September 29th, 1983.
Thursday.
Setagaya Ward.
Inside the Kobayashi family garage.
Kobayashi Tetsu and Nakamura Yuji sat in total concentration before the screen. From the speakers—turned up to their absolute limit—poured a heavy electronic synth beat.
Just this synth track alone occupied six full kilobytes.
Given the limitations of contemporary audio formats, that was already the result of Yuji squeezing out every last byte.
Dun-tsu da-tsu dong-dong da-tsu…
As the rhythm thumped, Tetsu swayed his joystick to the highs and lows. The blinking blocks on the CRT slid left and right, forming a trail that slowly resolved into a katakana A.
A scoring window popped up.
36 points.
"What? How's that only thirty-six?!"
Tetsu was genuinely baffled. He thought he'd drawn it pretty well.
Yuji spread his hands. "The max score is forty."
Tetsu went speechless.
Why forty?!
Famitsu used a 40-point scale because four reviewers each gave up to ten points.
But Yuji's forty-point system? That made no sense.
"Fine," Tetsu said. "Then why didn't I get full points?"
"You drew it crooked," Yuji explained. "The preset path goes from here to here. You strayed a few squares. My scoring checks offset and completion—more accurate and more complete gets more points."
Tetsu nodded.
It wasn't really a rhythm game—more like a mini-game with a beat, where you performed actions on tempo.
And honestly? Tetsu wasn't sure this thing could even sell.
This was just a side project he and Yuji had slapped together in the past week. Even the prototype cartridge board had been hand-soldered by Tetsu himself.
He loaded the second stage. The pattern to draw was a T.
"Wait."
Tetsu suddenly squinted at him. "Don't tell me… the five stages spell A-T-L-U-S?"
Yuji flinched.
How did he know?!
He had designed five stages. Each matched a modulation in the music and together spelled out the Roman letters A-T-L-U-S.
Scoring above 24 meant clearing the stage; below that was game over.
Why spell ATLAS?
Definitely not flattery.
Absolutely not.
Pure coincidence.
Yuji rubbed his palms together, buzzing with excitement.
"Kobayashi-kun, do you think Sega would publish this?"
"That's hard to say. But you can apply under Atlus's name. I'll arrange a meeting with someone from Sega's publishing division. Whether they accept it… that's on them."
Tetsu had zero intention of hand-soldering cartridges forever. That was torture.
A whole day's work to solder two boards, earning maybe 6,000 yen… not even 200,000 yen a month.
Who would choose that!?
He picked up the phone and arranged a meeting for Yuji.
---
The next morning
Yuji went alone to Sega to discuss his game—tentatively titled Rhythm Blocks.
Tetsu didn't follow.
He had his own plans. Tomorrow would be October 1st—the first day of the school festival at Towano High.
He planned to go. Not only because he'd been invited, but also because it was a chance to meet the father of Kitagawa-san—the art student.
Even if he wasn't a historical legend, a good graphic designer from the 1980s was already valuable. Japan's graphic design in that era was exceptional—look at Uncharted Waters (1990): eight-bit color producing almost thirty-two-bit visual richness.
A solid designer was more than enough.
While Tetsu pondered this, Yuji returned—with shoulders slumped.
One look told Tetsu everything.
"What happened, Yuji? Sega rejected it?"
Yuji nodded. "They said the game has no publishing value."
He didn't even get to see Tanaka Minoru—just a random staffer brushing him off.
"How rude."
Tetsu thought for a moment.
"But that doesn't mean there's no future. Maybe not as a home-console game… but it could work elsewhere. Honestly, this format fits arcades really well. Tomorrow, bring the cartridge. I'm taking you somewhere."
He patted Yuji on the shoulder.
"Come on. We're going to the school festival. Teenagers might actually love this."
A home console was too expensive—console plus cartridge was over twenty thousand yen. The equivalent of nearly a thousand RMB in later times—and even more burdensome in the '80s.
But arcades?
Different story entirely.
Kids couldn't afford consoles.
But they could afford coins.
Seeing Yuji slowly catch on, Tetsu shrugged.
"Finding the right market matters."
---
October 1st
Towano High School — School Festival
A school festival was basically like a sports meet back home—an excuse to gather people and let them host events.
There were cultural and athletic festivals, with students organizing stalls in classrooms, gymnasiums, or the school grounds. Visitors included families, neighbors, and people with general curiosity.
And today, Kobayashi Tetsu.
Yuji hugged a console and the prototype cartridge, watching Tetsu stroll around the school grounds with a strange expression.
"Kobayashi-kun… this is the 'great place' you meant?"
Yuji hadn't even finished high school—a dropout wandering into a campus festival.
"What else?" Tetsu replied. "I'm an American returnee who never attended a Japanese high school. Nothing wrong with experiencing the culture once, right?"
Yuji could only nod.
True enough.
(Though the real reason, naturally, was that Tetsu enjoyed looking at high-school girls—and that was not illegal.)
The festival structures weren't fully set up yet. Preparations were still underway.
"I've arranged a spot for you," Tetsu said. "When the festival starts, you can set up the console there. I even borrowed a diesel generator. Let the students try your game for free and see their reactions."
Yuji's eyes lit up.
That was perfect.
He looked around.
"So which booth is ours?"
Tetsu spread his arms.
"None of them. I'm going to go talk to a student here and get you a space."
A student here—
Meaning, of course—
Kobayakawa.
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