The opening ceremony was an extrely important occasion for the big nas in attendance.
It represented a milestone.
This was especially true for the officials from the Japanese governnt, who were particularly invested in the event.
They even deployed NHK's official dia team to broadcast it live.
They allocated NHK's most popular ti slot to the opening ceremony, aiming to showcase Japan's latest achievent to the public—especially its citizens—as a national model of soft power and international influence.
Initially, NHK was sowhat reluctant, as that ti slot had already been assigned to what they considered a more prestigious program: a docuntary about a well-known figure's life.
But this request ca directly from the Japanese governnt—and it wasn't every day that the governnt leaned on NHK for help. Given the symbolic importance and public interest in the event, NHK ultimately had no choice but to rearrange its schedule.
In addition to NHK, one major Japanese video streaming platform—partly backed by Gastar Electronic Entertainnt—also held broadcasting rights. And then there was TV Tokyo.
TV Tokyo had been through its fair share of ups and downs, but it still held a special place in the hearts of Japanese viewers.
...
...
Takayuki had always had a particular fondness for this channel. Even in his past life in China, he had heard of TV Tokyo—after all, many of the ani he watched growing up had aired on it.
So in this world, Takayuki naturally paid more attention to the channel. Plus, there had always been a hidden connection—soone on the board of TV Tokyo's parent dia group had longstanding ties to him.
This ti, TV Tokyo was lucky enough to be selected alongside NHK to co-broadcast the opening ceremony.
But unlike NHK, TV Tokyo took this broadcast extrely seriously.
Today, TV Tokyo was regarded as the ho base for gars and ani fans alike.
Aside from its standard variety shows and so highbrow docuntaries, nearly all its programming was centered on ani and gaming. Even overseas fans held the station in high regard.
TV Tokyo had also adopted multilingual subtitles for every show it aired.
If you accessed the station through a different country's IP, you'd see localized subtitles.
Now, TV Tokyo was arguably the most successful Japanese broadcaster when it ca to overseas reach—so much so that even NHK would regularly consult with them for advice.
For the opening of Gastar Park, TV Tokyo dispatched its highest-spec live production crew and brought along their star presenter, determined to deliver a flawless viewing experience for the global audience.
But all of that was surface-level. What truly mattered was how the players felt.
At this mont, over ten thousand people had already gathered in front of the park gates.
Even though it was the hottest ti of day, the heat did nothing to dampen anyone's spirits.
"Wow, that's a lot of people..."
At the front entrance stood a red-brick castle.
Players familiar with gaming history would instantly recognize it—it was modeled after the iconic red castle from the original Super Mario Bros.
Whenever Mario entered the castle in-ga, a small flag would slowly rise.
Kazumi, Oto-chan, and Aiko, as well-known ga developers and widely acknowledged as Takayuki's final three protégées, didn't need tickets to attend.
Kazumi's attempt at entering the lottery had just been for fun—and to try to win a few extra tickets to give to fans who had supported her from the beginning.
Of course, if the three of them had simply asked, Takayuki would have happily handed over several tickets to distribute to fans. But Kazumi didn't want to rely on favors.
In the end, she got her wish—using Aiko's mysterious luck, she managed to win a ticket and gave it to a longti supporter who had once been the most active user on a relevant forum.
Now, the three of them stood at the top of the castle entrance, looking out over the sea of people.
"This is the first ti I've looked down on such a huge crowd. Over ten thousand people... that's actually kind of terrifying," Kazumi said.
Oto-chan scoffed. "Of course it is. What did you think? That many people is no joke."
Kazumi replied, "But in those old war stories, you often hear about empires fielding armies of hundreds of thousands or even millions. Imagine how spectacular those battles must've been..."
Oto-chan snorted. "Spectacular? It'd just be a sea of heads and corpses. War is always brutal. And anyway, those ancient numbers were probably exaggerated. It's unlikely that a million people ever fought all at once in a single location. More likely, battles happened across hundreds of kiloters, broken into smaller skirmishes. Not everyone just piled into one battlefield."
"Still... it's hard to even imagine," Kazumi said.
Then Aiko's eyes lit up with sudden inspiration. "What if... we made a ga where tens of thousands—or okay, at least hundreds—of enemies appeared on screen, and the player's role is to wipe out the entire map?"
"Huh?" Kazumi and Oto-chan turned to her, intrigued.
One hero, wielding an epic weapon, facing down hundreds of enemies and mowing them down—it actually sounded kind of cool.
"But wouldn't that be impossible to beat?" Kazumi asked.
"You dummy," Oto-chan sighed. "The difficulty's entirely up to us. Just make most of the enemies harmless—glorified scarecrows."
"Harmless?"
Aiko's eyes lit up again. "Exactly. We design most enemies to be nearly threat-free—just fodder. The real fun is in letting the player feel unstoppable, charging through waves of enemies, racking up kills by the hundreds. Pure, over-the-top satisfaction."
"Mmm... that actually sounds kind of fun," Kazumi admitted, warming up to the idea.
"But would it really be interesting? Wouldn't it get boring? Think about it—if all the enemies are just helpless targets, it'd be like mowing down grass. The player's just a scythe, cutting weeds."
"Mowing grass? That's... actually a pretty accurate description," Aiko laughed. "But hey—how do we know it's not fun unless we try? This is our next ga!"
She'd made up her mind. She felt like she'd just had a true flash of inspiration.
A great new "mow-down" style ga was born.
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