At the end of July, as usual, the payment for the month arrived—over thirty million yen.
August came. The holidays ended, and so did the Summer Olympics.
That year's Los Angeles Olympics saw Japan perform rather ordinarily, while back home there was a triumphant surge—Xu the Champion, Iron Hammer, Prince Li…
Of course, since he was now in Japan, all of that was already in the past for Kobayashi Tetsu.
"Everyone's back?"
In the garage, Kobayashi Tetsu wore a gentle smile as he casually tapped the whiteboard behind him.
"I've been thinking about it during this time. I have a new project in mind—one that I plan to sell alongside Sega's console. If it's handled well, it might become a top-tier game. Someday, when people talk about it, they'll say, 'Ah! That one!'"
The group leaned in. Yuji Naka scanned the board at lightning speed.
Codename: Sonic Speed.
A parkour-style game similar to off-road motorcycling, filled with obstacles and extreme speed. There would be monsters and different stages, but the focus wouldn't be on the small enemies—it would be on the stage-ending bosses. Several bosses would need to be designed with completely different mechanics.
"Hiss—" Yuji Naka's first reaction was to snap his head up.
"President, won't the cartridge capacity be too small?"
"Don't worry about that. Just make it."
Kobayashi Tetsu returned a smile full of mystery.
Not enough capacity? No—there was plenty. The Master System outperformed the Famicom in certain areas, and cartridge capacity could be gradually expanded. For a streamlined version of Sonic, the space was more than sufficient.
He even planned to allow character switching—players could take control of Sonic's companions as needed, like the powerhouse Knuckles or the researcher Tails.
Instant character switching had already been done in Tiny Toon Adventures.
Yuji Naka raised another concern. "This is a huge project. Can we really finish it on time?"
"We can't," Kobayashi said bluntly. "That's why I brought in outside help—HAL Laboratory. They'll assist with development. And if Atlas grows big enough someday, HAL can be renamed 'Atlas R&D Division Two.'"
As for preventing leaks and ensuring the money was well spent, the solution was simple.
Kobayashi Tetsu planned to acquire HAL Laboratory outright.
With one hundred million yen in his pocket, not spending it would be a waste.
HAL had valuable talent like Satoru Iwata and an existing development team. As long as Masahito Tanimura could be pushed aside, HAL still had real value.
After all, it was a studio that had originally developed many games for Nintendo. The only real problem had always been Masahito Tanimura.
Kobayashi Tetsu shook his head and set those thoughts aside for now.
"Anyway, the plan is on the board. Everyone memorize it. Kitagawa, you'll need to put extra thought into the character designs—three playable characters, and four stage bosses in the main game: three mid-bosses and one final boss."
He didn't plan to make the game bloated. Designing four intelligent, memorable bosses would be enough.
Tsuyoshi Kitagawa nodded repeatedly, then asked, "What's the design direction?"
"The main character is a hedgehog. His two friends are an echidna and a small fox. The protagonist is blue—straightforward and passionate. The echidna has a hot temper and acts directly. The fox is smarter but physically the weakest. And don't give the fox that sleazy fox-spirit vibe."
Kitagawa nodded again and glanced at the screen.
Who could make pixel art look erotic anyway?
Masuko Tsukasa raised his hand.
"What about me?"
"Music. This game's capacity is large, so we can include more tracks. Your top priority is to design two distinct musical styles—one intense, one relatively calm."
Masuko gave a thumbs-up.
Just do it.
After settling everyone's tasks, Kobayashi Tetsu packed his things and prepared to leave.
He had brought along a legal advisor from Sega, and next he would be paying HAL a visit.
A small apartment outside Akihabara—HAL Laboratory.
When Kobayashi Tetsu arrived, Masahito Tanimura froze for a moment, then quickly recovered his enthusiastic expression and invited him inside.
"President Kobayashi, welcome! And this gentleman is…?"
"I'm a lawyer," the man replied. "My name isn't important. I'm here to provide legal support."
"Not Important" gave a slight bow.
Tanimura was visibly surprised, and the others in the room all turned to look at Kobayashi Tetsu.
Kobayashi pulled over a chair and sat down. The lawyer stood behind him.
"Tanimura, have a seat."
"Oh—right."
Only after sitting did Tanimura realize that he himself was the president of HAL.
"Our previous collaboration went very smoothly. The game has been released as scheduled and will be available on Sega platforms this August. So I hope HAL Laboratory can continue assisting Atlas with development."
Kobayashi spoke formally, and Tanimura couldn't help but respond in kind.
"Assist with development? No problem at all!" Tanimura patted his chest. "HAL can definitely handle it!"
Kobayashi shook his head.
"What I mean is that Atlas will fully acquire HAL Laboratory. HAL will be merged into Atlas and become Atlas's second development division."
Tanimura's expression instantly turned cold.
"President Kobayashi, that doesn't sound appropriate. HAL is my life's work—"
Kobayashi's expression didn't change, though he sneered inwardly.
If it truly were his life's work, Tanimura wouldn't have siphoned off two billion yen from HAL to speculate in stocks.
Developers who left HAL—including his longtime friend Satoru Iwata—never spoke highly of Tanimura. Out of friendship, Iwata didn't say much, but another developer had outright called Tanimura a scourge upon the world.
Kobayashi said nothing. Instead, he turned to look at HAL's staff.
There weren't many—excluding Tanimura, only eleven people, including the round-faced Satoru Iwata.
"Allow me to be blunt. In the four years since HAL was founded, you haven't produced any results of real value. The truth is harsh and unpleasant, but it's still the truth. Even on a low-cost platform like MSX, HAL failed to achieve meaningful success."
As always, he struck first and hard.
"No Sega license, no Nintendo license, no achievements on MSX. Pursuing ideals is admirable, but where exactly is a studio like this headed? Frankly, I can't see a future. Your largest recent income came from Atlas's last commission, and even the development kits were something I had to apply for."
He stood up and tapped the nearby MSX machine.
"Who wouldn't want better hardware? Faster processors, better graphics, quicker response times—and, of course, better pay."
Finally, he looked at Tanimura.
"After the acquisition, HAL will become an Atlas development division. Staff roles remain unchanged. You'll still be HAL's division head, retaining authority over personnel decisions. HAL only needs to complete development tasks assigned by Atlas. I won't interfere in anything else."
Tanimura fell silent. He tugged at his collar, a strange sense of relief washing over him.
The conditions didn't actually sound bad. This was still his kingdom, and he still controlled everything—there was simply an extra boss who might occasionally give orders.
"Then…"
His voice was dry, but he still asked the question that mattered most.
"How much?"
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