Mark Cerny's arrival immediately elevated the entire Hardware Development Department to a new level of speed.
He brought not only more divergent thinking but, more crucially, he was a genius who could master everything from low-level hardware to high-level code.
While Nakamura was still grappling with the theoretical limits of bus bandwidth, Mark had already written a test program that crashed the prototype machine, then pointed to the error log to show exactly where the bottleneck lay.
This simple, brutal, yet highly efficient "pragmatist" approach opened the eyes of the previously somewhat rigid Japanese engineers.
Tokyo in late February was still chilly, but Sega's underground Hardware Lab was as hot as a steamer.
"Done."
As Mark hit the final Enter key, the printer began spitting out paper like mad.
It was the finalized CPU instruction set architecture specification—a blueprint that pushed the violent beauty of Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) architecture to its absolute limit.
Takuya Nakayama snatched the still-warm stack of paper without a word. "Send this to SGI immediately and tell them to accelerate development."
As the instruction set specification flew across the Pacific to SGI's headquarters, the development team's focus swiftly shifted back to the Model 2 prototype.
With the firmware developed under Mark's leadership, the machine finally ceased to be nothing more than a pile of blinking lights.
Though still a bare skeleton of wires and chips, its operational efficiency far from matching the fully optimized state it would reach once the custom chips arrived, it could now run code.
This was the signal.
Naturally, the development teams immediately set about creating a suite of tools tailored to Model 2, continuously optimizing the platform.
After all, Model 2 was a 32-bit motherboard, far removed from the 8-bit machines that could be developed with assembly language alone.
Takuya Nakayama gave the development teams no respite, immediately summoning all department heads for a meeting.
The conference room was thick with smoke, the atmosphere heavy. Everyone sensed that this young Managing Director was about to make another bold move.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the era of next-generation arcades and home consoles is upon us."
Takuya stood before the whiteboard, his marker slashing a massive X through the words "Mega Drive" and "Model 1."
"From this day forward, Sega enters a state of war for the next generation."
The room erupted in commotion.
"Managing Director, what about the Mega Drive projects we're working on? We've already written half of the proposal!" A section chief from the First Development Department shot to his feet, unable to contain himself.
"If a project isn't at least halfway complete, we're cutting it off," Takuya's voice was as cold as ice. "Let third-party developers squeeze out whatever value remains in the Mega Drive. Sega's top teams can't linger in the past. As for the 2D projects on the System32 platform, they can continue, but they must be exceptional."
He swept his gaze around the room, his eyes sharp as blades. "All unapproved projects for the Model 1 and Mega Drive are suspended. Take these proposals back and rethink them carefully. I won't set a specific deadline, but I expect creativity and features that will truly captivate players."
"But Managing Director," someone murmured, "we haven't fully grasped the gameplay mechanics for 3D games yet."
"Not grasped them?" Takuya twirled the marker in his hand, then suddenly laughed and pointed toward his office. "Then come find me. My door is always open for those suffering from creative constipation." If you lack inspiration, I'll give you inspiration; if you're afraid to think big, I'll help you think big."
The tense atmosphere in the conference room eased slightly at Takuya's joking tone. The section chiefs exchanged glances, and finally, someone mustered the courage to hand over their folder.
The first to speak was the leader of the Super Robot Wars development team, a classic otaku whose eyes lit up at the mention of mechs.
"Managing Director, we'd like to apply to continue developing new titles for the Mega Drive," he said rapidly, pushing up his thick glasses. "Last year, Mobile Fighter G Gundam concluded, and those scenes of those hot-blooded idiots tearing down a Gundam with their bare hands are perfect for the game! If we could faithfully recreate Domon Kasshu's Shining Finger on the Mega Drive, it would set those otaku fans aflame! Besides, it's been a year since the last release, and we already have the asset library. Even just to differentiate the version, polishing it up wouldn't take much effort. We'd just need to add the new mechs and refine the script—"
Takuya flipped through the character designs in his hand. Domon Kasshu's iconic King of Hearts design was certainly eye-catching.
Though the Mega Drive had fallen behind the Super Famicom in terms of hardware capabilities, it was still more than capable of handling 2D strategy games. In fact, due to the mature development environment, developers could squeeze every last drop of performance out of the hardware to create stunning battle animations.
"Approved." Takuya closed the file folder and signed the cover. "Make the combat animations even more exaggerated—don't worry about frame drops. I want that over-the-top, anime-style combat and those cringe-worthy, overpowered finishing move lines. This is one of the few adrenaline shots we have left for the late Mega Drive era."
Now that the first project had been approved, the atmosphere in the room visibly lightened.
Next to stand up was the project manager for Super Ninja. He held a proposal based on the System32 arcade board.
"Managing Director, the System32 board's scaling and rotation capabilities are exceptional. We're planning a hardcore action game that returns to the essence of ninja combat." The manager sounded somewhat nervous. "Although we're still in the planning phase, if we were to cancel now—"
"Who said we're canceling?" Takuya interrupted, tapping his fingers lightly on the table. "System32's 2D processing power sets the standard for the next-generation console's 2D performance. Not only will you develop this game, but you'll push the board's capabilities to their absolute limits. This game will eventually be seamlessly ported to the new console—treat it as a 2D tech demo for the new hardware."
The manager breathed a sigh of relief, nodded vigorously, and sat down.
The Kirby team, on the other hand, was in a bit of an awkward position.
Originally created to fill a genre gap on the GamePocket handheld, the pink ball had unexpectedly become a hit.
"There's still no decent all-ages 2D platformer on the Mega Drive," the team lead said, wiping sweat from his brow. "We're already halfway through development, and 70% of the level designs are complete. To switch platforms now—"
"If we're halfway done, let's just keep going," Takuya said, waving his hand. "The Mega Drive needs this pink devil to balance out its tough-guy image. If the quality is good, this could even become a long-selling title before the system retires."
As for the The King of Fighters team, they were the calmest of all.
Since the game was fixed to a 2D platform, they could simply continue developing on System32 without needing to switch platforms. Building on the foundation of the first game, the development of the sequel was progressing smoothly.
Takuya merely glanced at the progress chart, then advised, "Tune the balance a bit more. Avoid infinite combos or similar mechanics. Even if they're hard to pull off, they'll ruin the experience for top players." With that, he approved the project.
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