The development of the scrolling system was anything but smooth.
Kobayashi Tetsu understood the theory, but once he began implementing it, he realized just how difficult it was. The prototype screens stuttered badly, clearly unable to run smoothly on the machine's current performance.
The lag made one thing clear:
The problem was technical—but not hardware-related.
Namco had already brought scrolling to home consoles as early as 1984.
So the fault lay with him and Nakayuji Hiroshi.
"Rewrite it again, huh… this is rough." Kobayashi rubbed his brow and stood up to clear his head.
He first called Old Dixie Western Restaurant to order lunch. After a moment of thought, he dialed Sega.
After several transfers, Tanaka Minoru finally came on the line.
"Kobayashi? That's rare. What's up? If you're asking about Kentarō—don't expect him back anytime soon. SG-3000 development is still in full swing, and Sega's planning an upgraded model after it."
Kobayashi already knew all of this.
After the SG-3000 would come the Master System. Overseas, especially in Europe, the MS would actually be able to compete with the Famicom. Compared to the stumbling SG line, the MS was Sega's long-awaited comeback.
From SG-1000 in mid-1983 to SG-2000, SG-3000, and then the MS in 1985—four home consoles in just two years.
The hardware team was under incredible pressure.
Naturally, Kobayashi wasn't calling about Kentarō.
"It's like this, Tanaka-buchō: can you help me get in touch with Taito? I heard they recently signed a third-party developer agreement with Sega. I've got some work to outsource—stage design, balance tuning, that sort of thing—and I'd like to contract a company for it."
Tanaka didn't refuse.
After a moment's thought, he said, "Sounds like a big project. Atlas really is ambitious. I can reach out to Taito, sure—their scale is enough to handle outsourcing. Just keep in mind, it won't be cheap. A few million yen definitely won't cut it."
Kobayashi spread his hands.
Money?
What was money?
In the early console market, Battle City sold over a million. Duck Hunt, thanks to Famicom bundling, sold over ten million. Tetris, with its endless ports and reissues, had sales in the hundreds of millions.
Even the weakest of them—Battle City—generated over 300 million yen.
Three hundred million yen was enough for Kurosawa to film Kagemusha.
Money? A triviality.
"Money isn't the issue. Only problems that can't be solved with money are real problems. If Taito can handle the outsourcing, then it's no problem at all."
Tanaka acknowledged this and hung up.
Not long after, he called again with the appointment time.
"The meeting can be the afternoon after tomorrow. I've arranged for you to speak with Taito's people. Do you want to meet at Taito or at Sega?"
"Of course at Sega."
Home advantage.
Kobayashi had no intention of stepping into Taito's headquarters.
…
…
Founded in the 1950s, Taito had a long history. Their main business wasn't video games but pachinko machines, billiards tables, café arcade cabinets, crane games, karaoke machines. Compared to the garage-startup Atlas, Taito was a proper giant with annual revenue in the billions of yen.
They even had a factory in Kanagawa's Ebina City making cabinets.
However—due to licensing rules—Taito couldn't manufacture their own cartridges. All cartridges had to be produced by manufacturers designated by Sega or Nintendo.
Compared to Atlas, Taito was massive.
But compared to Taito, Sega was colossal.
Taito earned billions of yen.
Sega earned billions of USD.
That was why Kobayashi insisted on meeting at Sega:
Leverage the giant behind him.
Inside Sega's meeting room, Kobayashi changed into a more formal outfit and put on a pair of tea-tinted glasses—no prescription.
He was too young, his gaze too gentle.
That was a weakness.
The glasses helped hide it; the clothes helped age him up a bit.
Before long, someone entered the room.
The man paused briefly upon seeing Kobayashi, then quickly approached and extended his hand.
"Iwai Kōji, from Taito's game division."
Kobayashi rose and shook his hand.
"Pleasure to meet you, Iwai-kun. I'm Kobayashi Tetsu from Sega's Atlas Studio."
He openly invoked Sega's name.
Atlas could, in a sense, be considered Sega's first-party studio.
Iwai's hand hesitated for a moment—he understood perfectly—then he sat opposite Kobayashi.
"In short," Kobayashi began, "we're developing a game for the newly launched SG-2000. The project's complex, so we'd like to outsource part of it."
He raised a hand.
"Specifically, stage design and numerical balancing. We'll handle all other content internally."
Iwai nodded, thinking it over.
"Taito has our own development plans, but if it's only those parts, we can take it. It's just… the price—"
"We can negotiate exact figures with the legal department later," Kobayashi cut in. "Right now we only need a framework of intent. Personally, I think eight million yen is quite reasonable."
Iwai couldn't help laughing.
"Kobayashi-kun, eight million yen is a bit insulting. At least twenty million."
Kobayashi shook his head.
"Haggling is tedious. Why don't you take a look at the project first?"
He pushed a prepared dossier across the table.
The game's real name was omitted; the file labeled it Project Codename A. The outsourced work covered stage design and parameters for stages 2 through 4. Taito didn't need to handle art, backgrounds, or assets. The description was of a standard scrolling shooter.
After examining it for a while, Iwai formed a guess:
This was probably an arcade game.
The content involved scrolling—and no scrolling game yet existed on home consoles.
The mention of difficulty tuning sealed the thought:
Arcade design philosophy.
If it was arcade, Taito had plenty of experience.
He judged the workload, then raised a finger.
"In that case, as you said—eight million yen. Taito will accept the outsourcing."
Details like delivery deadlines, review processes, and so on would be hammered out in the contract later.
Their job today was only to confirm cooperation in principle.
Kobayashi stood, extended a hand, and smiled.
"It's an honor to work with Taito. For the next steps, please proceed to Sega's legal department."
Iwai bowed deeply, feeling a quiet surge of excitement.
This wasn't just cooperating with Atlas.
It was cooperating with Sega.
For a company like Taito, still small beside the giants Nintendo and Sega, this opportunity was invaluable.
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