Kozuki Kagemasa set down the report, slid the gold pen he had been idly twirling into its holder, and produced a crisp click.
"Notify the factory. Print another batch based on two weeks' projected sales. We absolutely cannot run out of stock. Also, hurry up and finish localization testing for the other Western-language versions. Demand among North American and European players for this kind of exploration-focused action game will definitely be no lower than in Japan. That is an even larger blue ocean."
Mid-March.
The second week after Castlevania X: Symphony of the Night went on sale.
Its reputation had completely exploded.
In the editorial offices of major gaming magazines, ringing telephones and clattering keyboards blended into one ceaseless din. Everyone was talking about this dark horse that had come charging out of nowhere.
In Famitsu's review meeting room, smoke curled through the air. Several veteran editors clustered around a CRT television connected to a PlayStation, passing the controller between them, every face alight with excitement.
"This map design is simply incredible—a stroke of genius!" An editor in a baseball cap hit pause and pulled up the sprawling, labyrinthine map, pointing at the screen with excitement. "This isn't that rigid stage-based structure from before! The entire massive castle is seamlessly connected. Once you gain a new ability, you can go back to places you couldn't reach before. This freedom, this sense of accomplishment from exploring—it feels so damn good!"
"And it doesn't have all that self-important nonsense." The editor-in-chief pushed up his glasses and flipped through the review draft in his hands. "After you beat Dracula at the start, it gets right to the point. Players are sick of long-winded cutscenes these days, but if they choose to dig deeper, they can still savor a different kind of flavor. Igarashi