Chapter 77. Has The President Finally Given Up On Being Human?
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Pokemon, also known as Pocket Monsters.
Pokemon was a series of games developed by Game Freak and Creatures Inc., and published by Nintendo.
The original work was a Game Boy role-playing game released in Japan in 1996.
The Pokemon series was the second best-selling video game series in the world, second only to Nintendo's Super Mario series.
How influential was Pokemon?
In the 21st century, as long as you mentioned the name Pokemon, from ages 6 to 40, there was almost no one who hadn't heard of it.
Although in terms of sales it was only second to Super Mario, its fame was not inferior at all, and it was once hailed as the world's largest IP.
Pokemon went from games to anime, to peripheral toys, figurines... all kinds of things, everything imaginable.
...
Pokemon could be said to be a pet-raising, turn-based RPG combat game.
The game mechanics themselves weren't particularly complex, but the advantage was satisfying players' desire to collect and the various interesting and cute Pokemon pets that fascinated players.
Although Pokemon was very impressive, the path to fame was quite bumpy.
In 1995 in his previous life, Nintendo, the ruler of the gaming world, also had a time when it nearly fell into the abyss.
At that time, Nintendo, due to market changes, was preparing to exit the handheld market and wanted to shift focus to home consoles and develop the Game Boy replacement "Virtual Boy" (VB), which was considered the earliest prototype and attempt at VR headsets.
But unexpectedly, the VB's concept was too ahead of its time and completely failed. The N64 two-generation home consoles began to collapse, with the console domain being eroded by Sony and Sega.
The failing Nintendo was like a person about to fall off a cliff, swaying precariously, but at this time it saw a glimmer of hope—that was "Pokemon."
In the beginning, Pokemon, after struggling to get the game produced, faced the formidable opponents of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, these two iconic Japanese national RPGs, and was beaten thoroughly.
Players didn't have much interest in Pokemon, and Famitsu only gave it a low score of 28 points.
But when Nintendo decided to believe in "Pokemon," it naturally helped it "evolve."
Nintendo first serialized the Pokemon manga about an inept trainer and his Clefairy, then advertised in major magazines, and Pokemon gradually became widely known.
Later, due to becoming an anime and the accidental appearance of the [Mew Cartridge], Pokemon became famous and turned into a world-class major IP.
The [Mew Cartridge]—that legendary Pokemon No. 151, "Mew."
Simply put, at the time, the original cartridge capacity couldn't fit that many, so it was reduced to only 150.
But Mew's creator took it upon himself to secretly insert it into certain cartridges after fixing bugs.
Equivalent to making a [Collector's Edition], and in this collector's edition, there was the 151st Pokemon [Mew] that other versions didn't have.
Unexpectedly, this unanticipated move drove players crazy.
Nintendo also struck while the iron was hot, launching a limited event where you could get the "Mew Cartridge." At the time, there were only 20 prizes, but it attracted nearly 80,000 people to sign up, which reportedly even shocked Nintendo itself.
So they rushed production, and a few months later released the Blue version that fixed many bugs, and sales climbed again.
If the Legend of Zelda series allowed Nintendo to change the gaming world, then what changed Nintendo itself was definitely the Pokemon series.
It was precisely because of Pokemon that Nintendo was able to escape its predicament and once again become the handheld hegemon.
It could even be said that without Pokemon, Nintendo would be equivalent to having lost a leg.
Without Pokemon, Nintendo might not even have been able to survive the difficulties of 1995.
...
In any case, from Pokemon's birth to fame to becoming a world-class major IP, the journey was truly full of obstacles, with quite a bit of luck involved.
As the saying goes, when fortune arrives, heaven and earth lend their strength; when luck departs, even heroes lose their freedom.
Various coincidences—from the original creator Tajiri Satoshi, to Nintendo falling into difficulties and treating Pokemon as hope, to handhelds, to the chance appearance of the Mew cartridge, to manga and anime adaptation... if any link in this chain had gone wrong, Pokemon couldn't have succeeded.
Kiyoshi Yuuma didn't dare guarantee that if he developed Pokemon himself, it could truly achieve the same glory as in his previous life.
However, it was still better than giving it to Nintendo.
...
"Hiring."
Kiyoshi Yuuma placed his coffee cup in front of the HR and tapped her desk.
"Eh?"
Ayase Akane first looked at the half-drunk coffee cup in front of her, her eyes confused for only a second, then instantly lit up.
"Yes, President. You finally remembered me."
After doing secretarial work for a long time, her body would subconsciously want to refill his coffee.
But upon hearing the word [hiring], Ayase Akane's HR soul finally awakened.
She was even a tiny bit moved.
She quickly pulled out her notebook from the drawer and picked up her ballpoint pen, ready for action.
"President, what kind of talents should we recruit? What positions, and what are the specific requirements?"
Before Kiyoshi Yuuma could answer, she frowned and asked, "But President, it's been less than half a year since the last recruitment—we're recruiting again already?"
"Mm, Pokeni is in its growth phase now." Kiyoshi Yuuma said lightly.
Tsk tsk.
Really not easy—just a while ago things were desperate.
Now it's already the growth phase.
Having confidence is a good thing.
But isn't the President afraid of hiring too many people and then having the company suddenly collapse?
However...
As an HR, Ayase Akane still quite hoped to have something to do.
"Then what are the requirements?"
Kiyoshi Yuuma stood in place, leaning against her desk, his fingers tapping the desktop.
"Botany, biology, paleontology, entomology... college graduates from these majors will do."
Hiss...
Ayase Akane's fingers trembled.
"Um... President, what would we need such talents for?"
"Planning positions. For our next new game, we want to create more insect and plant-type protagonists."
Ah, this...
"Okay, President."
Ayase Akane silently sighed.
Although she had long seen that the President had a [non-human] preference, this was the first time it was so blunt.
Before, at least there was human-like appearance and packaging involved. Such blatant and frightening requirements—Ayase Akane had never heard of such a thing.
Has the President finally given up on being human?