Japan, Tokyo, Shinjuku, Waseda University.
Four young men in their early twenties sat around a mahjong table.
"Ronghe! A peerless hero! Service complete!"
22-year-old Kojima pushed over the mahjong tiles in front of him, revealing a standard Thirteen Orphans set to the three players.
"You bastard, you're really bold and daring, daring to call yourself a peerless hero."
"I just had a good run of luck. That's enough for today, I've had my fun."
Kojima chuckled as he watched his three card-playing friends muttering to themselves, then tucked the cards into the wall of cards.
"No, no, let's try one last time."
The three of them were not about to give up and stopped the Kojima from leaving.
"Hey Kojima, by the way, have you decided what you'll do after graduation?"
The four of them are graduating this month.
Although Waseda University, where they studied, is already a top university in Japan, these few people spent the rest of their four years, apart from chatting and joking around in this mahjong room, playing video games.
Where would I find the extra time to study any courses?
Not to mention that the courses Kojima was taking were extremely dry economics courses.
"Do you really want to work for a game company?"
Waseda University student who graduated with a degree in economics is actually planning to work at a game company, specifically as a game designer? That's just wishful thinking.
"Certainly!"
Kojima gave the answer without even thinking.
Only video games, the most perfect medium for entertainment, can express what he wants.
Kojima began learning screenwriting in middle school and even taught himself filmmaking techniques.
The more in-depth the research, the more Kojima realized the limitations of film as a medium.
Some things can only be expressed through video games, a relatively new technology.
"Have you decided which company to join? Konami? Sega? Or... Nintendo?"
"Ha, I'd like to, but they might not necessarily want it."
Kojima smiled helplessly.
If possible, joining Nintendo, the undisputed king of Japan video games, would be the best option.
But he was just a fresh college graduate, and his major wasn't even relevant to his studies.
"Come on, let's finish this round and call it a day. I'm in a hurry to buy some games."
Kojima stood in front of the shelf, stared at the " Dragon Quest " book for a long time, and then took it down.
He originally only intended to buy this new RPG that had been getting a lot of hype in the gaming community.
But his attention was drawn to something else at that moment.
" Momotaro Dentetsu "
A completely nonsensical name.
But it was precisely this name that made him take a second look.
"Hmm... Could it be a new Nintendo game?"
This style is very similar to what Nintendo's first-party games would typically feature.
"I've already bought Dragon Quest, so one more won't hurt."
Kojima picked up the card box from Momotetsu and examined it closely, then paused in surprise.
The logos of GameFreak and GAMENOVA are printed on the bottom of the card box, revealing who its developers are.
"This is... a Gamenova product?!"
Kojima's first thought was: This thing must have been handled by some Japan outsourcing company.
He turned his gaze to the illustration on the cover.
The little boy in the white train conductor's uniform, with the gold peach badge on his head and the peach-patterned armband on his arm—
This looks exactly like Momotaro, the classic character from Japan folklore!
GAMENOVA developed a purely Japan- themed game.
"It's actually a dual-platform device, compatible with both handheld and home consoles."
As a gamer, Kojima is no stranger to Gamenova.
It's more accurate to say he's been a GAMENOVA fan for a long time.
Metal Gear is truly a masterpiece!
In Kojima's view, Metal Gear's potential is absolutely no less than that of Fire Emblem.
Unfortunately, due to its early development and the immaturity of hardware technology, many things could not be implemented well.
Kojima could sense the ideas hidden behind the designers of Metal Gear.
Stealth games, what a brilliant idea!
Unfortunately, GAMENOVA is a foreign company and doesn't have external recruitment channels like KONAMI, so even if he wanted to, he wouldn't have the opportunity to submit his resume.
"Party games—that's good, we guys haven't been sure what games to play lately."
Kojima glanced at the game's description and promptly added it to today's shopping list.
When Kojima returned to the school building, he found an extra letter addressed to him in his inbox.
The sender's name was listed as Miguel Corporation ( Konami ).
Upon seeing the signature, he immediately opened the envelope.
He had recently submitted a resume to Konami, along with one of his game designs.
[Pre-selection notification]
[ Hideo Kojima ]
The first two lines made him catch his breath.
He confirmed several times that the letter in the correspondence section was indeed from Konami Corporation before continuing to read intently.
This is undoubtedly their acceptance letter!
[Department Joined: MSX Game Division ]
[Position: Game Designer]
MSX Game Division?
Kojima was taken aback; this position was completely different from what he had imagined.
The MSX was a low-end PC, not even in the same league as Nintendo's NES or Sega's MS, let alone the NovaBo.
Alright.
Even a performance monster like NovaBo couldn't satisfy the designers' wildest imaginations, so it would be even more impossible on the MSX.
"Sigh... that's true. After all, I'm just a fresh college graduate. How could I possibly go straight into the core development department?"
He had thought he would have the opportunity to develop games directly for the NES or arcades.
Although I was disappointed, receiving an offer from Konami was definitely a pleasant surprise.
But as he continued reading, his initial excitement grew increasingly cold.
Although the letter was written in a precise and polite style, with gentle words, he still managed to understand the sender's meaning.
The game design he described was worthless.
[Your idea is highly original, and we are initially very interested in its novelty.]
However, after several rounds of internal discussions, we have concluded that it is difficult to formally approve this project at this stage.
[Unfortunately, the main reason is----]
It sounds nice, but ultimately it's still a way of avoiding the subject of war itself.
The mainstream market still favors action games or RPGs with vibrant colors and simple rules.
Kojima quietly read the entire letter, then folded it up again and put it back in the envelope.
In any case, at least I have a job now.
Maybe once I get to Konami headquarters and explain my plans to them in detail, those people will change their minds.
There's a good chance I might get promoted to Konami's development headquarters and start developing games for professional game platforms like Famicom.
With that thought in mind, Kojima stopped worrying about it and pushed open the door.
"Hey guys, I got Dragon Quest! Oh yeah, and Momotaro Dentetsu too. Want to play a couple of games together?"