Promotional Tug-of-War
January 28th, early morning.
The sky over Tokyo was a hazy, still-awakening blue.
Nintendo's Marketing Department staff, with a lingering sense of satisfaction from a hangover, are preparing for another "victorious" workday.
In their view, Tokyo, the capital of the empire, has been completely overwhelmed by Mario's propaganda offensive.
However, when the first residents opened their doors, they found that the entire city had become completely unfamiliar overnight.
A primary school student carrying a backpack habitually takes a shortcut through Yoyogi Park on his way to school.
He suddenly stopped and looked up.
A colorful model of a Butterfree hangs on a tall beech tree in the park, its wings trembling slightly in the morning breeze, as if it were about to take flight at any moment.
A well-dressed office worker glances at his watch impatiently at a bus stop in Shibuya.
He was startled by an unexpected realization, and his heart skipped a beat.
On the roof of the bus stop, there was a majestic Pidgeotto model perched, its sharp eyes surveying the crowd waiting for the bus below.
At a construction site for a new detached house in Meguro Ward, workers are preparing to enter the site to begin a long day of hard work.
To their surprise, several life-size models stood prominently at the entrance to the construction site.
It is Machamp and Machoke.
They carried steel bar models on their shoulders, striking bodybuilding poses, as if cheering on the workers or "helping" move the heavy building materials.
On a street corner, next to a fire hydrant, a row of Squirtle models wearing sunglasses stood neatly in line, forming a cool "Squirtle Fire Brigade".
The entire Tokyo, from parks to train stations, from construction sites to street corners, seemed to have been magically transformed into a living "Pokémon Land."
Each model is exquisitely crafted and comes with a small acrylic GG sign.
"Sega Mega Drive & Pokémon Adventure will be released on February 13th!"
"Limited edition Pikachu console, limited quantities available!"
This unprecedented urban landscape art, like a virus, quickly spread through telephone lines and word of mouth, igniting the entire society.
Television stations' mobile interview vans sprang into action, and reporters, carrying cameras, frantically crisscrossed the city, vying for the first-hand footage to make the next day's headlines—no longer any political or economic news.
"Pokémon Takes Over Tokyo".
The huge, printed headline occupied the most prominent position in all the newspapers.
Social commentators engaged in a heated debate on this issue.
Some people on television programs denounced it as "lawless commercial graffiti," a barbaric invasion of public space by capital.
Others praised it in their columns as "cultural interaction in the new era," a brilliant artistic act that bridges the gap between the virtual and the real.
Regardless of the controversy, a nationwide "Pocket Monsters Search" campaign has spontaneously taken shape among Tokyo residents, especially children.
With their homemade Pokédexs in hand, the children excitedly ran through the city's streets and alleys, searching for and recording the location of every Pokémon.
The media even fueled the fire by launching a challenge to "collect all 151 Pokémon".
But it wasn't until the very end, through the efforts and statistics of countless people, that people were surprised to discover that Sega had released exactly 149 Pokémon in Tokyo.
The only ones missing are the last two whose names are unknown.
This discovery leaves the last, and most captivating, mystery surrounding the entire IP.
The huge GG and Mario posters that Nintendo bought at great expense have become nothing more than unnoticed, expensive backdrops in this wave of nationwide celebration.
Next up, the morning anime on January 30th.
The 65th episode of the Pokémon anime, "Viridian Gym! The Last Badge!", aired on time.
When Team Rocket's leader, Giovanni, and his silver-armored Mewtwo, exuding immense pressure, officially made their appearance...
All the viewers in front of their televisions were captivated by this mysterious Pokémon.
The animation ended quickly after Ash Ketchum obtained 8 Gym Badges, but the familiar ending theme song did not play.
Instead, a brand new, never-before-seen animated short, "GG," is shown, with the visuals directly connecting to the main feature.
The opening of GG instantly brought back memories for all longtime viewers to episode 17, "The Island of the Giant Pokémon".
The narrator, in a magnetic voice, explains that the story of the upcoming game, Pokémon Adventure, takes place in a mysterious amusement park filled with giant mechanical Pokémon. Episode 17 also reveals that the park's owner is none other than Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket.
Immediately afterwards, the image of the Armored Mewtwo next to Giovanni flashed across the screen.
Its eyes are cold and empty, yet brimming with power. "The secrets within it will be revealed in the game."
This narration acts like a perfect hook, seamlessly connecting the animated storyline with the game content.
At this moment, "playing games" has been elevated to a necessary part of "participating in the story and solving puzzles".
Kyoto, Nintendo Headquarters.
The atmosphere in the meeting room was extremely tense.
On the huge television screen, news reports from various Tokyo television stations about the "Pokémon Invasion of Tokyo" were playing. Yamauchi Haku's face was ashen.
The report about the "Tokyo Promotional Vacuum Zone," which had been returned a few days earlier, was dug out of the waste paper pile and now lies quietly in the center of the conference table.
Junior analyst Maeda kept his head down and remained silent.
His superior's note in red ink read, "The enemy is afraid to fight and lacks funds; this is a sign of a great victory. There is no need to worry."
The stark white light of the conference room made it all seem incredibly ironic.
"Try it out!"
Yamauchi Haku roar shattered the silence.
"Get everyone to play Super Mario Bros. 3!"
"Let them experience firsthand what the real, best game is!"
He ordered the First Heart Association Society to immediately organize the largest-ever live demo of Super Mario Bros. 3 in its core stores across the country.
This is Nintendo's last, and most confident, trump card.
With unparalleled game quality, it crushes all fancy marketing tactics.
Nintendo's war machine is in full swing, and the demo event was a huge success.
Mario's unparalleled charm has indeed attracted countless players to queue up, with gasps of amazement echoing throughout the venue.
However, Sega's response was superior.
They not only launched a demo on their own channels simultaneously, but the content they showcased far exceeded everyone at Nintendo's expectations.
At Sega stores, players can not only enjoy the highly anticipated Pokémon Adventure.
You can also experience the gorgeous and exhilarating fighting style of Fatal Fury.
You can also experience the lightning-fast shooting of Space Harrier.
Five distinct and highly polished launch titles together form a dazzling wall of software.
What chilled the "spies" sent by Nintendo to gather intelligence even more was that two specially protected demo units were displayed in the Sega store in Akihabara.
The game running on it is a demo version of Phantasy Star and the First Super Robot Wars, which are still under development but are already highly complete.
Detailed reports on the Sega demo lineup were urgently sent to Shigeru Miyamoto.
He looked at the descriptions of those games in the report.
A vast and expansive RPG world that you can freely explore.
A highly strategic turn-based strategy game filled with intense battle sequences.
For the first time, Shigeru Miyamoto felt that he and his Mario were no longer facing another imitator or a single challenger.
It was a "game legion" with a complete worldview, catering to all types of players.
His initial resentment at being thrust into the spotlight for "Mario 3" was rapidly transforming into a deeper, almost overwhelming, anxiety.
Can this pinnacle of 8-bit gaming truly stand alone against a full-scale attack from a new generation?
This duel, it seems, was never a fair contest from the very beginning.