Chapter Summaries

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.

Nakayama Takuya pitched Matt Wallace on a John Wick film and a firearms lifestyle campaign, then negotiated Sega’s exclusive game adaptation rights. Matt agreed to give Sega seven years to begin developing a game based on the film series.

• Nakayama Takuya outlined John Wick as a stylish action film centered on a retired assassin and precise, choreographed gunplay.
• Nakayama Takuya proposed promoting firearms as part of a refined home-defense lifestyle, while Tom Clancy questioned whether he was selling guns or a lifestyle and Matt Wallace was impressed.
• Nakayama Takuya framed firearms as part of American history and identity, persuading Matt Wallace that the campaign carried a larger purpose.
• Matt Wallace asked what Sega wanted, and Nakayama Takuya requested exclusive game adaptation rights to the film series for ten years.
• Nakayama Takuya argued that Sega needed time for technology to advance, and Matt Wallace negotiated the term down to seven years.
• Takuya’s Motorola MicroTAC 9800x rang; he answered with a few brief acknowledgments and hung up.

Nakayama Takuya revealed that the patent for the Small Arms Tactical Rail had already been accepted, securing Colt Company’s agreement and leaving Matt Wallace to decide whether Colt would fight for industry leadership. Colt’s board chose to pursue the opportunity, setting an internal struggle across the American small-arms industry in motion.

• Nakayama Takuya told Matt Wallace that the patent application for the Small Arms Tactical Rail had received a notice of acceptance, and Matt recognized that Takuya had controlled the negotiations from the start.
• Matt accepted Takuya’s terms and shook his hand to seal their cooperation.
• Matt considered the difficult conditions Colt would have to meet to lead the tactical-rail ecosystem, then called an emergency meeting of Colt’s board.
• Matt presented Takuya’s marketing concept and demand that Colt unite other firearm companies, prompting the directors to debate the opportunity and its risks.
• Matt explained that the deal was an open scheme that could make Colt the industry’s leader or leave it as an ordinary Rifle Association member.
• Colt Company’s chairman ordered the company to proceed, launching a major internal struggle in the American small-arms industry.

Colt pursued support from gun manufacturers and Hollywood for a film based on Nakayama Takuya’s story outline, while Takuya returned to Redwood City and introduced Hideo Kojima to former Navy SEAL James White as a military consultant. The story left Kojima eager to work with James on an even more exciting project after his stealth game was complete.

• Colt’s technical team praised the simple, practical drawings, while Matt Wallace began asking gun manufacturers to let Colt represent Sega’s voting rights and Remington rejected the proposal.
• Tom Clancy pitched Nakayama Takuya’s hitman story to Paramount producer Bob, who became interested after hearing about the gun companies’ sponsorship and promotional funding.
• Hollywood studios competed for the film, and Universal Pictures won the project with an offer Colt accepted.
• Nakayama Takuya and James White returned to Redwood City and found Hideo Kojima directing programmers as they acted out enemy patrol behavior.
• Takuya introduced James White as Hideo’s military consultant, and Kojima eagerly looked forward to working with him after finishing the stealth game.

Nakayama Takuya finalized the firearms companies’ agreement for the movie, securing Colt’s industry leadership while keeping Sega’s obligations limited. He left Universal’s production team and firearms experts to make the film, then considered what game Sega could build to follow its success.

• Matt Wallace told Takuya that Colt would hold Sega’s one percent of voting rights and had won leadership over industry standards for ten years in exchange for reduced screen time for Colt products.
• Takuya approved Universal Pictures moving forward with the script, reminding Matt that Sega’s game adaptation rights lasted seven years.
• At a Universal Pictures meeting, firearms executives demanded accurate weapon models and screen time while producer Bob proposed changes to the protagonist’s backstory.
• Takuya assigned the firearms experts responsibility for professionalism and the film experts responsibility for excitement, then left them to make the movie.
• On the drive back to his hotel, Takuya wondered what game Sega could create to capture the audience’s enthusiasm for the film’s gun-fighting style.

Sega’s three-week campaign made Pokémon Gold/Silver a nationwide sensation, and the games sold over two million copies in their first week. As players explored Johto, they uncovered a Lugia movie teaser and learned about a new blank electronic pet device for hatching and transferring Eggs, leaving Japan’s gaming world caught up in Pokémon through June.

• Sega promoted Gold/Silver with item-based evolutions, the release of Larvitar, a release-date announcement, and a lottery for limited Entei, Raikou, and Suicune electronic pets.
• On May 26, players lined up to buy Gold/Silver, and first-week sales exceeded two million copies worldwide, including more than 1.5 million in Japan.
• Kenji connected his Scizor electronic pet to his game and successfully transferred it into Johto.
• After a player ran from the Legendary Birds, trainers discovered that the event triggered a radio warning and opened a new pier in the Whirl Islands, where a sign advertised Lugia's Explosive Birth.
• Sega and Toho released the film’s first television trailer, showing Lugia confronting the Legendary Birds amid a storm.
• Sega announced blank electronic pet devices that players could use with Pokémon Centers to produce and transfer Eggs, prompting renewed queues at Pokémon Centers.

TV Tokyo’s Supermarket Battle became a ratings and merchandising hit, while Nakagawa Jun considered Takuya’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire proposal. At Bandai, Mitsui Chuta backed Mobile Fighter G despite criticism and ordered Shining Gundam production accelerated after its later ratings improved.

• Nakagawa Jun reviewed Cooking Master Boy’s strong sponsor conversions as TV Tokyo prepared to replace it with Supermarket Battle.
• Supermarket Battle’s premiere nearly doubled Cooking Master Boy’s peak rating, and viewers flooded stores with inquiries about a featured rapid shredder.
• Nakagawa Jun revisited Takuya’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire proposal and wondered if it was his true killer move.
• Bandai staff criticized Mobile Fighter G’s 5.1% premiere rating and its departure from Gundam’s familiar style.
• Mitsui Chuta pointed to the stronger second- and third-week data and ordered Shining Gundam put into full-speed production.

Nakayama Takuya learned that Picatinny Arsenal had adopted his rail design as a military standard and named it the Picatinny Rail. Early sales were modest, but enthusiastic customer feedback showed the rail was changing how gun owners viewed firearms, and Takuya said their movie needed to move faster.

• James White told Nakayama Takuya that the Pentagon and the Rifle Association had approved the design and awarded its production license to Picatinny Arsenal.
• Picatinny Arsenal named the design the Picatinny Rail and prepared to propose it as a standard for U.S. military and NATO small arms.
• In a Phoenix gun store, a young customer demonstrated how quickly the rail let him attach accessories, while Jimmy inspected it and asked about its price.
• Matt Wallace reviewed modest sales but enthusiastic feedback from buyers and called Nakayama Takuya to share the reactions.
• Nakayama Takuya said their movie needed to move faster.

Nakayama Takuya left Hollywood’s firearms-inspired film project in Bob’s hands, then returned to Japan after confirming Sega’s marketing success in Europe. Seeing Pokémon Gold/Silver’s strong sales, he ordered Satoshi Tajiri to plan Ash Ketchum’s retirement and a future protagonist handover for the anime.

• Nakayama Takuya told Bob that Hollywood’s film project could proceed without his continued involvement.
• Nakayama Takuya told Tom Kalinske the firearms project was on track, confirmed the GG placements at the Italian World Cup had boosted Sega’s European brand awareness, and said he was returning to Japan.
• Nakayama Takuya reviewed the Pokémon Gold/Silver report, which recorded over three million first-month sales in Japan and over four million worldwide.
• Nakayama Takuya called Satoshi Tajiri and instructed him to plan an ending for Ash Ketchum and introduce a new anime protagonist.
• Satoshi Tajiri agreed to organize the writing team to discuss the plan.

Mitsui Chuta visited Nakayama Takuya to seek Sega’s financial support, a share swap, and more character licenses as Bandai struggled with declining toy sales. Takuya persuaded Sega’s board to offer limited assistance rather than take over Bandai, leaving Director Yoshikawa to negotiate the deal.

• Mitsui Chuta told Takuya that Bandai’s traditional toy business was shrinking and asked for a share swap, financial support, and more licenses from Sega and Sunrise.
• Takuya told Mitsui Chuta he would submit the proposal to Sega’s board and support it.
• Takuya presented Bandai’s proposal to Sega’s directors and argued against taking over the troubled company outright.
• Takuya recommended a small share swap and financial injection while Sega focused on its own development and North American growth.
• Nakayama Atsuo and the directors approved Takuya’s cautious approach and assigned Director Yoshikawa to handle negotiations.

At the Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 planning meeting, Nakayama Takuya criticized the story framework’s character motivations and proposed a broader plan to expand and manage the Gundam universe. Sunrise’s team embraced his ideas, and Yoshiyuki Tomino agreed to review fan works for possible inclusion in Universal Century history.

• Nakayama Takuya praised 0083’s place in the Universal Century timeline but criticized Kou Uraki’s reaction to Anavel Gato and the shallow motives given to the Zeon leaders.
• Nakayama Takuya proposed a Gundam Universe Completion Plan using manga and novels to develop Axis, Cima Garahau, and other backstories while keeping the OVA focused on Operation Stardust.
• Nakayama Takuya argued that each generation should have its own Gundam, with lighter alternate settings attracting younger viewers who might later explore Universal Century works.
• Nakayama Takuya suggested professionally adapting suitable fan creations into official Universal Century history, with Yoshiyuki Tomino as the final reviewer.
• Yoshiyuki Tomino accepted the proposal in principle, and the Sunrise team and Bandai representative Mitsui Chuta grew enthusiastic about the plan.