At the same time, at Sega headquarters.
Nakayama Takuya looked through the blinds of his office at Tokyo's gloomy sky.
Every move Nintendo made was fed back to his desk with just the clarity he had expected.
He knew better than anyone the weight carried by the golden signboards of The Legend of Zelda and Dragon Quest.
Yet a faint, almost imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
The money-drawing power of the Pokémon ecosystem was like a precision gear system that had just begun to take shape, continuously contributing profits.
System-16's conquest of arcade halls also provided Sega with a solid backing.
"Let them put on the grand show first."
Nakayama Takuya gave instructions to the team under him.
"Our task is to continue deepening Pokémon's operations, to ensure every evolutionary stone can shine and burn, and every communication exchanger can connect new bonds."
"At the same time, the quality of System-16's follow-up arcade blockbusters absolutely cannot be allowed to slacken."
He knew very well that although Sega's current new arcade titles were of excellent quality, when it came to creating a social-phenomenon level of influence, they still could not, for the moment, clash head-on with Nintendo's two ace home-console games that were about to pour forth.
In his view, Sega's short-term glory in the arcade market would not shake Nintendo's advantage in the home console field.
The true decisive battle would have to wait until that highly anticipated 16-bit console made its debut.
Before that, lying low and accumulating strength was the necessary posture.
On January 14, the air in Tokyo was still clear and cold.
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link arrived as scheduled.
In front of major electronics stores and toy shops, the long lines of customers that had not been seen for some