Kazumasa Kozuki gave his instructions. "We haven't really touched this genre before. There aren't many of these games on the market right now, so the competition isn't too fierce, but player retention is incredibly high. I remember Heart of the Vandals performed well last year. Let's keep that momentum going this year and dig deeper into this area."
After the briefing, Kozuki did something unprecedented: he left the executive floor and went down to the audio development lab on the second basement level.
This place had once been the core stronghold of Konami's most proud achievement, the "Konami Kukeiha Club."
The moment the door swung open, the rhythmic electronic music was so intense it made one's eardrums thrum.
Several programmers were huddled around a strangely shaped arcade cabinet, sweating profusely as they calibrated the buttons.
"President!" The Development Director jumped in surprise upon seeing Kozuki and rushed forward to greet him.
"That secret music rhythm game... what was it called again?" Kozuki ignored the director's nervousness, his gaze fixed on the notes continuously falling down the screen.
"Beatmania," the director answered quickly.
"Speed up the development," Kazumasa Kozuki said, slapping the arcade cabinet with a fanatical glint in his eyes. "Since we have Japan's top game music team and the composition skills passed down from the Famicom era, let's just turn the music itself into the game! We don't need to compete with Square on their bullshit graphics and stories. As long as the music is good and the rhythm is thrilling, the kids in the arcades will line up to feed us coins! This is the lane that belongs to us alone!"
Sapporo, Hudson Headquarters.
President Hiroshi Kudo stared at the summer release schedule for Sega's Jupiter platform on his desk, chewing his lip in frustration.
"It's too crowded," he sighed, tossing the report to his younger brother, Yuji Kudo. "There's absolutely no room left."
Yuji flipped through the report, his expression equally grim. "Sega's momentum is just too strong right now. Every developer, big and small, is scrambling to get on their platform, and the release slots are packed tight. The competition is brutal. Our mid-to-small scale games won't even make a ripple against those million-seller blockbusters. We'd just be stepping stones for them."
Hiroshi tapped his fingers rhythmically on the armrest of his chair, his mind racing to find a way out.
"We need a new strategy," Hiroshi Kudo said, his hand suddenly still. His voice was firm. "Go to Nintendo."
Yuji Kudo froze, certain he'd misheard. "Nintendo? They're getting crushed by Sega right now."
"What do you know? The N64 is desperate for third-party games," Hiroshi retorted, his eyes gleaming with calculation. "Yamauchi even lowered his guard recently. They're willing to negotiate royalties and cartridge costs—something we'd never have dared to dream of before. Hudson built its reputation on casual party games, which perfectly matches Nintendo's core user base. If we go to Nintendo, we'll be the guests of honor, bringing them exactly what they need. We'll get the best promotional spots. But if we stay on the Jupiter and PlayStation, the players' eyes are glued to the blockbusters, and we're just cannon fodder! We're simply returning to the Nintendo camp."
"Brilliant!" Yuji Kudo stood up abruptly, his excitement palpable. "I'll fly to Kyoto tomorrow and visit President Yamauchi myself!"
Tokyo, Namco Headquarters.
Masaya Nakamura sipped his tea with deliberate slowness, his expression as still as a stagnant pool.
Compared to the other three companies, which were desperately fighting for survival in the margins, Namco was the most confident and had the most ambitious plans.
"RPG, fighting, casual—roll them out across the board. Don't be afraid to spend," Masaya Nakamura said, setting down his teacup. The producer opposite him nodded repeatedly, scribbling notes.
"Is the main event for the summer season finalized?" Nakamura asked softly.
"Ace Combat 2," the producer replied, handing over the latest development schedule with both hands. "All level designs are basically complete. We're now working feverishly on bug fixes and final graphical polishing."
Nakamura flipped through the document, glancing at it briefly.
The first Ace Combat had been a massive hit on Arcade, Jupiter, and PlayStation consoles. Its critical acclaim was immense, with even its music receiving widespread praise, cultivating a large, loyal fanbase.
"We're the only major player in this market right now," Nakamura said, closing the proposal. A faint smile finally touched his lips. "There isn't a single 3D modern aerial combat game on the market that can challenge us. Without any competition, if players want to experience the thrill of dogfighting in the clouds, they have no choice but to buy our game. This is the absolute advantage of a monopoly!"
He lifted his teacup and gently blew on the floating tea leaves.
"Pour all our marketing resources into this! Make it Namco's absolute ace!" Masaya Nakamura's voice wasn't loud, yet it carried an unquestionable authority. "Isn't Nobuo Uematsu preparing for the second Final Fantasy concert? I recall our music director is Tetsukazu Nakanishi, right? Tell him to put his all into it and capture the exhilarating rush of aerial combat! Someday, this series of ours might even hold its own symphony concert."
"The impact of a major release's debut will eventually fade. As long as we hold a unique product that no one else can replicate, we'll never worry about making money!"
The frantic spring break promotions had finally given the major third-party manufacturers a much-needed breather from the suffocating pressure Square had brought upon them.
However, inside the Sega Headquarters Building, the atmosphere was completely different.
There was no anxiety over clearing inventory here, only the roar of an engine continuously racing forward.
The internal phone on Takuya Nakayama's desk rang sharply.
It was Hideki Sato, the Hardware Department head. His voice betrayed a mix of irrepressible excitement and a hint of exhaustion.
"Managing Director, the preliminary research for the new handheld console is complete. The first engineering prototype just powered up. Do you have a moment to come take a look?"
"I'll be right there," Takuya Nakayama said, hanging up the phone and heading downstairs.
The hardware R&D lab was located in the building's basement.
The moment he pushed open the anti-static door, the smell of soldering irons melting rosin, mixed with the faint, scorched scent of electronic components, rushed to meet him.
To an ordinary person, the smell might have been pungent, but to Takuya Nakayama, it smelled like the gunpowder about to ignite a new era.
Hideki Sato, sporting heavy dark circles under his eyes, was staring intently at a gray engineering plastic shell on the workbench.
Around it lay a few jumper wires and a pile of test instruments, their screens displaying complex, flickering waveforms.
Seeing Takuya Nakayama approach, Hideki Sato straightened up and pushed several thick technical documents across the table.
"The core architecture is finally locked in," Sato said, picking up a pen and tapping the largest black chip in the center of the motherboard. "For the CPU, we've ultimately chosen Motorola's DragonBallEZ."
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