Two weeks had passed since the competition ended, and one week since the new console had launched.
As promised, Kobayashi Tetsu headed to Tanaka Minoru's office.
For once, the bald-headed division chief wasn't working on a crossword puzzle.
"Tetsu, you're here. Have a seat."
Tanaka Minoru paced back and forth behind his desk, unable to hide his excitement.
"You definitely won't believe how well the GG feature worked last time! We paid TBS only a small amount, and they agreed to the interview. The entire Kanto region could watch it!"
"Here's your sales report. Take a look first."
Tetsu glanced at it.
In its first week, the puzzle game had sold over ten thousand units. The actual number was around seven thousand, with the remaining units only shipped but not sold, meaning no payment received.
But in the past week, in a nearly unbelievable surge, Kobayashi's Puzzle had sold another ten thousand units.
Given SG's market share, counting the existing user base, more than half of SG players had bought the game.
And the two-player cartridge was counted separately.
Tanaka continued: "Sales of the SG1000 only rose a little, but the SG1200 sold nearly thirty thousand units in its first week!"
"That's great news!"
Tetsu's eyes lit up.
With both models combined, SG should be close to a total of one hundred thousand units. Compared to Nintendo's Famicom, it was still behind—FC's domestic shipments were already close to two hundred thousand.
But everyone was updating their consoles and releasing new games. With SG1200 offering more for the same price, releasing a defining game now could make surpassing the FC entirely possible.
Tanaka added, "The arcade version of your game, Dr. Kobayashi, is scheduled to begin distribution this month. We won't ship many arcade cabinets, but it will definitely be worth it."
Tetsu said nothing more and bowed.
It was worth it.
"But, Director Tanaka, why can't you ever finish what you want to say in one breath?"
"Huh? You knew I still had more to say?"
Tetsu: …
Kentarō never mentioned this guy was this petty!
This time Tanaka's expression turned serious—clearly something important.
"The SG1200 is out, but it still doesn't have any standout games. Sega's software division is preparing a new title, but I believe you, Tetsu, have more potential than the entire software department. So the Home Console Division wants to commission you for outsourced development—to create a new game for the SG1200."
Tanaka raised his hand and gestured rapidly.
"You can pick up the necessary hardware directly from Sega. Division Chief Satō may not be thrilled, but he also needs results to prove the Home Console Division deserves to remain part of Sega."
"You'll have two months. The sooner the better."
"And most importantly…"
"The game must feel—fast, intense, exhilarating! It needs to show off the SG1200's improved performance!"
Tetsu straightened immediately.
A development contract. And it just so happened he'd been wanting to make something new.
"But the SG cartridges only have 8KB of storage—that's nowhere near enough."
"Even squeezing Kobayashi's Puzzle into 8KB was barely manageable."
"This time is different." Tanaka explained, "The new cartridges released with the SG1200 are upgraded—16 + 4 KB. Four KB are for storing extra audio and visual assets, while sixteen KB are for the main game data."
"In other words, with efficient resource planning, a new cartridge can hold 20 KB. That's enough to make something close to an arcade-style title."
Tetsu finally took it seriously.
Clearly, Sega must have dismantled Nintendo's hardware during that month to figure this out.
Some tech barriers were impossible to break quickly—but others were very simple.
The Famicom's storage capacity could reach 32 + 8 KB because Nintendo used a special architecture.
Nintendo's earliest hybrid architecture, internally called mapper 0, had 16 + 4 or 32 + 8 KB configurations. Later, mapper 2 expanded capacity to 128 KB.
Later still, mapper 4 reached an astounding 1 MB.
Most of the Famicom's most famous titles were made during the mapper 0–2 era. Mapper 4 arrived near the end of the Famicom's life cycle—despite producing many classics, their fame ended up lower than the earlier titles.
Forty KB was already enough to make a variety of games.
"With 16 + 4, I could make something fairly substantial."
Having thought it through, Tetsu looked at Tanaka seriously.
"I think it won't be a problem. We can sign the outsourcing contract right now."
Tanaka nodded and laid out the terms.
"Development period: two months. If it runs long, we won't demand compensation, but the final revenue share will be reduced accordingly."
"Revenue share: increased to 10.5%."
"The Home Console Division will perform acceptance testing once the game is complete. If it doesn't meet standards, we reserve the right to demand revisions at any time."
He listed several more terms.
Though they sounded strict, they were perfectly reasonable.
A revenue share of 10.5% was a pleasant surprise—an additional 0.5% was significant in this market.
After leaving Tanaka and returning to the garage, Tetsu pulled out a whiteboard as usual and began thinking.
This time, there were specific requirements—he couldn't just make anything he wanted.
"With such limited storage, there's no way to make a scrolling stage-based game. It has to be confined to a single fixed map. But making only one map interesting is very difficult. Twenty KB is still too small!"
Tetsu fell deep into thought.
And Tanaka's requirement: the game must feel—fast and satisfying.
Hack-and-slash games were satisfying, but obviously, the hardware couldn't handle that.
Not with this many sprites on screen.
"So I'll have to choose something from the early 80s. I can't recreate Nintendo's games with just one person. Meaning the project can't be too big. Right now it's just me and Yuji Naka."
After thinking for a long time, Tetsu did come up with a title.
A must-play early Famicom game, not exactly on its own—but its enhanced version was beloved by players.
Tetsu uncapped his pen and wrote on the whiteboard:
Tank Battalion
And added a prefix in front:
Yamazake.
Yamazake Tank Battalion.
It was still Tank Battalion, but the Yamazake version was vastly improved over the original.
Having made the decision, Tetsu reached for the phone and dialed Yuji Naka.
"Hello? Naka-kun? Get over here—we've got work!"
A thud sounded on the other end. Yuji Naka had apparently fallen down.
Tetsu guessed Naka had gotten dizzy from running too fast.
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