Ever since 1984, when Isao Okawa led CSK in acquiring Sega, there had been an undercurrent of restlessness within the company. Everyone knew major personnel changes were coming, and everyone wanted to climb higher.
Advertising had gone out everywhere, and development work was proceeding steadily, but Sega's internal meetings dragged on again and again without any final conclusion.
Kobayashi Tetsu waited in his office until mid-February, and there was still no result.
"Damn it—this big-company disease is terminal. Can you people get anything done or not?"
Tetsu glanced at the calendar.
It was already February 13. He'd even been thinking about Valentine's Day.
"Forget it! I'm done waiting! I'll just smash Sega apart with one punch!"
Tetsu suddenly sprang to his feet, agile and powerful, his waist strength impressive—clearly the kind of man who could juggle an entire group of JKs without breaking a sweat.
"Iwata, Naka—come in for a moment."
After calling the two into his office, Tetsu looked around. Yuji Naka rolled over a whiteboard.
"Smart."
Tetsu gave Naka high praise. He wiped the board clean and drew a large circle.
"At this point, Sonic's development is basically done. All that's left is repeated fine-tuning of the design and fixing bugs. I figure it's about time to let it make an appearance."
Seeing the looks in their eyes, Tetsu added, "In other words, we're taking it straight to Sega's internal presentation meeting. I'm only telling you two this: the SG-3000 is just a transitional model. Sega's real hope is pinned on the next-generation console—the SMS, or MS for short. This machine's performance is in no way inferior to Nintendo's. You could even say it surpasses it, especially in color output."
It was like a saying that would circulate years later: AMD cards have better visuals, NVIDIA cards run games more smoothly. Right now, the situation was similar—Nintendo's consoles simply couldn't match Sega's in terms of vivid visuals.
Even when the SG's performance lagged far behind the Famicom, it still delivered strong image quality.
This was one of Sega's defining traits—mastery of 2D visuals honed to perfection.
When Tetsu finished speaking, both of them looked up in unison.
This was the first time they'd heard anything like this. No wonder Tetsu had demanded such high specifications for Sonic—so high that it was obvious the game couldn't run perfectly on the SG.
"As for Sega's internal mess—who becomes president, who becomes director—I don't care. That's none of my business. But delaying my game's release? That's not acceptable. Tomorrow, Sega is holding an internal evaluation of the MS. We're going in tomorrow, plugging the game into the MS, and doing an internal demo."
Tetsu said it casually, but Yuji Naka was genuinely shocked. "Tomorrow's Valentine's Day, isn't it?"
Tetsu waved his hand dismissively.
"What's more important, your career or romance? Obviously your career! Valentine's Day comes every year. Miss this opportunity, and the next MS showcase won't be until April!"
Tetsu couldn't afford to wait.
Because in September, Super Mario would begin selling in North America. In June, the Famicom would break into the U.S. market through a ten-year warranty policy. It would start lukewarm, but once Super Mario launched in September, the reaction would explode, blowing Americans' minds until all they could think about was jumping and stomping.
If Sega waited until April to pass a decision, with all the bureaucratic inertia of a big company, it would already be too late.
After all, the Famicom selling in June wasn't the result of a decision made in June.
Tetsu waved his hand decisively. "It's settled. Tomorrow, we go straight to Sega and put the game on the table. If this damn meeting drags on another day, I won't have a single day of peace."
February 14. Valentine's Day.
Just like the past few months, Sega was still in meetings.
The main positions had more or less been decided, but several secondary posts still needed to be allocated. Each executive had their own faction and wanted to place their own people.
In the large conference room, Hideki Sato was demonstrating the new MS console together with Kentaro.
It was a green plastic engineering prototype, not yet officially released. There were still internal issues to resolve, and full development wouldn't be completed until at least April. After that would come mass production and inventory preparation, with sales expected to begin in June.
Compared to the previous SG, which had been a rushed transitional product, the MS was Sega's first truly serious home console. Historically, the SG had fallen far behind the Famicom, and Sega hadn't invested much effort. It was only with the MS that Sega genuinely tried to confront the Famicom head-on, even surpassing it in performance.
But by then, it was already too late. The Famicom had captured the North American market, and Sega couldn't get in.
—
The North American market was far larger than Japan's—by more than a little.
"In summary!" Hideki Sato declared, "under my leadership, with Kobayashi working day and night on development, and with the wise guidance of Sega's board, our console has made tremendous progress. This MS will be an unprecedented—"
"Bastard!"
Hideki Sato spun around in shock.
Who dared interrupt at a moment like this?
The conference room doors flew open. Someone barged straight in, with the assistant outside wearing an apologetic expression, clearly unable to stop him.
Dozens of eyes turned toward the intruder.
If they didn't recognize him, the assistant would have already called security.
Hayao Nakayama touched his receding hairline.
That kid from the Kobayashi family always liked to burst in out of nowhere.
He gestured to the assistant to stand down.
For a young man who wasn't part of Sega yet was deeply connected to it—young, but already accomplished—it was hard to be overly harsh.
Isao Okawa also looked at Kobayashi Tetsu.
In Japan, this kind of behavior would be a textbook case of insubordination—completely crossing the line.
But the problem was—
Kobayashi Tetsu wasn't a Sega employee.
He wasn't even a subordinate. So "defying one's superior" didn't apply.
Tetsu lifted what he was holding slightly.
"Mind if I show everyone a new game designed for the MS?"
Nakayama was the first to respond. "Of course. Just… don't come in quite so suddenly next time."
Someone glanced at Okawa, but Okawa merely nodded faintly.
A brief creaking sound rippled through the conference room as several people leaned back in their chairs, relaxing a little.
"Director Sato, Director Kobayashi," Tetsu said with a slight bow. "I'll take it from here."
Hideki Sato sighed and stepped aside.
Tetsu then signaled to Satoru Iwata.
Iwata had been nervous—after all, they had barged straight into Sega's offices and had almost been dragged away by security.
But seeing Tetsu's confidence, Iwata suddenly understood.
What was there to be afraid of? Kobayashi Tetsu had privileges.
He inserted the simple cartridge they had brought into the MS console used for demonstrations.
Tetsu said, "Iwata, I'll play. You explain."
Iwata turned to face the dozens of eyes in the room.
"I explain?"
He took a deep breath.
Fine. I'll do it.
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