"What? Ghibli is actually collaborating with Pokeni?"
"Did I hear that right?"
The news that Ghibli had invited Pokeni to develop a game, and that Pokeni had invited Hayao Miyazaki to serve as animation director, spread far and wide—not just within the gaming and anime circles, but even to unrelated fields.
Eventually, it naturally reached the ears of Nintendo's big boss, Hiroshi Yamauchi.
When he saw the news, Yamauchi's first reaction was disbelief, and his second was to be absolutely furious.
"They say it was Miyazaki himself who approached Aoki Haruhi," Shigeru Miyamoto added from the side.
"Aoki Haruhi? That Aoki Haruhi? Miyazaki actually took a liking to him?" Shock was written all over Yamauchi's face.
That guy, Hayao Miyazaki, was famously stubborn, some might even say conservative. He had never really liked video games and had rejected countless requests to adapt Ghibli's animations into games.
If he hadn't, imagine how much more money Ghibli would have made by now.
However, when he thought about it carefully, Miyamoto's suggestion seemed even more plausible.
If it weren't for Hayao Miyazaki himself being willing, who could possibly persuade him?
But just the thought that even a master like Hayao Miyazaki would lean toward Pokeni made Hiroshi Yamauchi grit his teeth in frustration.
Before this, he hadn't really taken Pokeni seriously; it was just a small company, and he thought that without Nintendo's support, how big of a splash could they possibly make?
Well, they really did make a splash.
Other games were one thing, but ever since Pokeni released Pokémon, not only did they carve out a niche in the gaming industry, but they also facilitated the cooperation between Sony and Sega.
Once the GP handheld was released, with its incredibly high gaming performance, rechargeable battery, lightweight body, and color screen, it instantly struck a chord with players.
From last year until now, the sales volume of the GP handheld in Europe and America has reached a staggering 20 million units, with over 3 million of those contributed by Pokémon alone.
The Sega GP is also the first handheld console in history to surpass Nintendo's handhelds in sales.
If it were only the Western market where Sega caught them off guard, it might have been manageable. But the problem was that Sega GP also seemed to have a faint, creeping trend of overtaking the Japanese market as well.
What infuriated Yamauchi Hiroshi the most was this—
Even now, Nintendo still hadn't been able to develop a handheld game console that could match Sega's in terms of overall performance.
For this reason, he had frequently lost his temper with Gunpei Yokoi of the R&D department.
Gunpei Yokoi argued that it wasn't entirely their fault; the single most crucial core technology, the [lithium battery], was something they really couldn't find a second supplier for, besides Sony.
But as you know about Sony, didn't they have a falling out with us the year before last and go their separate ways?
So, in the end, the matter could never be perfectly resolved, and Yamauchi Hiroshi could only watch helplessly as they lost their dominant position in the handheld market step by step.
If things continued this way, it was only a matter of time before Sega climbed on top of them.
Just thinking of Hayao Nakayama's annoying face made Yamauchi Hiroshi seethe with anger.
***
If things continue like this, it's only a matter of time before Sega climbs over us.
The mere thought of that annoying Hayao Nakayama makes Hiroshi Yamauchi's blood boil.
***
Now, there was another thing to worry about.
"Why is it always Pokeni?!" Yamauchi narrowed his eyes, feeling deeply unsettled.
How is Aoki Haruhi everywhere?
From Sega's new handheld console to Pokémon, and now a collaboration with Hayao Miyazaki—does this guy really have that much charm?!
"I completely don't understand why Miyazaki would choose Pokeni."
"It's not entirely a bad thing, is it?" Gary said. "At least Miyazaki is willing to try gamification. Who knows? Maybe there's a possibility of us collaborating in the future."
Never mind who the first onlooker was; as long as this door is opened, Ghibli has left a path for future gamification, which is surely profitable for a major manufacturer like Nintendo.
"My point is, why Pokeni!?" Yamauchi's face turned livid as he slammed the magazine onto the table.
Shigeru Miyamoto trembled.
"It's said that it's because Miyazaki saw a Pokeni game commercial on TV and felt that their method of telling stories through games was something worth learning," Miyamoto said, biting the bullet.
***
However, at the same time, looking at the awe-inspiring white-haired old man in front of him, Miyamoto couldn't help but think—
President Yamauchi and Hayao Miyazaki might actually be the same type of person: both tyrants in their respective fields.
However, at the same time, as Shigeru Miyamoto looked at the stern, white-haired old man in front of him, he couldn't help but think—
President Yamauchi and Hayao Miyazaki might just be the same type of person; both are tyrants in their respective fields.
Can such people work together?
"Why Pokeni?! Why Aoki Haruhi?!" Yamauchi Hiroshi asked again, his tone intensifying.
This time, Miyamoto felt a chill run through him.
Cold sweat broke out on his back.
Is this the kind of intense pressure Gunpei Yokoi has been under for the past two years?
Yamauchi Hiroshi is terrifying on a normal day, and even more so when he's angry, like a lion. Even though he wasn't roaring, just his low, heavy breathing was enough to strike fear into anyone's heart.
Ghibli at least has Producer Suzuki to keep Hayao Miyazaki in check and offer comfort, but Nintendo has no such person.
"Well... we could hold a meeting to discuss it," Miyamoto said, emboldened. "Actually, The Legend of Zelda has great potential to be adapted into an animation. How about we develop some more new RPGs instead?"
This time, Shigeru Miyamoto finally grasped the core of the issue—
What Yamauchi wanted to ask was, why Pokeni, and not us?
Nintendo is clearly the industry leader, yet the partner Ghibli chose was not Nintendo; this was a blatant slap in the face.
Yamauchi Hiroshi felt that even if Ghibli had chosen Konami or Square, that would have been fine, but they chose that detestable Pokeni instead?
In any case, they had to win one back.
That is the Nintendo style.
In a lion's territory, no other predator can exist, and if one does, it must be killed.
The terrifying thing was that Yamauchi Hiroshi could already see the jackals circling around, all eyeing the fat sheep in Nintendo's mouth with terrifying and greedy gazes, and even more frightening was the nagging illusion Yamauchi Hiroshi had that this lion was weakening.
If they didn't pull themselves together, flex their muscles, and strike down the alpha wolf, Nintendo's future would really not look optimistic.
"Fine."
Yamauchi Hiroshi said nothing more, though his mood was still terrible.
Wow~
Terrifying.
After coming out of the President's Office, Miyamoto realized his entire back was soaked.
***
Hiroshi Yamauchi felt a sense of apprehension; it was the terrifying intuition of a business giant and legendary genius. However, there was one thing he might have been mistaken about.
In Yamauchi's mind, the strongest wolf leading the pack of predators was Sega.
But in reality, Sega was no better off than Nintendo; it also faced its own crises. In particular, Sega had recently invested massive amounts of money into developing game consoles, even going so far as to take out huge loans from banks.
Sega appeared strong on the surface, but it could very well collapse overnight.
It was actually Sony and Pokeni that had the potential to become the two strongest wolves of the future.
Sony, in particular, was no longer satisfied with just the audio-visual product sector; it had already stepped into the arena and was secretly developing a new console.
Ever since the advent of CD-ROM technology, Sony had sparked a revolution in the audio-visual product sector over the past two years—
The transition of audio-visual products to CD.
As a new storage medium, the CD itself possessed a larger capacity. At the same time, Sony's CD players offered excellent playback functionality. CDs greatly reduced the space required for audio-visual products, allowing a movie over an hour long to be watched on a single small disc.
Under the joint promotion of Sony and Philips, CDs quickly replaced old-fashioned video tapes.
Therefore, all kinds of discs can be seen everywhere on the market now, whether it is anime discs or movie discs; it seems that everything changed overnight.
Tsuda Nao was also the first woman to sense the shifting winds. DUN took the lead in adopting discs as the carrier for adult films, and as soon as it was launched, it achieved huge success.
The VCD standard was jointly established in 1993 by electrical appliance manufacturers such as Sony, Philips, JVC, and Panasonic, and belongs to the white book standard for digital discs. (VCD technology and equipment were initially invented by Chinese people, but unfortunately, the Japanese snatched the lead in establishing the standard.
Don't ask why Aoki Haruhi didn't help change that; that is not the content of this book.
If there's a chance to write a new book in the future, I'll write one with a pure Chinese protagonist then.)
Now, as a new carrier, the disc is an irreversible trend in the fields of film and television, music, and the future field of gaming.
***
Meanwhile, Sony's first-generation PlayStation-x prototype had been completed, and one of the units along with the development equipment was delivered to Pokeni.
The two companies were now only a few hundred meters apart in a straight line, which was quite convenient.
The console was delivered by Ken Kutaragi, a Sony engineer and currently the head of the new Sony Entertainment division, together with Hiroichi Senkawa, a Pokeni hardware engineer who had been sent to assist Sony.
Ken Kutaragi left in a hurry after dropping off the console.
"Thank you so much. Why don't we grab a drink tonight?" Aoki Haruhi suggested, trying to keep him.
"Maybe some other time, President Aoki. I have things to do, so I must be going."
Watching Ken Kutaragi's short, stout figure walk away, Aoki Haruhi couldn't help but sigh—
This guy really had been promoted.
He looked radiant, so much so that he didn't even have time for a meal.
But looking at it from this perspective, Sony was clearly taking the new game console very seriously.
The same went for Ken Kutaragi; this guy had staked his future career on the PS. It was a do-or-die situation; if it failed, he would have no choice but to resign.
"Hmm, very good. It looks like it's going to be a big war!"
Aoki Haruhi sighed.
He turned around and gently patted Senkawa Hiroichi on the shoulder. "You've worked hard, Senkawa."
Senkawa Hiroichi had aged significantly. Even though he was only in his twenties, he had a lot of grey hair. One could only imagine what kind of life he had been living at Sony during this time.
"It was nothing," Senkawa Hiroichi said, initially trying to force a smile, but he couldn't hold it in and burst into tears.
His lip quivered, and his body began to tremble. Trying to hide his emotions, he quickly wiped the tears from his face with his palm.
Good grief...
What on earth had he been through?!
"Very good. I believe you must have learned a lot of things. The underlying architecture for Pokeni's future games will be entrusted to you," Aoki Haruhi said.
Based on his understanding of Senkawa, this guy might have already come up with many ingenious ideas. Back then, he was able to add a chip to the cartridge for functional expansion, so now that they were entering the CD era, he would likely be capable of even more.
"Yes, President. I will do my absolute best and not let you down!"
***
After Sony delivered the PlayStation trial units and development kits, they left behind a pile of documentation, including the low-level development protocols used on the PS, application tools, and burning systems, among other things.
Senkawa Hiroichi essentially retrained Pokeni's hardware engineers hands-on, and then explained to the programmers how to architect and use the development tools.
This process would take some time, after which Pokeni would be able to enter into game development for the new platform.
For the arrival of this day, Aoki Haruhi had long been prepared.
After thinking for a long time, he still decided to use Pokémon as the major IP to develop "Pokémon 3D World".
This game would be led by the original Pokémon staff, with some personnel pulled from the existing Pokémon team to work on the development, and members of The Witcher project team would also be brought in.
After all, the company only had so many people, and Mikami Shinji and Gen Urobuchi were busy developing "Patema Inverted".
In this way, the company currently had 6 projects in development:
"Diablo II": Producer Aoki Haruhi
"Pokémon 3D World": Producer has not been assigned yet.
"Pokémon" Generation II Crystal Version: Producer Aoki Haruhi, Executive Planner is Asano Risa (Insect Girl).
"Patema Inverted": Producer Mikami Shinji, Scriptwriter Gen Urobuchi.
"CLANNAD" and "LIFE-LINE": Both produced by Kogahara Tsubakiaki, Executive Planner is Ishino Mika, Animation Director is Hayao Miyazaki, Scriptwriter is Jun Maeda. (What a waste to use such a super luxurious lineup for a galgame!)
Aoki Haruhi himself hadn't expected that in just a few short years, Pokeni had grown from a small company with the capacity for only one game to its current state, where it could actually develop 6 games simultaneously.
Furthermore, apart from the galgame and the Pokémon handheld version, the development difficulty of the other games was by no means low.
But with things like this, manpower was starting to become scarce again.
Thinking of this, Aoki Haruhi couldn't help but look towards the experience room, wondering when this young fellow, Hidetaka Miyazaki, would be able to grow into his role.
***
As the days passed by one after another, the blink of an eye brought March.
"Ah~ it's so strange."
Jun Maeda paced back and forth in the corridor, arms crossed, looking particularly anxious.
Akanishi Ken and Sakata Taiji, the two seniors standing nearby, couldn't help but look up at him in confusion upon hearing his voice.
"What's wrong, Mr. Maeda?"
"Don't you think it's strange?" Jun Maeda pointed towards the office, gesturing between the CL and LL project teams.
"Strange? What's so strange about it?" Akanishi Ken asked, puzzled.
"Ah~ you mean Miyazaki-senpai, right?" Sakata Taiji suddenly realized. "But he's been at the company for a while now; you should be used to it by now, Maeda, shouldn't you?"
"Sometimes Miyazaki-senpai's attitude isn't great, and he's very strict with everyone, but at least his intentions are good." Sakata Taiji looked at Hayao Miyazaki, who was sitting at his desk earnestly discussing something with Aoki Haruhi, a glimmer of admiration in his eyes.
"Ah~ there are times when I even want to be educated by Miyazaki-senpai."
"No, it's not like that, you've got it wrong," Jun Maeda interrupted them.
"Don't you find it strange? Clearly, Kogahara Tsubakiaki is the producer for the project, but since when does a producer not show up for the job?"
Who is the happiest that Kogahara Tsubakiaki has returned?
Some say it's Pokeni's fans.
In reality, it's Jun Maeda.
This guy has been a little fanboy of Kogahara Tsubakiaki for several years, and when he heard the news that Kogahara Tsubakiaki was going to make a comeback, he couldn't have been happier.
"Didn't they say Kogahara Tsubakiaki would be acting as the producer? The project has already been underway for a while, so how come we haven't even seen a shadow of him?"
"Eh?"
Akanishi Ken and Sakata Taiji looked slightly surprised and exchanged glances.
The two of them watched this young man silently from the side, their eyes revealing a hint of pity.
Poor kid, still hasn't realized it yet?
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