were still observing the situation, or couldn't afford the installation costs due to their small size.
Tetsu estimated that only around 30,000 units had actually been installed.
Even with this lower number, Kobayashi Tetsu could confidently provide a final figure.
On the whiteboard, he wrote down an approximate number.
"Yesterday, according to reports from distributors nationwide, we sold approximately 800,000 game coins!"
"Yesterday, Demon Tower's gross profit was 800 million yen!"
Silence. Then more silence.
Seeing that no one seemed to grasp the significance of this number, Kobayashi Tetsu tapped the whiteboard impatiently.
"What are you all staring at? Give me some reaction! 800,000 game coins! Wake up! 800,000 game coins!"
Masanobu Endo was the first to react, letting out a loud shout and tearing up.
"It's... it's really worked."
Endo wiped away his tears, almost collapsing to his knees.
As the producer, he had borne the greatest pressure. Even with the successful offline events, he had feared the game itself might fall short.
But now...
In just one day, 800,000 game coins had been sold.
Even after the puzzle event ends and players stop pulling all-nighters, the first week's sales alone would cover all the marketing expenses and losses incurred so far!
800,000 game coins! Not 8,000, not 80,000, but a full 800,000!
"Really, this is amazing," Masanobu Endo said, releasing all the pent-up stress from the past months. Unable to hold back his tears, he continued, "We finally haven't disappointed anyone's expectations. The Demon Tower arcade game won't fail after all!"
Kobayashi Tetsu was both amused and exasperated. "What are you crying for? Pull yourself together! The game isn't over yet!"
The puzzle was still ongoing, and game coins would continue to be spent.
Kobayashi Tetsu calculated the time remaining. "Once the puzzle is solved, we'll give everyone a week off to do whatever they want. When we return, we'll discuss new projects. But for now, we have only one task: to wholeheartedly welcome the winner of this puzzle event! I've personally buried a gold coin stamped with my likeness somewhere in Tokyo. Only the first person to decipher the clues and act swiftly will find it and claim the pure gold Sonic statue! Until the event ends, we can't let our guard down!"
800,000 game coins.
Even companies like Namco and Taito, which had their roots in arcade games, and giants like Nintendo and Sega dominating the Japanese gaming market, were momentarily speechless before this staggering number.
If this daily revenue could be sustained, it would amount to a shocking 2.4 billion yen per month, or nearly 30 billion yen per year! Revenue in the tens of millions of dollars was something even companies at the level of Sega and Nintendo had to take seriously.
Moreover, this was just a single arcade game.
It was normal for Japan to sell 800,000 game coins in a day, but for a single game to sell 800,000 coins in a day was extraordinary!
Even knowing this revenue spike was driven by a puzzle event and wouldn't last, it was impossible to ignore.
At Namco, Department Manager Nakamura found himself deeply questioning his career choices.
That 800,000 game coin figure catapulted Masanobu Endo into the ranks of top-tier game producers.
If the success of the Iron Plate Formation was due to the transplantation work, and Masanobu Endo merely benefited from the original work's reputation, then Demon Tower was entirely his own creation!
Department Manager Nakamura was genuinely beginning to question his life choices.
"And to think this kind of event would be so successful! It seems Namco has to jump on this trend too."
Namco, being a major player in the arcade industry, was planning to launch a massive offline puzzle event on a similar scale. While they couldn't justify spending several hundred million, investing 500 million to 1 billion yen was still worth considering!
Namco scrambled to keep up, Taito remained silent, Sega threw their full support behind the idea, but Nintendo presented an entirely different picture.
"Eight hundred thousand game coins," Hiroshi Yamauchi exhaled, his breath visible in the room.
It was a staggering number, eliciting a gasp of astonishment from him.
"So this is what Kobayashi Tetsu was truly after all this time. This entire period has been devoted to operating this arcade game called Demon Tower!"
Miyamoto Shigeru delivered a detailed report.
"According to the intelligence, this game features clues that are linked to real-world puzzle events, which is why players keep trying it over and over. The game itself is highly engaging and represents a completely new genre that hasn't been seen on the market yet! However, I don't recommend that Nintendo follow suit."
"Atlas is doing this because it's a privately held company, and all the profits go directly to the President. He can afford to be reckless. But at Nintendo, we need approval from all shareholders before we can allocate large sums of money. Even with your authority, President, it's not something we can easily do."
"From another perspective, Atlas's massive puzzle campaign is designed to promote their arcade game. If we rashly follow suit without a comparable product, we won't achieve the desired effect. I believe we should continue steadily advancing Nintendo's development plans and, at most, launch some similar but smaller-scale events."
It wasn't just Miyamoto Shigeru; others also favored this prudent approach.
Gunpei Yokoi said, "We could certainly organize some offline events, like creating a solid gold Mario figurine. But a simultaneous online and offline campaign like this... that would likely be unwise."
Hiroshi Yamauchi understood this well.
"Then let's plan a similar game promotion for Nintendo, but avoid synchronized campaigns. We don't have comparable content, and it wouldn't be worth the loss. And no solid gold Mario either—I, Hiroshi Yamauchi, won't be picking up after others!"
After giving his instructions, Yamauchi suddenly asked a seemingly unrelated question.
"Is this arcade game being released in North America? If so, how is it performing there?"
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