Last week at Tokyo’s GiGO Akihabara, NVIDIA held an event for gamers dedicated to its long-standing relationship with Sega and the evolution of gaming technology. AUTOMATON Japan had the opportunity to attend the event, which welcomed a crowd of about 70 gamers selected through a public raffle. In this article, we share some of the highlights, including the anecdotes shared by NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang.
Representing NVIDIA and Sega, the event was attended by:
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA
Haruki Satomi, chairman and CEO of Sega Shuji Utsumi, president and COO of Sega
Shoichiro Irimajiri, president of Shoichiro Irimajiri Ltd.; former executive vice president of Honda and former president and chairman of Sega Enterprises
Yu Suzuki, president of YS NET
The impact of encountering Daytona USA in 3D
Jensen Huang appeared at the venue in his trademark leather jacket. As he greeted the crowd, he shook hands with Irimajiri and Suzuki before reflecting on the impact Sega AM2’s racing game Daytona USA had on him.
Huang:
“I first came to Japan in 1994 to meet Yu Suzuki and Shoichiro Irimajiri. NVIDIA had only just been founded in 1993, and we had begun making chips for games. We needed 3D games, but at the time, nobody was creating 3D games for PCs. Only arcades were running games with 3D graphics back in 1994. The only true 3D games back then were the ones developed by Suzuki’s AM2 team, masterpieces like Daytona USA, Virtua Racing, and Virtua Fighter.
Daytona USA became available in North America in 1994. Although we were supposed to be developing chips at NVIDIA, we spent practically every day at the arcades playing Daytona USA (laughs). The beautiful 3D graphics and incredible sound coming from the cabinet were simply unbelievable.
The game was so perfect that I started doubting whether it was actually rendered in 3D. But it really was a 3D game, and the texture mapping was flawless. It may well have been the first game in history to achieve that, and it ran at a smooth 60 fps. We were so inspired by Daytona USA that we knew we wanted to work with Sega.”
How Sega saved NVIDIA at its lowest point
Huang’s wish eventually came true when NVIDIA was brought on to develop the GPU for the Dreamcast, planned as a successor console to the Sega Saturn. Though it’s hard to imagine from NVIDIA’s subsequent success, Huang shared that the company found itself in serious trouble during the project. He also reminiscent about how then-Sega president Shoichiro Irimajiri responded to the crisis.
Huang:
“I consider it truly fortunate that Irimajiri brought NVIDIA onto the Dreamcast project. Sega and NVIDIA were working together to complete this new console, but about nine months into development, we realized that the technology NVIDIA was pursuing simply wasn’t going to work. We had been developing features like forward texture mapping and curved surfaces, but those approaches weren’t suitable for the Dreamcast. What the console actually needed was inverse texture mapping and polygons. NVIDIA had chosen the wrong direction. I spoke to Irimajiri honestly and told him, ‘The technology NVIDIA is working on won’t function with the Dreamcast.’
Although we couldn’t complete the project, our company still needed funding in order to survive. I asked Irimajiri for an investment, and Sega generously agreed. Had Sega not invested in NVIDIA that day, the company likely wouldn’t exist today. While we made the wrong technical decisions, I believe Irimajiri recognized that we were the right people for the job.”
The NVIDIA that Sega helped save would eventually grow into the world’s most valuable company. Having continued to develop GPUs to render rich and fluid 3D graphics, NVIDIA became the first company in history to surpass a market capitalization of $5 trillion in the fall of 2025. In recent years, it has also established itself in the generative AI field.
The event also featured a demonstration of Virtua Fighter Crossroads, running on a laptop equipped with the upcoming NVIDIA RTX Spark, which is scheduled to launch in the fall of 2026. The game’s 3D visuals, showcased ahead of its planned 2027 release, ran exceptionally smoothly on the high-spec hardware. It appeared to be Huang’s first time seeing Virtua Fighter Crossroads running on an NVIDIA RTX Spark-equipped PC too, and he described it as “very beautiful.” He spoke of RTX Spark-equipped PCs as “a groundbreaking technology that transforms the personal computer into a personal AI.”
Following the demo, general attendees participated in a raffle featuring prizes including NVIDIA’s flagship GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition graphics card and RTX Spark devices, and the winners were barely able to contain their excitement. Some hardcore fans even brought some of their past-gen NVIDIA memorabilia to the venue, and Huang took time to sign them. Seeing the head of one of the world’s most valuable companies casually interacting with fans inside a Japanese arcade was quite fascinating, a scene made possible, perhaps, thanks to the bond between Sega and NVIDIA.
Huang’s respect for Sega and Yu Suzuki
Huang closed the event with a message to Sega and Japan, expressing heartfelt gratitude and respect for Suzuki.
Huang:
“The reason I came to Japan this time is because the Japanese government and NVIDIA are about to announce an extremely significant partnership. It will mark an important turning point, perhaps something you could call the dawn of the AI era in Japan. NVIDIA will also be announcing partnerships in AI and robotics with some of Japan’s leading companies.
Without the friendship and support shown by Sega, Irimajiri and Suzuki, NVIDIA would not be where it is today. Their faith in NVIDIA meant a great deal to me. Sega and Japan will remain in my heart for the rest of my life. They are both deeply important to me. Thank you all very much.
“Without Suzuki, the games we have today would look completely different. Thank you for your monumental work creating 3D games like Virtua Fighter. Thank you very much!”
Looking back on the event, what stood out most what the remarkably welcoming atmosphere. Not only because NVIDIA and Sega had gone out of their way to entertain attendees, but because of the palpable passion of the fans who had gathered. Some had traveled all the way from Osaka to Akihabara carrying their Dreamcasts, while others brought NVIDIA products that were more than a decade old. While the event offered a chance to reminisce about the history shared by NVIDIA and Sega, the Virtua Fighter Crossroads demo running on RTX Spark hardware also gave a lot to look forward to in the future of gaming.
Laptops equipped with the NVIDIA RTX Spark are scheduled to launch in fall 2026, while Sega’s Virtua Fighter Crossroads is currently slated for release in 2027.
