After the eting with Mitsu Tadano, Zaboru continued working as usual.
First, over at the Tokyo branch, developnt on Joe & Mac Arcade was progressing smoothly and steadily. The team remained on schedule, and the ga was expected to launch in the early days of the following month. There was a quiet confidence among the developers, a feeling that this title could be a sleeper hit.
anwhile, the Osaka branch had already scored a double success by the end of April. Two ZGB gas—Mario Tennis and Harvest Moon ZGB—had hit the market, and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. Both titles made waves in the handheld scene, with Mario Tennis in particular exceeding all expectations and becoming an instant fan favorite.
For Harvest Moon, players loved it—as expected. Especially for fans of the franchise, the fact that they could now play their favorite farm simulator on a handheld, on the go, made this ga quite popular and helped it sell well, as Harvest Moon was already a well-known title in ZEPS 1 and PC Although it shares the sa na, the gaplay between Harvest Moon on ZEPS 1 and on ZGB is completely different. The ZGB version is a brand-new ga, built from the ground up for handheld play. One standout feature is that players can choose to play as either a male or female character—an option not available in the original ZEPS 1 version—adding a new layer of personalization and accessibility to the experience.
anwhile, with Mario Tennis, players who bought it just expected a regular tennis ga where they could play as Mario—oh, how wrong they were. The ga delivered way more than anyone expected from a portable tennis title. Instead of being a simple arcade sports ga, it surprised players by combining solid tennis chanics with a full-blown RPG adventure mode—sothing players had never experienced before.
In the single-player mode, players didn’t start as Mario or Luigi. Instead, they played as brand-new original characters—Alex or Nina—at a tennis academy, leveling up, training, and rising through the ranks to eventually face the Mushroom Kingdom’s best. This made the ga feel like a sports-thed RPG, where players trained their stats, unlocked tournants, explored areas, and ford rivalries.
Players loved the sense of progression—watching their custom character grow stronger and eventually face Mario himself felt incredibly rewarding. It was like Pokémon ets Tennis, with a satisfying growth system. And of course, Zabo-man could be found in this ga—he appeared as a cao character who walks around the Mushroom Academy.
On top of that, the core tennis gaplay was fast, smooth, and surprisingly deep for a ZGB title. Players had access to topspins, slices, lobs, volleys, and even strategic positioning. The AI was challenging enough to be fun, and matches actually felt like skill-based battles—not just button-mashing. The ga also supported link cable multiplayer, allowing friends to compete head-to-head using their leveled-up characters.
Visually, the ga was impressive too. It featured bright, charming graphics for the ZGB , clean animations, and a great soundtrack that perfectly set the mood—whether players were training or in a high-stakes match. For many, Mario Tennis ZGB was a truly great ga. Players loved every second of it. So even said that despite ZEPS 2 already existing, ZGB could still produce excellent gas—and thats show ho ZAGE is really creative with their gas.
Another major developnt on the horizon for May—besides the anticipated release of Joe & Mac—was Zaboru’s strategic initiative to launch four new titles. This ambitious rollout included two gas for ZEPS 1 and two for ZEPS 2, showcasing ZAGE’s commitnt to supporting both their original and next-generation consoles. The Tokyo and Osaka branches would each take charge of one ga for each platform, reinforcing the internal balance and friendly rivalry between the teams. It was part of Zaboru’s broader strategy to maintain montum across both systems, ensuring that ZAGE had a diverse portfolio while giving each team a chance to shine.
The upcoming lineup for ZEPS 2 featured two high-profile titles: Kirby Super Stars, a colorful and imaginative platforr packed with multiple ga modes, and Super Ghouls ’n Ghosts, a punishing but rewarding side-scrolling action ga known for its brutal difficulty and gothic charm. These gas were expected to showcase the full capabilities of the ZEPS 2 hardware and continue drawing players into the next generation of gaming.
anwhile, ZAGE wasn’t abandoning its original console just yet. The ZEPS 1 offerings included ga Man 4, another exciting Chapter in the iconic blue bomber’s saga, and River City Ransom, a beloved beat-’em-up title with RPG elents and cult status among fans in Zaboru’s previous life. These gas were crafted with the sa attention to detail as their ZEPS 2 counterparts, ensuring they would still be compelling despite the older hardware.
So employees expressed skepticism. Why continue developing for ZEPS 1 when ZEPS 2 was already making waves? Wasn’t it ti to move on entirely? From a business perspective, the question made sense—resources were limited, and the industry’s focus had clearly shifted to newer, more powerful hardware.
But Zaboru didn’t see it that way. His response was simple, almost dismissively so: "Because I want to." For him, creative freedom trumped trends, and nostalgia still had a place in the future of gaming. His words weren’t just a quip—they reflected his philosophy as a developer. And for those who worked under him, that answer, unshakably confident and stubbornly sincere, was more than enough.
Zaboru didn’t really care about the doubts. If he still wanted to make 8-bit gas, then he would make them—regardless of market trends or expectations. He viewed the act of creation as sothing personal, almost defiant. Even when his team would be fully imrsed in developing gas for ZEPS 2, he knew there would be monts when inspiration would pull him back to ZEPS 1. And when that happened, he’d follow it without hesitation.
Besides, ZEPS 1 gas weren’t truly obsolete. Thanks to backward compatibility, ZEPS 2 could still run ZEPS 1 cartridges, allowing new releases to remain accessible to a wide audience. For players, it ant that their old collection still had value—and for Zaboru, it ant that his creative playground remained wide open.
He also saw this as a test. Could a well-designed ZEPS 1 ga still hold its own against the flashier, more powerful ZEPS 2 titles? Could simplicity outshine spectacle if done right? Zaboru was eager to find out. In his mind, the challenge wasn’t just technical—it was philosophical. And he loved every bit of it.
After this batch of gas, Zaboru planned to ramp things up significantly for the June release cycle. May, on the other hand, was expected to be relatively quiet. The reason was simple: there were still very few third-party developers ready to release ZEPS 2 titles. Most were still deep in developnt, trying to get a handle on the new hardware and polish their projects.
Zaboru anticipated that so third-party developers might begin submitting their gas for approval around mid-to-late May, but he wasn’t expecting a flood of content just yet. It would likely be a trickle—just a few early adopters who had managed to keep pace with ZAGE’s rapid tiline.
However, by July, Zaboru believed things would be different. He expected a noticeable surge in third-party submissions by then. Studios would finally have had enough ti to adapt, optimize, and complete their first wave of ZEPS 2 gas. In his mind, June would be the calm before the third-party storm and that’s why in June he will create heavy hitters on ZEPS 2.
And overall, that’s what happened during the rest of April.
Now, it was already early May, and one of the ZAGE buildings that had been under renovation was fully completed and ready for use.
Then, Zaboru was surprised—he noticed there were many potential employees that joined ZAGE , and the HR already told him the list of potential employees. Funny enough, he recognized several of them well... at least from his previous life because they are quite famous.
It was none other than Eiji Aonuma, applying as a developer, and Nobuo Uematsu, applying as a composer. In this world, however, both n had been born ten years later than in Zaboru’s previous life—Eiji in 1973 and Nobuo in 1969. Eiji had just recently graduated from college and was actively seeking employnt, while Nobuo already had a few years of experience working in the music industry as a composer.
Zaboru stared at their nas in disbelief. They had already been accepted by ZAGE’s HR departnt, pending only the final preparations of the newly renovated building. It was surreal. In his past life, Eiji Aonuma had gone on to beco a key developer in The Legend of Zelda series, while Nobuo Uematsu was hailed as the legendary composer behind the iconic Final Fantasy soundtracks.
Now, here they were—still young, just starting out, but bursting with potential. And sohow, fate had brought them into Zaboru’s orbit once again.
Zaboru grinned. "Heh, so I’ve got another great developer and composer, even if they’re still young in this world," he said with a chuckle. Still, he couldn’t help but feel impressed. These were strong additions to the team, and the fact that ZAGE’s HR departnt had already approved them spoke volus. Clearly, their skills weren’t lacking in the slightest.
To be continued
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