Recaps

Nakayama Takuya laid out Sega’s strategy to secure Japanese animation IP through exclusive development agreements and to fund Sunrise’s shift to digital animation production. He left Sunrise facing a push to build reusable 3D Gundam models for both animation and games.

• Nakayama Takuya ordered Matsushima to use a document challenging Tatsunoko’s copyright claims and offer Big West legal and financial backing in exchange for an exclusive Sega partnership.
• Nakayama Takuya announced that Sega would target animation IP development rights through long-term exclusive agreements instead of buying struggling companies.
• Hattori Kiyoshi summarized the plan as using Sega’s cash to secure long-term contracts, and Matsushima promised Sotsu would track promising IP.
• Nakayama Takuya asked Yamaura Eiji about Sunrise’s use of RETAS and ordered the studio to accelerate digital production, with Sega covering the costs.
• Nakayama Takuya urged Sunrise to create high-precision 3D Gundam models that its animation and game departments could reuse.

Nakayama Takuya revived the shelved Gundam Sentinel project as an OVA and planned to use it to test Sunrise’s digital production pipeline. He left Yamaura Eiji to assemble the team, with Takeyuki Kanda considered for chief director and Hajime Katoki for mechanical design.

• Hattori Kiyoshi recognized that reusing assets and linking Sunrise’s 3D models with Bandai’s model and game launches could sharply reduce costs and coordinate releases.
• Yamaura Eiji agreed to establish a digitalization task force, while Hattori Kiyoshi confirmed that Bandai’s restructuring would free up substantial funding.
• Nakayama Takuya asked Yamaura Eiji about a shelved project that had once competed for a theatrical film slot, and they identified it as Gundam Sentinel.
• Nakayama Takuya ordered Gundam Sentinel revived as an OVA and designated it as a gradual digital-production test, emphasizing strong visuals and fidelity to the source material.
• Nakayama Takuya named Hajime Katoki to lead mechanical design, and Yamaura Eiji proposed Takeyuki Kanda as chief director.

Nakayama Takuya arranged for Hattori Kiyoshi to negotiate with Takahashi Masaya about adapting Gundam Sentinel, with Sega offering money and a place on the production committee. Meanwhile, Hoshino closed Sega’s early currency positions across Southeast Asia and prepared new bets against the region’s markets.

• Yamaura Eiji warned Nakayama Takuya that Takahashi Masaya’s unresolved dispute with Bandai could obstruct a Gundam Sentinel anime adaptation.
• Nakayama Takuya asked Hattori Kiyoshi to approach Takahashi Masaya with Sega’s offer and secure his participation in the production committee and editorial work.
• Nakayama Takuya ended the meeting by treating the group to barbecue, while Matsushima and Yamaura Eiji felt reassured about Sega’s plans.
• Hoshino reported that the Philippine peso, Malaysian ringgit, and Indonesian rupiah were under severe pressure, then closed Sega’s early positions in Manila, Kuala Lumpur, and Jakarta.
• Nakayama Takuya instructed Hoshino to transfer the profits to secure Hong Kong accounts, and Hoshino presented a plan to build short positions in Southeast Asian currencies and stock indices.

Nakayama Takuya approved Sega’s cautious plan to short Southeast Asian currencies as the regional crisis spread, while insisting the team exit if markets turned dangerous. He then visited the hardware lab, where Sato Hideki reported that the new handheld had passed demanding reliability tests.

• Nakayama Takuya approved Hoshino’s proposal to keep individual trades and total short positions limited while profiting from currency declines.
• After hearing that Malaysia’s prime minister vowed to defend the fixed exchange rate, Nakayama Takuya dismissed the speech as a sign of weakness and warned Hoshino to exit if authorities threatened to lock down liquidity.
• Nakayama Takuya left Hoshino in charge of the currency positions and went to the Hardware Development Department to inspect the new handheld.
• Hisao Oguchi said the Game Division was waiting for the hardware design to be finalized and warned that Nintendo and Yamauchi Hiroshi were active.
• Sato Hideki reported that the handheld’s Sharp 3.0-inch screens had arrived and that the test units passed drop, heat, and humidity tests without internal damage or short circuits.

Nakayama Takuya and Hisao Oguchi prepared Sega’s new handheld for development by arranging advance units, finalizing tools, and planning a lineup meeting. Meanwhile, Sega North America’s David Cohen began licensing talks with Harmony Gold over Robotech.

• Sato Hideki said ten hand-assembled development units would be ready in two days, while Hisao Oguchi argued that Sega’s teams needed more.
• Yuji Naka reported that the adapted development tools were nearly complete, and Hisao Oguchi decided to distribute the specifications and tools so game planning could begin.
• Nakayama Takuya said the handheld’s games should emphasize social play, portability, fragmented playtime, and infrared communication, and he set a lineup planning meeting for the end of the month.
• Nakayama Takuya urged Sato Hideki and Yuji Naka to prepare the development units and toolchains for demos, while Yuji Naka left to continue testing.
• David Cohen met Harmony Gold founder Frank Agrama to discuss a Robotech game license, and Frank began pitching the franchise’s commercial potential.

David forced Harmony Gold to clarify the limits of its Robotech rights, and Sega received the resulting memorandum. Hattori Kiyoshi then offered Takahashi Masaya a Sega proposal to adapt Gundam Sentinel as an OVA, leaving Takahashi to consider the project.

• David showed Frank evidence that Harmony Gold's rights covered only the original Macross series and warned that Sega could challenge the claim in court.
• Frank agreed to have Harmony Gold draft a binding memorandum specifying its authorized copyrights.
• Two days later, Harmony Gold sent the signed memorandum to Sega Headquarters in Tokyo.
• Takahashi Masaya refused to work on Gundam Sentinel while Bandai remained involved in commercializing Gundam.
• Hattori Kiyoshi presented Takahashi with Sega's OVA proposal, naming Takeyuki Kanda as chief director and Hajime Katoki as mecha designer.

Hattori Kiyoshi secured Takahashi Masaya’s agreement to revive his shelved project under Sega’s control and with Bandai reduced to manufacturing. He then presented Yoshimasa Onishi and Shoji Kawamori with a meeting gift on Sega’s behalf, leaving its contents and purpose unrevealed.

• Hattori Kiyoshi told Takahashi Masaya that Sega was restructuring Bandai and would restore the rights and respect Bandai had denied him.
• Takahashi Masaya saw that he would be the project’s head scriptwriter and core planner, with Sega funding it and Sunrise producing it.
• After Hattori Kiyoshi assured him Bandai could not interfere, Takahashi Masaya accepted the preliminary plan to revive his project.
• At Big West, Yoshimasa Onishi wondered why Sotsu, Sunrise, and Sega had come together, and asked whether they wanted to discuss a new Macross project.
• Hattori Kiyoshi told Yoshimasa Onishi and Shoji Kawamori that Sega had come to offer them a meeting gift before discussing any new project.

Hattori Kiyoshi presented Yoshimasa Onishi and Shoji Kawamori with Harmony Gold’s memorandum confirming that it held only limited distribution rights to Macross, not ownership of its underlying intellectual property. Sega offered to fund future Macross development and help challenge Tatsunoko in exchange for exclusive development rights, leaving Big West and Studio Nue with ownership and creative control.

• Yoshimasa Onishi and Shoji Kawamori read the memorandum Hattori Kiyoshi brought from Harmony Gold and learned that its rights covered distribution and merchandise, not Macross’s underlying intellectual property or sequels.
• Shoji Kawamori denounced Tatsunoko for claiming complete Macross copyright and obstructing Big West and Studio Nue’s projects.
• Yoshimasa Onishi asked what Sega wanted in return for delivering the memorandum.
• Hattori Kiyoshi offered Sega’s funding, technology, distribution network, and legal support in exchange for exclusive rights to develop the Macross franchise, while leaving ownership and creative control with Big West and Studio Nue.
• Yoshimasa Onishi asked how Sega would address Tatsunoko, and Hattori Kiyoshi promised Sega’s lawyers would help clear the way for future Macross projects.

Sega brought Big West and Studio Nue together to pursue a copyright fight against Tatsunoko, then held an initial screening for games on its new handheld. Hisao Oguchi revealed a built-in four-player infrared version of Tetris as a launch title, and the meeting turned to the handheld’s multiplayer potential.

• Shoji Kawamori agreed to work with Sega to remove Tatsunoko’s interference in Macross’s creation, and Yoshimasa Onishi shook hands with Sega’s representatives.
• Hattori Kiyoshi said Sega would form a joint negotiation team and send its lawyers to Tatsunoko headquarters once the agreement was signed.
• Hisao Oguchi presented ten early handheld development units and invited Sega’s teams to compete for a machine and development tools with their proposals.
• Hisao Oguchi announced Tetris as a free game included with the handheld at launch and introduced its four-player infrared multiplayer feature.
• Yuji Naka explained how the handhelds could send attack lines between players, while Nakayama Takuya described groups playing together in public places.

Nakayama Takuya argued that handheld social play could drive sales, while Hisao Oguchi challenged teams to make social features a defining part of their launch games. Team Eight presented a Super Robot Wars sequel featuring Macross 7 and Gundam Sentinel, and Nakayama revealed Sega had secured the needed rights before Takata unveiled Basara’s unusual role.

• Nakayama Takuya said infrared multiplayer would let players battle anywhere and encourage them to persuade friends to buy the handheld.
• Hisao Oguchi told the team leaders to make social features a standout element of their proposals.
• Takata presented Team Eight’s Super Robot Wars sequel, proposing simpler 2D combat animations to fit more titles, mecha, and stages onto the cartridge.
• Team Seven’s leader and another team leader objected that Macross 7 and Gundam Sentinel would bring insurmountable copyright disputes.
• Nakayama Takuya said Sega had secured Macross rights and reached an agreement with Takahashi Masaya over Gundam Sentinel, leaving the development teams free to proceed.
• Takata said Basara would be the series’ first non-combat protagonist, with a command menu containing only Sing.

Takata won approval and a development unit for his Super Robot Wars proposal, while Satoshi Tajiri presented a third-generation Pokémon game designed for the new handheld. The meeting turned to whether Pokémon’s new features could make full use of infrared communication.

• Takata proposed using Basara’s songs to boost allies, weaken enemies, and enable new ways to clear stages, then argued that players would socialize by sharing strategies and hidden routes.
• Hisao Oguchi approved Takata’s proposal, gave him a development unit and conversion-tool floppy disks, and sent him back to refine the details.
• Satoshi Tajiri proposed a third-generation Pokémon game set in the Hoenn Region, with full-color graphics and new Ability and Nature systems.
• Hisao Oguchi challenged Tajiri to explain how the game would use infrared communication, and Tajiri proposed two-on-two linked battles through double battles.

Ogasawara Eiji pitched Pokémon Adventure: Team Rocket as a cooperative infrared-link launch game and secured a development kit for it. Oba Norikatsu then proposed a Dragon Ball game, but Hisao Oguchi warned that mishandling the valuable IP could damage Sega’s reputation.

• Hisao Oguchi approved Ogasawara Eiji’s proposal for Pokémon Adventure: Team Rocket after Ogasawara outlined its two-player cooperative puzzles and single-player mode.
• Nakayama Takuya praised the game’s flexible design and urged producers to let players find their own ways to play.
• Hisao Oguchi gave Ogasawara a development kit and accepted the game into the launch lineup.
• Oba Norikatsu presented rough level sketches and asked to make a Dragon Ball game.
• Hisao Oguchi warned Oba that a careless adaptation could harm both Sega’s reputation and the credibility of the Bandai IPs it had acquired.

Nakayama Takuya rejected Oba's basic multiplayer proposal and laid out an ambitious Dragon Ball game combining a faithful side-scrolling adventure with a deep fighting-game mode. He left Oba facing a huge production challenge: a roster of at least twenty distinctive, unlockable fighters.

• Oba pitched a hardcore Dragon Ball side-scrolling action game that followed the story from Goku meeting Bulma through the defeat of King Piccolo.
• Hisao Oguchi rejected Oba's limited versus and score-sharing ideas because they lacked meaningful social features.
• Nakayama Takuya asked Oba to build on the team's strengths in action design, hit detection, and impact rather than settle for a conventional stage-clearing game.
• Nakayama Takuya directed the team to make the adventure the game's foundation and hide a full-depth fighting mode for later playthroughs.
• Nakayama Takuya demanded at least twenty playable characters, unlocked through varied challenges, each with distinct combat systems, moves, and combo potential.

Nakayama Takuya and Hisao Oguchi planned the new handheld’s launch lineup, approving games that showcased its infrared multiplayer and portable play. The meeting ended with eight of ten development kits assigned and two spots remaining.

• Nakayama Takuya proposed a Dragon Ball fighting game with more than twenty characters and infrared multiplayer, and Oba agreed to lead its demanding development.
• Hisao Oguchi approved Group 4’s four-player Metal Slug proposal and handed its leader a development kit.
• Group 9 proposed Sega All-Stars, a collection of quick party games, while another team submitted Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Battle for portable deck-building and duels.
• Hisao Oguchi approved Harvest Moon for short, portable farming sessions and distributed the seventh machine.
• The Ace Attorney team proposed dividing courtroom cases into brief, interruptible reasoning segments, and received the eighth machine.

Nakayama Takuya took charge of the last available development unit and proposed Plants vs. Zombies, a casual strategy game for the new handheld’s launch lineup. He outlined its grid-based lawn defense, plant and zombie mechanics, and left the team leads considering the game’s tactical possibilities.

• Hisao Oguchi rejected Team Five’s maze-exploration RPG proposal because it did not suit the handheld’s launch needs, and no other team offered a qualified proposal.
• Nakayama Takuya claimed the remaining development unit and asked Hisao Oguchi to assign ten new hires to a temporary team under his command.
• Nakayama Takuya introduced Plants vs. Zombies and described its five-by-nine lawn grid, where players used sunlight to plant defenses against zombies approaching the house.
• Nakayama Takuya outlined plants with different abilities and zombie types with distinct strengths and behaviors.
• Nakayama Takuya said players would choose a limited selection of plants based on the zombies expected in each level, prompting the veteran team leads to consider possible tactics.

Nakayama Takuya assigned ten inexperienced Sega staff to develop Plants vs. Zombies as a launch game for the new handheld, giving them its core design and a one-month deadline for a playable demo. The rookies eagerly began dividing up the work after he left them to handle development.

• Nakayama Takuya presented Plants vs. Zombies as a simple-controls, single-player strategy game suited to handheld play, and Hisao Oguchi agreed with the pitch.
• Nakayama Takuya told Oguchi to complete the transfers of ten junior staff by the end of the day so they could report to him the next morning.
• Nakayama Takuya gathered three programmers, five artists, and two planners, introduced the handheld development kit, and assigned them to make Plants vs. Zombies its launch-anchor game.
• Nakayama Takuya explained the grid-based mechanics, directed the artists to use bright, comical cartoon designs, and tasked the planners with balancing the game’s difficulty and pacing.
• Nakayama Takuya set a one-month deadline for a demo featuring one level, a Sunflower, a Peashooter, and a Basic Zombie, then left the team to work out the details.
• The ten rookies enthusiastically split up the tasks and began work on the game.

At the Nakayama family’s summer retreat, Nakagawa Jun arrived with news that Fuji TV planned a major autumn lineup to reclaim ratings and advertisers from Tokyo TV. Nakayama Takuya advised him to avoid competing in prime time and focus on strengthening Tokyo TV’s late-night programming, then began outlining a strategy for its next broadcast.

• At the Karuizawa estate, Nakayama Takuya told Nakayama Hayao that Sega’s new handheld game had a playable demo planned for the following month and that its console lead remained strong.
• Eri reported that The Greed of Man had finished its first run, that regional TXN stations had paid three times the original buyout price for the next run, and that Tokyo TV’s advertising revenue had surged.
• Two days later, Nakagawa Jun arrived at the estate and told Nakayama Takuya that Fuji TV planned to challenge Tokyo TV’s ratings and advertisers with a major autumn production starring Kimura Takuya.
• Nakayama Takuya warned Nakagawa Jun against challenging Fuji TV in prime time, arguing that it would waste resources and weaken Tokyo TV’s successful late-night slot.
• Nakagawa Jun accepted Nakayama Takuya’s advice to preserve the late-night slot and asked what Tokyo TV should broadcast next; Nakayama Takuya began proposing a more precisely targeted strategy.

Nakayama Takuya proposed targeting late-night television ads at corporate decision-makers and filling Tokyo TV’s autumn lineup with hard-edged imported dramas. Nakagawa Jun embraced the plan and headed off to play with Miki after deciding the lineup puzzle was solved.

• Nakayama Takuya argued that realistic business dramas could attract executives and proposed selling B2B commercials to companies offering enterprise services.
• Nakagawa Jun recognized the value of reaching corporate decision-makers and decided to have the GG Department compile a list of potential advertisers.
• Nakagawa Jun worried there was not enough time or local screenwriting talent to create a suitable business drama, so Nakayama Takuya suggested buying Hong Kong dramas, including Looking Back in Anger, The Greed of Man, and The Silver Tycoon.
• Nakayama Takuya recommended the British political comedies Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, along with current-affairs tie-ins that compared their satire to Japanese political scandals.
• Nakagawa Jun accepted Nakayama Takuya’s recommendations, put the memo in his pocket, and went to help Miki catch bugs.

Nakayama Takuya and Hoshino reviewed their Southeast Asian investment exit and considered South Korea as the next opportunity while ruling out Hong Kong Island. Later, Nakayama approved Mercury Technology’s PC port of Legend of Nezha despite piracy concerns, then confirmed to Fu Zan that Sega was developing a new handheld.

• Hoshino told Nakayama Takuya that Sega had liquidated its investments in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia and assessed South Korea as a likely target for Soros while advising against Hong Kong Island.
• Nakayama Takuya told Hoshino to keep the recovered funds offshore, monitor South Korea, and seek bargain assets without clashing with Wall Street.
• Nakayama Takuya approved Fu Zan’s plan to port Legend of Nezha to PC and said Sega would not interfere over piracy concerns.
• Nakayama Takuya argued that pirated games could build future demand among Chinese players and encouraged Fu Zan to expand Mercury Technology’s market.
• Fu Zan asked whether Sega was developing a new handheld, and Nakayama Takuya confirmed that the project was nearly finalized.

Nakayama Takuya reorganized Bandai’s model operations into a new subsidiary and proposed infrared-sensing Kamen Rider toys while encouraging Fu Zan to complete a PC port and pursue Sega’s upcoming handheld. At Sega’s headquarters, a team of newcomers demonstrated a working handheld game prototype that Nakayama tested himself.

• Nakayama Takuya told Fu Zan that Mercury Technology could pursue handheld development kits after finishing the PC port of Legend of Nezha, and hinted that Sega’s affordable console could benefit from China joining the World Trade Organization.
• Mitsui Chuta reported that Bandai’s Shizuoka factories were stalled by frozen accounts and unpaid suppliers, threatening production of models tied to New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz.
• Nakayama Takuya ordered Mitsui Chuta to launch Bandai Model as a subsidiary, move future manufacturing, model development, and distribution into it, and keep Bandai’s old accounts open for Richard’s audit.
• Nakayama Takuya gave Mitsui Chuta an infrared-sensing technology brief and directed Bandai Model to develop a motion-recognition Kamen Rider transformation belt proposal for Toei and Ishimori Productions.
• At Sega’s headquarters in September, a team of ten newcomers demonstrated a handheld game prototype with working resource production, combat, and game-over logic.
• Nakayama Takuya tested the prototype by planting a Sunflower, letting an enemy reach it, and watching the screen display GAME OVER.

Nakayama Takuya assigned the Plants vs. Zombies team concrete art, balance, and development tasks, then helped the Gundam Sentinel staff reshape the OVA’s storytelling and coordinate its animation and model work. The game and OVA continued development, with the script team given two months to produce a new draft and the mechanical designs progressing alongside it.

• Nakayama Takuya told the ten newcomers to finalize the game’s art, tune every level’s balance, maintain performance with thirty zombies onscreen, and build a visual level editor.
• Nakayama Takuya met with Ueda Masuo and found Takahashi Masaya struggling to explain Gundam Sentinel’s political background without burdening the story with exposition.
• Nakayama Takuya proposed revealing the setting through everyday scenes, broadcasts, meetings, and New Desides’ internal debates, and Takahashi Masaya ordered the first three episodes rebuilt around that approach.
• Nakayama Takuya gave Takahashi Masaya two months to refine the script and reminded him that S Gundam models would be ready for the OVA’s release.
• Hajime Katoki worked with Bandai Model engineers to refine the S Gundam’s design, while Sunrise’s digital team prepared 3D backgrounds and the staff advanced designs for Z Plus and FAZZ.

Nakayama Takuya pushed Hajime Katoki to redesign the Gundam Sentinel grunt suits and chose Shiro Sagisu as the score composer. Meanwhile, Big West and Studio Nue confronted Tatsunoko over Macross rights, and Narita ordered an investigation after the meeting ended with a threat of litigation.

• Nakayama Takuya commissioned Hajime Katoki to overhaul the Gryps War-era grunt suits and promised him model engineers and support from Bandai.
• Nakayama Takuya rejected Megumi Otani and Mitsuo Ogita as composers, then told Ueda Masuo to approach Shiro Sagisu with an unlimited budget offer.
• Onishi presented Narita with Harmony Gold's memorandum stating that Tatsunoko's authorization covered only the original Macross and related merchandise, not later derivative works or underlying designs.
• Narita rejected the memorandum's implications, and Onishi and Shoji Kawamori left after Onishi said Big West would pursue legal action.
• Narita ordered Tatsunoko's Legal Department head to investigate how Big West obtained the memorandum and could afford an international lawsuit.

Sega finalized Sharp’s HR-TFT display for its new handheld and publicized that development was nearing completion, drawing attention from players and alarming Nintendo. Yamauchi Hiroshi ordered Nintendo to investigate Sega’s screens, cut the Gameboy Color’s cost, and strengthen its launch lineup.

• Nakayama Takuya received Sharp’s finalized HR-TFT screens, and Hisao Oguchi oversaw their installation in Sega’s development units, where the displays performed well.
• Nakayama Takuya revised Sega’s publicity draft to say the new handheld was nearing finalization and that Yuji Naka’s development tools had reached major teams.
• Hirokazu Hamamura replaced Famitsu’s planned cover story with Sega’s handheld, and the news drew excited interest from shoppers in Akihabara.
• Yamauchi Hiroshi, Masayuki Uemura, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Yokoi Gunpei discussed the threat Sega posed to Nintendo’s Gameboy Color plans.
• Yamauchi Hiroshi sent Masayuki Uemura to investigate Sega’s Sharp screen orders, told Yokoi Gunpei to cut GBC hardware costs by ten percent, and tasked Shigeru Miyamoto with strengthening the launch lineup.

Masayuki Uemura learned that Sega had bought out Sharp’s first HR-TFT production line, prompting Yamauchi Hiroshi to downgrade the GBC and redirect Nintendo’s plans. After Yokoi Gunpei died in a car accident, Yamauchi assigned Shigeru Miyamoto to finish the GBC and Masayuki Uemura to stabilize Yokoi’s department.

• Masayuki Uemura learned from a Sharp section chief that Sega had reserved the first half-year of HR-TFT production for a 3.0-inch, 240×160 display with twenty-hour battery life.
• Yamauchi Hiroshi downgraded the GBC to an inventory-clearing transition model and proposed a future 32-bit handheld while assigning Genyo Takeda and Shigeru Miyamoto to lead next-generation console research.
• Masayuki Uemura declined to lead the console research, so Yamauchi Hiroshi appointed Genyo Takeda and assigned Shigeru Miyamoto to advise him on game-friendly hardware.
• Yokoi Gunpei left Nintendo headquarters, crashed after stopping to inspect his broken-down car on the expressway, and died after being taken to the hospital.
• Yamauchi Hiroshi told Shigeru Miyamoto and Masayuki Uemura that Yokoi Gunpei had died, assigned Miyamoto to finish the GBC, and put Uemura in temporary charge of Yokoi’s department while shelving the 32-bit handheld research.

Nakayama Takuya learned that Yokoi Gunpei had died in a car accident and ordered Sega to honor him and refrain from exploiting Nintendo’s loss. At Yokoi’s funeral in Kyoto, Nakayama assessed Nintendo’s grief and the pressure now falling on Genyo Takeda, while remaining confident in Sega’s hardware and games.

• Tadashi Takezaki reported that Yokoi Gunpei had died after being struck by a car on an expressway.
• Nakayama Takuya told Sega’s executives to treat Yokoi as a respected rival, forbade anyone from mocking Nintendo’s loss, and arranged wreaths and condolences.
• After receiving Nintendo’s funeral invitation, Nakayama decided to attend Yokoi’s funeral in Kyoto despite Tadashi Takezaki’s warning about the risks.
• At Higashi Hongan-ji, Nakayama encountered prominent gaming executives and saw Sega’s wreaths placed beside Nintendo’s and Yamauchi Hiroshi’s.
• Masayuki Uemura gave a sorrowful eulogy recalling Yokoi’s creations and his influence on Nintendo.
• Nakayama observed Genyo Takeda’s strain and concluded that Nintendo’s hardware burdens would now fall heavily on him, while Sega’s new handheld project remained prepared to compete.