The off-road motorcycle game had already been scheduled for an August release. Although this wasn't a project Kobayashi Tetsu had personally overseen from start to finish—and thus not one he was especially invested in—it still needed proper promotion. Game Gear ads, flyers, posters, and promotional materials for storefronts had long since been prepared.
As for Nintendo, they were currently operating two third-party Hudson games, while their first-party titles were still in development.
One of those games was called Devil World. Its gameplay followed the standard Pac-Man style, and it was a project Shigeru Miyamoto was personally gripping tightly. From design to supervision, Nintendo's Development Division Four was fully occupied with this game.
It could be said without exaggeration that this was Miyamoto's direct-line project.
By today, development had been completed, and the game entered internal review.
Yet Miyamoto seemed somewhat distracted.
Strictly speaking, Miyamoto wasn't middle-aged—he was born in 1952 and was only just over thirty. But whenever he recalled that wager made over the phone, it still lingered in his mind.
He had full confidence in his own abilities, but what he couldn't be sure of was what kind of work Atlus planned to release.
"All in all, according to Nintendo's current release schedule, Devil World can be released in October."
After finishing his remarks, Hiroshi Yamauchi swept his gaze across the room and keenly noticed Miyamoto's wandering attention.
He didn't call it out, however. After briefly addressing other work matters, he adjourned the meeting.
"Miyamoto, stay behind."
Just those simple words snapped Miyamoto fully awake.
Once everyone else had left, Miyamoto looked at Yamauchi with a hint of unease.
"President."
"I won't ask what you were thinking about just now," Yamauchi said. "How's the Atlus situation?"
Miyamoto bowed quickly and answered honestly.
"I contacted Atlus through information in the newspapers. However, Atlus's president doesn't have much interest in Nintendo. He also told me something—Atlus appears to be Sega's first-party studio, similar to the relationship between Nintendo's Development Division Four and headquarters."
Yamauchi nodded, not particularly surprised.
"Given Atlus's release pace over the past year, Sega has been treating them like a favorite child. If they weren't Sega's first-party studio, there'd be no reason for that level of support."
Yamauchi didn't pursue the matter further. Instead, he suddenly turned his focus back to Miyamoto.
"But that's not why you were distracted, is it?"
"No."
Miyamoto immediately bowed his head.
He hadn't planned to hide this from Yamauchi either, and again spoke frankly.
"That president sounded very young—around twenty years old. Although he had no intention of joining Nintendo, he proposed an interesting wager. He said Atlus had a game that would go on sale in August, and if I had a game released in the same period, we could compare the two games' monthly sales."
Miyamoto explained the wager and the game details from beginning to end.
After just a few sentences, the old Yamauchi looked astonished.
"You agreed to it?!"
Miyamoto nodded. "I agreed."
Of course, it was only a verbal agreement, something that could be denied at any time. But Miyamoto felt that, as a senior in the industry—a man in his thirties—going back on his word in front of a twenty-year-old would feel disgraceful.
Yamauchi found it somewhat absurd, yet after pondering for a long while, he let out a laugh.
"Do you really think Nintendo can be controlled by some fledgling studio? Even if it's only a verbal agreement, we absolutely cannot lose! There's no release schedule that can't be adjusted. I'll find a way to move Devil World's release up to September. Nintendo will commit resources to promotion. I'd like to see just how much Sega is willing to spend promoting Atlus!"
Yamauchi didn't bother weighing the pros and cons—he made the call on the spot.
Spending money wasn't a problem. Winning was what mattered. He simply wanted to hear news of victory.
Both Yamauchi and Miyamoto had misunderstood one thing.
Atlus was not Sega's first-party studio. It wasn't Sega's Development Division anything.
It was merely a studio affiliated under Sega's name through internal connections.
If Kobayashi Tetsu ever felt unhappy and decided to leave Sega, he could do so at any time.
But freedom came with a price. Unless absolutely necessary, Sega wouldn't commit all its resources the way Yamauchi supported Miyamoto.
Especially not when Hideki Sato, head of Sega's home console division, harbored ill feelings toward the Kobayashi family.
That said, Kobayashi Tetsu himself didn't care much about the outcome of the wager. In recent days, he'd been fully focused on Sonic's development together with Yuji Naka and Satoru Iwata.
In the blink of an eye, August arrived. According to schedule, Off-Road Motorcycle was about to go live.
Yuji Naka was visibly restless.
Kobayashi Tetsu raised his eyelids slightly, glancing at Naka's expression.
"What, worried about sales?"
Yuji Naka nodded. "It's hard not to be."
After all, Off-Road Motorcycle was essentially his own work. This time, Kobayashi Tetsu had only attached his name—most of the content had been handled by Naka himself.
Kobayashi Tetsu had even promised him a three percent revenue share. That meant for every hundred yen the game earned, three yen went to Yuji Naka.
With both fame and profit on the line, there was no way Naka could claim not to care. He couldn't match Kobayashi Tetsu's calm demeanor.
Kobayashi Tetsu understood Naka's anxiety. It was a mindset he himself simply didn't have.
After all, he knew Off-Road Motorcycle had been successful in the original timeline. With improved AI this time, it could only do better.
"Honestly…"
Kobayashi Tetsu shook his head inwardly.
Poor Yuji Naka—why worry about something like this?
Kobayashi Tetsu was fairly generous with internal development. As producer, he already had an extra profit share, and Masuko Tsukasa and Kitagawa Tsuyoshi, in addition to their salaries, received extra pay for completing a piece of music or a full set of visual assets.
Yet none of them were as anxious as Yuji Naka.
After standing up and exchanging a few words with Satoru Iwata about development progress, Kobayashi Tetsu heard the garage phone ring.
He picked it up casually. On the other end came a rapid stream of English, almost as if the cumin-scented body odor typical of Westerners was being transmitted directly through the phone line.
The caller was Jim, the manager from Hasbro North America.
"Kobayashi! Long time no see—you haven't forgotten me, right?"
Kobayashi Tetsu waved a hand in front of his nose. For some reason, the imaginary cumin smell seemed to linger.
"Of course not. You're Jim," Kobayashi Tetsu said lightly with a laugh. "What good news do you have for me?"
"It really is good news. The North American arcade version of Jörmungandr has officially gone on sale! The first batch has already entered a large number of bars, and the response has been excellent. In fact, it even jammed the coin slots at one point. How should I put it—the game is just fantastic!"
Lowering his voice, Jim added mysteriously, "And there's something even more incredible. A major figure in the music world has collected a set of the arcade machines and praised the electronic synthesized music in the game!"
Kobayashi Tetsu tilted his head slightly upward.
Even though it would take at least half a year for the money to come back, this news had arrived at just the right time.
"Manager Jim," Kobayashi Tetsu said, holding the receiver while casually pressing the record button.
"Why don't we talk about this in more detail?"
He'd already come up with the headline in his mind.
Shocking! Atlus Games Sold All the Way to America!
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