That year's tournant beca a global dance player's carnival.
Footage of players from around the world performing a dazzling array of dance styles, eliciting cheers and gasps from the crowd, made the front page of every newspaper the next day.
Sales of *Dance Dance Revolution*, developed in collaboration between Sega and Sony, skyrocketed that month.
This success gave Sony its first taste of the imnse profitability in the video ga industry, and it seamlessly connected their LaserDisc and music businesses.
A win-win scenario he had personally orchestrated, silencing all critics.
Let's continue.
1989: *Art of Fighting* and *Dance Dance Revolution*.
1990: *Art of Fighting* returns, paired with the new title *Taiko no Tatsujin*.
1991 was a stroke of genius.
He actually invited Capcom, at the ti one of the two powerhouses in the fighting ga genre alongside Sega, to participate. He even listed *Street Fighter II* as an official competition event.
Everyone thought he was inviting a wolf into the fold.
But the result was that the popularity of *Street Fighter II* drew unprecedented crowds to the Sega Tournant, and players praised Sega's boldness.
Countless players flooded the venue, eager to catch a glimpse of the world's greatest players.
anwhile, on the other side of the main stage, Sega's own *Taiko no Tatsujin* finals captivated family audiences with its joyful atmosphere.
Using a competitor's flagship ga to build his own stage, then reaping the rewards with his own ga—this audacious strategy left even Kenzo Tsujimoto, the mastermind behind *Street Fighter II*, with no choice but to grudgingly accept.
Takuya Nakayama's fingers finally ca to rest at the end of the file.
1992: The Sixth Sega Esports Tournant.
Competition Gas:
Sega's *Virtua Fighter*.
Sega's *The King of Fighters*.
One represented the future of 3D fighting gas, Sega's own darling.
The other was a grand 2D fighting ga masterpiece he personally oversaw, rging the two major IPs of *Art of Fighting* and *Fatal Fury*, and even adding characters from *tal Slug* to create a ga with an expansive narrative background.
As August approached its midpoint, the city qualifying rounds of the Sega Esports Tournant rippled through Tokyo like stones tossed into a pond, stirring excitent in every corner.
Early that morning, the owner of the ga center in Adachi Ward proudly displayed giant posters for the *The King of Fighters* and *Virtua Fighter* qualifying rounds in the most prominent spot.
"Boss, it's finally here! I've been waiting for this!" a young boy exclaid excitedly.
"The winner this ti gets to go straight to Akihabara for the Tokyo Grand Finals! Just thinking about it gets pumped!" another boy rubbed his hands eagerly, already itching to compete.
The owner grinned widely, pointing at the registration form. "Entry fee is 500 yen. Whoever wants to be Adachi Ward's representative, put your na down!"
In an instant, the counter was sward with people, whispering and debating who should sign up first, the atmosphere as lively as a festival.
Just then, the crowd parted automatically, forming a path.
Daigo Uhara walked in as usual.
He was small, and his gaze imdiately fell on the conspicuous poster. He paused briefly before striding directly to the counter.
"Daigo's here too!" The shopkeeper exclaid enthusiastically, handing him a pen. "Co on, sign up and bring glory to our shop!"
Daigo didn't speak, rely nodding as he took the pen. With deliberate strokes, he wrote his na on the first line of the pristine registration form.
The surrounding chatter ceased instantly.
The youths who had been spitting saliva everywhere, debating their potential rankings in the tournant, now craned their necks, staring intently at the four characters on the form.
The air froze for three seconds.
"Um..." The boy who had been shouting the loudest earlier quietly withdrew his hand from his pocket and scratched his head. "I just rembered, my mom won't let stay out too late."
"Yeah, exactly!" His companion beside him chid in, his expression suddenly serious. "I still have more than half my sumr howork left. I need to rush ho and catch up. Competitions and stuff... they're too distracting from schoolwork."
"I... my stomach hurts. I need to use the restroom."
In the blink of an eye, the group of passionate young n at the counter scattered like birds and beasts, leaving the shop owner alone. His smile froze on his face, the pen he'd been holding to sign up the next participant still clutched in his hand.
He lowered his head and glanced at the registration form. A single na stood alone: Daigo Uhara.
Looking up at the empty surroundings, the shop owner felt like crying, but no tears ca.
Perfect. The tournant hadn't even started, and he'd already crowned his champion for this arena's *King of Fighters* tournant.
He'd been counting on a big payday from registration fees and coin drops on the day of the tournant, but now it looked like he wouldn't even collect enough to cover the registration fees.
Fortunately, *Virtua Fighter* hadn't suffered the sa fate. Quite a few people were still willing to give it a try. After all, this area lacked a prodigy like Daigo Uhara among its *Virtua Fighter* players.
The next few days unfolded just as the shop owner had predicted.
The *King of Fighters* registration remained at a solitary entry, a stark contrast to the dozens or even hundreds of participants at other arcades.
The shop owner stared at the registration form every day, feeling like he needed a smoke.
Yet sothing strange happened.
Even though the local competitors had been "discouraged" from participating, the arcade's business inexplicably picked up.
"Hey, I heard there's a kid in Adachi Ward who's really good at *The King of Fighters*?"
A rough-looking young man, clearly from out of town, walked in with a cigarette dangling from his lips, followed by several companions eager for a show.
The regulars exchanged knowing glances before silently nodding toward the *King of Fighters* machine in the corner.
There, Daigo Uhara stood on his signature beer crate, expressionless as he waited.
"Hmph, I'll take him on."
The young man tossed his cigarette, sat down with self-assured confidence, and inserted his coins with a crisp *clink*.
The outco was never in doubt.
Less than three minutes later, the young man stood up, dazed, his mouth agape as he stared blankly at the "K.O." on the screen, as if unable to comprehend what had just happened.
He couldn't even take out the opponent's first character.
"Who's next?" His companion behind him shrank back, but no one dared to answer.
From that day on, this arcade beca a spectacle in Adachi Ward.
No one signed up for the tournant, but every day, "masters" from Katsushika Ward, Edogawa Ward, Arakawa Ward, and even further away would line up to challenge Daigo Uhara, only to end up paying the arcade owner a hundred-yen "tuition fee" each.
The owner would gaze at the unusually heavy money box every day, then look at the small figure standing on a beer crate, single-handedly "sabotaging" his *King of Fighters* tournant, and feel a mix of emotions too complex to describe.
*Is this kid a god of fortune, or a harbinger of misfortune?*
However, this also allowed Daigo Uhara to early on encounter the diverse styles of players from other districts, serving as valuable training before the major tournants.
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