My guest today is the Dutch video game designer and entrepreneur, Henk Rogers. While a student at the University of Hawaii, he’d while away the hours playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends. After he moved to Japan, he bought a computer and used it to develop a role-playing game of his own, called Black Onyx, tailored to the Japanese market. When the game’s backer pulled out of the deal, he decided to self-publish the game, and borrowed $50,000 from a friend to set up Bullet-Proof Software.

Black Onyx sold 150,000 copies and influenced the creation of the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy series. But it was a Russian game that made my guest truly famous when he helped broker the deal between the Soviet Union and Nintendo that brought Tetris to the world. That story has now been made into a film, set to debut on Apple TV this month.

Play the console:

• Space Invaders
• M.U.L.E.
• MIDI Maze
• Spaceward Ho!
• Cinco Paus

Thank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole

Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole

Take the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.