Tom Kalinske snapped his fingers, and the massive screen behind him lit up instantly, revealing a sleek, futuristic black machine hovering silently at its center.
"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the Sega CD!"
A sea of camera flashes erupted from the audience.
"With a massive 650MB capacity, developers will no longer be constrained by cartridge limitations!"
"Our brand-new PCM sound chip means you'll experience studio-quality symphonic music in your games!"
"And with our dedicated graphics processor, cinematic-quality animated cutscenes will finally become a reality!"
Each of Tom's words struck the hearts of every game industry professional and enthusiast in the audience like a bullet.
These were the very words Takuya Nakayama had used to entice Hironobu Sakaguchi years ago, now repeated verbatim.
He paused, surveying the faces below—a mixture of shock, skepticism, and excitement—and flashed a confident smile.
"Of course, a new stage requires a true star to launch its debut performance. Today, we are honored to announce that Sega will collaborate with a legendary company to bring you this groundbreaking opening act!"
As soon as the words left his lips, he abruptly waved his hand to the side.
"Behold!"
The large screen instantly went dark.
In the darkness, a blue "SEGA" logo slowly materialized. Then, to everyone's utter astonishment, another logo lit up beside it:
SQUARE.
*Boom!*
The crowd erupted into chaos! Reporters frantically snapped photos, while analysts stared at each other in stunned silence.
Sega and Square?!
The owners of *Sonic the Hedgehog* and the creators of *Final Fantasy*?! How could this be possible?!
Before the audience could recover from their shock, a clear, melodious chime echoed through the hall, as if unlocking the gates of time and space.
Yasunori Mitsuda's Celtic-infused theme song from *Chrono Trigger* flowed into everyone's ears like a refreshing spring.
On the screen, Akira Toriyama's characters moved in unprecedentedly exquisite animation:
A boy and girl meeting by chance at the Millennial Fair; a cursed frog swordsman drawing the holy blade in a medieval castle; a blonde-haired savage woman fighting alongside dinosaurs in a primeval jungle; a lonely robot guarding the last vestiges of green in a post-apocalyptic wasteland—
Scenes spanning time and space flashed by in rapid succession. Finally, all the protagonists converged, unleashing a dazzling coordinated attack to confront the cataclysmic apocalypse.
This animation, painstakingly crafted by Takuya Nakayama through leveraging every connection and spending lavishly—even outsourcing to a Chinese team—was squeezed out in just two months. Its quality utterly shattered everyone's preconceived notions of what a "game" could be.
This wasn't just CG; this was animation worthy of the big screen!
The trailer ended, the screen freezing.
Two words burned into the center of the screen: "Chrono Trigger."
After a brief moment of stunned silence, the entire venue erupted in thunderous applause and cheers!
At that moment, a man with a neatly trimmed mustache, his expression a mix of nervousness and excitement, stepped onto the stage.
It was Hironobu Sakaguchi!
"Wow," Sakaguchi said as he approached the front of the stage, gazing at the roaring crowd. Speaking in English with a slight Japanese accent, he began, "It seems you all really love this story."
The audience immediately responded with another wave of enthusiastic applause.
"When Mr. Nakayama first approached me and described the Sega-CD as a new stage, I felt exactly as you all do now—unbelievable," Hironobu Sakaguchi said, adjusting the microphone under the spotlight, a hint of awkwardness still lingering from his recent arrival from backstage.
Unlike Tom Kalinske, who exuded effortless charisma, Sakaguchi resembled a scholar reluctantly pushed onto the podium, though his sincerity shone through his eyes.
"He was like a devil whispering in my ear," Sakaguchi said, spreading his hands with a wry smile. The audience chuckled at this vivid description.
"He said, 'Mr. Sakaguchi, those scenes in your head, the plot points you had to cut due to cartridge limitations, the dazzling magic you couldn't realize because of hardware constraints—the Sega-CD can give you all of that.'"
The laughter grew louder. This candid, almost complaining opening instantly bridged the gap between him and the game developers in the audience.
"And then, he actually did it," Sakaguchi continued, his tone turning more exasperated. "To inspire us for *Chrono Trigger*, he even sent Sega's own development team on a global scouting trip while we were still working on *Final Fantasy IV*!"
"Wow!" A wave of gasps and whistles erupted from the audience.
"Yes, travel!" Hironobu Sakaguchi emphasized, his tone almost accusatory. "And while we were burning the midnight oil at the company, we kept receiving postcards from them—from all over the world!"
The large screen began displaying photos taken by the Sega team during their location scouting trips around the globe.
He cleared his throat and perfectly mimicked the tone of a vacationing jerk.
"Mr. Sakaguchi, hello! We're at a French castle right now, and the red wine here is amazing! I wonder if it'll inspire your medieval chapter?"
*Boom!*
The entire room erupted in laughter. Reporters frantically snapped photos, doubled over with mirth.
This Versailles-esque internal "flex" was the perfect material for today's press conference!
"And there's another one!" Sakaguchi raised a second finger. "Mr. Sakaguchi, we're having coffee under the Astronomical Clock in Prague. The women here are so beautiful! Oh, and we photographed the clock's mechanism—it should be useful for you, right?"
The laughter and applause nearly lifted the roof.
People loved these stories, which infused the cold, calculated world of business partnerships with warmth and humor.
"So, the bottom line is," Hironobu Sakaguchi concluded, his face a mix of exasperation and amusement, "I'm now being tormented daily by two projects while simultaneously being mentally assaulted by my partner's vacation photos. Sometimes I genuinely wish I could use *Chrono Trigger*'s time-travel technology to go back to the day he approached me and just flat-out refuse him!"
This self-deprecating rant once again ignited the audience's laughter and applause, bringing the atmosphere to a fever pitch.
As the laughter subsided, Sakaguchi took a deep breath. The playful expression vanished from his face, his posture straightened, and his demeanor became utterly serious.
The hall fell silent.
Everyone knew the jokes were over; the real message was coming.
"But..."
His voice wasn't loud, yet it carried clearly across the entire venue.
"We are willing to endure this hardship! Because we believe, as Mr. Nakayama said, that gamers deserve better games! And those of us who make games deserve a stage where we can realize all our wildest dreams!"
"We believe that *Chrono Trigger* on the Sega-CD will bring players worldwide an unprecedented, time-spanning grand adventure!"
As his words faded, Hironobu Sakaguchi didn't throw his arms wide to embrace the cheers like Tom Kalinske had. Instead, he stepped back and bowed deeply to the audience, a perfect ninety-degree bow.
No further words were needed. This was the creator's most solemn and sincere promise.
After a full three seconds of silence, a thunderous roar of applause erupted, shaking the venue to its foundations.
It went on and on, never ceasing.
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