Hisao Oguchi's hand stopped as he turned the page. He stared at the proposal for a full ten seconds, then snapped it shut.
"Take one." Hisao Oguchi was decisive.
Satoshi Tajiri looked as though he had been granted a reprieve. He hurried forward, scooped up one of the heavy development kits, then turned and returned to his seat with his head held high.
There were eight machines left.
At the nearby seat, Ogasawara Eiji immediately shot to his feet. He was in charge of the broader, more casual Pokémon Adventure series.
"Executive Director, Director Oguchi. The development cycle for a mainline sequel is bound to be long, so it definitely won't make the first wave of launch titles. Our team has prepared an escort title that can perfectly fill that launch gap."
Ogasawara pushed the proposal forward with both hands.
Printed on the cover was a childlike yet eye-catching title—Pokémon Adventure: Team Rocket.
"Pokémon Land, which we previously made for the Mega Drive, and Pokémon Adventure on Jupiter both received excellent responses. This time, we intend to continue that light puzzle-action style while making deep use of Pokémon traits in our level design."
Ogasawara opened to the inner pages and spoke at a rapid pace. "The story is simple. Team Rocket has captured a group of Pokémon and locked them inside a secret base filled with traps and mechanisms. With their Trainers absent, the Pokémon can only work together and escape alive on their own."
Nakayama Takuya casually flipped through the level-design sketches and raised an eyebrow.
"A puzzle game." Nakayama Takuya looked up at him, his gaze sharp. "How are you making it social? A linear single-player puzzle game gets tossed into a corner to gather dust after players clear it once. How is it supposed to help us