Recaps

Nakayama Takuya secured cooperation with Sony and Bandai while advancing Sega’s new console, handheld research, and arcade projects. The stretch ended with Sega’s robot fighting game proving profitable and the board approving a major chip order from Toshiba.

• Takuya negotiated with Mitsui Chuta to trade Sega’s interests for Bandai’s help with Sunrise and Toei licensing, then won Sony’s agreement to jointly develop his LaserDisc game proposal.
• Takuya and Yamashina Makoto established Sega-Bandai cooperation on robot games and Pokémon models, with Bandai helping Sega obtain anime adaptation rights.
• Takuya’s informants widened tensions between Nintendo and its developers, while Konami fired Hideo Kojima over Metal Gear, and Takuya recruited Kojima and offered him creative freedom at Sega.
• Takuya showed Kojima Sega’s secret console and reviewed ways to reduce its production costs, including overseas assembly and Taiwanese chip manufacturing.
• Takuya proposed a small research effort for a backlit handheld console, while Sega and Sony tested their dance arcade game with LaVelle Smith Jr. and named it Dance Dance Revolution.
• Takuya and Sony executives planned a global DDR tournament and promotional campaign, and media rumors stirred public interest in the secret project.
• Sega and Bandai released Super Robot Grand Assembly, whose popular robot characters and arcade play drew repeat spending and earned both companies rich profits.
• Sega’s board approved ordering five hundred thousand MC68000 chips and five hundred thousand Z80 chips from Toshiba, appointing Terauchi and Hatano to negotiate the purchase.

Sega launched the Mega Drive with Pokémon games and a citywide campaign, then used the console’s strong sales to recruit third-party developers and plan a handheld. The arc left Sega building a broader game lineup as Nintendo prepared its own 16-bit response.

• Nakayama Hayao approved Mega Drive as Sega’s console name after the PC Engine’s strong launch prompted Sega’s directors to reaffirm their third-party strategy.
• Yamauchi changed Nintendo’s oversight of third-party developers, prompting rival publishers to discuss diversifying and Kozuki Kagemasa to reveal Sega’s secret 16-bit console.
• Sony and Sega’s DDR campaign drew crowds worldwide, sold out its first shipment, and culminated in a global tournament won by Marcus and Jamal.
• Sega and Nintendo scheduled the Mega Drive and Super Mario Bros. 3 for February 13, 1988, and Sega’s Pokémon promotions eclipsed Nintendo’s displays in Tokyo.
• Sega’s launch sold out its Mega Drives and cartridges, and Pokémon Land outsold Super Mario Bros. 3 in Tokyo as sales reports showed strong overseas demand.
• Nakayama Hayao and Nakayama Takuya recruited Konami and Koei, while David Rosen secured EA and Takuya negotiated a Gundam game with Bandai.
• Sega’s board approved Takuya’s handheld proposal, while Nintendo banned Konami and Bandai games from its platforms and ordered work on a 16-bit console.
• Pokémon Land’s hidden Mewtwo trailer spurred renewed sales, and Kenji and Tatsuya discovered alternate routes in The First Super Robot Wars that saved characters and changed the game’s outcomes.

Nakayama Takuya built Sega’s third-party partnerships and expanded its ambitions into animation, manga, and connected IP worlds while overseeing new games. The arc ended with Takuya bringing Rieko Kodama into the Phantasy Star team and setting the team to develop Golden Sun as a trilogy.

• Kenji invited Kyoko and Rena to play Joy Island Adventure with him and Tatsuya, and Tatsuya got Rena’s phone number.
• Takuya proposed SD Gundam G Generation, then guided the Phantasy Star team back toward its own strengths after they lost confidence in the wake of Final Fantasy’s success.
• Takuya supported Kojima’s development of Metal Gear, helped Sega’s third-party coordination, and pushed teams to propose new Mega Drive games.
• Nakayama Hayao expanded Takuya’s authority, and Takuya presented his ACGN strategy for building Sega’s original IPs across games, anime, comics, and novels.
• Takuya pursued cooperation with Sunrise and Ghibli, securing a 3% Sunrise stake and Miyazaki Hayao’s approval for a gentle Totoro farm-management game.
• After Nintendo’s blockade drove Konami and other developers toward rival platforms, Takuya won board approval for a third-party recruitment campaign that offered favorable terms and engineering support.
• Takuya established an independent Sega IP subsidiary and the Children of the Star Ring team, while Metal Gear’s success and the weak performance of Phantasy Star and standard DDR releases shaped Sega’s next steps.
• Takuya recruited Rieko Kodama for the Sega First RPG Development Team and assigned her to refine Golden Sun’s story and art while Yuji Naka’s team developed its systems and trilogy plan.

Sega built anticipation for Mewtwo Strikes Back, prepared the Game Pocket, and launched it with Pokémon and a broad lineup of games. After Game Pocket outsold Nintendo’s Game Boy, Takuya pushed Sega’s next plans and backed Tom Kalinske’s proposal for an autonomous North American operation.

• Takuya led Sega and Toho’s escalating Mewtwo Strikes Back campaign, which filled cinemas, sparked debate about bioethics, and ended with the film earning 8.53 billion yen.
• Takuya prepared Sega’s handheld with low-cost development tools, Pokémon Red/Green, Tetris, and arcade ports, then secured approval for a two-million-unit launch under the name Game Pocket.
• Sega launched a surprise advertising campaign for Game Pocket, while Nintendo raced to promote Game Boy and Yokoi Gunpei realized Sega had used the screen-light idea he had abandoned.
• Players flocked to Game Pocket and discovered secrets in Pokémon Red/Green and The Second Super Robot Wars, helping console sales pass 1.5 million and cartridge sales exceed three million within a week.
• Game Boy opened with modest sales and a weaker lineup, while Sega reported more than 2.2 million Game Pocket units sold worldwide and sent development documents to prospective partners.
• Takuya approved plans for a Game Pocket follow-up, accepted Miyazaki Hayao’s advice to remove contrived quests and rewards from the Totoro game, and backed Golden Sun after its review-driven sales surge.
• Yuji Naka agreed to help Naoto Oshima, Hirokazu Yasuhara, and Masato Nakamura with their stalled high-speed platform game, while Takuya supported Tom Kalinske’s plan for an autonomous North American operation and persuaded Nakayama Hayao to back it.