Driving an MS?

On April 4th, most of the cherry blossoms in Tokyo had fallen, and the remaining petals on the ground had not yet been swept away.

A black Toyota Century came to a smooth stop in front of the Sega Headquarters building.

Mitsui Chuta got out of the car first and opened the door for Yamashina Makoto in the back seat.

Although he is the executive director of Bandai, he still has to follow the proper etiquette in front of the president.

Nakayama Takuya was waiting for the two at the door; after all, the president of the other company was coming in person, so they had to make a proper show of it.

Nakayama Takuya led them directly into the high-rise private elevator.

When the elevator doors slid open with a ding, what greeted the eye was not neatly arranged desks, but a faint smell of coffee and solder.

In the center of the Development Group Three's room, a massive machine, half-covered by a black cloth, stood silently, surrounded by several sheets of draft paper filled with unidentifiable drawings.

"This is the 'surprise' prepared for you two."

Nakayama Takuya casually ripped off the black cloth.

At that moment, both Yamashina Makoto and Mitsui Chuta visibly paused for a beat.

This is nothing like the colorful arcade cabinets they were used to.

This thing is completely black, and its rugged design looks like armor plating that was just dug out of a trench.

The most striking feature is the control panel – instead of Red/Green buttons, there are two vertical joysticks resembling those of a fighter jet. The grips even have a non-slip, frosted finish, and in addition to triggers, a multi-directional cap switch is integrated into the thumb position.

On the side of the frame, the huge RX-78-2 Original Gundam's 45-degree profile image is not a cheap printed sticker, but an embossed nameplate with a brushed metal texture, gleaming coldly under the spotlight.

"This—" Mitsui Chuta couldn't help but reach out and touch the cold control lever. It felt heavy in his hand and had a strong damping feel.

"This is for piloting mobile suits."

The Shimizu leader, Shimizu, who had been waiting for a long time, chuckled and pointed at the man next to him who wore thick-rimmed glasses and Zeon Army T-shirt.

The skinny young man in the T-shirt snapped his fingers, "Otaku, show the club presidents what you've got."

The programmer, known as "Otaku," didn't waste any words. He turned on the arcade machine, took out a memory card shaped like a soldier's ID card from his pocket, and inserted it into the card slot with a "click."

There was no cheerful "InsertCoin" notification sound, nor a colorful title logo.

The screen went black.

Immediately afterwards, a deep, static-like sound emanated from the surround sound system, as if a sleeping behemoth was awakening.

A line of green code pops up in the top left corner of the screen:

[OS VER 3.2 LOADING--]

[GENERATOROUTPUT: 98%]

[MINOVSKYPARTICLE DENSITY: LOW]

In the center of the screen, the red crosshair rapidly contracts and adjusts.

This was followed by a dazzling list of self-checks: hydraulic system normal, attitude control nozzle normal, beam rifle fully charged.

Yamashina Makoto stared intently at the screen. As the head of Bandai, he could understand these settings, if not memorize them perfectly, but he had never seen such a "hardcore" boot screen in any game.

This isn't a game, this is like sitting in the cockpit of a Gundam!

"Attack!"

With a low shout from Ah Zhai, he pushed the control stick hard with both hands.

The screen shook violently, accompanied by the ear-piercing screech of the hydraulic pump, and the ground in the field of vision began to jolt violently.

This is not the kind of light, floating texture panning we used to see. With each step that lands, the screen experiences a heavy, jerky pause, as if the weight of tens of tons of steel is pressing directly onto the viewer's heart.

"Pay attention to inertia," Nakayama Takuya explained at the opportune moment. "Releasing the joystick won't stop the machine immediately; the immense momentum will carry it a short distance. An emergency stop requires reverse propulsion—that's what it feels like to pilot a several-thousand-ton behemoth."

In the footage, a Zaku attempts a side-attack.

Unlike the flashy turns typical of traditional fighting games, Otaku used his left hand to pull the stick and his right hand to make minor adjustments, resulting in a somewhat clumsy yet powerful large-radius spin.

"Boom!"

The beam rifle fired. It wasn't the typical "biubiu" electronic sound, but rather the explosive roar of air being instantly ionized after charging.

The recoil caused the entire field of vision to jump upwards. In the distance, the Zaku was hit in the shield, exploding in a dazzling burst of sparks. It did not explode directly, but staggered backward, with fragments of its armor plating flying everywhere.

The realistic physical feedback sent chills down Mitsui Chuta's spine.

After the demonstration ended, the machine slowly knelt down to cool down, and the sound of the cockpit canopy opening was clearly audible.

Mitsui Chuta still frozen to the side, his eyes wide open as if they were about to pop into the screen.

Several seconds passed before he snapped out of his daze and slapped his thigh.

"This is what a Gundam should be! This is what a real man should drive!"

The Bandai executive director appeared somewhat agitated.

Yamashina Makoto had been silent all along, slowly took off his glasses and pulled out a crumpled glasses cloth from his pocket.

He didn't shout like Mitsui, but his knuckles were turning white as he gripped the glasses cloth.

As the president of Bandai, he saw far more than just the thrill.

What he saw was a technological barrier.

Although Sunrise's Gundam games are all licensed to Bandai by default and they have made several games, they have always been stuck on "faithful to the anime" and "reskinning".

Sega, on the other hand, directly put the word "driving experience" on the table.

Tuning this kind of physics engine is simply beyond the capabilities of Bandai's current development team.

"Executive Director Nakayama," Yamashina Makoto, his voice slightly hoarse as he put his glasses back on, "This is only—a prototype?"

I've made a fool of myself.

Nakayama Takuya casually picked up a bottle of oolong tea and handed it over, his tone as indifferent as if he were talking about having lunch that night. "After all, it's just a demo, so there's only this much content. The polygon modeling is still very rough, the Zaku's animation logic isn't fully written, and there are still quite a few bugs to fix in the collision volume. It's still a long way from being a finished product."

Team leader Shimizu, who was standing nearby, just grinned as he listened.

This was the result of three teams pulling several all-nighters and losing a lot of hair, but the executive officer called it "T".

Rough.

But this is exactly the effect that Nakayama Takuya to achieve.

He doesn't need to shout himself hoarse to sell, nor does he need to present a bunch of data reports.

He only needs to display this object, which is considered a "dimensional reduction attack" in this era; this silent display is more effective than any business negotiation technique.

Yamashina Makoto gave Nakayama Takuya a deep look.

Sega is clearly flexing its muscles.

With this level of development capability, Bandai could only watch helplessly as Sega raised the standards of Gundam games to a level that was beyond their reach.

Even after leaving the development room, Mitsui Chuta's thoughts were still on that black-framed machine.

"Mitsui -san, watch your step." Nakayama Takuya smiled innocently and casually pressed the elevator button for Yamashina Makoto.

Yamashina Makoto stood by without saying a word, only clutching the poor piece of glasses cloth even tighter.