Amidst the ongoing clamor of media and public attention on the Sony and Sega alliance, another undercurrent had quietly converged in an unnoticed corner.
The robot fighting game project, titled "super robot assembly," collaboratively developed by Sega and Bandai, had completed all its development processes and was quietly awaiting its moment to strike.
In the Nintendo Headquarters conference room, Hiroshi Yamauchi sat at the head of the table, a report spread open before him, meticulously detailing every recent move by Sega. His fingers unconsciously tapped lightly on the smooth conference table, his eyes deep, betraying no emotion.
"Besides that dancing game with Sony…" a senior executive reported with a heavy tone, "Our latest intelligence indicates that the robot-themed arcade game, a collaboration between Sega and Bandai, has also completed development and will likely be released very soon."
Another senior executive responsible for market analysis added, "Bandai holds heavyweight robot IPs like Sunrise's Gundam and Toei's mazinger z. These IPs possess unparalleled appeal among teenagers. Sega's intention is very clear in adapting the mature fighting game framework of fatal fury: to create a blockbuster arcade product that can quickly generate revenue with minimal cost in the shortest possible time."
"Bandai—" Hiroshi Yamauchi finally spoke, "Their foundation in IP licensing from Sunrise is deep. Moreover, this is an arcade project, and our usual royalty system primarily targets the home console software market, making it difficult to effectively restrain them. If we impose too many restrictions on third parties in the arcade domain where there are no clear terms, I'm concerned another Hudson might emerge."
Everyone in the conference room nodded, their faces filled with helplessness. Sega's innovation capabilities in the arcade domain already gave them headaches, and now they had learned this "IP integration + mature framework" strategy, which was like adding wings to a tiger. They could foresee that once this robot fighting game succeeded, Sega's dominance in arcades would be further solidified, and its brand influence would once again increase.
More importantly, they could not find effective countermeasures. As the IP holder and collaborator, Bandai would naturally cooperate fully, benefiting from it.
And competition in the arcade market relies more on the product's inherent appeal and influence on arcade operators. Nintendo, in this regard, had no obvious advantage compared to Sega, which had been deeply rooted for many years.
A sense of powerlessness, of being beyond reach, permeated the minds of Nintendo's senior executives. They could only watch as Sega exerted force on another front, yet found it difficult to strongly restrict and suppress it as they could in the home console market.
After simple promotion, "super robot assembly" quietly landed in major Japanese arcades without a grand launch event or widespread advertising.
It simply added a new name to the arcade machine list and had a few posters put up near arcades.
However, the moment the first players were drawn by the familiar machine designs, dropped their coins, and gripped the joysticks, everything changed.
On the screen, iconic giant robots like the original Gundam, Zaku, and mazinger z stood facing each other in exquisitely rendered 2D fighting stages. They were no longer distant heroes or enemies from anime, but fighters that players could personally control, unleashing classic moves.
Beam rifle shots, heat hawk slashes, and rocket punch roars.
Every action carried the robust and fluid impact of fatal fury.
The mature game framework provided by Sega's Development Team 3 laid a solid foundation for the game's fighting experience. Bandai, on its part, efficiently completed all robot character modeling, move recreation, and exclusive BGM filling. With the core engine already in place, the entire development cycle was compressed to the extreme.
Behind the high efficiency, there were naturally some unspoken "trade-offs."
During the technical handover, Sega had repeatedly emphasized the importance of "game balance" and suggested that Bandai's development team put more effort into numerical adjustments. However, Bandai's team seemed not to care much about this. In their view, as long as the robots were cool, the moves were faithfully recreated, and the IP was famous enough, players would naturally buy it. As for complex numerical balance, it seemed less important in the face of the strong urge to "quickly push the product to market and achieve commercialization." "Good enough" was the prevailing thought during development.
On the first weekend after "super robot assembly" was released, Takuya Nakayama personally visited several large arcades in Shinjuku and Akihabara.
The sight before him left him both satisfied and a little exasperated.
In front of every "super robot assembly" machine, excited young people, many of them students in school uniforms, gathered. They intently stared at the screen, their fingers flying across the buttons, shouting the names of various moves. The "clink" of coins dropping into the slot echoed continuously, crisp and pleasant.
"RX-78-2, Amuro, Ikimasu!"
"Take this, Rocket Punch!"
Players controlled their beloved mechs, engaging in fierce battles on screen, unleashing their long-accumulated robot passion.
The thrill of personally recreating classic scenes from the anime was enough for them to overlook the obvious strength disparities between certain characters in the game.
Takuya watched a teenager easily crush an opponent with a clearly overpowered mech, while the opponent, though frustrated, immediately inserted new coins and chose the same powerful mech for revenge.
He shook his head inwardly.
"Sure enough, Bandai's mindset of 'with IP in hand, just make something and it will sell' is truly ingrained."
"Relying on the strong foundation of fatal fury, coupled with the backing of these national-level IPs, they were so perfunctory with the internal refinement of the game. It's no wonder that in later generations, Bandai Namco, despite holding so many top-tier IPs, often produces works that make players sigh in regret. This 'good enough' mentality and extreme desire for quick money seem to be their 'fine tradition.'"
"super robot assembly" was undoubtedly a success. It precisely captured the needs of its target audience, bringing substantial profits to Sega and Bandai in a short period. Sega further solidified its leading position in the arcade market and demonstrated its strong IP integration and technical output capabilities to the industry.
Bandai, through this collaboration, not only made a fortune but also more directly experienced the market energy that top-tier game technology could unleash. However, whether this "success" would further reinforce their internal disregard for in-depth game development remains to be seen.