Rebirth of Hong Kong’s Glorious Era

Akita Masako brought Li Wansui and translator Wang Hua to the development department. When Li Wansui entered the door, he saw that in this almost 200-square-meter office, Nintendo employees were busy, that is, some people were tinkering with hardware, and some people were programming in front of the computer.

A lean and capable middle-aged man greeted him and said to Masako Akita with a smile: "Miss Akita, why do you have time to visit me here?"

"Mr. Yokoi, this Mr. Li is the representative of the delegation from the Hong Kong Institute of Technology. President Hiroshi Yamauchi specifically explained that Mr. Li can visit at will." Masako Akita briefly explained the purpose of his visit, and Junping Yokoi nodded.

Akita Masako turned slightly and said to Li Wansui: "Li Jun, this is the head of our R&D department, Mr. Yokoi Junping."

The two shook hands briefly, and Li Wansui said with some toast: "Mr. Yokoi, Miss Akita just told me about your glorious deeds. I admire you very much."

Yokoi Junping smiled at Li Wansui: "Li Jun, you are too polite, you are the guest of the president of Hiroshi Yamauchi, and I will give you a tour with all my heart."

Li Wansui just had a doubt in his heart and asked, "Mr. Yokoi, why is your company's software staff and hardware staff mixed together? I think there are offices on this floor, why don't they separate?"

Yokoi stared at Li Wansui with a strange look and said, "In the current Japanese and American video game industry, the development of software and hardware products does not have a clear division of departments, and they all work together. Could it be that Xiangjiang's game industry has already done such a thing? Has it been divided?"

Li Wansui was surprised and secretly surprised. Hardware is hardware and software is software. This is the common sense of later generations. How could it be expected that in the early stage of the game industry, the software and hardware departments were not clearly divided. It can be seen that the current game industry is really full of Daniel, eat hard and soft! This is an empirical error. But think about it carefully, the well-known Steve Jobs Joe is not the Atari game company who worked for two years, and then started his own business as Apple. He is very good at hardware and software. I used to think he was a genius in this area. , I only know today that the technicians of this era should have been like this.

Li Wansui said with a smile: "There is no game company in Xiangjiang yet, so where does it come from the game industry? My visit this time is actually to discuss with President Hiroshi Yamauchi, and the two sides will cooperate to cultivate programming talents specializing in game development."

Hearing this, Junpei Yokoi was overjoyed and said, "Haha, that's really good news, I complain to the president about the lack of manpower every day, but I can't recruit relevant talents. You people from Hong Kong have really sharp eyes, you're doing it for the game industry. significant contribution.”

Yokoi Junpei, who came from a technical background, speaks straightforwardly. Li Wansui likes to deal with such people, so he doesn't have to worry about it.

"Our school only trains software-related talents. We don't plan to do hardware knowledge training. Will I be able to work in your company after graduation?" Li Wansui asked pretendingly.

"Of course, if there are enough people, hardware talents should develop hardware, and software talents should develop software, so that they can concentrate and make better works. We have long planned to split the R&D department into two parts. Department." Yokoi Junpei explained patiently.

Li Wansui continued with a smile on his face: "Mr. Yokoi, I have a theory, but no practical experience. During the inspection in the past few days, I will study and communicate in your R&D department to understand the process of game development, and I can update it when I go back. It's okay to take students, okay?"

Li Wansui's words were made on a whim. He wanted to study in Nintendo's R&D department for a few more days to improve his understanding of the game industry in this era. By the way, I also have a good look at the bottom of Nintendo and learn more about the inside story. Hiroshi Yamauchi is really difficult to deal with. These technicians have the same personality as their colleagues in the previous life. . Presumably everyone has been familiar with each other for a few days. I pretended to be curious and asked a few sensitive information, presumably I knew everything clearly.

Yokoi Junpei smiled and said, "As long as President Yamauchi Hiroshi agrees, I am extremely welcome."

Li Wansui nodded and said with a smile: "President Sannei Bo invited me to have dinner together at night. I will ask him this question. I believe that I will be your servant tomorrow, and I would like to ask you to give more advice."

Yokoi Junping was also very polite and said: "Haha, then I look forward to the arrival of Li Jun tomorrow, and we will teach each other at that time."

"Okay, Mr. Yokoi, I'll bother you today. I'm not busy visiting the R&D department. I'll experience it myself after I go to work tomorrow." After speaking, he said to Masako Akita, who was standing beside him, "Miss Akita, take me with you. Let's go to the production department."

Akita nodded when he heard the words. After Li Wansui said goodbye to Yokoi, he followed her with translator Wang Hua and came to the production department.

After entering the production department, Li Wansui felt a little convinced about Nintendo. Although the company is small, it has all the internal organs and the production equipment is not backward.

This is a factory with a size of almost 2,000 square meters. It is divided into two areas. One is the area where the motherboard is produced, and the other is the assembly area. The produced chips are put on the casing, fixed with screws, and packed. Li Wansui is not very interested in the assembly plant, and said, "Miss Akita, I don't think your company has the ability to produce motherboards, so you must take a good look at it."

Akita Masako smiled and said nothing. He took Li Wansui to the main board production plant, and Li Wansui opened his eyes.

There are many processes involved in the production and hosting, which Li Wansui didn’t understand at all before.

The first step is to open the material, on the large sheet, that is, the green material sheet commonly found on the computer motherboards of later generations. The board with a length and width of about 3 meters, under the control of the workers, is cut into pieces on the lathe through the procedures of large board → cutting board → cutting board → beer fillet \ edging → board out size required for the motherboard.

The second part is drilling. On the board the size of the main board of the game machine, through the stacking pin → upper plate → drilling → lower plate → inspection and repair, the corresponding position is drilled with a numerical control machine to the required hole diameter.

The third step is to deposit copper, which is to use chemical methods to deposit a thin layer of copper on the wall of the insulating hole.

The fourth step of graphic transfer, graphic transfer is to transfer the image on the production film to the board. Film is a kind of film with a circuit pattern designed by the designer on it. After grinding the board → printing the first side → drying → printing the second side → drying → exposure → developing → inspection; the circuit pattern is transferred to the motherboard superior.

The fifth step is pattern electroplating. Pattern electroplating is to electroplate a copper layer with the required thickness and a gold-nickel or tin layer with the required thickness on the exposed copper skin of the circuit pattern or on the hole wall.

Then it went through a total of thirteen steps, such as stripping, etching, green oil, characters, gold-plated fingers, forming, final inspection, etc., a pcb circuit board was seated, and then the cpu and sound module, display module, etc. After the components are installed on the pcb circuit board, a motherboard is produced.

Looking at the more than 200 people in the workshop, Li Wansui was constantly busy, and felt a little sighed in his heart. This circuit board production is the step with the least technical difficulty. It has to go through hundreds of processes and thirteen big steps before it can be produced and engaged in electronics. The industry is really complicated.

He picked up a 6502 cpu and asked knowingly, "Which manufacturer made this cpu and how is the performance?"

Akita Masako said: "This is the 6502 CPU that Nintendo bought from Ricoh. Its performance is not the most powerful in the world, but it is indeed the most cost-effective one, at $22 a piece."

Li Wansui blurted out: "Isn't the 6502 cpu produced by mos technology? How can Ricoh get the authorization to produce the 6502 cpu? Or are they imitating it?" useful information.

Akita Masako said with a smile: "Well, Ricoh has obtained the authorization of mos technology to produce CPUs. Because they are all in Japan, we Nintendo and Ricoh have reached a cooperation agreement."

Li Wansui's heart shrank tightly, and he secretly said, it took no effort to get it!

Ricoh Corporation. Li Wansui knew that this company, one of the world's top 500 companies, specialized in the production of office supplies, such as photocopies and printers. Ricoh turned out to be Nintendo's cpu supplier, but Li Wansui was overjoyed.

A company's suppliers will never change easily, because the two sides have a good cooperative supply relationship and can trust each other. Rushing to change a supplier who hasn't made a major mistake can have a big impact on both parties. Changing suppliers rashly will slow down the production schedule, increase production costs, and even affect product quality. Therefore, the choice of suppliers is the top priority.

This is common sense, of course Li Wansui knew it, and he was overjoyed.

Ricoh is likely to be the company that helped Nintendo develop the ppu graphics controller in later generations!