After returning, Shimayose Yosuke wrote down what he had seen and heard.
Shimayose Yosuke expressed his thoughts.
Remember the first website domain: twkan.com
This crappy game sounded uninteresting; he wouldn't play it even if they paid him!
He couldn't understand why Kobayashi Tetsu would agree to it. The only thing Shimayose Yosuke knew was that when Kobayashi Tetsu said he was willing to accept, Tajiri Satoshi was so moved he nearly cried, almost kneeling on the spot and saying, "Satoshi has drifted through life for half a lifetime, yet never encountered a wise master..."
From this point of view.
Shimayose Yosuke thought that although he wasn't interested in the game, there might be something to look forward to.
What if it actually turned out to be fun!
However, Kobayashi Tetsu certainly wouldn't think that way.
The first generation of Pokémon was indeed barely passing; the ratings weren't high, and it didn't look very fun.
But as a pioneering work, its status was high enough, and on the other hand, Pokémon was actually much more profitable than it looked.
Pokémon has never been classified as an RPG. If Pokémon were to be counted as an RPG, then both Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy would be dragged down with it, and wouldn't even rank in front of Pokémon.
Pokémon is never counted as an RPG. If Pokémon were to be considered an RPG, then both Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy would be dragged into the same category, and they wouldn't even rank alongside Pokémon.
The Legend of Zelda is also not included in the "three great Japanese RPGs," otherwise, the Zelda series would actually be an early ARPG, dating back to the same era as Dragon Quest.
Now, Satoshi Tajiri has come running to tell him he wants to make Pokémon. Yosuke Shimayose slapped his thigh on the spot and told Kobayashi Tetsu that he agreed to the project, even investing a massive sum of 5 million yen for Tajiri to conduct field research in Japan—research locations included zoos and botanical gardens—where there were bugs in the botanical gardens.
If everything went according to plan, Satoshi Tajiri wouldn't be able to do anything else for at least five years. He would pour every ounce of his energy into Pokémon, until his illness worsened and forced him to step down from his position as lead producer.
Hmm—the term "mentally ill" is derogatory for most people, but for Satoshi Tajiri, it was just a regular term. He did indeed have a mental illness.
Sega office building.
Noriyoshi Ohba reported on what he had seen and heard over the past few days to Hayao Nakayama.
"In addition to Tetsu Kobayashi's summary and suggestions for the game Red Fortress, there is one more thing: Tetsu Kobayashi recently met with a mental patient, and that patient said he wanted to make a game."
Noriyoshi Ohba briefly explained the Pokémon project.
Hayao Nakayama gasped like a Sonic.
Pokémon or whatever, it sounds so boring!!
He wasn't just spouting nonsense, because the original Pokémon could be summarized as: the protagonist controls a bunch of creatures based on animals, plants, and bugs to explore, with a main focus on family-friendly storytelling, and the main gameplay is actually just players trading little bugs with each other.
A game like this, if brought to Sega, Hayao Nakayama would sentence it to death immediately!
It wouldn't have a single chance!
"You said that guy's name is Satoshi Tajiri? He was the 'Challenge from Tetsu Kobayashi' grand champion, perhaps Atlas was just trying to win over fans, that's all. Let's not talk about the game for now; tell me about Tetsu Kobayashi's summary of Red Fortress."
Noriyoshi Ohba nodded in agreement.
Based on the note Kobayashi Tetsu gave him, the summary for "Red Fortress" was as follows.
The levels adopted a hidden design, some bugs useful for clearing the game were not actually bugs but features that should be directly showcased, and for an action game, the graphics were not important; what mattered was the feel of the controls—
Going through it point by point, Nakayama Hayao frowned.
He instinctively felt there were some issues with these assertions, but it seemed that "Red Fortress" did indeed fit this definition.
The hidden levels in "Red Fortress" required players to follow stealth-based solutions, and the game did indeed include bugs, such as the double-hostage glitch.
Overall, Nakayama Hayao believed that this still had a certain degree of feasibility, and it was worth referring to this summary to develop a game.
"Ohba, you've done well. Sega Headquarters will continue to push forward with the next game based on this proposal."
Nakayama Hayao instructed him solemnly—Be careful over there! Make sure not to expose yourself!
Codename: Operation Fuji. Your contribution is greatly appreciated!
After completing "Red Fortress," Atlas had no more development projects for this year.
However, while Kobayashi Tetsu was still mulling over Atlas's plans for next year, he instead received a call from Sega, inviting him to attend a meeting at their offices.
Kobayashi Tetsu pondered the word "meeting" and inexplicably felt a shiver.
"I probably don't need to bring a gun, right?"
With a sense of caution, Kobayashi Tetsu still went to attend the meeting hosted by Sega.
He arrived at Sega's meeting room somewhat late; others had already arrived before him.
Namco, Konami, Taito, Technosoft, Sunsoft————
These were all third-party developers.
The moment Kobayashi Tetsu walked in, over a dozen pairs of eyes turned to look at him in unison.
Game producers often work behind the scenes and aren't easy to recognize; Kobayashi Tetsu had previously been one of them.
It wasn't until Atlas moved into their office building and Kobayashi Tetsu made his first public appearance that he became a household name overnight.
Everyone in the industry knew there was this young man who was the president of Atlas!
"Atlas."
"Is that Atlas—"
"I heard he's Hayao Nakayama's illegitimate son."
"Isn't it Isao Okawa?"
Tetsu Kobayashi rolled his eyes.
What nonsense! Kentaro Kobayashi wasn't even dead yet! He wasn't anyone's illegitimate son!
His gaze swept over them, and for a moment, he felt like Qiao Feng visiting Mount Shaoshi; everyone retreated wherever his eyes fell.
Tetsu Kobayashi couldn't help but sigh.
Lonely!
Is it his fault that he's both rich and handsome?
Tetsu Kobayashi's gaze swept over, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and he walked towards one of them.
Manager Nakamura, Ryohei Nakamura.
He was, of course, not the president of Namco. The Namco president was named Masaya Nakamura, and the arcade version of Xevious was developed by Masaya Nakamura.
As for this Ryohei Nakamura.
Tetsu Kobayashi couldn't say, but that didn't stop him from teasing, "Oh, it's Manager Nakamura. I thought it was President Nakamura!"
Ryohei Nakamura saw clearly that it was Tetsu Kobayashi, and his face instantly darkened, and his teeth began to ache.
"I am just a manager at Namco, not the president!"
Ryohei Nakamura suddenly wanted to hit someone.
Kobayashi Tetsu was the target.
Kobayashi Tetsu only teased him for a moment before quickly withdrawing his gaze.
Among the many people in the room, Kobayashi Tetsu stood out the most, largely because he was the youngest. Even in the game development industry, twenty-one-year-old Kobayashi Tetsu was the youngest of them all.
He chose a seat nearby, right across from Nakamura Ryohei. Nakamura Ryohei, feeling mortified under his gaze, simply lowered his head to avoid looking at him.
"Why so shy? It's not like you're my type."
Kobayashi Tetsu clasped his hands behind his head, his posture exceptionally relaxed. "Gentlemen, be brave with your asking prices. Now is the time for Sega to come begging to us!"
Facing the questioning looks from everyone, Kobayashi Tetsu spread his hands. "Why are you all looking at me? Don't tell me you can't see it!"
Fortunately, they were in a conference room, and there was a whiteboard. Kobayashi Tetsu pulled it over and scribbled a few notes.
"Currently, in the Japanese market, Sega and Nintendo are locked in a tight struggle. The battleground for victory is overseas. Overseas, while Sega holds a market advantage, it is not an absolute one—it's roughly 55% to 35%, with other computers and game consoles making up the remaining 10% of the game market."
"Sega must be holding their breath for something big, ready to strike a heavy blow at Nintendo!"
"But no matter how good a game console is, it still needs games. Now is the time when Sega is begging us to develop games for them. So, gentlemen, feel free to set whatever terms you like."
Ryohei Nakamura finally found an opening: "Everyone knows your father is a Sega executive. I'm afraid these words were probably prompted by someone already, weren't they!"
Kobayashi Tetsu didn't follow his line of questioning.
Kobayashi Tetsu scanned the room and suddenly said, "The president of Namco is respectfully called Masaya Nakamura. Your name is Ryohei Nakamura. It wouldn't be such a coincidence that you, as a department manager, actually have the president as a father, would it?"
Ryohei Nakamura's face darkened: "The president and I are only distant relatives! I was able to become Namco's development manager through my own step-by-step efforts, fighting for it. I didn't rely on anyone to get where I am today!"
Kobayashi Tetsu nodded: "No wonder your decisions are so stupid; you didn't inherit a single bit of Mr. Nakamura's intelligence."
Everyone looked at Ryohei Nakamura, then at Kobayashi Tetsu, and made the very wise choice to stay silent.
Especially the representatives from Konami and Taito.
They had also taken action during the Street Fighter incident before, and now they were afraid that Kobayashi Tetsu would turn his fire on them.
Fortunately, Kobayashi Tetsu didn't seem to have any such intention.
Several people walked in from outside the conference room; they were Sega's Home Console Division General Manager Sato Hideki, Publishing Manager Tanaka Minoru, and Hardware Development Department's Kobayashi Kentaro.
Kobayashi Tetsu suddenly straightened his expression.
If history didn't deviate.
Kobayashi Tetsu believed that it was most likely the launch of the Sega MD.
This was the legendary console that truly had the power to crush Nintendo overseas!
Unfortunately, in history, Sega exerted its strength too late and was directly locked out by Nintendo through third-party agreements that restricted development companies, so a large number of games on the MD were Sega's first-party titles.
This led to the awkward situation where MD players had a game console but no games to play.
Now, Sega didn't have the ability to completely lock out Nintendo, but neither could Nintendo lock out the MD. In such a situation, how the battle between the MD and the SFC would play out was something even Kobayashi Tetsu dared not predict.
He sat up straight, no longer bothering to berate Nakamura Ryohei, and began to wait for what was to come.
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