"Outdated?" Takuya's smile faded. "Don't be so quick to write yourselves off."
Makoto Uchida opened his mouth, wanting to protest, but his colleagues behind him rushed to take the blame, muttering phrases like "can't keep up with the times" and "our minds are too rigid." The pessimistic words grated on the ears.
"Enough." Takuya raised his hand, cutting off the self-flagellation. He pointed to the sofa. "Sit down."
He pressed the intercom button and asked his assistant to bring in some extra-strength coffee.
"If you think you can't handle 3D, then don't do it," Takuya said, leaning back in his chair and looking at the team that had once created Golden Axe, that hard-hitting classic. "Who said next-generation consoles have to be all about polygons? If you master 2D, you can still make players willingly empty their wallets."
Makoto Uchida froze, holding the freshly served hot coffee, his hand trembling slightly—whether from the scalding liquid or the scalding words, he couldn't tell.
Takuya walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, mentally reviewing the current development pipeline:
For fighting games, they had Virtua Fighter 2. For racing, there was Tetsuya Mizuguchi's project. For RPGs, Phantasy Star III. And for 3D games aimed at children—a simple, introductory experience—they had Paper Pokémon Adventure.
One piece of the puzzle was missing.
A piece that could satisfy the demands of hardcore action gamers while offering enough depth for exploration.
In other words, what would later be known as the "Metroidvania" genre.
Although Symphony of the Night hadn't been released yet, and Konami hadn't yet enshrined this gameplay style, this was precisely the opportune moment to snatch the idea.
If they were going to do it, they couldn't follow the same path as others.
Konami was playing with Western vampires and Gothic themes? Then Sega needed to do something different.
Japanese native themes.
Countless images flashed through Takuya's mind.
The half-demons from Rumiko Takahashi's Sengoku period works, the ghost hands from the yet-to-be-serialized Hell Teacher, the yet-to-be-greenlit Onimusha by Koei, even Vanillaware's breathtakingly beautiful Muramasa: The Demon Blade.
Hyakki Yagyō, Demon Blades, Demon Slayers.
This was the true romance of Eastern action games.
He quickly returned to his desk and grabbed a fountain pen to scribble down his ideas on notepaper.
The pen tip scratched against the paper with a soft rustle, the only sound in the otherwise silent office, broken only by the occasional sound of someone swallowing coffee.
Makoto Uchida and the others exchanged glances, holding their breaths, afraid to interrupt the Managing Director's train of thought. Rieko Kodama, however, remained calm, absorbed in her magazine, though occasional glances at Takuya held a hint of curiosity.
Ten minutes later, Takuya put down his pen and looked at the densely packed keywords on the paper, snapping his fingers in satisfaction.
"Push that whiteboard over here," he said to his assistant, who had just entered the office to refill his cup.
The assistant struggled to push a wheeled, double-sided whiteboard into the center of the office, making the already cramped space feel even more cramped.
Makoto Uchida and the others instinctively tucked in their legs, looking like elementary school students waiting for their teacher to start class.
Takuya removed the cap from his marker, the sharp smell of alcohol filling the air.
He wrote three large words at the top of the whiteboard: Castlevania.
"You guys are definitely familiar with Konami's series," Takuya said, turning to look at the team. "Since you think 3D isn't working out, don't keep banging your head against a wall. 2D action games aren't dead; they just need to evolve."
Makoto Uchida stared at the three words, his Adam's apple bobbing. "But Managing Director, the current market—"
"The market isn't lacking 2D games," Takuya interrupted, the marker moving swiftly across the whiteboard. "It's lacking quality. 'Simple left-to-right scrolling' is indeed outdated. What we need to do is make the maps come alive."
"You can follow the Castlevania formula, but we need to give it a Sega flavor."
Takuya turned to face the whiteboard, the tip of his marker scratching harshly against the surface. "No vampires. We're making something uniquely our own."
He wrote eight bold characters in the center of the whiteboard: Heian Period, Hyakki Yagyō.
"The protagonist is a samurai with spiritual powers who can see the yōma invisible to ordinary people," Takuya explained as he wrote. "The core gameplay isn't just mindless slashing; it's 'possession'."
"Possession?" Makoto Uchida repeated instinctively, his notebook finally opening.
"That's right. After defeating a yōkai, the protagonist can seal it and carry it with him, which results in two main effects." Takuya began drawing a flowchart as he explained. "First, 'sealing.' The protagonist absorbs the yōkai's fundamental power, transforming it into permanent movement abilities like double jumps, diving, or sprinting. We're calling this the 'Ability Lock.' Without the Kappa's ability, you can't go underwater; without the Tengu's ability, you can't ascend. This means that previously inaccessible paths become explorable after acquiring new abilities—a technique we're calling 'map reuse.'"
Several veteran game designers stared wide-eyed at the presentation. This design broke the traditional linear level structure, transforming the entire map into a massive three-dimensional labyrinth.
"The second effect: Possession," Takuya emphasized, tapping his pen on the whiteboard. "This is the core of combat. You can temporarily borrow a yōkai's power. Activating Possession dramatically increases your attack power, and your attack methods change to the yōkai's claws or demonic spells."
"That sounds incredibly powerful," a designer behind Makoto Uchida couldn't help but interject, his voice betraying his excitement.
"But this power is toxic. Strength always comes at a price." Takuya smirked coldly, forcefully writing "Sanity Value" next to "Possession." "The yōkai's demonic energy erodes the samurai's will. Activating Possession boosts combat power to its limit, but your Sanity Value and Vitality will continuously decrease. Once your Sanity reaches zero, the protagonist will either go berserk and start hacking wildly or have their Vitality drained completely, dying from the yōkai's recoil. Worse still, when both your health and Sanity fall below certain thresholds, powerful yōkai illusions will appear. These illusions can even harm the samurai."
A collective gasp filled the conference room.
This high-risk, high-reward gambler's mechanism was practically a stimulant designed for hardcore players.
Takuya Nakayama continued sketching the map structure on the whiteboard.
"It's no longer a linear progression where you clear one level and move on to the next.
We're going to turn Heian-kyō and its surroundings into one massive, interconnected labyrinth." He drew lines connecting several circles. "Mount Hiei, the Kamogawa River, Oumagahara—these areas will be locked at the start. Players will need to obtain the Kappa's 'Aquatic' ability to dive into the underwater dungeons, and the Great Tengu's 'Flight' ability to ascend the towers."
"Exploration, using abilities unlocked from previous seals to retrace old paths and open new ones, then venturing into even wider territories." Takuya tossed his pen and turned to face the group. "Let the players discover their own paths instead of leading them by the nose."
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