Zaboru continued staring at the second game positioned inside ZAGE's June release schedule.
The development build had finished loading, and the familiar dragon emblem slowly appeared across the monitor before the title finally revealed itself.
MORTAL KOMBAT: SHAOLIN MONKS
Zaboru immediately grinned.
"Heh. Definitely a good game... and underrated as hell."
Unlike Downhill Domination, which Zaboru remembered primarily because of the ridiculous amount of fun he had playing it with friends, Shaolin Monks occupied a slightly different place in his memories.
It was a game that probably should have become much bigger than it actually did.
Back in Zaboru's previous life, Mortal Kombat had already been an enormous franchise with plenty of dedicated fans, but the series had struggled somewhat during the transition into the PlayStation 2 generation. Fighting games were changing rapidly. Tekken had become incredibly polished as a three-dimensional fighter. Soulcalibur had built a strong identity around weapons and free movement. Dead or Alive had its own fast counters, stage interactions, and increasingly impressive presentation.
Meanwhile, Mortal Kombat had spent several entries trying to figure out exactly what a modern three-dimensional Mortal Kombat should even be.
The franchise never disappeared, obviously.
It remained famous.
People still knew Scorpion.
People still knew Sub-Zero.
People still shouted about Fatalities.
But compared to its earlier domination, Zaboru remembered a period where Mortal Kombat seemed to be searching for a new direction.
Then came something completely different.
Not another traditional fighting game.
Not another attempt to directly compete with Tekken.
Instead—
An action-adventure beat 'em up.
Zaboru leaned back in his chair and smiled nostalgically.
"This was one of the best games you could finish together with somebody."
That was the thing he remembered most.
In his previous life, several of his friends barely knew anything about Mortal Kombat lore. Some could recognize Scorpion and Sub-Zero, maybe Liu Kang if they were lucky, but if someone started explaining Outworld, the Elder Gods, Quan Chi, or the history between different clans, they would probably stop listening within five minutes.
Yet they still loved Shaolin Monks.
Because the game didn't require somebody to already be a Mortal Kombat fanatic to have fun.
You picked up a controller.
Your friend picked up another.
And then you started beating the absolute shit out of everything together.
Simple.
Zaboru opened the gameplay document.
At its foundation, the game followed Liu Kang and Kung Lao, allowing one or two players to travel through different realms while fighting groups of enemies rather than engaging in one-on-one tournament matches.
The combat carried Mortal Kombat's identity but translated it into a completely different format.
Punches.
Kicks.
Launchers.
Special attacks.
Throws.
Weapons.
Environmental kills.
And, naturally—
Fatalities.
Zaboru smiled wider.
Those absolutely weren't going anywhere.
In fact, the ZAGE development team had already expanded the system considerably.
Fatalities could be unlocked and discovered throughout progression. Some could be found through exploration. Others became available after completing specific requirements. Players could also experiment with combinations and stumble into techniques accidentally, although the game manual and later unlock menus would eventually provide enough information that nobody needed to spend three hours randomly pressing buttons like an idiot.
Then there were Multalities.
When surrounded by enough enemies, a character could unleash a finishing sequence capable of massacring multiple opponents simultaneously.
And finally—
Brutalities.
Temporary states built around overwhelming aggression, speed, and relentless combinations.
Zaboru chuckled.
"Yeah... this is Mortal Kombat all right."
Blood splattered across environments.
Enemies could be thrown into spikes.
Weapons could be taken from the battlefield.
Bodies could be launched into dangerous environmental objects.
Certain arenas were practically designed around making players ask the extremely important question:
What happens if I throw this guy into that thing?
Usually, the answer was something horrifying.
Zaboru considered that good game design.
But the gore wasn't what made Shaolin Monks memorable to him.
It was how much the game encouraged exploration.
The stages were interconnected rather than simply functioning as corridors between fights. As Liu Kang and Kung Lao unlocked new movement abilities, previously inaccessible areas could be reached. Certain doors required abilities. Some environmental obstacles could only be bypassed later. Hidden passages contained collectibles, upgrades, alternative encounters, secret fights, and references to Mortal Kombat history.
There were enough secrets that two players could finish the main story and still realize they had missed enormous amounts of content.
And that was exactly the type of thing Zaboru wanted to preserve.
He opened another document.
CO-OP STRUCTURE
His grin returned.
This was the heart of the project.
Two players needed to be able to move through the campaign naturally together.
Not competitive multiplayer awkwardly glued onto a single-player game.
Not a second player controlling some useless helper character.
A genuine two-player campaign.
Liu Kang and Kung Lao could fight separately, combine attacks, launch enemies toward one another, rescue each other when surrounded, and interact with certain cooperative mechanisms throughout the stages.
Some secret areas would even be designed specifically around cooperation.
One player activates something.
The other reaches another position.
One launches an enemy.
The second continues the combo.
One gets surrounded.
The other crashes into the group and completely ruins everyone's day.
Zaboru laughed quietly.
"Perfect."
One of his favorite memories from the original game was simply sitting beside someone and gradually figuring things out together.
Neither player needed to be incredible.
You could screw around.
Try ridiculous attacks.
Discover a secret accidentally.
Argue about where to go next.
Then spend ten minutes repeatedly attempting some stupid environmental kill because it looked funny.
That social experience was something Zaboru wanted ZEPS 4 games to preserve.
Online gaming was becoming increasingly important through ZAGE Network, but Zaboru refused to accept the idea that online features should replace local multiplayer.
Sometimes two idiots sitting beside one another with controllers were still better than anything else.
Naturally, though, this version would support both.
Two-player local co-op.
Two-player online co-op.
Progress synchronization.
Private rooms.
Friend invitations.
And enough checkpoint support that players didn't need to restart enormous sections because somebody disconnected.
Zaboru nodded.
"Good."
Then his expression became slightly thoughtful.
Because there was something else he remembered very clearly about Shaolin Monks.
The irony surrounding its name.
"But because it's Mortal Kombat... this game suffered."
He laughed quietly.
It was almost ridiculous.
Being connected to Mortal Kombat should have helped.
And in many ways, it did.
But it also created a strange problem.
Zaboru could practically imagine the reactions from his previous world.
A hardcore Mortal Kombat fan sees it.
"What the fuck? Mortal Kombat that isn't a fighting game? Bullshit!"
Then somebody who doesn't care about Mortal Kombat sees it.
"I don't know shit about Mortal Kombat. Why would I play this?"
Zaboru covered his mouth while laughing.
"So you somehow get attacked from both directions."
That had always felt ironic to him because the actual game was incredibly approachable. A person could know almost nothing about Mortal Kombat and still enjoy beating hundreds of enemies with a friend.
Fortunately, the situation in this world was different.
Very different.
Here, Mortal Kombat was one of ZAGE's premier fighting franchises.
It had been established for years alongside ZAGE's other major fighting properties and remained enormously recognizable among arcade players.
More importantly, Zaboru had guided its development differently.
He already knew what made Mortal Kombat special.
The franchise did not need to imitate Tekken.
It didn't need to become Soulcalibur.
And it certainly didn't need to abandon its identity simply because three-dimensional graphics became normal.
Mortal Kombat in this world retained its controlled fighting structure while using changing directions, expanded arenas, environmental interactions, weapons, brutal finishing systems, and increasingly cinematic presentation without losing the immediate readability of its combat the latest release of MK: Armageddon said that.
Most importantly—
It remained Mortal Kombat.
Violent.
Mystical.
Martial-arts heavy.
Ridiculous.
And proud of it.
The franchise was already popular enough that the announcement of a completely different Mortal Kombat game would undoubtedly attract attention.
That didn't mean everyone would accept it.
Zaboru tapped his fingers against the desk.
"Will Mortal Kombat fans like this...?"
He thought for several seconds.
Then shrugged.
"Well, if they like it, good. If they don't... so be it."
He chuckled.
Zaboru had learned long ago that trying to please every single fan simultaneously was impossible.
Somebody would complain.
Somebody always complained.
The important thing was whether the game itself was good.
And ZAGE had another advantage.
Its name carried enormous weight.
People were willing to try strange ZAGE projects because the company had built enough trust that even something unusual received attention.
If the game was excellent, word would spread.
Simple as that.
Zaboru returned to the development notes.
There was one major thing he wanted to improve.
Playable characters.
The original structure centered strongly around Liu Kang and Kung Lao.
That would remain the primary campaign.
Their story was still the foundation.
But Zaboru wanted more.
Much more.
He remembered unlocking characters like Scorpion and Sub-Zero in his previous life and being excited to use them, only to realize that they were mostly being inserted into content originally structured around Liu Kang and Kung Lao.
Fun?
Absolutely.
But disappointing too.
Zaboru grinned.
"We can do better than that."
The ZAGE version would include several additional playable characters.
Some would simply function as bonus characters for replaying stages.
But the biggest names?
They deserved more.
Especially Scorpion and Sub-Zero.
Zaboru opened another concept file.
SIDE CAMPAIGNS
Not full campaigns equal in length to Liu Kang and Kung Lao's story.
That would unnecessarily explode the development scope.
Instead, selected characters would receive shorter dedicated scenarios.
Two or three major regions.
Exclusive dialogue.
Unique encounters.
Different perspectives on events.
Character-specific bosses.
And, whenever appropriate, support for both solo play and co-op.
That way, unlocking Scorpion didn't simply mean replacing Liu Kang's model and pretending nothing had changed.
The player would actually get something built around Scorpion.
The same with Sub-Zero.
And more importantly, people who had only casually encountered those characters through arcade matches would gain a better understanding of who they actually were.
Zaboru smiled.
"This is exactly what spin-offs are good for."
Traditional Mortal Kombat games could only communicate so much story between fights.
Shaolin Monks had room to let the world breathe.
Temples.
Outworld.
The Living Forest.
Dangerous ruins.
Hidden chambers.
Characters interacting outside tournament arenas.
For newer players, it could become an introduction to Mortal Kombat's universe.
For existing fans, it could make familiar places and characters feel larger.
Zaboru nodded approvingly.
Then he glanced toward the June schedule again.
Downhill Domination.
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks.
His grin widened.
"Co-op galore."
It reminded him of something he loved about that era of games.
Not everything needed enormous online lobbies.
Sometimes the best experiences were simply built around two or four people sharing a screen.
June would lean into that.
Downhill races with friends.
Shaolin Monks with another player beside you.
Zaboru leaned back.
"Not bad."
Then another name crossed his mind.
"Oh yeah..."
He opened a different folder.
THE WARRIORS
Zaboru smiled.
Originally, he had wanted another beat 'em up title prepared around this period.
The Warriors would have fit perfectly.
Street fights.
Gang warfare.
Cooperative action.
A different atmosphere entirely from Mortal Kombat.
The problem had been licensing.
"Paramount..." Zaboru muttered.
Negotiating the movie rights had been considerably more troublesome than he expected.
The film already existed in this world, although like many entertainment properties its timeline was shifted roughly ten years later than Zaboru remembered. In his previous world, The Warriors had released in 1979.
Here?
1989.
Zaboru still occasionally found those timeline differences amusing.
Fortunately, the rights negotiations had finally been completed.
The game simply wouldn't make this June window.
Zaboru smiled.
"But it's coming."
He clicked the folder closed.
"Hehehe... definitely coming."
That left June's ZEPS 4 lineup exactly where he wanted it.
One chaotic arcade-style downhill racing game.
One brutally violent cooperative martial-arts adventure.
Both emphasizing something Zaboru believed modern games should never abandon.
Playing together.
He saved the schedule.
Then glanced toward the clock.
His smile slowly faded into a more thoughtful expression.
Morning was approaching.
And he had another appointment.
Arachne.
Their representatives had already provided coordinates for the meeting.
Surprisingly, the location wasn't particularly far away.
Zaboru stared at the message for several seconds before closing his development folders.
"Well..."
He stood and stretched.
"Guess it's finally time."
His eyes briefly shifted toward another project folder sitting quietly on the desktop.
ASSASSIN'S CREED.
Zaboru stared at it.
Then smiled awkwardly.
"Yeah... this conversation is going to be interesting."
Because today he was going to explain to members of a genuine international secret organization that he wanted to create a videogame about—
A centuries-old secret organization fighting another centuries-old secret organization over humanity's freedom.
Zaboru sighed.
"I wonder real Ezio like figure exist here... well i'm not surprised if it did" he chuckle as he prepared to meetings
To be continued.
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