After the ZAGE yearly report meeting, several things happened during the rest of January. One of the first things Zaboru did was visit the Sonaya offices to personally congratulate their team for winning GOTY 1999 with their game Sun Knight 5. Even though Sonaya was technically a competitor of ZAGE, Zaboru had always respected studios that pushed the industry forward. He openly praised their work and encouraged them to continue making great games, because he was already looking forward to playing whatever they cook next.
The main reason for the visit, however, was for Zaboru to review Sonaya's new game engine. He had promised Hikaru Kurata, the CEO of Sonaya, that he would personally evaluate the engine. In exchange, Sonaya agreed to allow several of their songs to be included on the Z‑POD platform. During the visit, Junpei Hoshida and Hikaru Kurata proudly introduced the engine to him and explained that they simply called it the Sonaya Game Engine. When Zaboru heard the name, he immediately laughed and said, "This name has no personality!" The room briefly went silent before Junpei Hoshida started chuckling, while Hikaru Kurata looked slightly annoyed but not truly angry. He understood that Zaboru was only teasing them and that the comment was not meant as serious criticism.
When the technical presentation began, it quickly became clear to Zaboru that the engine took many references from the ZAGE Unreal Engine, which Sonaya had used for years in their development pipelines. In the past, Sonaya had provided ZAGE with large amounts of internal data about how their teams used the engine in real projects in exchange for free use of Unreal Engine. Only recently did Sonaya realize how valuable that data truly was, which is why they decided to stop relying on Unreal Engine and begin developing their own technology instead. Through years of working with Unreal Engine, Sonaya had gained a deep understanding of how important engine tools, workflows, and performance data were for long‑term development.
Despite still being new, the engine itself performed surprisingly well. It was mainly designed for Sonaya's 32‑bit console, the Game Station, but the architecture also supported PC development. That alone suggested that Sonaya was preparing to expand more seriously into the PC market in the future. Zaboru spent some time testing the engine's performance and examining the tools available to developers. After finishing his review, he gave them a positive assessment. The overall performance reminded him of the early stages of ZAGE's Unreal Engine. It still had room to grow, but the foundation was solid and the direction was promising.
Next, at the end of January 2000, Zaboru met with Team FUMA. Their previous assignment during the past year had been to create the farewell titles for both the ZEPS 2 and the ZGB consoles, projects that were successfully released in December 1999. After completing those games, Zaboru intentionally gave the team some time to study the ZGBA hardware more deeply. Since the ZGBA would become one of ZAGE's most important platforms moving forward, he wanted Team FUMA to fully understand the system before starting their next major projects as team FUMA will focused on ZGBA in future.
By this point, however, Zaboru believed the team was ready to move forward again. Because of that, he decided to assign them three new tasks, and all of them would be ZGBA titles. The goal was to make Team FUMA one of the core development groups for the handheld platform. While ZGBA games will also being developed by other ZAGE teams across the company, Team FUMA would focus on the system more heavily than the others, making the handheld their main area of specialization.
These first three projects would serve as the foundation for their ZGBA development pipeline. If the team performed well with these titles, they would likely continue producing more handheld games in the future, gradually building experience and efficiency with the platform and Zaboru always trust his team for this.
The first game is Klonoa. Zaboru wanted the title to feel very close to the original PlayStation version he remembered from his previous life. The core gameplay would remain a colorful side‑scrolling platformer with puzzle elements, and the visual style would stay bright and expressive so it could work well on a handheld screen. Because the ZGBA's performance was comparable to the PlayStation in Zaboru's previous life, he believed the game could be adapted to the handheld without losing its charm. With careful optimization, the team could recreate the feel of the original while adjusting the level design slightly to better suit portable play sessions.
The next game would be Mario Golf: The Advance Tour. This project would focus on golf gameplay featuring the familiar Mario and ZAGE characters. Zaboru wanted the game to be simple to learn but still deep enough to keep players engaged for a long time. In addition to standard golf matches, the team would also experiment with a small RPG‑like progression system so players could improve their characters and unlock new courses over time. The goal was to make it a relaxing but addictive title that players could enjoy in short sessions on the handheld.
The third game would be Ninja Gaiden Advance. Unlike the other two projects, this title would take inspiration from the famous ZAGE IP Ninja Gaiden but would be built as a new interpretation designed specifically for the ZGBA.
For these three projects, Zaboru expected them to be released around November 2000. That gave Team FUMA roughly ten months of development time. Considering the team's experience and the relatively focused scope of handheld titles, the schedule was considered achievable. The leaders of Team FUMA reviewed the plan and agreed that the timeline was demanding but realistic.
Then after that Zaboru gave Team Dynasty Korea their next tasks. Since Ragnarok Online and Gunbound had already been completed and were preparing for release, the team was ready to move on to new projects. Team Dynasty Korea would continue focusing mainly on online games, since they already had strong experience in multiplayer systems and network infrastructure.
Because of that, Zaboru assigned them two new projects. The first one would be Audition Online, a dance game centered around music, rhythm gameplay, and social interaction between players. Zaboru believed that online games should not only focus on combat or RPG mechanics but also create spaces where players could interact casually and enjoy lighter experiences together. Audition Online would focus heavily on songs, dance moves, customization, and social features so players could compete or simply have fun with friends.
The second project would be another MMORPG called RAN Online. Unlike Ragnarok, which focused on fantasy adventure, RAN Online would take place in a more modern setting and introduce different mechanics and systems to differentiate it from other online RPGs. Zaboru wanted Team Dynasty to experiment and expand their design experience so that ZAGE could build multiple successful online franchises instead of relying on only one title.
For the schedule, Audition Online was planned to release in January 2001, while RAN Online was targeted for March 2002. The longer timeline for RAN Online was intentional because MMORPGs required much larger development time, especially for world design, networking stability, and long‑term content planning.
Overall, those would be the main tasks for Team Dynasty Korea for the coming years. Unlike other ZAGE teams, Team Dynasty would not receive 3 projects every year bme ecause their games were live service titles. Once an online game launched, the team had to maintain servers, update content, balance gameplay, and manage the community. Because of that continuous workload, Zaboru preferred giving them longer project cycles compared to the other ZAGE development teams.
Then Ragnarok Online and Gunbound were released on ZAGE Steam, and they quickly made a strong impact on the market. It was the first time ZAGE introduced a subscription service for online games. Players only needed to pay 500 yen, or about 5 dollars, per month to access both Ragnarok Online and Gunbound. The price was considered very affordable, especially compared to the amount of content the games offered.
There were also optional in‑game purchases, but most of them were cosmetic items rather than gameplay advantages. Many of these items were priced between 1 and 5 USD, making them easy for players to buy without feeling expensive. Players enjoyed customizing their characters, and the cosmetic system quickly became popular within the community.
Overall, the reception was very positive. The player base for both games continued to grow, and the online communities surrounding them became more active every day. Many game developers across the industry were surprised by the subscription model ZAGE introduced. Some studios began studying the approach with interest, wondering if similar systems could work for their own projects. In many ways, it marked the real beginning of large‑scale online gaming in this world—and as expected, ZAGE was the company that started it.
It had only been one week since Ragnarok Online and Gunbound went live, yet the number of players was already impressive. Ragnarok especially showcased many elements that traditional console games could not easily replicate. The party system allowed friends to explore the world together, forming groups to fight monsters, share experience, and support each other during battles. For players in this world this was their first time experiencing an MMORPG, and the excitement was obvious.
Players were leveling together, challenging powerful raid bosses as teams, and slowly forming their own guilds. Communities began appearing almost immediately as players gathered in towns, traded items, and organized groups for adventures. Everything still felt like it was in its early stage, but the foundation was clearly there.
The world felt alive in a way that single‑player games could never fully reproduce. Even within the first week, it was already clear that Ragnarok Online had the potential to become something massive.
While Gunbound has its own charm, especially when playing with friends and trying to outplay each other in matches, many players quickly found it extremely fun and competitive. The simple controls and strategic aiming made every round exciting, and groups of friends often spent hours challenging each other. Because of this, Gunbound built a lively and energetic community very quickly. Overall, these online subscription games were still a completely new concept in this world, and many players were experiencing this kind of connected multiplayer environment for the first time not just online battle games.
These developments also made PC bang in Korea and China become even more popular. Because ZAGE Steam gift cards were being sold almost everywhere, it became very easy for players to access the games. Many people simply went to a nearby PC bang, bought Steam credit, and started playing immediately. Soon it became common for groups of friends to spend entire nights together grinding levels in new MMORPG, in Ragnarok Online.
The social environment inside PC bangs made the experience even more exciting. Players would gather around rows of computers, forming parties with people sitting right beside them while shouting strategies and celebrating rare item drops. Some players even began trading items directly with friends inside the same PC bang, creating a small but active player‑driven economy.
However, this was not actually the first time equipment trading appeared in games. ZAGE had already introduced that concept earlier through Diablo 2, where players could exchange valuable items with each other or even pay it with real world money. The difference with Ragnarok Online was that the system felt much easier and more natural to use.
Then, at the end of January, ZAGE was ready to release its website updates, and Zaboru prepared to personally showcase the new features and improvements as this will showcase the "Digital World" to this world
to be continued .
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