When Yuji Naka stepped into the Arcade Development Department, someone immediately called out to him.
"Hey, Naka-san! Over here!"
Yu Suzuki spotted him right away. As the soul of Sega's arcade division, his face was rough with stubble, but his eyes shone with a feverish intensity.
Without another word, Suzuki pulled Naka into a corner surrounded by circuit boards and design sketches.
"I've been tied up developing the CD-ROM companion software, can't get away from it. The Taiko no Tatsujin team's still waiting—they've hit some difficulties.
You go help them out."
Suzuki led Naka over to another group of developers.
"This is your assignment for today."
Within the team, a bespectacled young man was sketching rapidly on a drawing board. Beside him, another was frowning over a stack of grid maps, deep in thought. A third sat with headphones on, fingers tapping rhythmically on the desk.
"I'll introduce you," Suzuki said in his booming voice.
"Lead artist, Naoto Ohshima. Level designer, Hirokazu Yasuhara. Composer, Masato Nakamura."
The three looked up briefly at the newcomer, nodded, and went straight back to work.
Naoto Ohshima was drawing a blue hedgehog — a design unlike anything seen before.
Yasuhara's maps were complex, like mazes, filled with loops, slopes, and layers.
"We want to make a kind of high-speed platformer that's never been done before," Yasuhara explained, pushing his glasses up. He pointed to the map.
"The character needs to move like a bullet, running through these multi-layered scrolling levels. But the programming side's hit a bottleneck — high-speed motion, slope physics, and collision detection are giving us trouble."
Yuji Naka's gaze lingered on that blue hedgehog.
Speed. Passion. Challenge.
That deep part of him — the pure engineer — awakened again after the trials of Golden Sun.
He picked up the complicated level design sheet and glanced at it once. Instantly, his mind began racing with code.
"I'll take this project," he said simply.
---
Meanwhile, in the President's office—
Hayao Nakayama personally poured tea for a tall, blond-haired American guest.
Tom Kalinske, former president of Mattel — a prominent figure in the toy industry.
He was one of the candidates Hayao Nakayama had found for the position of President of Sega of America.
David Rosen, the current president, had expressed his wish to step down.
Before coming to Japan, Kalinske had already conducted thorough research on Sega.
During his last years at Mattel, Sega's Pokémon toys had spread across North America through Mattel's distribution channels — their phenomenal sales had left a deep impression on him.
He had discovered that this Japanese company, once known mainly for hardware and arcade machines, had undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years.
Software first, IP first.
That was exactly the business philosophy he had always believed in.
He was curious — who was driving all this change behind the scenes?
When he learned it was the company president's own son, who had only graduated a few years earlier, his surprise was impossible to hide.
"I'd like to meet him," Kalinske requested.
Hayao Nakayama picked up the phone and called his son's office.
"Takuya, come to my office."
A short while later, Takuya Nakayama arrived.
When Kalinske saw his youthful face, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
"Mr. Kalinske, I've heard a lot about you," Takuya said first, his smile bright. "Your work on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe — I had the whole set as a kid."
In a single sentence, the distance between them vanished.
Kalinske looked a little surprised, then laughed.
"Seems like Mr. Nakayama did his homework."
"Likewise," Takuya replied. "Your management at Matchbox also taught me a lot."
At the mention of Matchbox, a faint shadow crossed Kalinske's eyes.
The internal strife and counterfeiting scandals in Spain had already made him weary. He'd already begun to consider leaving.
Takuya's words had hit a nerve — but Kalinske managed to keep his composure.
"Let's talk about Sega," he said, cutting to the point.
"If I were to take over Sega of America, my strategy would be simple — differentiation from Nintendo."
He leaned forward slightly, full of confidence.
"Nintendo targets children. We'll target teenagers.
Their games are warm and fuzzy; ours should be sharp — like a dagger straight to the heart."
"Also, Americans love sports. We need more and better sports titles.
Your collaboration with EA during last year's Olympics was great, but we can't rely solely on those guys."
"And finally, Sega of America needs an independent IP management center to respond to market changes as fast as possible."
When he finished, the office fell silent.
Hayao Nakayama turned to look at his son, curious to see how he would respond to this sharp and experienced veteran.
"I agree," Takuya said firmly.
Kalinske blinked, a little taken aback.
"I completely agree with differentiation — and aggressive marketing can be a powerful weapon when used correctly," Takuya continued.
"But it shouldn't become our identity. Our goal is to win players' love, not to become villains in their eyes."
"As for sports games and IP management… I think your ideas could go even further."
"Oh?" Kalinske leaned in with genuine interest.
"I'll recommend to the board that Sega of America be granted full autonomy.
You should be free to hire developers in the U.S. and Europe — or even acquire or invest in promising studios.
After all, no one understands American players better than American developers."
"Right now, the U.S. has recovered from the Atari crash. A new generation of young developers is entering the industry.
This is the perfect time for Sega to expand its development presence in the West."
"And regarding IP management, I'd even give you the authority to acquire new IPs directly."
Takuya looked at Kalinske sincerely.
"The Cold War is ending. A new age of entertainment is about to begin.
North America and Europe will be our main battlegrounds.
We need a commander who can lead the army forward — not a messenger who waits for orders."
Kalinske was deeply moved.
He looked at the young man before him, then at Hayao Nakayama beside him — calm and steady as the ocean.
Father and son — one building the grand vision, the other charging ahead with boldness.
It was a perfect harmony.
He realized — this was exactly the stage he wanted.
After seeing the satisfied Kalinske off, Hayao Nakayama took another résumé from his drawer and handed it to Takuya.
"Michael Katz, former president of Atari's entertainment division."
Takuya glanced at it, then calmly placed it back on the desk.
"Father, the Atari empire collapsed under his watch."
"If someone like that joined Sega of America… best case, he'd just be a messenger.
Worst case, he'd drag us backward."
His tone was quiet, but resolute.
"What we need now is a general who can lead troops into new territory — not a gravedigger who writes reports about failure."
Hayao Nakayama fell silent, fingers tapping lightly on the desk.
"Tom Kalinske has ability and ambition — and he hates internal politics more than anything," Takuya continued.
"If we're going to use him, we need to give him trust and authority.
Hand him a sword to conquer new lands, not reins that tie his hands.
We'll retain oversight for major decisions, but tactically — we must let him act freely."
After a long pause, Hayao Nakayama stopped tapping his fingers.
He exhaled slowly, nodded at his son, and decisively tossed Michael Katz's résumé into the shredder.
"I'll handle the board and David.
For the North American market — we'll follow your plan."
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