Super Mario being part of the launch lineup was sothing players had already anticipated. It caused a wave of excitent, though not much surprise.
But what followed definitely got players hyped.
The second ga logo to appear was for the newest installnt of troid—troid: Other M.
In the original world, this was considered the 11th ga in the series, though there had been various spin-offs and remakes prior. In this world, however, Takayuki chose to bring it forward earlier in the tiline.
It was also a great opportunity to experint with cinematic storytelling.
After troid ca Dragon Quest.
This franchise had practically beco an annual staple, with consistently solid sales—no less than 3 million copies each ti. Including it in the launch lineup was a surefire bet.
This was essentially opening with a royal flush.
...
The fourth ga revealed was the latest in the Need for Speed series. Building on the experience from Need for Speed 5, the sixth installnt was shaping up to be more polished than ever. This ti, the plan was to clearly separate simulation-style racing from arcade-style fun, aiming to capture both types of racing fans in one net.
The fifth title was Street Fighter IV, marking the series' first full leap into 3D character models.
With fully 3D battles, Street Fighter had finally entered its own next-gen era.
Following that were titles like Super Soccer Championship, NBA Basketball, and other sequels. All of them featured dramatic improvents in both visuals and animations—this truly was a new era for gaming.
Standing on stage, Takayuki couldn't help but feel a bit emotional. After so many years, the gaming era he rembered so fondly had finally arrived.
Every ga—remake or not—looked like it belonged to a completely new generation.
The waves of cheers from the audience overwheld everything. It felt like a festival—one major announcent after another, and every ga looked amazing. The crowd was hooked.
Gastar also announced that players would still be able to play older gas on the new console. Backward compatibility was preserved. However, this ti, the console would switch back from discs to cartridges.
Discs were cheaper to produce, but thanks to Gastar's acquisition of a flash mory manufacturer, they were able to reduce the cost of cartridges significantly.
With that acquisition, it was only natural the new console would favor cartridges. And these days, flash storage had gotten cheap enough to be viable.
Of course, cartridges were still more expensive than discs, but they allowed for a more compact console design, since there was no need to reserve space for a disc drive. As a result, the GSX console was as small as the original Famicom (NES).
High performance, compact size—that was everyone's first impression of the GSX.
After the ten promotional trailers finished playing, the crowd was still buzzing with excitent.
The die-hard fans were already planning to buy every ga in the lineup.
When the tenth trailer ended, the spotlight returned to Takayuki. He smiled and asked, "So, what do you think? Are you satisfied with these gas?"
The audience roared in response, their enthusiasm flooding the hall.
anwhile, on the other side of the screen, Hayakawa Ueto, Gastar's rival at Surei Electronics, was watching the livestream unfold in real ti.
Seeing Gastar's sleek new console, he felt a chill run down his spine.
He wasn't worried about performance—they could match that. But because their new console still had to support optical discs, the design had beco bulkier than the previous generation.
Better performance also demanded better cooling systems—another unavoidable bulk factor.
But discs and disc drives were core to Surei's business. They owned the patents, set the standards, and planned to cash in massively through licensing. Of course, their console needed a drive.
Gastar, on the other hand, had no such baggage. They could go all-in on compact flash mory. Reading from mory chips required much less space than reading from discs, giving the GSX a surprisingly small footprint.
Small design, powerful internals—this combo was destined to win over a lot of fans.
There's just sothing inherently impressive about fitting high-end performance into a tiny box.
This was a clear win for Gastar.
And with such a solid lineup of established franchises, Gastar was starting with a significant advantage.
"It's fine," Ueto thought, trying to comfort himself. "We're just trying to maintain our market share, not steal theirs."
Still, he couldn't help feeling a bit frustrated.
Keeping his composure in front of his team, he said coolly, "No need to panic. Our product is just as strong."
His only consolation was that, following YOO's collapse, Surei had scooped up many of YOO's acquired ga studios.
Thanks to high salaries, these developers had joined Surei, and their talent was unquestionable. He was banking on their gas for the upcoming battle.
With that in mind, Ueto asked, "How's our presentation coming along? Are all the ga trailers ready?"
"All set... just one thing."
"What is it?"
"A few studios said the trailers might not match the final product."
"What do you an?"
"They're worried the real ga won't look as good as the trailer."
Ueto waved it off. "That's fine. We still have ti. Tell them to make the final product match the trailer."
The staff nodded and let it go.
Just then, on the livestream, Takayuki announced that he was about to reveal the price of the GSX.
Ueto imdiately signaled for silence in the room, all eyes on the screen.
"Now then," Takayuki said, raising his hand. "Please look at the screen."
A number appeared:
Price: $399
The mont it showed up, the once-hyped crowd quieted slightly.
And on Surei's side, Ueto's eyes lit up.
For the first ti, he thought—
"Wait... maybe we still have a shot."
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