The global fervor of the DDR city championships added a hefty bargaining chip to Sega's negotiations with Toshiba.
The deal was sealed.
Directors Terai and Hatano personally brought the news back to Sega's headquarters. Toshiba, swayed by the irresistible million-unit order and DDR's undeniable cultural phenomenon, dropped their final reservations. They agreed to supply MC68000 chips at under 2,000 yen and Z80 chips at under 800 yen, promising prioritized production for Sega starting January 1988.
Relief swept through Sega's leadership, the heaviest burden lifted.
Terai and Hatano wasted no time, activating long-prepared manufacturing resources in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Mega Drive (MD) production line roared to life like a tightly wound machine, humming with full-throttle precision.
With production underway, the MD's launch lineup was finalized: four ported titles—*Fatal Fury*, *Tetris*, *Action Fighter*, and *Space Harrier*—plus Sega's flagship Pokémon IP's first full game, *Pokémon Park: Adventure*. Other titles in development would roll out weekly starting two weeks post-launch, building a sustained sales offensive and thickening the game library.
The release date was set for February 13, 1988—Valentine's Day eve.
Secrecy around the MD was now moot. In Sega's faction-riddled, intricately networked company, keeping a core project under wraps until two months before launch was a minor miracle. Every department—R&D, marketing, production, logistics—shifted into high gear, the air crackling with tense, excited anticipation for the next-gen console war's final sprint.
While the MD project hummed along, Takuya Nakayama turned his gaze elsewhere. He gathered the joint development team, still basking in DDR's triumph and company-wide hero status, and pitched a new challenge: a home version of DDR for the Mega Drive.
The core concept included an external LD player for the MD and a home-use dance mat. The team, fresh from celebration, exchanged puzzled looks.
"Takuya, LD players are costly," the project lead ventured, voicing the room's concern.
"I know," Takuya replied, calm and resolute, clearly having thought this through. "This isn't meant as a mass-market product."
He tapped the whiteboard, drawing attention. "I'm positioning it as a 'symbol of prestige,' an ultimate 'fan perk.' The first batch will be a 'DDR Global City Showdown Limited Edition,' featuring logos and color schemes of the tournament's top three winners."
"This is for affluent core fans to buy and collect—a premium peripheral to elevate the Mega Drive's brand and buzz."
Confusion gave way to excited realization among the team.
Takuya pressed on. "The LD player must also function independently, playing standard LD discs without the MD. This adds value, making it more than an expensive game accessory. It's also a bargaining chip to secure Sony's free tech licensing and low-cost parts, integrating it into their LD ecosystem."
He capped his pitch with a critical safeguard. "Most importantly, we won't overstock. After the limited edition, we'll use a low-volume, pre-order-based production model to strictly control output and avoid inventory risks."
His words erased the team's last doubts.
On December 27, 1987, the first workday post-Christmas, the DDR city champions and runners-up from 16 global cities were crowned after weeks of fierce competition.
As the buzz settled, a curious phenomenon emerged. Japanese embassies in 14 overseas cities received a flood of short-term tourist visa applications, far exceeding prior years.
In Tokyo's Foreign Ministry, a bright office hummed with cheer. An official handling cultural affairs, sipping hot tea, beamed at a fresh data report. "Fantastic!" he exclaimed to a colleague. "This year's overseas cultural tourism budget hit the mark! New Year tourist numbers are set to explode!"
This aligned perfectly with Japan's push to boost global influence, filling the office with elation. It was arguably the year's top achievement, proof of Japan's rising cultural clout.
To flesh out his report, the official ordered a sample analysis of the visa applicants' backgrounds to pinpoint which promotional efforts drove the surge.
The results stunned the room. Most applicants were young, around 20, and their stated purpose—or documents—pointed to one goal: Tokyo's DDR Global Finals.
Smiles froze. A brief, bewildered pause gave way to an unprecedented silence, blending absurdity and shock.
The officials realized a new, commercially driven "cultural export" and "tourism pull" model had taken shape under their noses—a global event promising tangible economic and cultural gains beyond a mere game tournament.
The senior official, still processing, slowly removed his glasses, wiping them carefully with a cloth. His gaze shimmered with cautious, intense curiosity. He began reassessing Sega, Sony, and the overlooked influence of video games on global youth.