Article About Space Invaders and the 100-Yen Myth

[chuckyparadise]

Hey folks,

Thought this might be a good audience for an article I recently had published where I try and investigate the supposed coin "shortage" caused by the release of Space Invaders in 1978.

 

If there's any folks heading to Ottawa Comiccon 2014, I'll actually be presenting a panel on it. Hoping to run into some fellow classic gamers!

 

Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

 

Thanks,

 

https://www.academia.edu/3672374/Insert_Coin_to_Play_Space_Invaders_and_the_100_Yen_Myth

[akator]

I have read that a brief shortage of Yen coins was reported in Japanese papers, but never that the Japanese currency was adjusted and new coins minted.

 

I applaud your attempt to squash yet another stupid myth that has been repeated as fact.

[NE146]

I like the subject of the article. I too also assumed that the yen shortage story was based on newspaper or magazine stories.. else how would Martin Amis have gotten wind of it back in those days?. That said, not to nitpick. but it's kind of a drag-down on the article that it shows a pic of random looking 8-bit sprites (including one that looks like a Pacman ghost) and then labels it as "Space Invaders".

 

Maybe there's probably larger licensing reasons for this, or perhaps going for some artistic touch? But, it's pretty much the same as showing Intellivision Space Armada for all it's worth.

 

[chuckyparadise]

I like the subject of the article. I too also assumed that the yen shortage story was based on newspaper or magazine stories.. else how would Martin Amis have gotten wind of it back in those days?. That said, not to nitpick. but it's kind of a drag-down on the article that it shows a pic of random looking 8-bit sprites (including one that looks like a Pacman ghost) and then labels it as "Space Invaders".

SI.jpg

 

Maybe there's probably larger licensing reasons for this, or perhaps going for some artistic touch? But, it's pretty much the same as showing Intellivision Space Armada for all it's worth.

 

Yeah,

I had nothing to do with the visuals, other than the pic of Nolan and I. Assuming it was to avoid any rights problems with Taito/Square Enix. Glad you guys enjoyed it!

[astrp3]

I did a blog post on this same subject a while back where I tried to track down the source of the story:

 

http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com/2013/11/video-game-myth-busters-space-invaders.html

[chuckyparadise]

I did a blog post on this same subject a while back where I tried to track down the source of the story:

 

http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com/2013/11/video-game-myth-busters-space-invaders.html

Yeah,

I remember you got an early draft of my article up. Awesome.

[Flojomojo]

Wonderful digging! Seems like this question can't really be answered with just United States news sources. I wonder if anyone from Japan has looked into this?

[chuckyparadise]

Wonderful digging! Seems like this question can't really be answered with just United States news sources. I wonder if anyone from Japan has looked into this?

Although I've lived in Japan, my Japanese is non-existent. Can't really offer too much there other than what info I got directly for Square Enix (Taito), the Japan Mint, and the Bank of Japan who all indicated that it was a myth and there was no major impact on the economy.