After arranging the development schedule for Pokémon Red/Green, Takuya Nakayama called out to the leader of Team Three, who was about to leave.
"Shimizu-san, how's the arcade feedback on the Art of Fighting game your team just finished?"
Shimizu stopped and turned around, looking noticeably relaxed.
"The response has been great! Especially after adding the Super Special Moves feature — players say that even if they're being crushed in a match, they now have a chance for a comeback. It makes the game a lot more exciting. Our staff went to check it out — there were lines in front of almost every cabinet."
He paused, then added, "And a lot of people are already asking when the Third SEGA Esports Championship will be held. They're all waiting."
Takuya tapped his fingers rhythmically on the desk, thinking for a moment before saying,
"No need to rush. We'll wait for Suzuki's Taiko Master to be ready first. Speaking of which, what's their progress? Haven't heard much from that side lately."
Shimizu shook his head. "Not sure on the details, but I heard they ran into some kind of technical roadblock."
"Oh?" Takuya raised an eyebrow. "A problem even Yu Suzuki can't solve? I'd better take a look myself."
With that, Takuya headed to Suzuki's development team, while Shimizu went back to organize new assignments.
When Takuya arrived, everyone in the department seemed busy — except Yu Suzuki himself, who was nowhere to be found.
He stopped a passing employee to ask. The man quietly pointed toward the company's break area.
"Director Suzuki went there with his guitar — said he needed to… relieve some stress and maybe find inspiration."
In the lounge, Takuya soon spotted him: sitting alone, looking exhausted.
Yu Suzuki was holding an acoustic guitar, brows tightly furrowed, idly plucking the strings. A few scattered notes drifted through the air — uneven, restless, and slightly frustrated.
Takuya picked up a cup of coffee from the counter and sat down nearby without speaking. He took a slow sip, simply watching.
The soft clink of the metal cup against the glass table finally caught Suzuki's attention. He looked up and, seeing Takuya, the impatience in his eyes faded a little.
"What brings you here? Something up?" he asked, setting the guitar aside.
"I heard your team hit a snag?"
At the mention of work, Suzuki sighed and leaned back into the sofa.
"Yeah. The sound quality from the arcade hardware still isn't cutting it. The synthesizers can't properly replicate the tones of certain instruments — especially traditional ones like the shamisen or shakuhachi. The taiko drum sounds okay, but the rest just… sound wrong.
Even if we throw more money into better hardware to increase the sound channels, storage becomes a new bottleneck. A single high-quality track, especially with vocals, takes up way too much space.
We can't release something half-baked like this — the arcade operators would reject it immediately."
His tone grew more and more discouraged.
After listening, Takuya suddenly smacked his forehead. "Ah, that's my fault. I totally forgot to tell you guys about something. You should've come to me sooner!"
Suzuki blinked, confused. "What do you mean?"
"I was supposed to greenlight the CD-ROM add-on for the Mega Drive. But it slipped my mind. You just reminded me of it."
"CD-ROM?" Suzuki repeated, thinking for a moment before slapping his thigh. "Why didn't I think of that!"
"Exactly." Takuya grinned. "Talk to Director Yoshikawa and get in touch with Sony. They still owe us a favor from the DDR project. The licensing for CD-ROM tech shouldn't cost much. Tell Yoshikawa that if Sony's willing to negotiate, we want a permanent license."
Suzuki's eyes widened. "A permanent license? You're that confident in CD-ROMs?"
"Of course," Takuya said firmly. "Why do you think I worked so hard helping Sony with DDR? Don't you feel that cartridge storage is already reaching its limit for both arcade and Mega Drive titles? Games are getting bigger and bigger — and we keep having to cut high-quality content just to make them fit."
He leaned forward slightly.
"In a few years, if cartridge prices don't drop, and CD-ROM production costs go down past a certain point, CD-ROMs will absolutely dominate the home console market — even if there's some loading time involved."
Suzuki nodded slowly, the gloom on his face replaced by excitement.
"You're right! With high-quality digital audio and more detailed visuals, we wouldn't need to constantly worry about space! No more overused assets! For Taiko Master, we could use actual studio recordings — even live vocals!"
He paused again, frowning. "But won't using CD-ROMs raise costs?"
"That's why I said your arcade division should use it first," Takuya replied with a smirk. "Arcade games can handle those costs easily — and it'll pave the way for the Mega Drive later."
Finishing his coffee, he patted Suzuki on the shoulder.
"I'll leave this to you and Director Yoshikawa."
Just as Takuya was about to leave, he turned back.
"By the way — have you finalized Taiko Master's tracklist yet?"
Suzuki shook his head. "Not yet. We've been stuck dealing with the sound issue."
"Try blending traditional Japanese music with modern styles," Takuya suggested. "Then apply for government backing — say it's part of 'promoting Japanese culture through modern entertainment.' That might get you official support."
Suzuki blinked. "Wait, we can do that? I don't really have those kinds of connections—"
"Don't worry about it," Takuya waved a hand.
"Remember the DDR World Finals? Tons of foreign tourists came to Tokyo just to watch, right?"
"Yeah…" Suzuki nodded, still puzzled.
"The crowd was so big that it caught the attention of the Foreign Affairs Ministry. They even sent officials to observe in person — to see how video games were driving tourism and international exchange. Sony Music's Maruyama Shigeo and Director Yoshikawa hosted them the whole time — they already have the contact info."
"Just tell Yoshikawa that the next SEGA Esports Championship will feature Taiko Master, and ask that official to introduce you to the Ministry of Culture. From there, getting support will be easy."
"…Got it." Suzuki took a few seconds to absorb all that, then nodded.
"I'll take care of it."
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