Handheld Prototype

The first Friday of October, Sega Hardware Development Department.

Nakayama Takuya and Yu Suzuki stood outside a testing room surrounded by various instruments and cables, looking through the glass at the busy engineers inside.

"Are you sure everything's okay?" Yu Suzuki asked in a low voice, his eyes fixed on the people conducting the experiment around the test bench.

Takuya kept his hands in his trouser pockets and didn't answer.

His gaze swept across the crowd and landed on the back of Chief Engineer Nakamura.

Nakamura had been working continuously for more than 36 hours, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the scrolling code on the terminal screen.

Suddenly, the scrolling stopped.

The entire testing room seemed to have been muted; you could hear a pin drop. Everyone held their breath.

Nakamura Ken's fingers hovered above the keyboard for a full five seconds before he slammed down the Enter key.

On the screen, the green word "COMPLETE" jumped out, large, clear, and carrying a sense of relief.

"We did it!" someone shouted first.

Instantly, the long-suppressed cheers erupted in the testing room.

The engineers hugged each other and patted each other on the back.

Nakamura Ken let out a long breath, feeling as if his bones had been removed, and leaned back in his chair.

He turned his head, met Takuya's gaze, forced a smile on his tired face, and nodded vigorously.

Takuya's lips unconsciously curved into a smile as he pushed open the door and went inside. "Everyone, thank you for your hard work."

"Executive Director Nakayama!" Nakamura Ken struggled to stand up.

"Sit down, Nakamura- sama," Takuya, placing a hand on his shoulder. "How are you feeling now?"

"I feel like I could sleep straight through until next year," Nakamura joked, eliciting a chorus of good-natured laughter. "All tests on the chip have passed; its performance and functionality fully meet design goals."

"Very good." Takuya's affirmation was concise and powerful. "What about the components that were developed in parallel?"

"It's all ready!" A young engineer immediately and carefully took out a somewhat rough-looking gray plastic shell from the anti-static box next to him. It was covered with test interfaces and jumper wires, and a small black and white LCD screen was embedded in the center. "This is our first engineering prototype."

Takuya took it and weighed it in his hand. It was heavier than he had expected.

"Power on."

The engineer connected the power and flipped the switch. The screen flickered briefly, then lit up, displaying the simple word "SEGA".

"Where's the test program?" Takuya asked.

"As you instructed, it's ready." Nakamura Ken made a few moves on the computer next to him and installed a program.

The screen flickered again, and the image changed. Several pixelated cubes slowly fell from the top of the screen.

"Hehe, they're using Tetris to test it again. It feels like it's become a tradition," Yu Suzuki said with a laugh as he joined in the fun.

"Maybe." Takuya didn't turn around; his fingers pressed the buttons on either side, causing the squares on the screen to move accordingly.

Rotate, fall, and eliminate.

After a while, Takuya put down the engineering machine.

"It seems there shouldn't be any problems, but I'll still need to trouble everyone with the subsequent system testing."

A week later, the atmosphere in the Hardware Development Department finally returned to normal. Although it was still busy, it was no longer the tense state of working non-stop. Nakamura Ken looked much better, and he placed a brand-new engineering prototype in front of Takuya. This machine was no longer the gray box covered with flying wires, but a black engineering prototype that had been initially integrated and had a tightly sealed shell. It was a size smaller than before, and the grip felt much more solid.

"Unit 2, all basic tests are complete, and it's running stably." Nakamura's tone carried a hint of pride.

Takuya picked up the machine. The boot screen still displayed the simple "SEGA" logo, but the startup speed was much faster. "Good. Pass the word down that the Hardware Department can take a break for now, but the subsequent durability and stress tests cannot stop."

"Clear!"

That afternoon, the conference room of the Sega Software Development Department was filled with smoke.

Takuya placed the black Unit 2 in the center of the conference table.

A group of men with different expressions sat around the table, with the genius programmer Yuji Naka at the head.

His expression remained calm as he curiously examined the small machine on the table.

"Everyone, this is what we'll be tackling next," Takuya said, his voice not loud, but it drew everyone's attention.

Looking at the configuration list and performance specifications in his hand, Yuji Naka's eyes were filled with a challenging excitement.

However, for programmers accustomed to the powerful capabilities of MegaDrive, it still presents many limitations.

"The performance is acceptable, but it also has significant limitations," Yuji Naka offered a fair assessment.

"That's right." Takuya nodded, not disagreeing. "So I didn't call you all here today to have you immediately develop a bunch of games for it."

He looked around. "I need you to build a set of tools for it."

"Tools?" someone asked, puzzled.

"A tool that allows all developers, even programmers from third-rate studios, to quickly get started and develop games with maximum efficiency."

Takuya his fingers lightly on the table. "I want you to use your extensive experience to write various function libraries, development packages, and even auxiliary development tools that run on MSX2 computers."

"MSX2?" Yuji Naka frowned. "It's too outdated. Why not just use our own development machine?"

"Because it's cheap, and because it's widely available."

Takuya's answer was simple and direct, "I want to make the development of this handheld platform so easy that only a few enthusiastic young people and an MSX2 are needed to develop games for our platform."

"What we need is not one or two exclusive blockbusters, but a massive game library that can overwhelm our competitors. The barrier to entry must be lowered to the lowest possible level."

The conference room was silent.

Many people were puzzled by Takuya's request.

They are top-tier developers, accustomed to pushing the limits of technology on the best hardware, but now they are being asked to pave the way for these third-rate small factories, or even young people who are just starting out.

Seeing the hesitant crowd, Takuya explained, "Let me explain the situation to you all."

"Nintendo is also developing a handheld console with similar hardware capabilities to ours."

These words immediately made everyone sit up straight.

"I've already discussed this situation with Minister Nakamura. Based on the current hardware capabilities, the hardware configuration of our prototype is basically the most cost-effective one that can be made at the current level."

"Therefore, once handheld consoles are released, third parties will inevitably try to develop and release games on both platforms. At that point, the competition will come down to which platform has lower development costs and higher installation numbers."

"I'm already preparing the launch game, and I'm confident that our initial installation volume will surpass Nintendo's."

"However, when third-party assistance is needed later, these tools may become the key difference between the two companies."

Yu Suzuki suddenly chuckled, breaking the silence. "That's interesting."

Yuji Naka silently reached out and picked up the engineering machine on the table.

He repeatedly rubbed the outer casing, feeling the key travel, his gaze shifting back and forth between the screen and the machine's interface.

After a long while, he raised his head.

"I'll try to retrieve the core code of the fast scrolling algorithm we wrote for the SG-1000," his voice was soft but exceptionally clear, "And see if we can optimize and port it to this platform."