Sunday 7 November 1996.
As the fighting game events approached their climax, the atmosphere inside the arena grew increasingly electric. The energy was at its peak as the finals of the Dead or Alive tournament began—one of the most anticipated matches of the entire ZAGE Fighting Games lineup. Both finalists were from Japan: a skilled player known as KO-Koro and his...
2025-10-10 22:59:29 +0000 UTC View PostZEB Building Japan on ZAGE Fighting Tournament.
Yumi Ichijou stood at the top of the stage, letting out a quiet sigh. Why did her boss always insist she be the MC for ZAGE events—and always in a Princess Daisy costume, no less? Still, she couldn’t exactly say no. Zaboru Renkonan had promised her a generous bonus, as he always did, and that kind of offer was hard to turn down. W...
2025-10-10 02:10:10 +0000 UTC View PostSaturday 6 November 1996
ZEB (ZAGE Event Building), Japan — As usual during ZAGE events, the ZEB opened its doors well before the main festivities, which were scheduled to start at 11:00 AM. But even though it was only 7:00 AM, the venue was already buzzing with activity. Crowds had gathered early, all eager for one thing: exclusive ZAGE merchandise!
The Ba...
2025-10-10 02:09:22 +0000 UTC View PostOn his way to the Tokyo offices, Zaboru smiled as he thought about Akira Toriyama. When he decided to finally move forward with developing Chrono Trigger, Zaboru made a conscious choice to involve Toriyama in the project. In this world, Akira Toriyama wasn’t as famous as he was in Zaboru’s previous life—Dragon Ball Z hadn't debuted yet, and Toriyama was still focu...
2025-10-09 03:32:17 +0000 UTC View PostTuesday 26 October 1996 Osaka
Zaboru is now in Osaka, Japan. He's preparing to assign the teams two new projects that will occupy them for the next few months. His main plan is to hand them another round of arcade game projects, continuing the momentum from their last success. Meanwhile, for the ZAGE ZGB handheld, Zaboru has decided to keep relying on third-party developers to hand...
2025-10-09 03:31:46 +0000 UTC View PostMonday 25 October Sonaya offices.
Hikaru Kurata was now sitting in the workshop as the “Amaterasu” Project—also known as the Game Station—was in its final phase. It was currently break time, and as usual, Hikaru was having lunch with Junpei Hoshida and Ken Kutaragi, the two leads in charge of the Amaterasu Project.
“So, the new Dead or Alive arcade from ZAG...
2025-10-08 02:22:49 +0000 UTC View PostSaturday 23 October 1996 Bakudan Arcade Morning.
Sakaki, Kumogi, Rikki, and Sawada—the salarymen collectively known as the Bakudan Boys—were hanging out at their usual spot, the Bakudan Arcade. They had been there since morning, all because something special was happening that they couldn’t afford to miss.
Sakaki and Sawada, both ZAGE employees, had excitedly informed K...
2025-10-08 02:22:32 +0000 UTC View PostMonday 4 October 1996 Night
While the Japanese government was busy discussing ZAGE, Zaboru himself was still in his office in Japan, having just returned from enjoying his favorite gyoza. Now, with a full stomach and a clear mind, he was ready to unwind with a video game.
He wanted to play the newest game on the Titan Drive console—Sonaya’s flagship 16-bit system. The gam...
2025-10-07 01:55:54 +0000 UTC View PostMonday 4 October 1996
During a recent Japanese government meeting, several key topics were discussed, but the spotlight was firmly on the Ministry of Tourism. The current Minister, Kuroki Watanabe, stood confidently before the attendees. With a proud smile, he said, "Between 1992 and 1996, tourism to Japan from foreign countries has increased by nearly 300%! It's a massive success ...
2025-10-07 01:55:10 +0000 UTC View PostFriday 1 October 1996 - Japan night
“Thank you for your purchase,” Takayuki said with a tired, empty smile to his customer. He worked as a clerk at a supermarket in Tokyo, and the exhaustion was written all over his face. Still, a faint smile lingered—because he knew his shift would soon be over, and when he got home, he could finally do what he loved most: play video games.<...
2025-10-06 01:53:11 +0000 UTC View PostFriday 24 September 1996
Yuki Ryonaku is one of the survivors of the Kobe Earthquake a few months ago. Now in his third year of high school, he's doing relatively well given the circumstances. Although he lost both his little brother and his father in the disaster, the Ryonaku family has managed to hold themselves together. Yuki’s mother works as a baker, and Yuki himself is jugg...
2025-10-06 01:52:54 +0000 UTC View PostFriday 24 September 1996.
Zaboru sat in his office, deep in thought, brainstorming the next big move for ZAGE's video games. He jotted down idea after idea, his mind racing with possibilities for what could come next.
It's been just five days since the release of the ZEPS Closure game package on September 19, 1996, and sales are skyrocketing—far beyond what Zaboru and his t...
2025-10-05 03:28:57 +0000 UTC View PostThe day after the ZEPS 1 closure ad aired, ZAGE made an exciting follow-up announcement: a special farewell event for ZEPS 1 would be held at the ZAGE Event Building (ZEB) in Japan. The moment the news broke, fans across the country were thrilled. Tickets went on sale almost immediately—and just as quickly, they sold out. The event was officially scheduled for September 11, 1996, and a...
2025-10-05 03:28:34 +0000 UTC View PostSaturday 5 September 1996
Kiyotake Miyaichi, a 23-year-old salaryman, is a truly devoted gamer. He's always been fascinated by the evolution of video games, and he regularly plays the latest consoles such as the Titan Drive, ZEPS 2, and Reborn 16. These systems offer cutting-edge graphics compared to 8 bit and advanced gameplay, or the arcade itself that becomes 32 bit and while he...
2025-10-04 03:16:31 +0000 UTC View PostWednesday 1 September 1996.
Zaboru sat in his office in the United States, reviewing reports and planning ahead. He was aware of the ongoing progress back in Japan, where the ZAGE Tokyo and Osaka teams were deep in development on the ZEPS 3 console. Now, it was time for him to take the next step—assigning the Japanese teams a lineup of launch titles for the system.
He had c...
2025-10-04 03:16:15 +0000 UTC View PostWhile Zaboru was in meetings with Saban discussing Power Rangers, the ZAGE development teams were already hard at work beginning production on their newest game projects.
This month, Zaboru issued a new directive to the three branches of ZAGE: ZAGE Tokyo, ZAGE Osaka, and ZAGE USA. Each team was assigned a major task—one large-scale game project per studio. These weren’t just or...
2025-10-04 03:15:51 +0000 UTC View PostHey guys, I want to ask your opinion about Harry Potter. I know the books are phenomenal, but I haven’t read them — I only watched the movies. I’m not sure if it’s the same experience, but I’m planning to make Harry Potter the first game in this world.
Do you think a Harry Potter RPG game would be cool? (I’m not talking about Hogwarts Legacy, since I haven’t played it.)
...
Monday 30 August 1996.
Zaboru was currently in his office in the USA, sitting alongside Kyotaro Shinomori—the owner of Rekka Studio, a ZAGE subsidiary responsible for producing tokusatsu shows. Kyotaro had traveled to the United States because Zaboru wanted to introduce him to the studio that would handle the American adaptation of Super Sentai, which would soon be known as Power...
2025-10-03 00:17:01 +0000 UTC View PostJust two days after its release, Half-Life took the gaming world by storm. First and foremost, the game's graphics were stunning—impressively detailed and immersive—even when compared to the top-tier visuals of recent ZAGE PC titles like Quake.
The cinematics felt truly unique. There were no third-person cutaways, no breaks for traditional cutscenes—everything unfolded ...
2025-10-03 00:16:39 +0000 UTC View PostSaturday 28 August 1996.
Brian Reynald grinned—he had finally gotten his hands on ZAGE’s newest game: Half-Life. After a long wait in line at the official ZAGE store, the moment of victory was his.
The game had been teased for weeks, building up hype across gaming circles. Previews in ZAGE POWER Magazine had offered only small glimpses, just enough to stir curios...
2025-10-02 02:13:08 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's Note: Instead of structuring chapters by month, I decided to use direct time skips like this to keep the story moving at a faster pace. Of course, ZAGE has been releasing games during those skipped months, though I haven’t detailed them all here—honestly, I didn’t plan them out yet lol and I might do this often or not at all it depends.
21 August 199...
2025-10-02 02:12:39 +0000 UTC View PostSoon after, Zaboru received a call from Liam, who informed him that he would be waiting at the airport. Their flight to Brazil was scheduled for that very night. They would be heading to São Paulo specifically, where Liam already had temporary lodging arranged. With accommodations secured, everything was set for Zaboru, Liam, and Carlos to travel together without any issues.
On We...
2025-10-01 02:09:38 +0000 UTC View PostTuesday 15 June 1996. ZAGE USA.
After spending last Saturday enjoying The Little Mermaid with his family in Japan, Zaboru quickly returned to the United States. There were pressing matters awaiting him—specifically, a report from Liam Wallson, the head of marketing for ZAGE USA. Liam had recently been exploring and analyzing the LATAM market and brought exciting news: a ...
2025-10-01 02:09:17 +0000 UTC View PostSaturday 12 June 1996 Japan.
Zaboru, along with his family and his girlfriend, were planning to watch a movie together—and it was none other than The Little Mermaid. Three days earlier, the film had premiered in the United States, and Zaboru had received a special invitation to attend. However, he politely declined, choosing instead to experience it with his loved ones w...
2025-09-30 02:34:43 +0000 UTC View PostFriday 4 June 1996 - ZAGE offices Japan Tokyo.
There was a knock at the door of Zaboru’s office—it was none other than his secretary, Yumi Ichijou. Zaboru looked up and asked, “Yumi-san, what’s wrong?”
Yumi adjusted her glasses with a composed expression and replied, “Boss, Zanichi-san is asking for you in the workshop. He seems to be in a debate regarding the ZEP...
2025-09-30 02:34:26 +0000 UTC View PostOver on the ZAGE Forum, an interesting thread began to gain traction, titled “ZAGE ABANDONED IP.” The topic was started by a user going by the name JabaJaba, who sparked a spirited discussion among longtime fans of ZAGE’s classic titles.
The thread said, “Sup guys! I just wanted to open a discussion about how many ZAGE IPs seem to be completely overlooked when it comes to s...
2025-09-29 02:19:08 +0000 UTC View PostWhile Zaboru remained occupied with meetings at Disney’s offices, back in Sonaya’s headquarters in Japan, an important internal discussion was underway. The topic was the future of their next-generation console, currently known as Project “Amaterasu,” and more specifically, the critical decision of which media format the system would adopt for its games.
Junpei Hoshid...
2025-09-29 02:18:32 +0000 UTC View PostTuesday 1 June 1996.
At Disney's U.S. offices, Zaboru is currently in a meeting with the company's creative leadership. The purpose of the meeting is to present three movie ideas that are planned to follow the release of The Little Mermaid.
And for now, Zaboru is already preparing three new movies that will be developed by the Disney team. The Disney Animation divisi...
2025-09-28 02:21:25 +0000 UTC View PostMitsu Tadano is currently working on a review for ZAGE's latest video game releases this month, joined by his best friend and fellow enthusiast, Ishiki Nakaga. Even though Mitsu has already established himself as the proud owner of ZEMITSU—one of Japan’s leading independent video game review companies—he remains deeply passionate about gaming. His love for video games, especially t...
2025-09-28 02:21:07 +0000 UTC View PostThursday 20 May 1996.
Vince McMahon traveled to the ZAGE offices in the United States to personally thank Zaboru for the incredible success of the L1GM4 event. The event had become a media sensation, dominating headlines across television networks and newspapers alike, sparking conversation and excitement throughout the entertainment world.
Vince McMahon laughed out loud, his...
2025-09-27 03:30:42 +0000 UTC View Post