The new year of 1994 arrived, and as usual, Zaboru celebrated with his family and his girlfriend. Continuing his tradition of generosity, he awarded a substantial bonus to all ZAGE employees. The staff were thrilled—once again appreciating how consistently generous their boss was with these annual bonuses.
In January, Zaboru and ZAGE released the Sailor Moon ZEPS ga. The gaplay is reminiscent of Choujin Sentai Z-man but features the beloved Sailor Moon cast in an action platforr format. Players can choose from multiple characters, including the main cast: Sailor Moon (Usagi Tsukino), Sailor rcury (Ami Mizuno), Sailor Mars (Rei Hino), Sailor Jupiter (Makoto Kino), and Sailor Venus (Minako Aino). What truly makes this ga stand out is the wide array of available costus for each Sailor girl. Although only the character sprites change, players loved the variety and customization. The ga beca a major hit, fueled by the overwhelming popularity of Sailor Moon.
To promote the ga, Zaboru produced a short advertisent, which helped bring in many fans of the ani who had never played video gas before. Sales of the ZEPS console surged, as ani lovers bought it specifically to experience the Sailor Moon ga. As a fun twist, Zabo-man appears in the ga as well—but this ti in a chibi version. He shows up as one of the enemies, piloting a comical yet nacing Evil Robot with the mission of vanquishing the Sailor girls.
Next, at the USA branch, ZAGE is releasing their highly anticipated sequel to one of their most popular PC gas—Doom. The new title, "DOOM 2: Hell on Earth," boasts a significantly longer campaign and retains the intense, gritty style fans loved in the original. Just like the Doom 2 from Zaboru’s previous life, this version features an extended campaign, a wider arsenal of weapons, and a multiplayer LAN mode that greatly excites players. Many are thrilled by the enhanced gaplay and performance.
Zaboru also worked on improving the ga engine. Though it is based on the sa engine used in Doom 1, he enhanced its performance and stability, making it run smoother and better than ever. Players imdiately noticed the boost in quality, and the experience feels more refined.
Zabo-man makes a surprise appearance in Doom 2, occasionally showing up in the background as an Easter egg. He can be seen defeating demons with his shoulder-mounted missile launcher—an amusing and heroic sight. Additionally, a Spawn Easter egg has returned from the first Doom ga. Sotis during battles, a demon will be dragged back through a green portal before Spawn briefly appears and slams it shut, thrilling fans and sparking curiosity about Spawn’s identity. He’s a unique character who appears across multiple gas as an Easter egg, which adds to his mystique. Fans have spotted him not only in the Doom franchise but also in Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, making him a rare crossover figure that fuels speculation and excitent among gars.
Doom 2 quickly beca a fan favorite in the USA. Within just one week of its release, the ga sold approximately 300,000 copies—an unexpected but welco surprise for Zaboru. All signs point to Doom 2 becoming equal success than its predecessor.
Next, in the arcades, ZAGE introduced another groundbreaking innovation by unveiling digitized sprites—an idea completely new to this world. In Mortal Kombat, the ZAGE USA developnt team employed a pioneering technique, still unheard of here, to bring their characters to life through digitized images. Rather than using traditional hand-drawn pixel art, which is still the standard for most current fighting gas, ZAGE working in collaboration with Zen Tech the Motion Capture studio they just acquired fild real actors performing martial arts moves and converted that footage into 2D sprite animations.
The process involved filming the actors against a neutral backdrop, then ticulously capturing each fra of motion. These fras were then digitized—converted into pixel format—and cleaned up for ga use. The result was a highly realistic, almost photographic visual effect. While the animations occasionally looked a bit goofy, they also brought a raw, gritty authenticity that made Mortal Kombat stand out sharply from its competition, especially when compared to the cartoonish style of Street Fighter or Marvel VS ZAGE.
This visual style and the lifelike character movents quickly beca iconic features of Mortal Kombat, helping it develop a strong identity. Arican audiences loved the ga, particularly because of its graphic violence and mature tone. It even surpassed the popularity of the MARVEL VS ZAGE fighting ga in the U.S., where it gained a huge fanbase. Notably, the ga also sparked interest in Japan, with growing communities forming around it but still in Japan Street Fighter and Marvel vs ZAGE are still more popular arcades fighting gas there.
More than anything, Mortal Kombat’s success showed that ZAGE was constantly evolving. Month after month, they kept introducing new and exciting content—last month it was Dance Dance Revolution arcades, two months ago it was OutRun, and now it was Mortal Kombat. This relentless innovation had beco one of ZAGE’s most powerful trademarks.
anwhile Sonaya Titan Drive is gaining solid foundation Sonaya is releasing 2 gas this month to enrich their 16 bit library and there also many 3rd party developers that want to develop gas for Titan Drives although the players know that ZAGE is on their way creating their own 16 bit consoles still they still want to play the current 16 bit consoles from Sonaya Titan Drive. Even though Sonaya is currently doing well, Hikaru Kurata remains deeply concerned. ZAGE has retaliated by cleverly turning Sonaya’s own Titan Drive catchphrase, "Play Arcade at Ho," against them. ZAGE has already released three blockbuster arcade titles—OutRun, Dance Dance Revolution, and Mortal Kombat—that are either extrely difficult or nearly impossible to replicate at ho. While Mortal Kombat is technically playable on 16 bit ho consoles, the arcade version boasts superior visual fidelity due to advanced digitized sprite technology. This has prompted Hikaru Kurata to ask Aoyama, Sonaya’s CTO, to investigate the cutting-edge thods ZAGE used to develop Mortal Kombat, hoping they can match to create sothing similar to it
Next, outside of the gaming world, the Let’s N GO ani—based on the R.C. PRO AM series—has finished airing. Now, all eyes are on the upcoming release of the Pokémon ani. When it was first announced, it imdiately caused a sensation. Pokémon’s current popularity is so imnse that even people who don’t play video gas know what it is that’s because The franchise’s toys have beco incredibly widespread and recognizable, making Pokémon really famous
While in Arica, Zaboru noticed sothing unusual—there were no UNO cards in this world. Surprised by the absence of such a universally loved ga, he quickly flew back to Japan with a plan. He contacted his owned and trusted card manufacturer Ninzendo the sa one behind the Yu-Gi-Oh cards and asked them to develop UNO cards. Since the ga’s design is relatively simple, the production was fast. In just one week, they produced a large initial batch of UNO cards.
Zaboru then launched a nationwide marketing campaign, airing TV comrcials that introduced UNO to the public. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Viewers were instantly captivated by the ga’s casual, fast-paced, and fun nature. It struck a chord with families and friends groups alike, quickly becoming a sensation. Thanks to the power of mass advertising and the ga’s approachable charm, UNO beca an overnight success.
There are also board gas. Although Zaboru wasn’t a fan of them in his previous world, he knows well that titles like Dungeons & Dragons and WARHAMR 40k are extrely popular. However, he’s uncertain how to approach developing such gas. He might possess Deep mory Dive abilities that let him recall precise details from his past, but if he never had those mories to begin with, such abilities are of no use. Zaboru sighs. Perhaps in the future, if he gains abilities that allow him to explore deeper aspects of his forr life, he could consider introducing board gas. Or maybe, he simply needs to improvise. The opportunity is still there, waiting to be seized.
There was another curious anomaly—Windows had just teased the upcoming release of a new operating system. Strangely, it was called Windows 94. Zaboru knew for certain that in his previous life, no such OS existed; it had jumped straight from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95. This unexpected developnt made him wonder if the pace of technological advancent had accelerated in this world, likely due to his own interventions. If Windows 94 turned out to be more advanced than the Windows 95 he rembered, that could only benefit him. It might allow him to recreate so of the iconic late-90s PC gas from his previous life even earlier and with better performance. Still, Microsoft had only released a teaser for now—no official release date had been announced.
anwhile, Zaboru and ZAGE officially moved to acquire HanDai. The negotiation with Mido Mitoma, HanDai’s CEO, proved to be difficult. HanDai had beco extrely popular, with their toys selling remarkably well in both Japan and the U.S. However, Zaboru reminded Mitoma that the majority of HanDai’s best-selling products were based on ZAGE franchises—especially Pokémon alongside UFO Catcher arcades—which caused Mitoma to hesitate.
At the ti, Mitoma owned 70% of the company and initially stated he didn’t want to sell HanDai to ZAGE. But Zaboru knew Mitoma well—he was a calculating businessman who always pursued maximum profit. Zaboru, although kind, wasn’t a pushover. When Mitoma resisted the sale, Zaboru delivered an ultimatum: once the current licensing deal expired, ZAGE would end its partnership with HanDai and create its own toy company, which Zaboru knew would be relatively easy to establish.
This declaration left Mitoma pale-faced. After further negotiation, he relented. Mitoma agreed to sell 60% of his shares to ZAGE, retaining 10% for himself. Zaboru then acquired the remaining 30% from other HanDai shareholders. In total, Zaboru spent $15 million, or roughly 3 billion yen, to gain a 90% stake in the company. He allowed Mitoma to keep the final 10%, wanting him to remain as the head of HanDai. Mitoma happily agreed—after all, easy money was always welco in his eyes.
This marked Zaboru’s largest acquisition yet. While HanDai was a dium-sized company, it already had a U.S. branch, its own toy manufacturing facilities, and distribution channels. This infrastructure provided ZAGE with a shortcut to mass-produce its rchandise—particularly Pokémon and Marvel products—both of which Zaboru knew would generate imnse profits in the future and in future 3 Billion Yen is just a breeze for it.
To be continue
AN : I’m sick but i’m not dead so heres a Chapter
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