Japan has a long and proud history in the realm of video games. Some of the most significant and influential games originate from the country, and names like Nintendo, Capcom, Konami, and Sega are globally famous, their fame reaching far beyond the realms of interactive entertainment.
What's amazing is people are still finding stuff out about Japan's association with games, even today. As highlighted by Bruno de Figueiredo, it would seem that the nation's first-ever video game has been discovered—and it's all thanks to a post by a nostalgic train enthusiast.
"This train aficionado may have inadvertently revealed one of the earliest known Japanese videogames, a nameless train simulation that could be found at the Furukawa Pavilion in 1970," says de Figueiredo. "Though the information in this speciality magazine article is scant, the implications are immense."
The images of Densha no Unten Tesuto (Train Driving Test) are taken from the July 1970 issue of Railway Pictorial magazine. "It appears that this program ran on an IDI Input-Output Machine, a computer developed in the mid-60s by Information Displays, Inc.," adds de Figueiredo. "The IDIIOM is widely regarded as the first commercial CADD platform with powerful vector graphics capabilities and a light pen interface."
In a post on social media, yota8nsx talks about playing the game over half a century ago at the Furukawa Pavilion:
Given the performance of computers in 1970, the possibilities were limited. It’s been over 54 years, and my memory is fuzzy, but I think when it accelerated, you’d fall backward, and when the brakes were applied, you’d fall forward. The angle of the fall had about three levels, and it was scored based on ride comfort. If you got 90 points or more out of 100, you were supposed to get a medal. In the image, it’s 76 points.
While electromagnetic games were commonplace in Japan in the 1960s, it was previously believed that the first 'video' games designed and made in Japan were titles like Taito's Astro Race (1973), Speed Race (1974) and Gun Fight (1975), with the company's Space Invaders (1978) being recognised as the first Japanese-made video game to gain significant global commercial success.