Entertaining a young girl was fun, of course—but making games was the real business.
After stopping by Yosuke Shimayori's place to check on sales, Tetsu Kobayashi went home and continued researching materials for Doctor Kobayashi.
Because it was an arcade game, the storage capacity was larger, allowing him to make certain adjustments.
Tetsu Kobayashi modified the visuals, trying out a chibi art style to create three quirky viruses. Overall, he was quite pleased with the style.
But there was one problem.
Tetsu Kobayashi lacked music.
Even an FC game needed background music. Without those repetitive, brain-hooking electronic melodies, it simply wouldn't feel right—let alone for an arcade game with a larger capacity.
"Electronic synth music is definitely not my strong suit… Sure, I could buy something from someone, but…"
Tetsu Kobayashi felt a headache coming on.
Kentaro noticed him scratching his head and walked over.
"What's wrong, Tetsu?"
"It's nothing. The porting work is going smoothly, but I'm running into hardware-support problems. I need a proper synth track. And even if I have a good track, the hardware also needs to support it."
Tetsu Kobayashi held out his hands helplessly.
"Otherwise I'll have to buy something. Dad, do you know anyone reliable?"
"That's hard to say. I'll keep an eye out for you," Kentaro replied, folding his arms casually.
"Don't forget what my job is. Missing hardware? I'll go get it!"
Tetsu Kobayashi looked at Kentaro seriously.
"Master, what is your job again?"
Kentaro: …?
I'm… I'm the acting department head at SEGA!
---
The next day — SEGA Consumer Division
"What?!!"
After hearing the new requirements for hardware distribution, Kentaro yelled at the warehouse manager.
"This rule didn't exist yesterday!"
"It didn't," the manager admitted, wiping his mouth. "Sorry, Kobayashi-kun, this came up suddenly. Too many people have been abusing their authority and taking equipment at will. The department head said that starting today, all hardware distribution must be approved by him first—including the S27AC sound chip. Even if you want to pay for it, the process must be followed."
Kentaro frowned and unleashed a long string of English that left the warehouse manager stunned.
"Kobayashi-kun… what does that mean?"
"Nothing. Not your fault. It means—'excellent leadership.'"
Kentaro tossed out the sarcastic remark and walked away.
He didn't even need to talk to Hideki Sato. Within seconds, he already understood everything.
The port request, payment, the signed contract—all required.
But the actual porting work couldn't be completed, because Hideki Sato used a perfectly reasonable-sounding excuse to block anyone from retrieving the needed hardware.
In other words, it was a deliberate act—within his authority.
Since arcade sales had nothing to do with the consumer division, slowing things down caused them no loss. If the port wasn't completed on time, the contractor would owe penalty fees. Sure, the fee wasn't much compared to the profit shares, but it still felt vile.
It was possible to work without the proper hardware—by skipping the music altogether.
But when the program went through acceptance testing, the other party would have a perfectly logical excuse to reject it.
"Oh, so your SG version has no music. You ported it to arcade and still didn't add music? You didn't finish the job at all! And you still want to be paid? No way!"
"At the very least, I need to find an older version of a sound chip as a temporary substitute… As for the music… looks like hiring a professional is out. Maybe SEGA has some new recruits?"
Kentaro pondered.
Probably… maybe…
There were bound to be plenty of students newly hired.
---
And indeed—Kentaro found someone.
Yuji Naka, male, 18 years old, freshly graduated.
Born in Osaka, stubborn like most Osakans.
He attended a technical high school in the electrical department, specializing in hand-soldering circuit boards.
In 1983, when Yuji Naka applied for jobs, he sent applications to multiple companies.
He really wanted to join Namco, but they weren't hiring, so he applied to other companies. SEGA wasn't originally on his list.
Through some mysterious twist of fate—
None of the companies he wanted accepted him.
Including Namco.
Because Yuji Naka hadn't even graduated high school.
Yes—he didn't have a diploma. He had dropped out halfway.
Only SEGA felt the kid had potential. And since the consumer division was growing rapidly, they hired him.
Yuji Naka loved electronic synth music. Later on, many games he worked on would include tracks he composed himself.
Among all the games he would eventually create, only one series would stand on equal footing with Nintendo:
The Sonic the Hedgehog series.
Yuji Naka would become the father of Sonic.
For now, Yuji Naka was staring blankly at the notice in his hands.
"What? I didn't even plan to go to SEGA. How did I end up suddenly working for SEGA? Not that I dislike it, but… since SEGA already decided it's me, I guess I'll recite a haiku."
"Didn't want to join SEGA
Yet SEGA insists on me
So to SEGA I go"
His housemates exchanged strange looks.
This kid… maybe he should be cooked into monjayaki…
"SEGA is a big company. If they picked you, Naka-kun, you should celebrate."
"Yeah, you should treat us to a meal!"
"Naka-kun, did they say what your job will be?"
Yuji Naka flipped the page.
Actually—there was a job assignment! On day one!
"It's outsourced work. I'm supposed to help create synth music for a game! The client is Atlas Studio… Ah! It's that Atlus, right?"
He glanced at the TV the group shared.
From Atlus, the only game he knew was the recently released Kobayashi Puzzle. The graphics were simple, but it was surprisingly fun. He and his housemates had pooled money to buy a cartridge.
If not for that game, he wouldn't have listed SEGA on his job report.
After all—
The SEGA SG was absolute garbage.
Yuji Naka cracked his knuckles.
A certain excitement—almost like being recognized—flared inside him.
Since this was his first day, he had to show some real skill.
And synth music was exactly what he did best.
Please Support me by becoming my patreon member and get 15+ chapters.
[email protected]/Ajal69
change @ with a
Thank You to Those who joined my Patreon