In January, Zaboru was actively assigning new tasks to the teams who had completed their major development milestones either during December of the previous year or earlier in the current month. With the start of 1999, he saw it as the perfect time to reallocate talent and keep the momentum going across all divisions of ZAGE.
Among the teams that had wrapped up their development cycles and were currently without new assignments, Team Tempest USA stood out as the group that had finished their work back in December. They had been waiting patiently for their next task despite still having 2 other tasks. Meanwhile, several other teams had just completed their projects within the early days of January 1999. These included Team Enigma USA, who had successfully shipped the much-anticipated Medal of Honor . Then there was Team NIWA Japan, who brought to life the heartfelt JRPG Trails in the Sky: First Chapter Finally, Team NOVA Japan had completed their fast-paced party game Bishi Bashi Special.
With all these teams momentarily between their 3rd major assignments, Zaboru saw the opportunity to carefully hand-pick their next ambitious projects, ensuring the company's creative engines kept firing without pause.
And so right now, Zaboru was in the process of assigning new tasks to these four development teams. For the two Japanese teams, he focused first on Team NIWA. As they were well-known for their specialization in creating rich and engaging JRPGs, Zaboru decided they would be the perfect fit to take on a new, ambitious project—Persona 2: Innocent Sin. This title, deeply important to Zaboru due to his memories from his previous life, held a unique place in his heart. He vividly remembered that Persona 2 was one of the few games in the franchise that had two interconnected official installments. In this world, it was now time to begin the journey with the first of the pair.
Zaboru knew the narrative of Persona 2 was one of the most compelling and unique stories in the entire Persona franchise. It weaved themes of identity, rumors becoming reality, and psychological trauma in a way that resonated with players who wanted something deeper than the typical hero's journey. In his previous life, it was a cult classic—underappreciated but brilliant. Now, he intended to give it the platform and spotlight it deserved.
He had faith that Team NIWA's sense of character depth, worldbuilding, and emotional nuance would allow them to capture the essence of the story and even elevate it. He wasn't interested in making a simple remake of what he remembered—instead, he wanted this to be a definitive version of Persona 2: Innocent Sin, with improved mechanics, sharper art direction, and a more impactful pacing.
Understanding the complexity and scope of the project, Zaboru allotted Team NIWA a full eight months of development time. That would set the game up for a release window in September 1999, giving the team the space they needed to deliver something remarkable without burning out.
For Team NOVA, Zaboru had a fresh and exciting vision. He was assigning them the task of developing a brand-new racing game—one inspired by the exhilarating mechanics and fun gameplay style of Mario Kart. However, in this alternate timeline, the title would take a bold turn. The game would be known as Sonic Racing, and while Mario still existed in the universe and even appeared in the game, Sonic would now take center stage as the main playable character despite Mari Kart is already exsist in ZEPS 2. This decision wasn't just made on a whim—Zaboru believed Sonic's speed-focused identity and attitude would make for an electrifying experience in the kart racing genre.
Zaboru envisioned this new racing game as more than just a clone or copy. He wanted it to blend the charm and item-based chaos of Mario Kart 64 with the slick track design and competitive depth of Crash Team Racing. The fusion of those two legendary titles, enhanced by Sonic's energetic brand, could result in something truly groundbreaking. He planned to add environmental hazards, advanced drifting mechanics, unique racer abilities, and an immersive adventure mode that tied the races together with a light narrative. While there will also be other ZAGE Characters from ZAGE IP because for Zaboru sonic is way more suitable to leading a racing game than Mario for ZAGE.
With all these ambitions, Zaboru allotted Team NOVA a full eight months to develop the project. Their target release date was set for September 1999, giving them enough time to refine the gameplay and polish the final product. He knew the world hadn't seen anything quite like this before, and he was confident Team NOVA could deliver a game that would set a new benchmark for mascot-based racing titles.
For the USA-based Team Tempest, Zaboru had an ambitious new assignment lined up that would take full advantage of their talent for creating immersive PC experiences. He decided to entrust them with the development of a new title—Mafia—inspired heavily by the iconic game from his previous life, which was originally released in 2002. However, Zaboru wasn't content with simply recreating what once existed. He intended to evolve the concept significantly, tailoring it to suit ZAGE's standards while incorporating entirely new mechanics, narrative layers, and world-building elements.
In order to give the game the level of authenticity and realism it deserved, Zaboru planned to consult directly with the real-life Giordano family, a mafia organization he had unique access to in this world. Their input would serve as reference for everything from character behaviour and dialogue to the structure of the in-game criminal underworld, to the code of silence and internal politics that defined mafia operations. Zaboru even considered the idea of subtly including references to the Giordano family within the game's storyline—either through a fictionalized version of the family or hidden easter eggs for those who knew what to look for.
Beyond authenticity, he envisioned Mafia as a narrative-driven open-world crime drama set in a fictional American city inspired by 1930s to 1950s aesthetics, infused with noir atmosphere, period-accurate vehicles, and moral ambiguity. Zaboru wanted to push visual fidelity to its limits, emphasizing high-resolution textures, dynamic lighting, detailed facial animations, and fully voiced performances. This wasn't just going to be a game—it was to be a cinematic experience, and one that required tremendous graphical resources and development commitment.
Given the scale and depth of the project, Zaboru allotted Team Tempest a full year of development time. He expected the final game to be ready for release in January 2000, giving the team ample time to experiment with their engine, iterate on their ideas, and polish the final experience to perfection. He knew this would be one of ZAGE's most mature and groundbreaking titles—and if done right, it could define the tone for future prestige PC games under the ZAGE banner.
Next for Team Enigma, Zaboru decided to assign them another major project, and it was none other than Twisted Metal 2 for the ZAGE console ZEPS 3. There had been a growing number of fans online and in the community who were constantly requesting a follow-up to the chaotic vehicular combat hit. They had been begging for a sequel, and Zaboru knew that the timing was perfect to fulfill that demand.
He understood that Twisted Metal wasn't just a game—it was a cultural moment, a statement of style, attitude, and gameplay mayhem that resonated deeply with players who wanted something loud, dark, and exciting. Now, for the sequel, he planned to push everything to the next level: more characters, more unique vehicles, destructible environments, layered arenas with interactive traps, a deepened story mode with character arcs, and even the possibility of a split-screen four-player mode if the team could get the engine optimized well enough.
Zaboru wanted Team Enigma to elevate not just the content, but the atmosphere. He envisioned thematic level designs based on global landmarks—such as a crumbling Colosseum, an icy Siberian outpost, and a hellish Halloween-themed carnival stage, just to name a few. Soundtrack enhancements, improved car physics, smoother controls, and full-motion cinematic character intros were also on the table.
With all of these improvements and additions, Zaboru expected Team Enigma to release Twisted Metal 2 in October, aligning the launch with Halloween to capitalize on the game's macabre tone. He knew the spooky season would add a layer of thematic synergy, and fans would eat it up. It wouldn't just be a sequel—it would be a full-blown spectacle.
Then aside from all these software developments, the progress on the ZGBA handheld hardware was going exceptionally well. The entire process was unfolding with remarkable smoothness, and it was clear to everyone at ZAGE that the key figure behind this success was none other than Zanichi, Zaboru's father. As the head of the hardware division, Zanichi's deep expertise, experience, and relentless drive were on full display. He wasn't just overseeing the project—he was pushing it forward with speed and precision that few others could match. The prototypes were being completed ahead of schedule, internal stress tests showed promising durability, and the compact architecture they had envisioned was actually becoming a reality far faster than expected.
Zaboru often found himself silently marveling at just how vital his father's contributions were to the core of ZAGE's hardware success. Sometimes, he would sit back in his office and reflect that no matter how visionary he might be, none of it could become real without Zanichi's technical backbone. In truth, he couldn't imagine ZAGE functioning without his father's hands guiding the core of their hardware innovation.
And it wasn't just the hardware side that was thriving. The software and game development pipeline for the ZGBA handheld was also running on schedule and showing excellent promise.
Overall, the synergy between hardware and software for the ZGBA project was something Zaboru felt immensely proud of. The stars were aligning, and it was beginning to look like the ZGBA launch would not only meet expectations—but possibly exceed them in spectacular fashion.
And so, at this very moment, the ZAGE January Games Trailer was primed and ready to make waves across the entire gaming world.
To be continue
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