Sometimes, all it took to keep Hideo Kojima from leaving was a single frying pan.
After Kobayashi Tetsu gave him a "Dave haircut," Kojima immediately promised to get started on Metal Gear Solid 2 as soon as possible.
Less than two weeks later, Kojima presented a new proposal. Kobayashi Tetsu glanced over it, found no issues, and tacitly approved.
Time passed, and May gradually arrived.
"Ahem—!"
Early one morning, Kobayashi Tetsu cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.
"A formal introduction, everyone. This is our new President's Assistant, Takamine Aika. From now on, she will handle all clerical work and any reports you have. Don't underestimate her—she's a graduate of Keio University."
By custom, this should have earned Takamine Aika three months of paid leave and a company-funded overseas trip to prevent other firms from poaching her.
However, Kobayashi Tetsu had already compensated her in other ways.
Satoru Iwata looked up, visibly relieved.
He had been responsible for a significant portion of Atlas's administrative work, and now he could finally take it easy.
"Also, there's one more thing."
Kobayashi Tetsu's expression suddenly turned serious. "In the near future, I will be restructuring Atlas's business model. Each of the managers will be granted a portion of the equity, and all of you will receive internal seed shares."
In other words...
"I will find a suitable opportunity within the next year to take Atlas public."
This was the Oda Ichi era—if you were going to go public, you had to do it now. While the Japanese people still had money, Kobayashi Tetsu planned to make a profit from the Japanese retail investors.
Beside him, Hideo Kojima abruptly looked up.
Had his persuasion actually worked?
Kobayashi Tetsu didn't even spare Kojima a glance.
The sun doesn't rise because the rooster crows; it just so happened that he had already been considering changing Atlas's business model, and Kojima's recent actions had provided the perfect opportunity. It was simply a matter of timing.
"Since no one has any objections, the morning meeting is adjourned. You're dismissed—get back to your work."
With a wave of his hand, Kobayashi Tetsu arranged for Iwata Satoru to take over the administrative duties from Takamine Aika. He then headed to Department 4 to oversee the development of Metal Slug.
The development of Metal Slug was now largely complete. The level design and game balance were mostly finalized, leaving only some adjustments to be made to the boss battles and elite enemies.
Kobayashi Tetsu, that lazy bastard, just pulled a few bosses from his memory of Metal Slug games 1 to 3 and used them for the design.
Meanwhile, Takamine Aika quickly handed over the work to Iwata Satoru and began her own tasks.
Though the clerical work seemed like simple rote learning, it actually required a level of skill. She had to organize the matters into categories and then report them to Kobayashi Tetsu based on his needs. Some things could even be handled independently and omitted.
However, this required a certain level of tact and a good understanding of Kobayashi Tetsu.
"Ah—it's an invitation to give a speech at a school," Takamine Aika said, flipping through the letters in her hand and looking at Iwata Satoru. "Mr. Iwata, how should I handle this?"
"Put it aside. Don't show it to the President. He basically never attends public speaking engagements like this," Iwata Satoru said bluntly. "Actually, it's more accurate to say that ordinary schools don't have the standing to invite the President to speak. These kinds of speeches are a mutual boost in publicity, but given Atlas's current situation, unless it's a school like my alma mater, Tokyo Tech, or yours, Keio University, an invitation from an ordinary school is just them trying to ride on Atlas's coattails."
Takamine Aika nodded, filed the new letter away, and decided to politely decline all such invitations one by one.
Just as she was writing, Kobayashi Tetsu walked over.
"If the schools are of a similar caliber, we should accept the invitations. Since we've decided to go ahead with Atlas's IPO, I need to make more public appearances. Otherwise, we won't be able to give the shareholders confidence."
Kobayashi Tetsu had been reluctant to go before for the exact reason Iwata Satoru had given. But now, he had to. Appearing at various public events before the IPO was indispensable.
Takamine Aika pondered.
This meant they needed to select schools of sufficient prestige. Some schools had big names but were actually quite mediocre—they couldn't accept invitations from those lightly.
On the other hand, some schools were prestigious enough, but the events they invited him to speak at were too ordinary, making them not worth attending.
She quickly sorted through the documents, first separating the invitations and letters, then identifying the speaking engagements. Finally, drawing on her own education and experience, she selected the schools that met their standards.
However, the overseas letters posed a bit of a dilemma.
NTU.
What level did NTU fall into? That was hard to say.
Kobayashi Tetsu looked up.
He hadn't expected to be connected with Taiwan.
NTU was the top-ranked university in Taiwan, so its prestige was certainly sufficient. The real question was whether it was appropriate to go there.
Kobayashi Tetsu quickly ran through the possibilities in his mind.
1988...
I guess I could go.
Nikola had just left by then, so things there had completely opened up. As long as it was just a lecture and didn't involve other political matters, there shouldn't be any problems.
Kobayashi Tetsu confirmed again, "What kind of lecture is it?"
"The Information Engineering Department," Takamine Aika replied, looking down at the document. "It's an orientation lecture issued in the name of the NTU Information Engineering Department. The time is September, the freshman enrollment period."
Kobayashi Tetsu breathed a sigh of relief.
He could rest easy now. This was the kind of lecture that wouldn't get political, and even if it did, he could just talk his way out of it.
Takamine Aika checked the schedule again and explained, "There are no schedule conflicts for now. The game release date marked here is October."
Kobayashi Tetsu had marked the release date for the Mega Drive. Since Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Metal Slug, and Ninja Gaiden were all going to be released on the MD, with Sonic 2 and Metal Slug being launch titles and Ninja Gaiden delayed for a while.
So, there was plenty of time.
Kobayashi Tetsu raised his hand.
"Reply to them and say I'll be there!"
Starting from May, Kobayashi Tetsu had been to many places.
Public lectures, participating in events, promoting games—he simply couldn't stop.
Kobayashi Tetsu had previously thought about finding a secretary to hide under his desk, but now it seemed he didn't have the time.
Consequently, the North American trip he had been planning also had to be put on hold for now. He had originally wanted to establish an Atlas office in North America, but he simply didn't have any time.
"When you're busy, you can't slack off—formalizing Atlas is definitely necessary. At least that way, I won't have to do everything myself!"
On the passenger ship bound for Taiwan, Kobayashi Tetsu rested with his eyes closed, taking a rare break.
But calling it a break was a bit of a stretch. After arriving in Taiwan, he would still need to leave the hotel's phone number for Atlas, just in case there were any urgent matters.
Looking out at the sea from the ship's railing, Kobayashi Tetsu suddenly remembered something.
Come to think of it, by 1988, Softstar should have been founded, right? "Softstar in the North, Soft-World in the South"—they were legendary!
Softstar was quite famous among domestic players, with titles like Xuan-Yuan Sword, the Legend of Sword and Fairy series, and Richman.
Of course, there was also Stardom.
But at this point in time, Softstar didn't have such a rich portfolio or lofty ideals.
In its early days, Softstar was just like Koei, churning out adult-themed games. It was a period full of dark history.
Kobayashi Tetsu clicked his tongue, feeling a bit regretful.
I should have come sooner!
If he had come to Taiwan earlier and taken over Softstar, he wouldn't have had to recruit Yao Zhuangpian later. Without Yao Zhuangpian, the Legend of Sword and Fairy series could definitely have been saved. Of course, it would also have avoided the split with Softstar Shanghai.
But now...
Kobayashi Tetsu shook his head.
Forget it. Yao Zhuangpian or not, I'm just here to give a speech anyway!