The audience members who had originally been planning to leave quickly realized that something entertaining was about to happen. Quite a few of them returned to their seats.
Beneath the stylized title, the two protagonists stood back to back, each wearing nothing but a tank top stretched tight over their bulging muscles.
The blond Player One had a crew cut, a blue cigarette hanging from his mouth.
Though his eyes were rendered in low resolution pixels, they still conveyed an unmistakable look of determination.
The moment he saw that face, Arnold himself, holding the control panel, froze for a moment.
It was clearly modeled after his own appearance, only with an even stronger "tough guy" aura.
As for the Player Two character behind him, with his signature long curly hair and facial features, no matter how one looked at it, he was unmistakably Rambo, the iconic character played by Stallone.
"Arnold, it's only a cover. Any game can do that."
The manager was afraid Arnold would be swayed by such obvious flattery and make an impulsive decision, so he deliberately reminded him.
The cover was nothing more than a static pixel illustration. Hire an artist, spend a little money, and it could be finished in no time.
Even E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial had a lifelike illustration of E.T. on its cover, but what was the game itself actually like?
"I understand."
Arnold nodded and turned his attention back to the game.
Since the prototype board hadn't yet been installed in an arcade cabinet, Ethan had only equipped it with a testing control panel, allowing only single-player gameplay.
Looking at the button functions labeled in pencil on the panel, Arnold pressed the Start button.
With everyone eagerly waiting to watch the show, the game officially began.
The protagonist leaped from a helicopter, flipping through the air before landing on the ground.
In the pitch black night sky, the stars twinkled vividly.
Beneath the starry sky were distant mountain ranges and a closer jungle serving as the background.
The spectators who had only stayed to watch the excitement suddenly fell silent.
Even the water below shimmered with animated ripples!
They had never seen visuals like this in a video game before!
"T-This... is this really something a video game can do?!"
Among those present was clearly an old veteran of the gaming industry, staring at the projected image in utter disbelief.
He watched as Arnold moved the character, only to see the exquisitely drawn protagonist transition into a smooth running animation.
Sprite animation!
How was this even possible?
Even the manager, who had remained pessimistic the entire time, quietly shut his mouth.
Anyone capable of becoming a talent manager naturally possessed a keen business sense.
From this first impression alone, he had already realized that the situation was vastly different from what he had imagined.
This game might be nothing like the mass produced industrial garbage Atari had been churning out.
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Arnold pressed the buttons with obvious interest, familiarizing himself with the controls.
Every button press received immediate visual feedback.
Especially since the protagonist closely resembled both his appearance and physique, the sense of immersion he felt while playing was incredibly strong.
"The gun barrel moves? It can even aim diagonally? Unbelievable."
For this era, eight-directional shooting was already astonishingly advanced technology.
Even in Ethan's hybrid version of 1942, firing had only been possible in a single direction.
But in Contra, depending on the player's input, the gun could freely aim upward, left, right, and toward all four diagonal directions.
Pressing Down by itself also made the character go prone.
Whether jumping, crawling, or moving, each action had its own corresponding character animation, clearly showing the movement of the protagonist's legs.
Yet this was only the beginning.
Thanks to the prototype board Gerard had prepared, with memory and video RAM far exceeding that of contemporary arcade boards, Ethan had been able to completely unleash his creativity during development.
Up to 64 active objects could appear on screen simultaneously!
This advantage allowed Contra to support large numbers of bullets and enemies on screen at the same time.
After advancing only a few steps, the first enemy appeared ahead, charging toward Arnold.
When the audience saw that even the ordinary grunt enemy had its own smooth running animation, the gaming veteran couldn't help but twitch at the corners of his mouth.
"Even the cannon fodder enemies have full animations..."
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Several bullets poured out, instantly riddling the enemy with holes.
Arnold wore an expression of pure amazement. He had never experienced anything like this before.
It was completely different from watching a movie. The level of immersion was so intense that it felt as though he himself had infiltrated the enemy's stronghold.
"Mr. Schwarzenegger, quick! Shoot that item! It'll upgrade your weapon!"
Sam's sharp eyes spotted the floating power-up drifting through the air, and he hurriedly called out.
The moment he had played the demo himself, he'd recognized the mechanic. Ethan had clearly brought over the same power-up system he'd used in 1942.
"Got it."
Without wasting a word, Arnold immediately raised the gun upward and fired several shots into the sky.
After the item was shot down, it indeed dropped an icon marked with the letter M.
Arnold raised an eyebrow. If there was any weapon represented by the letter M, then it had to be the ultimate symbol of a tough guy.
Machine Gun!
The instant he picked it up, the weapon in the protagonist's hands changed dramatically.
The originally intermittent shots instantly turned into a continuous stream of bullets, with dense suppressive fire pinning down the newly appearing enemies.
Unfortunately, Arnold wasn't an old hand like Sam. A few minutes later, he ultimately fell before the first miniboss.
Facing the "Wall of Sighs," constructed entirely from bizarre alien machinery, Arnold experienced a profound sense of helplessness for the very first time.
"What a shame. If I hadn't missed that attack speed power-up earlier, I think I could've beaten it."
He could only attribute the defeat to his own mistakes.
As the saying goes, "Beginners watch the excitement, experts see the skill."
But Contra truly had both.
It was exciting enough for casual players, yet rich enough in craftsmanship for experts to appreciate.
This simply didn't feel like a game that should exist in 1984.
Dave silently gave Ethan another long, serious look.
He found it hard to believe that such an incredible work could have been created by the young man before him, who looked barely over twenty years old.
He had originally thought that video games would continue their downward spiral until they eventually disappeared into the river of history.
But Contra...
It was as though it had crossed countless worlds, brought back from a future where video games had actually succeeded.
"Mr. Ethan."
"I apologize for my earlier rash judgment. This is nothing short of an unbelievable miracle."
Even the dullest person should have realized by now what the correct choice was.
Dave turned to Arnold.
"Arnold, I think this…"
"We absolutely have to take this endorsement!"
Arnold cut him off, his expression turning serious.
"ABSOLUTE CINEMA!!"