Friday, 16 January 2002 — 19:00, ZAGE Tower
Zaboru was still inside his private room at ZAGE Tower, typing through the last batch of work for the evening while several documents remained open across his monitors. Beside him sat Shinsuke Yamaguchi, who had only recently finished another long discussion with Zaboru regarding ZEPS 4 marketing, retail coordination, and the final preparations for the global launch. Shinsuke would be traveling again almost immediately, visiting several major regions personally to make sure ZAGE's distributors, launch venues, advertising partners, and regional branches were synchronized before 2 February 2002.
Zaboru glanced toward him and chuckled. "You should probably go home soon, Shinsuke-san. Tomorrow is going to be busy enough already." Shinsuke took another sip of milk before laughing. "As if I'm ever busy enough, Boss. You always find another job for me." Zaboru smiled without even looking away from his monitor. "Well, you're that capable. What am I supposed to do?" Shinsuke gave him a suspicious look. "Then maybe I should demand a better salary—" He stopped himself immediately and sighed. "No. Forget I said that. You'll actually increase it and then Finance will ask me why." Zaboru laughed. "Hehehe, too late. I already heard it."
Their conversation gradually became quieter after that, and Shinsuke eventually glanced toward the second laptop sitting beside Zaboru's desk. "So… how is Ayumi doing?" Zaboru's expression softened immediately. Rather than answering directly, he opened YouTube and played part of U-Bunny's second video on the large screen. Ayumi had already read through many of the comments from her first upload and was preparing to answer several questions publicly, including some serious ones and some that had clearly irritated her enough that she wanted to answer them personally. Zaboru watched her for a moment before smiling. "She's fine, Shinsuke-san. Don't worry. Ayumi is tougher than people think."
Shinsuke nodded slowly. "It still must be difficult for her." He leaned back in his chair and looked toward Zaboru more seriously. "It isn't really my business, and I know there are a lot of nasty new rumours spreading about you lately, but Boss… people inside ZAGE know what kind of person you are. Most employees do. Some of us have been around you for years. We've seen how you actually behave when there are no cameras around and no journalists watching." He paused for a moment before continuing. "You don't flaunt your wealth. Half the time you dress no differently from the developers working downstairs. You barely care whether someone calls you Boss, President, or simply Zaboru. You walk around with ordinary employees, sit down and eat with development teams, remember people's names even when you really shouldn't be expected to, and somehow you notice when someone is struggling before they even ask for help."
Shinsuke smiled faintly and folded his hands together. "You pay people well, you give proper holidays, you actually tell employees to go home when they've worked too much, and when somebody brings you a problem, you usually ask how to solve it instead of immediately looking for someone to blame. People remember things like that, Boss. Especially employees who have worked under other companies before coming here." His smile became a little warmer. "So when strange rumours suddenly appear saying you're secretly involved with criminals, that ZAGE was built through intimidation, or that Ayumi somehow proves there's something rotten underneath all of this… most people inside ZAGE don't believe those stories easily. We've worked beside you for too long. We know the difference between the Zaboru people imagine from headlines and the idiot who walks into a development room at midnight because somebody told him a boss fight wasn't fun enough."
Zaboru stared at him for a moment before chuckling softly. "That last part wasn't necessary, Shinsuke-san." Shinsuke laughed. "It was completely necessary." Zaboru leaned back in his chair and exhaled, his expression becoming more thoughtful. "Still, I'm not too worried about everyone liking me. That's impossible. If you become famous enough, somebody will dislike you simply because they saw your face too many times that week." He smiled slightly. "I'm still human. I make mistakes. I have weaknesses. Sometimes I make decisions that turn out badly, sometimes I get too excited and push an idea harder than I should, and I'm definitely not some god of video games no matter how many people online apparently think I am."
Shinsuke nodded, though he continued looking at him for a moment longer than usual. "That's part of why people here trust you, Boss. You've changed a lot since the first time we met, but you somehow never became completely different." His expression softened. "You were already ambitious back then, probably far too ambitious for your age, but now you have tens of thousands of people depending on decisions you make. Entire companies move because you say something in a meeting. Governments invite you to talk. Developers all over the world know your name. And yet sometimes I still look at you and remember that strange kid who somehow convinced all of us that his ridiculous arcade company was going somewhere with just budget that barely cover that first ZEPS 1 batch."
Zaboru smiled at that.
Shinsuke rubbed the back of his neck and laughed awkwardly. "This is going to sound a little embarrassing, but sometimes I think of you almost like a son. Sayuri does too. We've watched you grow for so long that it's difficult not to." Zaboru stared at him for a second before his familiar grin returned. "Then you should probably negotiate with Dad first if you want joint ownership. I don't think he's going to give up his percentage easily." Shinsuke immediately raised one hand. "That might actually be interesting. Do you think Senpai would share?" Zaboru laughed. "Absolutely not. He'd probably tell you to build your own son."
That finally broke the serious atmosphere completely. Shinsuke laughed along with him, and for the next several minutes their conversation drifted away from rumours, Ayumi, and ZEPS 4 entirely. They talked about old ZAGE memories, development disasters that seemed funny only years later, and how strange it was that people who had once worked out of cramped rooms now held meetings across several continents.
By the time Shinsuke finally stood to leave, the building had become considerably quieter. Most of the ordinary office floors had already emptied, leaving only the usual late-night developers, maintenance staff, security teams, and the handful of executives who apparently had forgotten that normal people went home before midnight. Shinsuke paused near the door and looked back toward Zaboru once more. "Get some sleep eventually, Boss."
Zaboru grinned. "I sleep and Sleep only for weak"
Shinsuke shook his head and chuckle and left..
Zaboru remained alone in the room, the glow from his monitors reflecting against the dark windows behind him. Tonight, ZAGE Tower was unusually calm.
Tomorrow, however, there would be absolutely nothing calm about ZAGE.
Saturday, 17 January 2002
At exactly the scheduled time, ZAGE's official YouTube channel uploaded a new video.
The title was almost insultingly simple.
ZEPS 4 — FIRST TEASER
No specifications.
No game titles.
No explanations.
Only a thumbnail showing a thin silver Z surrounded by darkness.
The video began without music.
A black screen remained for several seconds before a faint electronic sound appeared, almost like an old machine waking from a long sleep. Then a tiny white glow emerged in the darkness.
The screen displayed:
1991
An original ZEPS 1 slowly appeared.
Not a recreation.
The actual console.
Its old plastic body rotated under a single beam of light while faint sounds from the early ZAS and ZEPS era echoed behind it. Then the trailer suddenly cut into rapid flashes of classic ZEPS 1 games—8-bit sprites running across colorful backgrounds, Megaman , Super Mario Bros , Castlevania, Donkey Kong, Pac-man, Choujin Sentai Z-man , Contra , Final Fantasy and more.
The music began quietly.
Simple electronic notes.
Almost nostalgic.
Then the screen went black.
1994
The beat became slightly stronger.
ZEPS 2 emerged next, its sharper design rotating slowly as the sound expanded into richer layers. Sixteen-bit gameplay exploded across the screen: larger sprites, faster action, richer color palettes, Sonic 2 , Street Fighter, Super Metroid , Ninja Gaiden 3, Rurouni Kenshin, Link through the past and many more
The footage moved faster now.
Each cut synchronized with the music.
Then—
Black.
1997
A low bass note struck.
The original ZEPS 3 appeared.
The music suddenly transformed completely.
A powerful orchestral layer entered beneath the electronics while the trailer flashed through the generation that had changed ZAGE forever. Fully 3D environments. Characters moving through real-time worlds. Gran Turismo , Super mario 64 , Crash bandicoot , Resident Evil , Final Fantasy 7 , Vagrant Story , Metal Gear Solid , Megaman X3 , Tekken , Bloody Roar , Bruce Lee : Thunder Dragon fist and many more
The camera moved closer toward ZEPS 3.
Closer.
Closer.
Until the entire screen became black.
Then everything stopped.
No music.
No logo.
No text.
Only silence.
For nearly four seconds, nothing happened.
Then—
TINK.
A thin blue line appeared across the darkness.
Another followed.
Then another.
The lines moved slowly, tracing something invisible.
One line became an edge.
Another became a corner.
Then the outline of a machine began forming piece by piece.
A deep mechanical pulse entered the soundtrack.
THUM.
Another edge illuminated.
THUM.
Silver metallic trim became visible.
THUM.
A wide black body emerged from the darkness.
The camera moved slowly around it, never revealing everything at once. First came the broad horizontal silhouette, unmistakably heavier and more substantial than ZEPS 3. Then the metallic silver side accents caught the light. A soft blue illumination traced beneath the console while the upper surface finally became visible.
Two cartridge slots.
The trailer paused just long enough for experienced ZAGE players to understand exactly what they were looking at.
ZEPS 1.
ZEPS 2.
Then the camera dropped toward the front.
Memory Card EX slots appeared.
USB ports.
A thin illuminated disc opening.
A Blue-Ray Disc slowly slid into the machine, disappearing beneath the silver-and-black shell as the music began building again.
The screen flashed.
THE PAST COMES WITH YOU.
For less than a second, old ZEPS 1, ZEPS 2, and ZEPS 3 games appeared reflected across the metallic surface of ZEPS 4.
Then the music exploded.
The full console finally appeared.
ZEPS 4.
Black.
Silver.
Blue illumination.
Broad and powerful rather than delicate.
The camera circled around it while dozens of tiny interface elements briefly appeared around the machine—ZAGE ID, ZAGE Network, Z-Store, Friends, Messages, Voice Chat, YouTube, ZAGE Forum, Media, Blue-Ray, Trophys—but none remained on screen long enough to become a feature presentation.
This was not the specification trailer.
It was a promise.
Then the first controller appeared.
The standard wireless ZEPS 4 controller rotated beneath silver lighting: symmetrical analog sticks, refined triggers, familiar button layout, headset connection, and the glowing central Z.
A heartbeat later, something completely different slid into frame beside it.
The Z-Remote.
Longer.
Narrower.
Black and silver.
A wrist strap hanging beneath it.
The trailer did not explain what it did.
It simply showed a hand picking it up.
The music stopped for half a second.
Then the footage changed.
A sword flashed across the screen.
A white-haired man in a red coat launched a demon into the air.
Cut.
An enormous red wyvern roared while four hunters scattered beneath its wings.
Cut.
A pale young man covered in strange black markings stood alone beneath a dead sky raised his head as several demons materialized around him, and the scene instantly shifted into a Press Turn battle
Cut.
A green-armored soldier fired into a swarm of alien enemies as plasma exploded across the battlefield.
Cut.
A customized orange sports car activated nitrous and tore through a rain-soaked city at night.
Cut.
Mario launched across a bright tropical island.
Cut.
A Pokémon attack erupted across a full 3D arena.
Cut.
Snake pressed himself against a metal wall while guards searched nearby.
Cut.
Four green humanoid turtles dropped from a New York rooftop at once.
Cut.
CJ drove through a city intersection while police vehicles pursued him.
Cut.
Sonic, SpongeBob, Mario, and Crash raced through a ridiculous crossover track while items exploded everywhere.
Cut.
A person swung the Z-Remote like a tennis racket.
The game responded instantly.
No titles appeared.
No developer names.
No explanation.
Just seconds of gameplay.
Enough to understand that every single game looked dramatically beyond ZEPS 3.
The pace accelerated.
Dante fired Ebony & Ivory while remaining airborne.
Rathalos descended through fire and smoke.
The Demi-Fiend stared down a gigantic demon as the battlefield distorted around him.
Master Chief drove a Warthog across a massive battlefield.
A sports car drifted beneath neon lights.
Raiden stood beneath artificial rain.
Leonardo and Raphael launched a Foot soldier together while Donatello and Michelangelo fought behind them.
A Shadow Crocmaw erupted with dark energy.
Mario dove through clear blue water.
A bowling ball left a player's hand through a natural Z-Remote motion.
A kart crossed the finish line by less than half a meter.
CJ looked across Los Santos from a rooftop at sunset.
Then—
Everything went black again.
The music vanished.
A single distant tone remained.
Silver text slowly appeared.
YOU PLAYED OUR PAST.
The words disappeared.
Another line appeared.
NOW ENTER OUR FUTURE.
Silence.
Then the blue illumination returned.
The finished ZEPS 4 sat alone in darkness.
The standard controller rested beside it.
The Z-Remote stood on the opposite side.
Behind them, a faint silver Z slowly formed.
Then came the slogan.
ZEPS 4LIVE IN YOUR WORLD.
A brief pause.
PLAY IN OURS.
The music reached its final enormous note as the screen flashed white.
Then the date appeared.
02.02.2002
The numbers remained for several seconds.
Long enough for nobody to misunderstand them.
Then they vanished.
A final message appeared in complete silence.
WAIT FOR MORE.
The screen flickered.
One final line replaced it.
TIME IS RUNNING OUT.
A faint mechanical click echoed.
The screen went completely black.
Then, just before the video ended, the familiar silver ZAGE logo appeared for barely one second alongside a quiet whisper:
"You Are Very Cool."
Cut to black.
No reactions.
No interviews.
No explanation of what anyone had just seen.
The first ZEPS 4 teaser had done exactly what Zaboru wanted.
It did not explain the console.
It made people desperately want the explanation.
To be continued.
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