There were many things happening in April 2001. First of all, several ZAGE teams had finally completed their latest projects. The teams that finished their games this month were Team OMNI from England alongside Team KODO and Team IZAN from Japan. Team OMNI successfully completed MediEvil, while Team KODO finished Beyblade: Let It Rip!, a game expected to become extremely popular among younger audiences because of the Beyblade craze currently spreading across the world. Meanwhile, Team IZAN completed both MEGAMAN X3 and Bushido Blade, two completely different games that once again showed how versatile the team truly was.
Inside ZAGE itself, the atmosphere was quite lively because every completed project meant another successful milestone for the company. Developers walked through the halls carrying stacks of documents, programmers discussed bug reports near vending machines, and artists proudly showed finished promotional posters to one another. Although game development inside ZAGE was always intense, moments like this were still enough to boost the morale of the teams.
And now Zaboru was ready to give these teams another set of tasks, but he did not want to assign them blindly. Every team inside ZAGE had its own workload, rhythm, and specialty, so Zaboru needed to carefully check their current development schedule before adding anything new. This was even more important because ZAGE would soon enter a serious focused development phase for ZEPS 4 games. The next-generation console was no longer just a distant plan written in internal documents. It was slowly becoming a real battlefield, and Zaboru knew that every strong team needed enough space to prepare for it.
For Team OMNI, their remaining workload was still quite heavy. They still had NBA 2K01 and WE 01 in development, followed by Team Buddies, which was expected to be released around November 2001. After that, they also had Silent Bomber, which was planned for February 2002. That meant Team OMNI still had four major projects waiting for them, and each one required a different kind of focus. Sports games demanded constant balancing, licensing details, animation improvements, and realistic player movement, while games like Team Buddies and Silent Bomber needed more creative experimentation.
Because of that, Zaboru decided not to add another task to Team OMNI for now. He did not want to overload them just because they had successfully completed MediEvil.Team OMNI had already proven their ability, so instead of receiving another immediate project, they would gradually shift part of their attention toward ZEPS 4 development.
This decision also made sense strategically. Team OMNI had experience with sports games, European-style titles, and unique experimental projects, so their perspective would be valuable for ZEPS 4. Zaboru wanted them to start studying how the next-generation hardware could improve animation, physics, lighting, and crowd atmosphere using the Engine for ZEPS 4 which still development, especially for sports games.
Meanwhile, Team KODO was in a very different position compared to Team OMNI. As ZAGE's Japanese team that specialized in ZAGE IP-based games, their current workload was much lighter. At the moment, their only remaining major task was Naruto: Ultimate Ninja. Because of that, Zaboru believed Team KODO still had enough room to accept two additional projects without damaging their main schedule. Of course, he still needed to be careful. Team KODO handled many titles connected to anime, tokusatsu, and others ZAGE IP, so their games were not just simple side projects. Each one carried expectations from fans who already loved the original material.
The first project Zaboru prepared for them was Captain Tsubasa J: Get in Tomorrow. This game was based on the title with the same name from Zaboru's previous life on the PlayStation, and it carried many good memories for him. Even now, he could still remember the feeling of watching the dramatic cut-ins, the impossible football techniques, and the way every match felt closer to an anime episode than a normal sports game. For Zaboru, Captain Tsubasa was never just about football. It was about passion, rivalry, friendship, and the ridiculous yet beautiful dream of children trying to conquer the world with a ball at their feet.
However, Zaboru did not plan to simply copy the original game exactly. In the original version, most of the special techniques were focused on super shots, and super saves while tackles and dribbles were still relatively normal. Zaboru felt that this made the gameplay exciting, but not complete enough. If every player could only shine when shooting and goal keeping, then the rest of the match would feel too ordinary. Because of that, he decided to add two extra systems: Super Dribble and Super Tackle.
The Super Dribble system would allow certain players to break through defenders with their own iconic moves, creating more dramatic moments before reaching the penalty area. Meanwhile, the Super Tackle system would let defenders and defensive midfielders feel just as important as strikers. Zaboru wanted players to feel the pressure when Hyuga charged forward, but he also wanted them to feel satisfaction when a strong defender managed to stop him with a perfectly timed special tackle. In his mind, football games based on Captain Tsubasa needed to make every position feel heroic in its own way.
Of course, the system would not be as advanced as the Captain Tsubasa game from Zaboru's previous life on PS4. ZEPS 3 still had its own limits, and Zaboru had no intention of forcing Team KODO to chase something impossible. Instead, he wanted them to create a version that felt close in spirit while still being properly adjusted to ZEPS 3 hardware. The animation would use clever camera cuts, dynamic sprite work, and short cinematic sequences to make each special move feel powerful without overloading the console.
Licensing would not become a serious obstacle either, because ZAGE already owned the majority of Shonen Jump in this world. Using Captain Tsubasa was not a difficult negotiation from Zaboru's perspective, but he still wanted the project to be handled with respect. The title carried decades of emotional weight for football fans, anime fans, and children who grew up imagining impossible shots on dusty school fields.
For this project, Zaboru gave Team KODO exactly one year. The target was April 2002, right before the World Cup atmosphere reached its peak. He believed the timing would be perfect. When people around the world started talking about football every day, ZAGE would release a Captain Tsubasa game filled with anime passion, childhood dreams, and dramatic super plays. In Zaboru's eyes, it was the kind of release that could ride the World Cup fever beautifully while also giving fans something unforgettable.
The second game would be GEKISOU SENTAI CARRANGER!, the Super Sentai series currently airing in 2001 in this world. For Zaboru, this project was not something he could treat casually. Carranger was one of his favorite Sentai series from his previous life, not only because of its action, but also because of its absurd comedy, strange charm, and surprisingly strong heart beneath all the chaos. It was the kind of series that looked ridiculous on the surface, yet somehow became unforgettable because of how sincere it was.
The previous Sentai game, Choriki Sentai Oh-Ranger, Zaboru had used Lightspeed Rescue on the PlayStation in Zaboru previous life as one of its core gameplay with many adjustment. It worked well enough as a beat 'em up adventure game, but Zaboru knew Carranger needed a different approach. Carranger was not just about heroes fighting monsters. It was about cars, speed, exaggerated poses, ridiculous situations, and the strange energy of warriors who felt like they were one step away from causing even more chaos than the enemies themselves. Because of that, a simple beat 'em up adventure game would not be enough.
Zaboru wanted GEKISOU SENTAI CARRANGER! to become a hybrid game. It would still have beat 'em up adventure stages where players controlled the Carrangers directly, fighting through enemy foot soldiers, rescuing civilians, and facing monster-of-the-week bosses. However, the biggest feature would be the racing gameplay. Each Carranger would have their own vehicle with slightly different handling, speed, durability, and special abilities. Some stages would require players to chase enemies through city streets, dodge traffic, destroy obstacles, and perform dramatic team-based finishing attacks while driving at full speed.
The racing sections would not be treated as a small bonus mode. Zaboru wanted them to be the heart of the game. He imagined children sitting in front of the screen, gripping their controllers tightly as they tried to overtake an enemy vehicle before the timer ran out. He wanted the game to feel fast, silly, and exciting at the same time, just like Carranger itself. There would be ridiculous car-based attacks, transformation cut-ins, and dramatic moments where the background music suddenly became more intense as the player entered the final stretch of a chase.
Zaboru also asked them to preserve Carranger's comedic soul. The dialogue could not be too serious, the enemy introductions needed to feel exaggerated, and the stage events should occasionally make players laugh. At the same time, he reminded Team KODO not to turn it into a joke game. The action still needed impact, the vehicles still needed weight, and the finishing moves still needed to feel heroic. Carranger worked because it balanced nonsense with sincerity, and the game needed to capture that same balance.
For this project, Zaboru gave Team KODO thirteen months of development time. The target release would be May 2002. It was a longer schedule than usual for a licensed tokusatsu title, but Zaboru believed it was necessary.
Meanwhile, Team IZAN was in a completely different situation. Right now, their development schedule could only be described as insane. Even after completing MEGAMAN X3 and Bushido Blade, they were still handling five major games at the same time. Resident Evil 3 was planned for October 2001, Thunder Dragon Fist, the Bruce Lee game, was scheduled for July 2001, Dino Crisis 2 was targeted for February 2002, while Koudelka and Silent Hill 2 were both planned for October 2002. It was a terrifying lineup even by ZAGE's standards.
Because of that, Zaboru immediately decided not to give Team IZAN any additional projects. He knew very well that Team IZAN was one of the most versatile teams inside ZAGE. They could handle action games, horror games, experimental systems, cinematic combat, and strange atmospheric titles without losing their identity. However, versatility did not mean they were machines. Even the best developers still needed room to breathe, polish their work, and prepare themselves for the next generation.
That was why Zaboru viewed Team IZAN as extremely important for ZEPS 4's future. Their expertise would be needed when ZAGE began developing darker, more cinematic, and more technically demanding next-generation games. Team IZAN understood how to create tension, impact, atmosphere, and memorable gameplay systems.
For now, Team IZAN's mission was simple but heavy. They needed to finish their current lineup properly, study the early ZEPS 4 development environment when they had the chance, and slowly prepare their best developers for the next era. Zaboru knew that once ZEPS 4 truly arrived, Team IZAN would become one of the spearheads of ZAGE's more mature and ambitious titles.
Meanwhile, the X-box was already in its first month and still going strong. It was not yet as popular as Microsoft had expected, but it was not failing either. The console was selling steadily enough to keep Microsoft confident, even though their launch lineup still looked rather lonely. For now, they had not released another major game for the device because many of their internal projects were still deep in development. In simple terms, Microsoft had brought a large black box into the console war, placed it proudly on the battlefield, and then realized they still needed more bullets to fire.
However, the most interesting story around the X-box was not about sales or games. It was about a strange rumor spreading through gaming forums. Some users claimed the X-box did not merely eject discs. According to them, the console could throw discs out with enough force to make people instinctively step back from their own entertainment system. It sounded so absurd that many people immediately laughed at it, while others began joking that Microsoft had accidentally created a console, a DVD player, and a self-defense weapon in the same machine.
Of course, there was still no concrete proof. Most of the discussion was only based on forum posts, vague stories, and dramatic comments from people who sounded far too excited to be trusted. One person claimed his disc flew across the room. Another joked that his X-box tried to assassinate his cat. Someone else said Microsoft should include a warning label saying, "Please do not stand in front of the tray during launch sequence." Nobody knew whether any of it was true, but that did not stop the internet from treating the rumor like it was already a confirmed disaster.
The Microsoft team treated the rumor as a joke at first. During their internal testing, they had never encountered anything like that, so many of them assumed the internet was simply exaggerating again. To them, the idea of their console launching discs like a tiny office cannon sounded too ridiculous to take seriously. Unfortunately for them, that confidence was about to change after one YouTube channel uploaded something they could no longer laugh away.
To be continue .
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