Chapter 54. Then It's Decided. It's You!
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December 26, 1990.
Tokyo.
Pokeni Co., Ltd.
The year was coming to an end.
No one really felt like working—most employees sat at their desks chatting idly.
And honestly, there wasn't much to do anyway.
The main reason was that the company's future direction hadn't been set yet. Nobody knew what President Kiyoshi planned for the next game.
"Hey, hey, what do you think the president's thinking? With the Onmyoji series doing so well, he's not going to just stop making it, right?"
"Who knows? You guys know what he's like—his heart's set on breaking into the mainstream market."
"Breaking into the mainstream isn't that easy! Leaving money on the table and insisting on trying other genres… Sometimes I think the president really can't see straight."
"But not necessarily. Didn't Onmyoji 2 start out as a traditional RPG before he switched it into a galgame?"
"Hopefully he doesn't repeat that mistake. If he waits until the project's almost done before making big changes again, I seriously won't be able to handle it."
"Worrying about that now is pointless. New Year's is around the corner—better to think about what to do during the holidays."
"Haha, true. Let the president decide the company's future. Our job is just to give everything we've got once the direction is set. That's all."
"I can't argue with that."
"By the way, should we go to the Fox Shrine for New Year's prayers?"
"Definitely, definitely. The fox parade is so much fun."
"And grabbing lucky bags?"
"Of course! Hopefully I can snag a really big one this year."
"Ah~ I'm already looking forward to it."
…
Meanwhile, in the president's office, Kiyoshi Yuuma was worrying over the new game.
The Onmyoji series had achieved excellent results and brought in significant revenue.
According to finance department, the company's available funds now stood at roughly 300 million yen.
For Pokeni to have earned that much meant that investors like DUN and the distributors had also made a tidy profit.
Three hundred million yen—enough to go all-in on developing a major title.
On his computer, Kiyoshi Yuuma had drafted a plagiarism… ahem, a "reference list."
But hardware limitations restricted the options.
Home computers hadn't yet become widespread, mainly because PC prices hadn't come down.
In 1990, a 486-class computer cost nearly 700,000 yen—around 30,000 yuan in mainland China—an outrageous luxury item.
Only the wealthy could afford one.
With the computer market still immature, certain game genres could be ruled out right away.
For example, shooters.
Playing shooters with a controller was a nightmare.
The mouse-and-keyboard setup offered a far better experience.
Clearly, that type of game was more suited to PC development—and for now, Kiyoshi Yuuma had no intention of touching it.
Otherwise, with someone like Mikami Shinji—now part of the team, a platinum-tier producer—developing Resident Evil on PC would have really showcased his talent.
…
After ruling out PC development, only a few platforms remained:
The first was to continue developing on the FC.
After all, FC and NES were still the largest home consoles in terms of user base worldwide.
Other options included Sega's MD and Nintendo's SFC.
The most advanced home console at the time was undoubtedly Nintendo's SFC. If the FC was a horse cart, then the SFC was a supercar.
Since the SFC was released later than other 16-bit consoles like Sega's MD, it had superior graphical performance.
Thanks to features like Mode 7, mosaic effects, and HDMA, its visuals and audio outperformed any 486-level PC at the time and could even match the Pentium (586) standard.
Interestingly, the SFC's main CPU, the 65c816, had a simulation mode that perfectly emulated the 6502 chip.
It was clear that Nintendo once planned to make the SFC compatible with FC software but abandoned the idea due to cost.
Even so, this console couldn't support massive action titles like Sekiro or the open-world games of the future…
By Kiyoshi Yuuma's estimate, if they could make good use of Asakawa Hiroki's hardware design skills, they might achieve game performance on SFC that was five years ahead of its time.
This was mainly in terms of gameplay performance. Graphical support wouldn't be an issue—since the SFC could already surpass the 586, the most advanced PCs then, reaching the level of "Fate" was completely feasible.
…
If he were confident enough, he could choose the MD, taking aim directly at Nintendo.
That could help Sega establish dominance in the console market.
The two were locked in fierce competition.
To be precise, it was now a three-way standoff between Nintendo, Sega, and NEC's PCE.
Players' opinions of the three companies varied, but at the time Sega's MD and NEC's PCE were seen as having the upper hand.
Learning this, Kiyoshi Yuuma was secretly stunned—
When did MD and PCE manage to crush Nintendo?
But that was indeed the reality.
Sega's MD and NEC's PCE were released in 1988 and 1987 respectively, and during that period, 16-bit consoles really could crush the 8-bit machines.
It wasn't until Nintendo launched the SFC that they managed to reverse their disadvantage.
Considering Pokeni's own interests, Kiyoshi Yuuma ultimately decided to develop the new project on the SFC.
Nintendo was at its peak, and even without Pokeni, they seemed destined to establish console dominance. The MD vs. SFC war was temporary—later would come the PS vs. SS battle.
Let's take one step at a time—for now, boarding the biggest ship was the wisest move.
…
The SFC's graphics were already capable of rendering beautiful and enticing visuals.
With Kiyoshi Yuuma's own art skills, their game would absolutely outshine every other product of its era in terms of visuals.
To shake off the shadow of Onmyoji, Kiyoshi Yuuma decided to establish a new subsidiary after the New Year, dedicated solely to developing mainstream games.
A person mustn't fall into the same pit twice!
…
What remained was to carefully choose the game.
After a long time of deliberation, Kiyoshi Yuuma typed onto the screen—
[Diablo]
…
In gaming history, many titles stand as milestones.
Diablo was undoubtedly one of them.
Especially Diablo II, with its gameplay model, rich combat system, and finely tuned balance, became a classic studied by countless aspiring designers.
For game planners—especially in combat and balance design—Diablo was an essential lifetime course of study.
Although Diablo was originally made for PC, developing it on the SFC with controller-based gameplay wouldn't harm the experience at all—so long as the design was good.
Yes!
Then it's decided—it's you!