Metal Gear Completes Development

The day after attending the premiere of "My Totoro," Nakayama Takuya had already returned to his battlefield, a place built of telephone lines, fax paper, and caffeine.

He rubbed his temples, trying to temporarily clear his mind of Mamoru Oshii's cold face and Hideaki Anno's fervent gaze. Those metaphysical discussions about art and expression had to give way to the more concrete reality before him.

As soon as he sat down, his assistant quietly placed a steaming cup of black coffee and a folder on his desk.

"Executive Director Kojima's project is complete."

Nakayama Takuya paused for a moment as he picked up the folder, and then a burning light rekindled in the bloodshot eyes caused by staying up all night.

The newly formed Kojima Team in the Game Development Department

Hideo Kojima sat next to Nakayama Takuya, leaning slightly forward with his hands clasped tightly together.

On the screen, a small figure codenamed "SolidSnake" is pressed against the wall, carefully avoiding the enemy soldiers' fan-shaped field of vision.

The radar system scanned monotonously in one corner of the screen; each update of the enemy's position meant a tense decision to take action.

Nakayama Takuya's gaze never left the screen.

He saw how Hideo Kojima, with limited functionality, cleverly used scrolls, layers, and logical judgments to create an unprecedented gaming experience.

The dialogues and radio system interspersed throughout the story gradually enrich the details of the characters and the narrative.

When SolidSnake successfully infiltrated the target location and the game demo ended, a brief silence fell over the office.

Hideo Kojima looked at Nakayama Takuya with some unease, awaiting the final judgment.

Nakayama Takuya slowly turned his head, reached out, and patted Hideo Kojima's shoulder forcefully.

"Kojima -san."

His voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable weight. "I didn't misjudge you; this is the game I've been waiting for."

"This is the unique creativity that I want to show the world, belonging to Sega."

By the end of April, public opinion was almost entirely dominated by NEC's PC Engine. Its new releases at the March won acclaim from players for their vibrant colors and smooth graphics.

Sega's recent games have sold quite well, but they haven't generated much buzz or attention, and in media reports, they seem to lack staying power.

Akihabara, the mecca of gaming.

On the bustling Central Avenue, the most prominent giant GG banner was quietly replaced overnight.

The morning sunlight illuminated the brand-new poster. There were no passionate shouts, no colorful magical effects, and no cute cartoon characters.

The main subject of the image is a man with a resolute expression and deep gaze.

His face was sharply defined, shrouded in a cold, stern shadow.

The background features intricate mechanical structures and cold steel; the strong brushstrokes and ink-wash-like texture give the entire painting a suffocating sense of seriousness and oppression.

Like a silent intruder, it stands out from the noisy and cheerful cartoon-style posters around it, yet it exudes a powerful aura that cannot be ignored.

Passersby stopped in their tracks.

"What's this?"

"A movie poster? Which company made it?"

"No, there are Sega and Mega Drive logos below... Is it a game?"

At first, I was confused.

Then, this confusion quickly fermented into a strong curiosity and desire to explore.

In the bottom right corner of the poster, there is a rather inconspicuous signature.

"Yoji Shinkawa".

This unfamiliar name, along with this uniquely styled "work," immediately became a hot topic of discussion among gamers and gaming magazine editors.

The "adult, serious, and profound" atmosphere it creates acts like a precise magnet, firmly attracting a group of mature players who are already somewhat tired of traditional "defeat the demon king" fairytale-like games.

A storm ignited by a poster is brewing.

This is exactly the kind of build-up that Nakayama Takuya wanted.

He wanted to imprint the name "Metal Gear" with a distinctive mark even before its official release.

Looking out the window at the reports being discussed so enthusiastically by the players, Nakayama Takuya's thoughts drifted back to a few months ago.

At that time, the Metal Gear project had just been launched, and Hideo Kojima was struggling with the game's art design.

Many of his designs from his time at Konami were no longer usable; he needed a visual language that was completely different from what he had at Konami and that perfectly matched the game's stealth theme.

"I have someone here; perhaps you could take a look at his work."

Nakayama Takuya took a stack of drawings from his drawer and handed them to Hideo Kojima.

Those were the works of Yoji Shinkawa, an art director, character designer, mecha designer, and promotional poster designer for the Metal Gear series, whom he found by following his memories from his previous life. Shinkawa was a student in the Department of Fine Arts at Kyoto Seika University.

Hideo Kojima's eyes lit up after just one glance.

The unique understanding of light and shadow in the sketch, the powerful lines, and the austere atmosphere that blends figures and machinery instantly struck him.

He immediately set off for Kyoto to personally invite this young man, who was still in university, to join the project.

Yoji Shinkawa is a typical anime and game model enthusiast. He accepted the invitation from a well-known game company almost without hesitation.

However, this meant that Hideo Kojima had to endure the hardship of traveling back and forth between Tokyo and Kyoto.

Yoji Shinkawa once felt that he was slowing down the project's progress, and even impulsively considered dropping out of school to devote himself entirely to his work.

Don't rush into making a decision.

Nakayama Takuya stopped him.

He didn't preach any grand principles, but instead spread Shinkawa's latest mechanical design draft on the table.

"Look, this robotic arm is beautifully designed and full of power."

Nakayama Takuya's finger touched a joint on the drawing.

"However, in real-world mechanical structures, this connection point is too fragile to support it in making violent movements such as swinging or grabbing."

His finger then slid to another character design.

"The muscle lines on the figure's back are drawn very exaggeratedly and with great tension. But you've overlooked the fact that when he makes this twisting pose, his left scapula should be in a completely different position. The current drawing method doesn't conform to the logic of human skeletal support."

His words, without a single word of criticism, caused a bead of sweat to form on Yoji Shinkawa's forehead.

For the first time, his boundless imagination was measured so precisely with a ruler called "reality".

He suddenly realized that the human anatomy and industrial design principles he had found boring in school were not entirely useless theories.

These are the very foundations that allow one's fantasies to take root and flourish.

Later, Nakayama Takuya even personally accompanied Shinkawa to visit his university mentor, asking him to provide Shinkawa with rich art theory guidance, including extracurricular learning materials and reading lists, in addition to the courses arranged by the school, and to plan a growth path that balances academic studies and project practice.

In the final flashback, Nakayama Takuya looked earnestly at the talented but still somewhat green young man before him and said:

"Shinkawa-kun, I'm looking for more than just a genius who draws for Metal Gear."

"I hope you can become the first art master to lead the aesthetics of Sega and even the entire gaming industry in the future."

These words were like a boulder thrown into Yoji Shinkawa's heart, stirring up a vast ripple, and making him rekindle his desire to complete his studies at school.

And the belief that one must master all the extracurricular learning materials provided by the tutor.