Tuesday, 20 January 2002.
By Tuesday morning, most gamers expected ZAGE to finally reveal the full specifications of ZEPS 4. After the first teaser, Zaraki's savage "Time Is Running Out" music video, and the ridiculous interview between Zaboru and Hideo Kojima, people had spent days waiting for the company to stop joking around and actually explain what the machine could do.
Instead, ZAGE uploaded a short video featuring nothing but Zaboru sitting in front of the camera.
He looked completely relaxed, wearing a simple red shirt with the silver ZAGE emblem behind him. "Okay, guys. By now you already know the general idea of ZEPS 4. You know what it looks like, you know when it releases, and you've seen a little of what it can do." He grinned. "But for everything else—features, specifications, price, online systems, all the detailed stuff—we'll reveal that later. So be patient, okay?"
Millions of viewers immediately complained at their screens.
Zaboru clearly expected that reaction because his grin widened. "Instead, starting today until Friday, we're going to show you the games. Three games today, three tomorrow, three on Thursday, and the final games on Friday. No more silhouettes. No more half-second clips. Proper trailers." He leaned closer toward the camera. "So enjoy the first three."
The video ended.
A few minutes later, ZAGE uploaded three trailers.
And the internet exploded all over again.
The first was Monster Hunter.
The two-minute trailer opened quietly with hunters preparing inside a settlement, examining equipment, sharpening weapons, collecting supplies, and accepting contracts before heading into enormous wilderness areas. Then the atmosphere changed completely. A massive wyvern descended from the sky, forcing several hunters to scatter as its wings sent dust and leaves flying across the ground. The trailer rapidly showcased different weapons—a Great Sword slamming into a monster's skull, a long weapon sweeping through smaller creatures, heavy hammers smashing armor, ranged weapons firing from a distance, and groups of hunters coordinating attacks against creatures far larger than themselves.
More importantly, players finally understood the loop.
Hunt monsters.
Carve materials.
Return home.
Craft better weapons and armor from whatever you killed.
Then hunt something even worse.
One short sequence showed a hunter wearing relatively ordinary equipment before cutting to the same character later wearing elaborate armor clearly created from the monster they had previously defeated. That single transformation fascinated people. The game was not merely about beating a boss once. The monster itself became progression.
The graphics also looked extraordinary. Creatures moved with weight instead of feeling like large animated models. Their feet disturbed dirt, wings pushed vegetation, and large bodies reacted convincingly when struck. Environments were dense without becoming difficult to read, while the hunters themselves carried detailed armor composed of individual plates, leather straps, cloth, bone, and metal.
The next trailer completely changed tone.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Several older ZAGE fans immediately became nostalgic. TMNT had been one of ZAGE's recognizable beat-'em-up properties for years, but this was nothing like the older side-scrolling games.
The four turtle brothers were now fully three-dimensional.
Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo looked more detailed than anyone had expected while still retaining their exaggerated animated appearance. Their shells showed scratches and texture, cloth masks moved during combat, and each brother had noticeably different body language.
Then the gameplay started.
The turtles dropped from a rooftop directly into a group of Foot Clan soldiers and immediately began destroying them.
Leonardo fought with balanced sword combinations, rapidly moving between multiple enemies. Raphael attacked far more aggressively, charging directly into groups and using his sais at close range. Donatello controlled wider areas with his bo staff, while Michelangelo moved faster than the others, using nunchaku and acrobatic attacks.
But what really caught attention was how strongly the game focused on cooperation. Four players could fight together, chain certain attacks, launch enemies toward each other, split up briefly through stages, and help teammates surrounded by opponents. One sequence showed Leonardo launching an enemy upward before Michelangelo struck him in midair, followed by Donatello knocking the same soldier directly into Raphael's waiting attack.
The trailer finished with all four brothers standing together on a New York rooftop while the city stretched behind them.
For people who had grown up playing TMNT beat-'em-ups together, the message was simple.
The old chaos had returned.
Now it was 3D.
The third game was Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
Unlike the first two trailers, it began almost silently.
Rain hammered against the surface of a tanker while Snake slowly emerged from the darkness. The camera followed him as he slipped past guards, pressed against walls, crawled beneath obstacles, and used shadows and environmental objects to avoid detection.
Then viewers saw just how detailed the stealth systems had become.
Snake knocked on a wall to distract a guard. A soldier investigated the sound. Another noticed footprints. A security radio suddenly went silent after Snake disabled it. Guards began communicating with one another instead of mindlessly continuing the same patrol.
The trailer then shifted toward cinematics. Characters were dramatically more expressive than anything ZEPS 3 had managed. Rain rolled across clothing. Faces reacted naturally during conversations. Smoke filled hallways. Metal surfaces reflected light.
Then came several short flashes of Raiden.
No explanation.
No context.
Just enough for everyone to ask who the blond character was and why he appeared so prominently in a Metal Gear trailer supposedly starring Snake.
By Tuesday afternoon, gaming forums were already overwhelmed.
And that was only the first day.
Wednesday, 21 January 2002.
ZAGE released another three trailers.
The first was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The reaction was immediate because the game looked enormous.
The trailer opened over Los Santos before moving across neighborhoods, highways, countryside, desert, and distant cities. Players saw CJ walking through Grove Street, riding a bicycle, stealing cars, fighting with his fists, firing weapons, escaping police, driving motorcycles, entering buildings, changing clothes, and even working out inside a gym.
That last part confused people almost as much as it impressed them.
Characters could physically change?
The world could apparently be explored far beyond a single city?
Could players really just steal almost any vehicle they saw?
Nobody knew exactly how large San Andreas was yet, but the trailer made one thing obvious: this was not some sequence of disconnected levels.
It was a world.
One sequence showed CJ driving through Los Santos before leaving the city entirely, crossing countryside, and continuing toward mountains visible far in the distance. Another showed him flying above the landscape in a small aircraft.
Forums immediately filled with one question.
"HOW OPEN IS THIS GAME!?"
The second trailer was Halo: Combat Evolved.
For FPS players, this was the one that changed the entire day.
The trailer introduced Master Chief awakening aboard the Pillar of Autumn before quickly moving into combat against the Covenant. Plasma weapons lit up corridors. Elites dodged gunfire instead of standing still. Grunts panicked when their stronger allies were killed. Jackals positioned shields carefully while Hunters appeared like walking tanks.
Then the trailer moved outdoors.
That was where people really lost their minds.
Master Chief emerged onto the Halo ring and suddenly the environment became enormous. Mountains stretched into the distance. Alien structures towered across open terrain. Vehicles moved freely through battlefields instead of existing inside predetermined racing sequences.
Then came the Warthog.
Master Chief jumped inside, another soldier mounted the rear gun, and the vehicle tore across the battlefield while plasma fire exploded around them.
The final portion briefly showcased multiplayer.
Split-screen.
Online matches.
Capture the Flag.
Vehicles.
Headset communication.
ZAGE Network.
For many players, that was enough.
The third game was Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne.
Its trailer was completely different from Halo.
Tokyo was destroyed.
The sky twisted.
The world became something unnatural.
Then the Demi-Fiend appeared.
Fans of Shin Megami Tensei immediately recognized that the series had entered an entirely different visual generation. Demons that had previously existed mostly as sprites and illustrations now appeared as fully modeled 3D creatures.
The trailer showcased battles using the Press Turn system, though without explaining every rule directly. Players could clearly see weaknesses granting additional opportunities while mistakes caused momentum to collapse.
Then came demon negotiation.
Instead of simply killing everything, Demi-Fiend spoke with demons during battle. Some demanded money. Some wanted items. Some asked bizarre questions. Others simply refused to cooperate.
The trailer also briefly showed demon fusion and the Demon Compendium, where collected demons could be recorded and later summoned again.
Longtime SMT fans understood immediately.
Collecting demons was no longer simply about filling a list.
It was about constructing the perfect party.
The trailer ended with Demi-Fiend standing alone beneath a dead sky while an enormous demon slowly appeared behind him.
Wednesday ended with players arguing over three completely different things: how enormous San Andreas really was, whether Halo could become the best console FPS ever made, and how badly Nocturne intended to punish them.
Thursday, 22 January 2002.
The first trailer was Super Mario Sunshine.
After several days filled with monsters, demons, criminals, military combat, and stealth, Sunshine was almost aggressively colorful.
Mario arrived on Isle Delfino beneath a bright blue sky surrounded by tropical water so clear that people immediately began talking about the graphics before the actual gameplay even began.
Then FLUDD appeared.
Mario sprayed water across dirty environments, hovered over gaps, cleaned strange goop, fought enemies, performed acrobatic jumps, wall-kicked between buildings, and explored large colorful areas filled with hidden paths.
Everything looked vibrant.
Water reflected sunlight naturally. Tropical environments stretched far into the distance. Mario's animations flowed smoothly from running to jumping to diving without awkward pauses.
The game simply looked fun.
Then came Devil May Cry.
The trailer opened with Dante walking into a room filled with demons.
He smiled.
Then the music hit.
What followed barely slowed down for the next two minutes.
Dante attacked with Rebellion, launched enemies upward, jumped after them, fired Ebony & Ivory in midair, landed, switched weapons, dodged an incoming strike, taunted another demon, and immediately chained into another attack.
The animation was ridiculously smooth.
More importantly, it looked expressive.
Two players could perform the same battle completely differently.
Several style names appeared briefly—Trickster, Swordmaster, Gunslinger, Royalguard—before the trailer demonstrated how dramatically they changed Dante's combat options.
Then Vergil appeared.
Only briefly.
He drew Yamato.
The screen went black before anyone could understand much more.
That was enough to start an entirely new obsession.
The final trailer that day was Need for Speed: Underground.
For people like Damian Watson, this was the one they had been waiting for.
The nighttime city looked almost impossibly good.
Customized cars raced beneath neon signs while wet streets reflected headlights and advertisements. Nitrous distorted the environment. Sparks erupted when cars scraped barriers. Tire smoke filled corners during drifting.
But the trailer did not focus entirely on racing.
It showed customization.
A normal car entered the garage.
The player changed the rims.
Body kit.
Spoiler.
Hood.
Paint.
Vinyls.
Neon.
Performance upgrades.
Then the modified car rolled back onto the street looking almost completely different.
The trailer also hinted at a story built around underground racing, reputation, rival drivers, and progressing from a relatively unknown racer into someone recognized throughout the city.
By Thursday evening, people were already joking that they needed far more than one ZEPS 4 launch game.
That was becoming ZAGE's real problem.
The lineup looked too good.
Friday, 23 January 2002.
ZAGE released only two trailers.
The first was ZAGE Kart.
Nobody needed more than ten seconds to understand what kind of disaster this game would become.
Mario raced against Sonic.
Crash Bandicoot threw an item at SpongeBob.
Bomberman nearly destroyed everyone around him.
Tracks jumped wildly between worlds, with one section resembling the Mushroom Kingdom before transitioning into environments inspired by Sonic and Crash.
The trailer emphasized multiplayer heavily.
Local split-screen.
Online matchmaking.
Custom races.
Voice chat.
Items.
Shortcuts.
Chaos.
One clip showed Sonic approaching the finish line in first place before Crash hit him with an item less than a second before the end, allowing SpongeBob to drive past both of them.
People could already imagine the arguments.
The second trailer was Pokémon Colosseum.
At first, it looked familiar.
Pokémon.
Battles.
Trainers.
Then the atmosphere changed.
The protagonist was older.
The environments were harsher.
The story immediately felt darker than the normal Pokémon journey.
The trailer explained the concept of Shadow Pokémon, creatures whose hearts had been artificially closed and corrupted. Instead of simply catching normal wild Pokémon, players would need to Snag these Shadow Pokémon from enemy trainers and eventually purify them.
Double Battles appeared constantly, immediately making Colosseum feel more tactical than traditional Pokémon games.
The graphics were also a major attraction.
Pokémon were fully modeled in 3D, with much more expressive animations than anything possible on ZGBA. Large Pokémon genuinely looked large. Attacks filled arenas with fire, electricity, water, and other effects.
The trailer also confirmed connectivity with Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.
Players could eventually bring compatible Pokémon from their ZGBA adventures into ZEPS 4 battles.
That alone guaranteed enormous interest.
By Friday night, gamers had finally seen eleven ZEPS 4 launch titles in proper trailers.
Monster Hunter. TMNT. Metal Gear Solid 2. GTA: San Andreas. Halo. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne. Super Mario Sunshine. Devil May Cry. Need for Speed: Underground. ZAGE Kart. Pokémon Colosseum.
And over four days, the general mood had changed from curiosity into desperation.
The graphics were simply absurd.
Xbox and i-Play still looked impressive, especially compared with older machines, but ZEPS 4 now seemed like something from another class entirely. More importantly, the games did not look like graphics demonstrations attached to shallow concepts. Every trailer showed something different.
Hunting.
Cooperative beat-'em-up combat.
Stealth.
Open-world crime.
Console FPS.
Turn-based demon RPG.
Platforming.
Stylish action.
Street racing.
Kart chaos.
Pokémon.
There was almost something for everyone.
And yet observant fans noticed a problem.
Something was missing.
The first ZEPS 4 teaser had clearly shown people swinging the Z-Remote while playing some kind of sports title.
But throughout the entire week—
nothing.
No trailer.
No title.
No explanation.
By Friday night, discussions began appearing everywhere.
"WHERE IS THE SPORTS GAME?"
"Did ZAGE cancel it?"
"Was it only a tech demo?"
"They showed tennis in the first teaser!"
"Maybe it isn't actually a game?"
Others believed ZAGE had intentionally saved it.
That theory grew stronger because Zaboru had originally said they would reveal the games "until the weekend."
Friday was finished.
Saturday was the weekend.
So early Saturday morning, players began gathering around ZAGE's YouTube page again.
Some refreshed constantly.
Others waited inside ZAGE Forum discussion threads.
Nobody knew whether ZAGE planned to show another game, finally reveal the hardware specifications, explain the Z-Remote, or simply release another ridiculous joke.
Then the scheduled upload appeared.
The thumbnail showed several familiar ZAGE developers standing around a ZEPS 4.
No explanation.
No game title.
Just five words:
ZAGE Experience — With DEVS
The premiere countdown began.
And within minutes, thousands of people were already waiting.
To be continued.
Please give me your power stone and if you want to support me and get minimum 50+ advance chapter and additional 1 chapter a week for 4$ considering subscribe to my patreon patreon.com/Zaborn_1997
Or buymecoffee https://buymeacoffee.com/Zaborn_1997 which same with patreon
current Patreon/buymecoffe chap 1412