"Use your imagination. Design a powerful enemy for the game—according to your own ideas."
Today, Kobayashi Tetsu said this to everyone he met. From Bandai to the Shimayose game shop, there was no one who hadn't heard it.
In just two days, he received a whole pile of design concepts.
Hideaki Anno: I don't know, but it has to be big—really big! Preferably fifty meters tall! It should combine mechanical and biological traits and look nothing like a human!
Shimayose Yosuke: I've never thought about this. If I had to say something, maybe it should look like a green-skinned orc.
Makoto Yamashina: This involves me too? I just sell toys. I don't care what it looks like, but it absolutely has to have the Bandai logo on it!
The ideas were wildly different, but basically none of them were feasible.
Whether it was the Famicom or other consoles of the same era, the hardware limitations were right there—you couldn't go beyond them.
There was an action game on the Famicom called Kung Fu. The protagonist was a shirtless man wearing blue pants, and that game was already considered the benchmark for action games on the system. It simply wasn't possible to do better. Even then, all the protagonist could do was punch, kick, and perform flying kicks.
So for characters with strong visual design and intense movement, even if Kobayashi Tetsu had ideas, there was no way to implement them.
In the garage at dusk, Kobayashi Tetsu stood guard by the whiteboard. Below it were several pairs of nervous yet expectant eyes.
"Come on," Kobayashi Tetsu urged. "Say whatever ideas you have."
Anezaki Nene took a deep breath, stepped up to the whiteboard, and began writing as she explained.
"This is a stitched-together monster, with parts from many different animals."
"There are obvious seams on its body, with exposed cables. It looks like an artificial life-form."
"It's very tall."
"It grabs objects nearby and uses them to attack people."
"Actually, it's kind by nature and doesn't like hurting others."
When she finished, Kobayashi Tetsu pondered for a moment. "That sounds like Frankenstein."
Frankenstein was a classic horror film character—a tall monster stitched together, its body marked with obvious artificial seams.
It was a classic of Western science fiction and horror cinema, though the work itself was at least fifty years old.
Hearing Kobayashi Tetsu say this, Anezaki Nene smiled shyly and nodded gently.
"Yes, that movie."
Kobayashi Tetsu asked casually, "Nene, do you like horror movies?"
Anezaki Nene grew even more embarrassed.
Horror movies—this kind of hobby wasn't exactly easy to admit.
"Not really… it's just—I watch them occasionally."
As she spoke, she bowed again.
Kobayashi Tetsu didn't dwell on the topic. He simply tapped the whiteboard lightly.
"Sometimes, making games actually requires people who don't play games to provide designs. The more you understand the industry, the more constrained your thinking becomes. People who don't play games, on the other hand, will design monsters purely based on imagination."
He looked toward Kitagawa Tsuyoshi.
"This kind of character design is fine, right?"
Kitagawa Tsuyoshi nodded repeatedly.
Yuji Naka nodded as well—after all, he was the one who would have to implement it in-game.
Even Satoru Iwata couldn't help but sink into thought.
Come to think of it, there really was something philosophical about that statement.
Making games might actually require people who don't play games.
Since this Sonic game only had four bosses in total, including the final boss, they needed to put extra effort into these four characters and make them as distinctive as possible. A stitched monster was an extremely classic design. Even if pixel art couldn't fully capture its appearance, it could still stand out as an exceptional concept.
As the discussion continued, they even imagined possible attack patterns.
During battle, its limbs could gradually fall off, revealing its true form.
It might tear off its own limbs to use as weapons, or simply throw them as projectiles.
Even if its movement looked awkward, that awkwardness would instead emphasize the stitched-together nature of the monster.
Kobayashi Tetsu handed the entire design of this monster over to Yuji Naka and the others.
Akihabara, HAL Laboratory.
The work here was already complete. Starting today, HAL Laboratory officially became part of Atlus, and could be called Atlus Second Development Division.
Masahito Tanimura clapped enthusiastically. "Let's welcome President Kobayashi to give us a speech!"
Amid the applause, Kobayashi Tetsu raised his hand slightly.
"Alright, quiet down. There's no need for a speech—I'm not someone who enjoys talking."
"Let's get straight to the point. First, we're having a group dinner tonight. Anyone with time can attend."
"Second, starting tomorrow, HAL will officially begin work. This will mainly include stage design, coordinating with Atlus headquarters to complete game development, and designing two end-of-stage bosses with completely different styles."
Kobayashi Tetsu directly handed over half of Sonic's development work to HAL.
When he finished speaking, another round of enthusiastic applause followed.
A group dinner was neither here nor there, but having work assigned on the second day after the acquisition made everyone feel much more at ease.
Having work meant they were valuable, and that eased the fear of being discarded at any moment.
Moreover, the feeling of immediately having tasks to do made people feel especially fulfilled.
Once everyone quieted down, Kobayashi Tetsu spoke of his third arrangement for the day.
"Iwata, you've been cooperating with Atlus for over half a month now. You already have a decent understanding of Atlus's style and are quite familiar with the new development environment. In that case, I'd like you to oversee the development of this project and handle progress coordination between the Second Development Division and Atlus headquarters. Is that okay?"
Satoru Iwata jolted, then nodded immediately. "No problem."
Masahito Tanimura clapped as well, as if completely unaware, looking genuinely happy for Iwata.
Kobayashi Tetsu gave Tanimura a deep look.
This arrangement was, of course, not made casually. On one hand, he trusted Iwata's abilities. On the other, it effectively made Iwata the person actually in charge of HAL's development work, while Tanimura was reduced to a symbolic figurehead.
Yet even now, Kobayashi Tetsu saw no sign of reaction from Tanimura at all.
"Either he doesn't care, or he hasn't understood it. Either way, that's fine. If he's content being a mascot, there's no need to kick him out."
Thinking this, Kobayashi Tetsu stood up.
He wouldn't attend the dinner. There was still money left from the earlier transfer—Tanimura and Iwata could organize the dinner themselves.
As for Kobayashi Tetsu, he naturally still had to continue tracking the progress of everything that came next.
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