Less than a month later on 1994.10.08, Hroko would become a co-host on the “Famitsu (ファミ通)”^[15] produced TV Show “Game Catalogue II (ゲームカタログII)”^[16], which also featured Hirokazu Hamamura (浜村 弘一)^[17], who in addition to being an irregular host on Game Catalogue II, was also former Weekly Famitsu chief editor.

During this initial appearance, there was a whole section of the show dedicated to the then upcoming Sega Saturn console. One of the games that just so happened to be shown during this was a later prototype version of the first Clockwork Knight game!

Sadly, that would be everything from the show on the Clockwork Knight front for quite a while, but something else quite interesting would take place just 2 months later…

As shown in the video below, the 1995.12.03 Episode of Game Catalogue II saw the CGII Team get challenged to a showdown for the then brand-new “Puyo Puyo 2 (Tsuu)” by the “SEGA Team”. Hiroko Nakayama (obviously representing GCII) would go on to be crowned the winner of the challenge!

After that, things seemingly went quiet on the subject, and not much else was really mentioned… But, the question remained; what would her prize be for winning?!

Months would pass, and the competition had seemingly all but been forgotten about, when suddenly on the 1995.07.08 episode (shown in the below left-hand video), an announcement was made via Game Catalouge II’s “Game Catalogue Express (ゲカタ Express)” that a special feature on the then-upcoming release of Clockwork Knight 2 would soon air. Even more interestingly, the same announcement contained behind the scenes footage of Hiroko Nakayama being captured on video at SEGA’s studios. So, something cool was happening!

A week later at the end of the 1995.07.15 episode (as shown in the below right-hand video), the Clockwork Knight 2 special feature was announced to air on the next episode of the show, with a headline of “Clockwork Knight! Hiroko-Chan Appears in the game!! (クロックワークナイト！ 博子ちゃんがゲームに出演！！)”.

And so, on the 1995.07.22 episode (Shown in the video below), the feature was presented, and it give us a short look into Clockwork Knight 2 days before release. After this, a special behind the scenes feature was played, and while first starting off with the previously mentioned Puyo Puyo showdown, we then got to see Hiroko-Chan visiting the SEGA studios and got a bit more of a look at her being captured on video by the staff.

We then get to see (along with other discussion about make the game) a very VERY special look into how this footage was put into the game, with a special behind the scenes feature presented by the games Visual Coordination and Planner, Katsuhisa “Kats” Sato (佐藤 勝久). For Clockwork Knight fans, this is of course a very special treat to see how part of the game was put together!

After this special feature was shown, a bit of discussion on the process happened in the Game Catalogue II studio, with Hiroko-Chan finishing off the segment by mentioning that her and the show would be thanked in the ending credits of the game^[18][19][20]. To note, the end of the video has details for viewers to write in to be in with a chance of winning 1 of 5 copies of the then-new Clockwork Knight 2… a very nice prize indeed!

So, we’ve read about Hiroko Nakayama, We’ve heard about Game Catalogue II and we’ve seen the behind the scenes feature… so, where can we find this in the game?! Well, as stated by the title of this section, it’s actually very well hidden inside the Clock Tower (the second stage to be exact). The below video is actually a playlist of the hidden screens that can be found in Clockwork Knight that contain this special feature.

Playing the game in “Easy/Training” or “Normal” mode will give the player a special support message from Hiroko-Chan (where she claims to have been a fan of the first game), and interestingly, finding the hidden screen in “Hard” move will give you a support message from Hirokazu Hamamura, who was mentioned earlier on this page.

Hiroko would carry on being a co-host of Game Catalogue II, but managed to have a co-starring role in a one off drama-special known as “Scary School Story; A ghost in the science preparation room that does not open!! (学校の怖い話　開かずの理科準備室に亡霊が!!)”, airing on 1995.09.19.^[21][22]

Sadly, Hiroko left Game Catalogue II, with her final episode airing on 1995.09.30 (As shown in the below video). Weather this was by her own accord, or due to a behind the scenes decision is unknown, and probably never will be.

During her last segment, when asked what one of her favourite experiences on the show was, she stated that it was getting the chance to appear in Clockwork Knight 2. As a fan of Hiroko-Chan and of course of Clockwork Knight, it was nice to see her actually adknowledge this event.

After this, I’ve not been able to find much about her until around a year later in 1998, where she released her first Graure photobook called “reminiscence/Reminiscence-Hiroko Nakayama First Photobook (reminiscence 追憶―中山博子ファースト写真集)”^[28] and a few adult gravure magazine appearances (likely to have simply been offshoots from the book). Then nothing for another 2 years until 2000, where she released her 2nd gravure photobook called “fuse-Hiroko Nakayama Photobook (fuse―中山博子写真集)”^[29], which was notable for containing nude photos of her, being under the category of “Hair Nude”^[30], along with a few pictures printed in a few adult gravure magazines (again likely to have simply been offshoots from the book).

Sadly after this, Hiroko seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth, and there have been no reports of marriage or death at this time. There is one report of her name being listed in the credits for the 11th episode of a 2005 Japanese drama called “Slow Dance “(スローダンス)”^[31], but as there are no uploads of this series anywhere on the internet, it’s impossible for me to say if it was her or not… given that was about 5 years after her last publicised work, it may well not be her. It is a shame, but her career just never seemed to take off, which isn’t too unusual given that she was starting to get older and with millions of new people competing to be the next big thing every year, it is assumed that she just went back to being a regular member of society. Maybe we’ll from her again someday, although this is very much doubtful.

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