Urgent Daily Bulletin!
"Atlas's Commercial Secrets Stolen; Suspect Apprehended, Responsible Official States at Least Three Years' Imprisonment!"
"New Technology Attracts Greed, "Master Thief Goemon" Flayed Alive by Taiko!"
""Megami Tensei," the First Production to Implement the New Technology, Becomes the First Work to "Eat the Tomato"!"
"President of Atlas Personally Declares New Technology Patented Under Atlas's Name, Welcoming Interested Companies to Purchase Licenses."
Sega's media resources were still incredibly powerful, far more effective than Kobayashi Tetsu trying to reach out to people one by one.
Within just a few days, various newspapers had already covered the news extensively, and they even went so far as to use the closing credits of two television programs to announce it.
The players, of course, couldn't understand what the new technology was, but the one thing they did understand was this:
This technology must be amazing! After all, someone even went out of their way to steal it from Atlas!
As for the suspect, a certain Ohba, being sent to prison for three years was something most people didn't care about.
Criminals get caught and go to jail—that's just a universal truth.
Compared to Ohba, the players were actually more focused on something else.
How much was it?
"6,480 yen." Shimayose Yosuke placed the Megami Tensei cartridge in the most prominent spot in the store. The television at the entrance played a demo of Megami Tensei all day, as well as footage of Koji Okada from the Megami Group speaking passionately.
This was the subsidy that Kobayashi Tetsu and Shimayose Yosuke had agreed upon earlier. He didn't mind Shimayose selling other games, but there was a subsidy for selling Atlas games.
Whether out of sentiment or profit, it was naturally placed in the most conspicuous position.
So, Shimayose Yosuke said this to every customer who came in to ask about the price.
"The Megami Tensei cartridge is 6,480 yen. It's adapted from the original novel and anime! Look here, Tokuma Shoten highly recommends it!"
Iwasaki Isao didn't say a word. He was standing in front of the television, watching the opening cinematic.
A house collapsing, the world of demons, the male protagonist developing a demon-summoning program—
It's just like the anime.
Yet, what truly stunned Iwasaki Isao was not any of that.
He was actually seeing a cutscene on the MS screen!
He was actually seeing a cutscene on the MS!
It was just like a movie!
"How did they pull this off?!"
Iwasaki Isao couldn't wrap his head around it.
But in an instant, he understood why Kadokawa Game Magazine had claimed this technology would set a new benchmark for the graphics of compatible games this year.
Megami Tensei might not have been the best-looking game itself, but the visual quality of this opening cutscene was absolutely unprecedented!
Iwasaki Isao's jaw practically hit the floor.
Standing beside him, Shimayose Yosuke crossed his arms and teased, "Impressed? This is just a demo piece showcasing the new tech. Atlas just finished developing it and is only testing it out on Megami Tensei. The real title utilizing this technology will be a project codenamed 'NG'—I heard it's an action-adventure game."
Iwasaki Isao nodded vigorously.
An action game? I've gotta play that!
He wasn't particularly fond of role-playing games, but the stunning visuals were enough to convince him. Iwasaki Isao didn't hesitate to buy a copy.
After all, he had money now. He was no longer a high school student; he'd become a skilled mechanic at his family's auto shop, and his skills had improved by leaps and bounds.
As soon as he got home, Iwasaki Isao couldn't wait to plug in the cartridge.
He had played Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, so he knew his way around RPGs. But when he finally started Megami Tensei, he realized this game was completely different.
The exploration used a pseudo-3D style, where the scenes were drawn from a top-down perspective, similar to The Mysterious Quest II on the FC.
In a near-future Tokyo, the protagonist had obtained a special program that allowed him to summon demons from another world.
"A Pixie? Oh, it's a little sprite."
"An angel—whoa, my—!"
Iwasaki Isao stood at attention.
The angels in the Megami Tensei series had a truly unique design. To put it simply, it was an angel wearing SM gear—
Even with the pixelated graphics of the MS, there was an indescribable eroticism and darkness.
All the monsters Kazuma Kaneko drew leaned toward a dark style.
Aside from monsters like Mara, who looked like an Easter egg, most monsters—even those with positive names like Knight or Angel—had dark designs.
Iwasaki Isao stood at attention again.
This game might be a bit erotic!
As he started playing, Iwasaki soon discovered another unique feature of the game:
—Demon Fusion.
By fusing demons captured during gameplay, players could create entirely new demons.
Iwasaki was stunned once again.
"How many demons can we possibly create this way?!"
He grabbed a notepad and carefully recorded the fusion combinations he discovered.
Compared to the standard dungeon crawling, Iwasaki was clearly more fascinated by this unique demon fusion system.
Heaven knows how many demons could be fused!
While players enjoy the game, developers naturally view it from a different perspective.
The Megami Tensei cartridge was now placed before the representatives of other game companies.
Nintendo.
Gunpei Yokoi stared at the game before him, his expression one of utter bewilderment.
As Nintendo's head of hardware, he had developed numerous consoles and knew the Famicom's capabilities better than anyone. The Famicom's single-layer scrolling simply shouldn't have been able to achieve this effect.
Cutscenes weren't difficult—anyone could make them if they had the storage space. But the visual effects within these cutscenes were unprecedented!
Yokoi racked his brain, but he still couldn't fathom how they had done it.
And it wasn't just him. Within and outside Nintendo, in a company of such immense scale, no one could figure it out.
"So, our only option is to license the technology from Atlas? If we could apply this to our own games, the results would be staggering!"
Yokoi was on the verge of storming into Atlas's office to demand answers from Kobayashi Tetsu. How had they pulled this off? Even he, the Famicom's hardware lead, couldn't achieve it!
Suddenly, Hiroshi Yamauchi asked a seemingly unrelated question.
"In the development plan Atlas announced earlier, what kind of game is that one codenamed 'NG'?"
"An arcade game. Atlas announced it's an arcade game, codenamed NG."
Yamauchi nodded, then changed the subject again. "So Atlas still hasn't licensed Kobayashi Blocks?"
Gunpei Yokoi nodded.
Last time, Tetsu Kobayashi said he'd think it over, but then he vanished without a trace.
It seemed the deal was dead.
Yamauchi suddenly slapped the table.
"Either Sega or Atlas is definitely developing a handheld! It's very likely it's already about to launch! Atlas won't license Kobayashi Blocks because they're saving it for Sega's handheld! Forget about it. Yokoi, go contact Atlas and see if we can get a license for that kind of graphics technology. As for the rest of you—"
Yamauchi paused to think.
We need to develop a casual game for the GB as quickly as possible. Since we can't get Kobayashi Blocks, we need a game of the same caliber—something perfect for playing on a handheld!
As for Kobayashi Blocks, Yamauchi could practically see the future.
Developing it as an arcade game was because arcade games were highly profitable, and the money was being invested elsewhere.
The reason they wouldn't license Kobayashi Blocks was, of course, to save it for a handheld.
Although his reasoning was flawed, his conclusion was correct.
Tetsu Kobayashi was indeed saving Kobayashi Blocks for the future Game Gear, and Sega was indeed developing a handheld.
However—the two games, codenamed NG and MS—Ninja Gaiden and Metal Slug—were actually being prepared for the Mega Drive platform. They were only publicly announced as arcade games.
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