Recaps

After Japan’s stock market crashed, Sega’s directors feared the company would be devastated, but Nakayama Hayao and Nakayama Takuya revealed that they had prepared for the downturn. The meeting ended with the directors impressed by Takuya’s plans to protect and expand Sega’s business.

• The Nikkei 225 reached a record 38,915 points before plunging on January 12, 1990, triggering panic and mass selling.
• Sega’s directors gathered for an emergency board meeting, where Hoshino and Sugiura regretted opposing the Nakayama family’s asset liquidation plan.
• Nakayama Hayao reassured the directors that Sega had shifted its investments and capital to European and American markets before the crash.
• Nakayama Takuya outlined plans to expand Sega’s overseas markets, focus development on arcades and handhelds, and release games before the holiday sales cycle.
• Takuya described partnerships with affordable-goods brands, including Uniqlo, and plans to sell used SG-1000 consoles and handhelds in Eastern Europe.
• The directors offered a few suggestions before ending the meeting with renewed respect for Takuya’s preparation.

Nakagawa Eri returned to Tokyo after filming Cooking Master Boy, and Nakayama Takuya welcomed her home. Eri met Takuya’s parents, who warmly approved of her, and invited him to meet her own parents the next day.

• Nakayama Takuya welcomed Nakagawa Eri at Haneda Airport after her production crew returned from China.
• Nakagawa Eri told Nakayama Takuya about completing five episodes ahead of schedule and training local television staff.
• Nakayama Miyuki warmly welcomed Eri to the Nakayama family home, where Eri presented gifts to Takuya’s parents and Takuya.
• Nakayama Miyuki showed Eri embarrassing childhood photos of Takuya, while Nakayama Hayao enjoyed the tea Eri had brought.
• Nakagawa Eri invited Takuya to meet her parents, and Takuya agreed to visit the next day.

Nakayama Takuya visited Nakagawa Eri’s family and won Nakagawa Jun’s approval by supporting Eri’s career and proposing a new direction for her program. He left after a warm family dinner, while Jun became eager to review Takuya’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire proposal.

• Nakayama Takuya visited the Nakagawa home, gave Nakagawa Eri plush dolls, and reassured Nakagawa Jun that he would support Eri’s ambitions.
• Takuya proposed turning Cooking Master Boy into Money-Saving Battle, a budget cooking competition suited to households facing economic hardship.
• Nakagawa Jun praised Takuya’s idea and accepted his promise to help Eri and support the television station.
• At dinner, Takuya recognized Eri’s fish-fragrant shredded pork tamagoyaki and praised her cooking.
• Eri told Nakagawa Jun about Takuya’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire proposal, making Jun eager to see it, but Nakagawa Takako stopped them from discussing work during the visit.
• Takuya said goodbye to Eri at dusk, and she watched his car leave before returning inside with a smile.

As Japan’s downturn weakened Sega’s arcades, Nakayama Takuya proposed a strategy built on better 2D hardware, modular arcade peripherals, and shared investment in 3D. He outlined racing and realistic 3D fighting games for Yu Suzuki, who eagerly named the latter VirtuaFighter.

• Director Takahashi reported that arcade traffic had fallen for three weeks and said home consoles were taking business from arcades.
• Nakayama Takuya urged Takahashi and Yu Suzuki to focus on games with strong coin-in rates and differentiate arcades through experiences unavailable at home.
• Takuya proposed upgrading the System-18 Board, making arcade peripherals modular with costs shared by the home console department, and investing broadly in 3D technology.
• When Yu Suzuki pressed him for concrete game plans, Takuya described a high-speed first-person night racing game on the Wangan Line and a realistic 3D fighting game based on real martial arts.
• Yu Suzuki enthusiastically named the fighting-game project VirtuaFighter and rushed out to celebrate with Takuya.

As the stock market crash threatened Sunrise’s revenue and cash flow, Nakayama Takuya proposed measures to cut costs and find new income, then used the crisis to secure Sega’s alliance with Sunrise. The next day, he rejected Bandai’s overtures and assessed other weakened game companies as potential targets.

• Sunrise’s executives reported falling toy sales, shrinking revenue, and growing risks of delayed licensing payments, while disagreeing over whether anime should promote merchandise more aggressively.
• Nakayama Takuya recommended low-priced IP merchandise, overseas and domestic videotape licensing, expanded Chinese outsourcing, and lower-budget original anime to stabilize Sunrise’s finances.
• In private, Nakayama Takuya offered Sega’s support and proposed an alliance, and President Ito agreed while remaining president of Sunrise.
• After reviewing a report on game manufacturers, Nakayama Takuya ordered his staff to reject Bandai’s attempts to seek cooperation, citing its past treatment of Sega.
• Nakayama Takuya examined the financial troubles of Hudson, Namco, Taito, and Konami as potential opportunities.

Nakayama Takuya secured Sunrise's agreement to accept Sega's investment and proposed a Kirby game and animated adaptation as the first joint project. He left the game design and development details with Team Leader Shimizu while Sega prepared to negotiate the investment.

• Nakayama Takuya reported that Sunrise president Masatoshi Ito had agreed to Sega's capital injection and presented the signed letter of intent.
• Nakayama Hayao praised Takuya's achievement and ordered Yoshikawa and Hattori to negotiate with Sunrise as allies while defending Sega's core interests.
• Takuya decided to develop a Kirby handheld game and a synchronized Sunrise animation, outlining rules for Kirby's silent communication and the Pupupu Land setting.
• Takuya showed Team Leader Shimizu Kirby's design and explained the inhaling, ability-copying gameplay, four initial powers, simple difficulty, and unified art style.
• Team Leader Shimizu agreed to bring in artists and stage designers who had worked on Pokémon Adventure.

Nakayama Takuya visited GALLOP Animation Production to reshape the mythology for the second Pokémon film and propose a larger divine-beast system. Director Kunihiko Yuyama accepted Takuya’s invitation to help build it as an outside consultant for Sega Galaxy’s Children of the Star Ring creative department.

• Nakayama Takuya called Kunihiko Yuyama to discuss an idea for the second Pokémon theatrical film and visited GALLOP to review its Lugia concept art.
• Takuya challenged the idea of Lugia as the ruler of the sea, arguing that its supremacy over the Legendary Birds would weaken the story’s conflict.
• Takuya proposed that Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno represent balanced natural elements, while Lugia regulates ocean currents and restores balance when they lose control.
• Takuya outlined a broader Pokémon mythological universe linking Ho-Oh with life and Lugia and the Legendary Birds with the environment, alongside future divine beasts tied to other forces.
• Takuya invited Yuyama to join Sega Galaxy’s Children of the Star Ring creative department as an outside consultant and chief designer of the Pokémon divine-beast system, and Yuyama accepted.

Nakayama Takuya inspected Sega’s North American headquarters and, after seeing the success of its consoles, proposed embedding Sega products in television and film to make them part of everyday American life. Tom Kalinske embraced the plan and prepared to pursue Hollywood partnerships.

• Nakayama Takuya flew to San Francisco to assess the North American branch and Tom Kalinske’s performance.
• After noticing a game console was missing from the family living room on Growing Pains, Takuya wrote down an idea for a new marketing strategy.
• Tom Kalinske reported that Mega Drive sales had passed eleven million units in North America and GamePocket sales had exceeded five million.
• Takuya explained that Sega should place its consoles and handhelds in television shows and movies to normalize gaming for American families.
• Tom Kalinske recognized the potential of product placement, became excited, and proposed approaching Hollywood productions and exploring movie adaptations into games.

Tom Kalinske and Nakayama Takuya negotiated with Hollywood filmmakers to place Sega products in Home Alone and secure game rights to major film projects. Spielberg agreed to connect Takuya with Michael Crichton, leaving Sega with three major projects in play.

• Tom Kalinske, Bernard, and Nakayama Takuya flew to Los Angeles to negotiate with Hollywood studios.
• Kalinske offered John Hughes money to feature Sega consoles and a GamePocket in Home Alone, and Hughes accepted.
• Takuya asked Steven Spielberg about the game rights to Michael Crichton's unpublished dinosaur novel, surprising Spielberg with his knowledge of it.
• Bernard showed Spielberg a list of games planned by Takuya, and Spielberg admired Takuya's work and offered to arrange a meeting with Michael Crichton.
• Kalinske celebrated as the group headed back after securing three major projects.

Tom Kalinske and Nakayama Takuya visited Paramount Pictures, where Takuya impressed producer Mace Neufeld with his knowledge of Tom Clancy’s work and asked to meet the author about adapting his military world into games. Neufeld agreed to arrange an introduction, leaving Sega to persuade Clancy themselves.

• Tom Kalinske celebrated the prospect of securing a dinosaur-film project while he and Takuya toured the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• Tom Kalinske and Nakayama Takuya visited Paramount Pictures and met producer Mace Neufeld after a screening of The Hunt for Red October.
• Takuya discussed the novel’s submarine details and asked Neufeld how the film had recreated its atmosphere, drawing the producer into the conversation.
• Takuya proposed meeting Tom Clancy to explore building his military world into interactive entertainment.
• Neufeld called Clancy’s agent to arrange a meeting, warning Takuya and Tom that Clancy might resist working with video-game makers.

Takuya and Tom Kalinske secured a brief meeting with Tom Clancy after Takuya convinced Mace Neufeld that Sega would not rush out a shoddy game. Takuya then visited Industrial Light & Magic, where he met director James Cameron, the famous truck driver.

• Mace Neufeld called Tom Clancy's agent and repeated Takuya's promise that Sega would avoid the kind of rushed game that had followed Atari's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
• Clancy agreed to meet Takuya and Tom Kalinske for half an hour the following Wednesday, though Neufeld warned them that Clancy distrusted game makers.
• After leaving Paramount, Takuya asked Bernard to arrange a visit to Industrial Light & Magic.
• At Industrial Light & Magic, Takuya and Tom saw motion-capture performers working under James Cameron's direction.
• Bernard introduced James Cameron to Tom Kalinske and Nakayama Takuya, and Tom recognized Cameron as the famous truck driver.

Takuya visited Hollywood with Tom Kalinske and Bernard, explored motion-capture technology for Sega, and rejected low-quality film projects. He then prepared a detailed tactical game concept to impress the stubborn writer Tom Clancy.

• Takuya asked James Cameron about using motion capture for a realistic 3D fighting game, and Cameron referred Sega to Motion Analysis Corporation.
• Bernard explained that his connections in Hollywood came through his father’s position at the Academy and said he had joined Sega to help create the future.
• Takuya declined several film pitches, telling Bernard that Sega wanted to pursue only premium projects.
• Tom Kalinske returned to Sega headquarters and urged Takuya to win over Tom Clancy.
• Takuya spent the weekend designing a tactical-planning game concept for Clancy’s novels, and Bernard was stunned by its detail and realism.

Takuya visited a private shooting range with Bernard, where he tried several firearms and discovered how much faster and more effective a rifle with a red dot sight was for him. After declining a professional tactical course, he left with Bernard, who suggested they spend the next day relaxing.

• Takuya asked Bernard to take him to a shooting range, and Bernard found a private facility with a former Marine instructor.
• Takuya tried several handguns and an M16A2, then criticized the iron sights for narrowing his field of view.
• Takuya used a competition AR-15 with a Swedish red dot sight and hit the nine-ring area or better with all five rapid shots.
• Takuya tried a Winchester lever-action rifle and a Remington shotgun, enjoying their different handling and power.
• Takuya declined the instructor's offer to run a tactical course, and Bernard proposed a relaxing day the next day.

Takuya and Bernard traveled from California to Maryland to meet Tom Clancy about adapting one of his novels into a Sega game. Takuya rejected The Hunt for Red October as unsuitable and pitched a tactical game based on Clear and Present Danger, leaving Clancy absorbed by the plans and maps.

• Bernard took Takuya to a Malibu beach restaurant before they flew to Washington and drove to Owings, Maryland.
• Takuya and Bernard waited at Clancy Insurance Associates, then met Tom Clancy for their scheduled appointment.
• Takuya told Clancy Sega was not seeking The Hunt for Red October rights because current game technology could not do the novel justice.
• Takuya proposed adapting Clear and Present Danger and showed Clancy detailed tactical maps and plans for a squad-based strategy game.
• Takuya described hiring military consultants and asked Clancy to introduce Sega to suitable military contacts.

Takuya secured Tom Clancy’s cooperation on a game based on his novel, then traveled across North America to inspect Sega’s retail and arcade presence firsthand. The trip showed him that Sega attracted teens, but Nintendo appealed more to families, while DDR’s difficulty and the arcade scene’s competitive culture shaped how players chose games.

• Tom Clancy agreed to help Takuya find a military consultant, provided he could play the finished game before its release and approve it.
• After Bernard returned to Redwood City to report to Kalinske, Takuya chose to travel across North America with Mark and inspect the market.
• At Walmart, Takuya saw more families gathered around Nintendo and learned that clerks recommended it as a child’s first console, unlike Sega’s teen-focused appeal.
• At Toys "R" Us, Takuya found Sega and Nintendo evenly matched, while Game Pocket faced little competition.
• At a Chicago arcade, Takuya saw crowds around Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury but few players trying DDR, and learned that newcomers feared being laughed at by experienced players.

After seeing that parents chose Nintendo over Sega at Walmart, Nakayama Takuya planned a Mega Drive learning system to give families a practical reason to buy Sega’s console. He left Nakamura and Nohara to begin developing a keyboard-compatible cartridge with typing, word-processing, floppy-disk, and printer functions.

• Takuya told Tom Kalinske that Sega had won children’s interest but still needed to persuade their parents, and promised new products that would make a Mega Drive seem like a beneficial investment.
• At Sega’s management meeting, Takuya reported Hollywood licensing deals for Home Alone, Hook, a Michael Crichton novel, and Clear and Present Danger, then asked Yu Suzuki to study Industrial Light & Light’s motion-capture technology for Virtua Fighter.
• Takuya explained the Walmart parent-buying problem to Sega’s executives and said he would lead a team developing software to make parents more willing to buy a Mega Drive.
• Takuya asked Nakamura and Nohara to develop a Mega Drive cartridge with typing practice, a basic document editor, floppy-disk support, and a printer interface.
• After Nakamura and Nohara raised cost and technical concerns, Takuya explained the learning-machine concept and assigned hardware testing and software development while he arranged market research and partnership negotiations.

Nakayama Takuya checked Kirby's lively development and approved the team's approachable design and a penguin king as its final boss. He and Eri then shopped for their betrothal gifts at Mitsukoshi before enjoying a date in Ningyocho, where Eri said she was glad their mothers had brought them together.

• Takuya watched Kirby inhale enemies and use a copied fire ability, then encouraged Shimizu's team to keep the game accessible and approved the designer's penguin king idea.
• Takuya's mother told him the engagement ceremony was set for the fifteenth of the next month and instructed him to buy the betrothal gifts at Mitsukoshi.
• Takuya called Eri, and they joked about their mothers' wedding preparations before agreeing to shop together the next day.
• Takuya met Eri at Mitsukoshi with champagne roses, and they bought the gifts on their mothers' list.
• Takuya and Eri walked through Ningyocho, sampled street food, and Eri kissed his cheek and said she was glad they could be together sooner.

Nakayama Takuya attended the production committee screening of the first three episodes of Mobile Fighter G, which impressed the assembled representatives with its hot-blooded fighting style and strong production quality. After the screening, Mitsui Chuta invited Takuya to dinner, leaving him to face a private approach from Bandai.

• Nakayama Takuya arrived at Sunrise for the internal screening and greeted TV Tokyo producer Hiroi Shiro, while Mitsui Chuta acknowledged him from a distance.
• The production committee watched three episodes of Mobile Fighter G, featuring Domon Kasshu's battles and his SHINING FINGER attack.
• Hiroi Shiro and other representatives praised the series, and Bandai's planning head noted that its distinctive mechanical designs could support merchandise sales.
• Imagawa Yasuhiro credited Takuya's outsourcing plan for controlling costs while preserving quality and funding more ambitious battles later in the series.
• After Hiroi Shiro left, Mitsui Chuta stopped Takuya and invited him to a meal.

Takuya met Bandai veteran Mitsui Chuta at Kitcho, where Chuta tried to secure Sega’s help with Bandai’s financial troubles. Takuya politely refused to intervene further in Bandai’s operations, leaving Chuta to accept the boundary and change the subject.

• Mitsui Chuta took Takuya to Kitcho and waited until they had shared a meal before asking whether Bandai’s representatives had troubled him.
• Takuya explained his recent work in North America, gave Chuta Paramount cufflinks, and described his engagement to Eri as reasons he had been unavailable.
• Chuta congratulated Takuya on his engagement, then directly asked what Sega would require to help Bandai through the economic downturn.
• Takuya cited his earlier suggestions and Sega’s snap-fit technology, then said that advising on Bandai’s operations or strategy would cross a boundary between allies.
• Chuta understood that further help would come at a price, acknowledged Takuya’s point, and changed the conversation to Takuya’s trip to the United States.

Nakayama Takuya and Nakagawa Eri completed their formal betrothal ceremony in Tokyo, joining their lives and powerful families. After the long rituals and banquet, they rested together, exhausted and happy.

• Nakayama Miyuki oversaw Takuya’s kimono fitting and arranged for him to visit the calligraphy master who wrote the invitations.
• On April 15, Takuya and Eri gathered with their parents at a ryotei in Akasaka for the betrothal ceremony.
• Takuya vowed to share his life with Eri, and Eri announced she would take the name Nakayama Eri.
• Takuya placed an engagement ring on Eri’s right hand, and the families celebrated with toasts and a banquet.
• After the guests departed, Takuya and Eri collapsed onto a sofa and shared a quiet, happy moment together.

Nakayama Takuya inspected the MD-compatible computer kit and saw its printing function working, then gave the development teams guidance on making it practical for home users. He offered Hideo Kojima a new project adapting Clear and Present Danger into a tactical squad game in the United States, and Kojima eagerly agreed to go.

• Nakayama Takuya visited the joint development lab and watched the MD-compatible kit print a page on a Canon BJ-80 printer.
• Department Head Nakamura and Team Leader Nohara reported that they had compressed the driver and editor, and Takuya instructed them to prioritize compatibility with popular home-use devices.
• Takuya visited the arcade department, where development of Hook was underway, and briefly encouraged the team.
• Takuya met Hideo Kojima in the review room and offered him the Clear and Present Danger game project, based on planning routes and tactics for a special-operations squad.
• Takuya told Kojima to assemble and lead the project team in the United States, and Kojima asked when they would leave.

Ken Kutaragi planned to use Sega’s accelerated CD add-on development to pressure Nintendo while secretly building Sony’s 3D PlayStation. Takuya accepted Sony’s help for Sega’s own purposes, then took Hideo Kojima to see Yu Suzuki’s motion-capture work in California, where Kojima began imagining new uses for the technology.

• Ken Kutaragi and Ryoji Chubachi agreed to give Sega extensive help with the MD-CD project so its progress would pressure Yamauchi Haku and help Sony test the CD market.
• Takuya recognized Sony’s plan and told his assistant to accept its engineers and technical proposals while speeding up the MD-CD add-on.
• Takuya met Hideo Kojima before they flew to California, where Kojima brought war films and magazines as research for a new project.
• Takuya and Hideo Kojima visited Yu Suzuki at Motion Analysis Corporation and watched a motion-capture system reproduce a stunt performer’s kung fu movements as a 3D model.
• Hideo Kojima realized motion capture could record nuanced character performances, while Takuya cautioned that current technology could not yet render such detail in real time.

Hideo Kojima tried to win over Sega’s skeptical North American development team by revealing that he had directed Metal Gear. Meanwhile, Nakayama Takuya recruited James White as a military consultant and proposed a universal firearms accessory standard, which White offered to bring to Colt for a higher fee.

• Mark introduced Hideo Kojima to the North American developers, who privately questioned whether he had come to supervise them.
• Kojima put Metal Gear on the office console, and the developers recognized him as the game’s director when his name appeared in the opening credits.
• Takuya described his tactical squad-planning game to James White, who agreed to advise on authentic procedures and equipment after they signed a letter of intent.
• Takuya proposed a universal, reliable mounting standard for firearm accessories, and White agreed to contact Colt while renegotiating his fee.

Nakayama Takuya proposed that Sega give up control and profits from a firearms data standard in exchange for permanent, royalty-free access to the resulting weapon specifications and test data for game development. Matt Wallace left the meeting to consider the proposal, while James White predicted Colt would accept.

• Nakayama Takuya met Matt Wallace at Colt headquarters with James White and Tom Clancy, but asked to discuss cooperation before presenting his proposal.
• Takuya proposed creating Firearms Data Company to hold the patents, with Sega retaining only one percent of the shares and no decision-making rights.
• Takuya suggested the National Rifle Association distribute the other shares among NATO light-weapons manufacturers, while Sega received permanent, royalty-free access to their specifications and test data.
• Takuya offered to let other game companies license the data and suggested Pentagon supervision to ensure security and fairness.
• Matt Wallace left the conference room to consider the proposal, and Tom Clancy marveled at Takuya's strategy while James White said Colt would agree.

Takuya negotiated Colt’s request to control Sega’s one percent of shares by requiring approval from every member company of the National Rifle Association. After signing the agreements, he presented Colt with a standardized rifle rail proposal and suggested promoting it through a Hollywood movie.

• Matt Wallace returned and asked to hold the voting rights for Sega’s one percent of shares on Colt’s behalf.
• Takuya agreed on the condition that every National Rifle Association member company gave written consent, leaving Colt to secure their approval.
• Matt accepted the condition, and he, James White, and Tom Clancy signed the prepared agreements.
• Takuya presented the Small Arms Tactical Rail, describing a standard that would let compatible accessories attach to compatible guns.
• Takuya proposed using a Hollywood movie to promote the rail, surprising Matt.