Shigeru Miyamoto knocked on the president's office door, holding the Sega MD game trial report.
Soon, Hiroshi Yamauchi calmly finished reading the last report.
He didn't roar as he had before; instead, he was unusually calm.
This calmness was more unnerving than any roar.
He slowly leaned back in his chair, his body's weight sinking completely into the large leather president's chair.
"It seems our little tricks can no longer keep up with our opponent's pace."
His voice was very soft, yet it instantly tensed the nerves of all the executives present.
Hiroshi Yamauchi's gaze swept over everyone, finally settling on the report about the "Tokyo Propaganda Vacuum Zone" that Maeda had recovered.
He didn't reprimand anyone; he just lightly tapped the report with his fingertip.
"Conventional warfare is meaningless now."
He paused, a cold, almost mad gambler's flame igniting in his eyes.
"Since they want to announce the arrival of a new era with a grand party."
"Then I'll pull the city's circuit breakers before the party even starts."
"Call Enix."
Hiroshi Yamauchi's command was like a giant rock thrown into still water, creating silent tidal waves in the conference room.
"Persuade them, no matter the cost."
"dragon quest 3: The End of the Legend must be on all store shelves before the MD is released."
Shigeru Miyamoto's heart clenched.
dragon quest 3 had been temporarily postponed due to Sega disrupting its release schedule.
This ultimate external trump card of the Nintendo Empire, Japan's national RPG, a cultural symbol capable of causing a social phenomenon.
To use this highly anticipated final chapter of the Roto Trilogy as a pure weapon of war, throwing it into this already white-hot struggle.
He looked at Hiroshi Yamauchi's emotionless eyes and suddenly understood.
The president wasn't playing chess.
He was flipping the chessboard.
All the fun of the game, the players' expectations, were mercilessly crushed into dust before the giant wheel of the empire's survival. Under Nintendo's immense, cost-no-object resource allocation and promises, Enix's defenses quickly crumbled.
They finally agreed to Nintendo's almost insane request.
When the news reached Kyoto, Nintendo's war machine immediately formulated a new blitzkrieg strategy around this newly added bombshell.
Hiroshi Yamauchi circled two dates on the map with a red pen.
"February 10th, Wednesday."
He pointed to the first date, his tone chilling.
"Release dragon quest 3 on this day."
"I want to use an unprecedented sales frenzy to drain all the market's funds, publicity, and attention within three days."
"I want to leave not a single penny in any player's pocket for Sega."
"I want to use a man-made market tsunami to destroy everything they've meticulously built."
His finger slowly moved to another date three days later.
"February 13th."
"When Sega, exhausted from the aftermath of DQ3, crawls ashore, super mario bros. 3 will be waiting for them there to deliver the final blow."
"Double strangulation."
Only heavy breathing remained in the conference room.
Everyone present felt a chill down their spines at the meticulousness and ruthlessness of this plan.
February 10, 1988.
Hiroshi Yamauchi's plan succeeded.
But its consequences, like a wild beast unleashed, galloped towards a completely uncontrolled direction.
4 AM, before dawn.
Tokyo, in front of BicCamera Ikebukuro East Exit store.
A young reporter sent by a TV station to document this historic moment was reporting to the camera, his voice trembling slightly from the cold.
"Viewers, it's 4 AM, and the queue behind me—it's completely out of sight."
"The earliest people in line are said to have set up tents at the entrance 20 hours ago."
The camera panned, revealing a silent yet anxious long line made up of countless bobbing heads.
The queue stretched from the mall entrance, along the street, winding for several kilometers, like a greedy giant snake devouring the entire block.
The air was filled with the bitter smell of cheap coffee and the white mist of excitement and anxiety exhaled by the people.
The release day happened to be a weekday.
This frenzied buying quickly escalated into a nationwide, large-scale student truancy event.
The Metropolitan Police Department urgently held a press conference.
A senior police officer, with a grave expression, announced to countless flashing lights.
"As of 10 AM, in the Tokyo area alone, nearly three hundred elementary and middle school students have been taken in by our officers for truancy and queuing to buy games, to be admonished."
"Truancy," this word, transmitted through television signals, stung the nerves of countless parents.
Immediately after, more serious incidents began to erupt.
Robberies, thefts, and even armed extortion targeting those in line, especially minors, occurred frequently across the country.
The media's cameras focused on a crying elementary school student, his hand clutching an empty wallet.
On television screens, social commentators discussed the chaos caused by the game in the harshest terms.
A new term was coined and quickly spread throughout Japan.
"DQ Riot" (Work).
Nintendo, with a sales miracle, personally created an unprecedented nationwide public relations disaster.
Sega Headquarters, conference room.
On the TV screen, NHK news was gravely reporting on the nationwide unrest caused by the release of dragon quest 3.
The images showed the near-stagnant crowds on Ikebukuro street, police officers maintaining order with their megaphones, and an elementary school student crying to the camera, recounting how his half-year's worth of pocket money had been stolen.
A young Marketing Department manager nervously rubbed his hands, fine beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
"President, Nintendo's move is too ruthless; they used DQ3 to absorb a large amount of cash from players, our pre-orders—"
He couldn't finish his sentence.
Hayao Nakayama slowly raised his hand, signaling him to be quiet.
The helmsman of Sega never took his eyes off the screen, but the initial solemnity and worry on his face were being replaced by an uncontrollable, almost ecstatic glow.
He saw the crying elementary school student.
He heard the newly coined term from the news commentator's mouth— "DQ Riot."
He also saw a deep, bottomless crack appearing in Nintendo's self-built, seemingly unbreakable sales myth.
"Opportunity."
Hayao Nakayama uttered two words in a low voice, not loudly, but they invigorated the entire conference room.
Many executives looked at him, their eyes filled with exhaustion and confusion. In their opinion, such a frenzied sales atmosphere, for Sega, was tantamount to their previously accumulated momentum being interrupted.
Hayao Nakayama turned around, a hunter-like smile playing on his lips.
"Hiroshi Yamauchi kidnapped the entire market with a game, but he also, incidentally, kidnapped the entire society." His voice regained its usual composure, with a hint of cold sharpness. "Now, it's time for society to demand ransom from him."
He surveyed the dispirited people in the conference room.
"Nintendo is a company that 'brings smiles to families,' right?" he asked softly, with undisguised sarcasm in his tone. "Go, call the head of the Public Relations Department."
"Immediately contact all our familiar media, newspapers, and TV stations. Tell them that Sega expresses deep sympathy and concern for the young people harmed in this 'DQ Riot'."
"We need to issue a public statement." Hayao Nakayama's eyes sharpened. "The theme will be—corporate social responsibility and protecting the healthy growth of the next generation."
At this moment, a silent war of public opinion against Nintendo quietly began.
A few hours later, the tide completely turned.
In the evening news' special programs, the topic had shifted from "the miracle of game sales" to "the negative impact on young people caused by corporations pursuing profit."
Invited education experts on TV expressed their anguish, directly accusing Nintendo of deliberately choosing to release the game on a weekday for commercial gain, openly encouraging students to skip school.
The next morning, the social pages of major newspapers reported on the escalating robberies and brawls across the country with shocking headlines.
dragon quest was no longer a story of heroes; instead, it had become a breeding ground for real-world villains.
Nintendo, the creator of this game empire, was dragged from the commercial altar to the court of public opinion overnight.
An even more explosive piece of news, like a precision-guided bomb, detonated at this time.
Weekly Bunshun, as a cover story, deeply exposed that one of Nintendo's largest Hatsukakai wholesalers, "Fujitaya," during this DQ3 release, coercively demanded that all retail stores must bundle and purchase a large quantity of slow-moving, unpopular game cartridges, otherwise they would not be supplied.
The report included clear photocopies of internal documents, as well as the tearful accusations of several anonymous retail store owners and the angry curses of players.
This was no longer a matter of business ethics, but clear evidence of suspected violations of the Anti-Monopoly Law.
"Commercial hegemony," "exploiting downstream," "a cancerous tumor monopolizing the market."
These heavily critical terms, through the media, were branded onto Nintendo's corporate image.
dragon quest 3's first-day sales surpassed one million copies.
This sales miracle, worthy of being recorded in history, seemed so pale at this moment.
It was completely drowned in a flood of negative news and public condemnation, uncelebrated.
Kyoto, Nintendo Headquarters.
In the president's office, the champagne prepared for celebration lay quietly in the ice bucket, the water droplets condensed on the bottle like cold tears.
Hiroshi Yamauchi said nothing, just stared intently at the newspapers spread out on the table.
"DQ Riot," "Commercial Hegemony," "Culprit of Truancy."
Every lead type was like a red-hot steel needle, piercing his eyes.
He had planned a perfect market storm, aiming to uproot his opponent.
But he hadn't expected this storm to eventually spiral out of control, change direction, and backfire on the empire itself.
The office door was knocked, and the head of the Public Relations Department entered, his face ashen.
"President, the Metropolitan Police Department, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry have all called, demanding that we immediately provide a clear explanation to the public regarding the 'DQ Riot' and the bundled sales incident."
"Our stock price—it has already fallen three percentage points after opening today."
Hiroshi Yamauchi slowly raised his head; there was no anger in his eyes, only a dead, icy coldness.
His planned "double strangulation" had not even seen the second blow fall, yet his own position was already engulfed in flames.
He lost not sales, but reputation, the positive image Nintendo had built in the public's mind over the years as a company that "brings smiles to families."
He was silent for a long time, his gaze sweeping over Shigeru Miyamoto, who stood by his side.
Shigeru Miyamoto's face was filled with a pure love for games and a detachment from commercial disputes.
It was this face that, at this moment, became Nintendo's most valuable asset.
"Miyamoto-kun."
Hiroshi Yamauchi's voice was hoarse and heavy.
"You, go hold a press conference."
"Apologize to society on behalf of the company."
Shigeru Miyamoto's body stiffened abruptly.
Make him apologize?
Apologize for a commercial conspiracy he had never participated in planning and even detested from the bottom of his heart?
He looked at Hiroshi Yamauchi's unquestionable gaze, and all the words he wanted to say were stuck in his throat.
He understood.
On the empire's chessboard, he and his creation Mario were the trump cards.
And when the empire was in crisis, his "pure" and "harmless" face was the sacrifice to appease public anger.
At this point, Gunpei Yokoi still spoke: "But, President, if Miyamoto-kun apologizes, then super mario bros. 3…"
Shigeru Miyamoto patted Gunpei Yokoi's shoulder, shaking his head, stopping him from continuing: "Yokoi-san, only my appearance can represent the company's sincerity."
Hiroshi Yamauchi, seeing Shigeru Miyamoto being so "sensible," still said a soft word: "Miyamoto-kun, I've put you in a difficult position."
Shigeru Miyamoto bowed his head to Hiroshi Yamauchi. "It's all for the company."
Yes, for the company, the president is not wrong, the president cannot apologize.
Two days later, it would be the final showdown between super mario bros. 3 and the MegaDrive.
Nintendo could not bear the burden brought by dragon quest 3; it had to shed all burdens to enter the battle.