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Chapter 537: ZAGE USA New Task
🕑 Added 2025-07-24 02:15:11 +0000 UTCMonday, 22 October 1994 — Morning
After arriving in the USA from London, Zaboru took a brief rest but was already back to work by Sunday. That day, he also began preparing the ZAGE Event Building for the 1994 ZAGE Game of the Year (GOTY) event in December. This would be the first time the GOTY event was held outside Japan, and preparations were starting now. He walked through the large venue, checking the lighting setups, sound systems, and stage arrangements, occasionally jotting notes into his planner. His mind was already racing with ideas for how to make the event unforgettable, from fan interactions to showcasing upcoming game demos, ensuring both media and audience would leave talking about it for weeks.
Soon, Zaboru planned to launch flyers and ads targeting the American audience, while Japanese players would be able to watch the event live from Japan. This year’s event would also feature a live concert by Zaboru and the Zankoku band, now known as Z&Z, performing many new songs that Zaboru had recently written. Zaboru aimed to make the event not just a showcase but an international celebration of gaming and music, uniting fans across continents with energy and spectacle.
Once business in the USA was wrapped up, Zaboru planned to return to Japan to train with the Zankoku band. So far, he had already provided them with a setlist of songs to master, and thanks to his Aura of Influence ability, the band members were improving at an extraordinary pace, learning faster and playing better than ever. Rehearsals were filled with energy and excitement, the band members pushing themselves to new heights, their fingers flying over strings and drumsticks striking with precision. Even the vocal harmonies were evolving, their confidence growing with each session.
On Monday morning, Zaboru visited the Emerald Wings offices, sipping coffee as he sat across from Ryan and James.
“So, Ryan, how’s the talk with the NBA?” Zaboru asked, leaning forward slightly with curiosity. Ryan chuckled, shaking his head. “Well, they’re definitely open to discussions, but it seems Sonaya is already in talks with them too — they want the NBA license as well.” Ryan’s voice carried a mix of amusement and challenge, hinting at the competition ahead.
Zaboru raised an eyebrow, then chuckled. “So, is the NBA willing to negotiate with both us and Sonaya?” Ryan nodded, grinning. “Yeah, they’re extremely willing. The problem is Sonaya — they want special rights so no other company can make NBA games. But so far, the NBA director says he wants the deal open for both us and Sonaya. He says monopolies aren’t good… but we both know the truth, right?” Zaboru smirked, a glint of sharp understanding in his eyes, and nodded. “Well, they just want more money. It’s not that bad, really. Still, keep an eye on Sonaya’s moves — I don’t want any surprises.” Ryan gave a confident thumbs-up. “You got it, boss.” Zaboru leaned back slightly, thoughtful. “Okay, I’ll leave the NBA negotiations to you, Ryan. And what about the WWE deal, James?”
James smiled. “WWE is willing to sell their rights to ZAGE, but my team is still negotiating the best terms for both parties. I expect we’ll secure the rights before the end of the year.” Zaboru grinned and nodded. WWE games had huge potential, and he was eager to develop them, much like the NBA titles.
“Okay, James, I’ll leave it to you. Let me know if you need any help.”
James smiled and nodded, a spark of excitement in his eyes, knowing they were on the verge of something big.
After leaving the Emerald Wings offices, Zaboru headed to the ZAGE USA offices.
Right now, the ZAGE USA team was focused solely on the Fallout PC game, and progress was going smoothly. The team was highly motivated, with developers pulling late nights and testers fine-tuning every detail. But Zaboru knew they could handle one more task — he saw their potential and wanted to challenge them further. He was about to give them that task, aiming for a release in late November or early December and so He gathered the key figures to meeting
Peter Wayne: Head of Hardware R&D
Samuel Nelson: Head of Game Development
John Carmack: Head of Quality Control (recently replacing Damien Flamen, who had left for Microsoft)
“Okay, hello everyone,” Zaboru greeted, smiling warmly. “I want to introduce a new project — an arcade game.” He clicked on his PC and pulled up a polished PowerPoint presentation titled Guitar Hero Project, its bold letters lighting up the room and immediately capturing everyone’s attention.
“First, let me explain the gameplay. Basically, players will feel like they’re playing guitar on stage, and the arcade machine will display a singer and a band,” Zaboru explained, his hands gesturing animatedly. “The players will press corresponding buttons — five in total — displayed on the game screen, matching them in time with the music.” The others leaned forward, intrigued, their eyes lighting up with curiosity. This was something new, something bold, and they were genuinely excited to hear more.
“We’ll create two specialized controllers for one machine,” Zaboru continued, displaying the prototype design. “They’ll look like real guitars, but instead of strings, they’ll have five buttons: red, yellow, blue, green, and orange.” He smirked, his eyes gleaming with excitement. “So players can actually feel like they’re playing guitar — standing, rocking out, and matching the energy of the music. And as for the controller itself — it’s not difficult to make. I already have prototype blueprints ready, and the tactile feel of the buttons has been carefully considered to mimic real fretwork, giving players that authentic, satisfying click as they play.”
The room fell into stunned silence. Once again, Zaboru had casually invented a new gaming genre. Peter Wayne was speechless, his jaw slightly open. Easy to make a controller? New game engine? And Zaboru already has the prototype?? “I… I don’t know what to say. That’s really insane. How do you even think of things like this, boss?” he finally stammered, shaking his head in disbelief yet with a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
Samuel Nelson just chuckled — he was already used to Zaboru’s ‘insanity,’ his eyes glinting with amusement. John Carmack, on the other hand, was electrified. “This is revolutionary, boss!” he exclaimed, his voice almost trembling with excitement, already picturing the technical possibilities.
Zaboru nodded, diving into more technical details and continuing the meeting. He laid out the timeline, explaining that the project was expected to be ready for late November or early December — but if the team needed more time, that was fine. He emphasized quality over rush, encouraging innovation and reminding everyone that this project could reshape the arcade scene. Once Fallout was done, he planned to assign the team that worked on it to help with Guitar Hero, ensuring the combined talent pool would push the game’s development to an even higher level.
As for the songs, Zaboru had prepared many rock tracks that hadn’t yet been released in this world — legendary hits from his previous life. These tracks weren’t easy to play, packed with complex riffs, rapid tempo changes, and powerful vocal demands, which is why he and the Zankoku band were rigorously training to master them.
So far, Zaboru has created around ten original tracks. He planned to divide them into Normal and Expert categories . For well-known tracks already existing, he aimed to add five:
“Free Bird”
“Hotel California”
“Paranoid
“Smoke on the Water”
“Barracuda”
“Aces High”
All of these would be performed in-game by Z&Z.
He also planned to ask James to negotiate the licenses for these songs, and he was confident the process would go smoothly.
As for his eleven original songs, they were:
“Dear God” (Avenged Sevenfold)
“Enter Sandman” (Metallica)
"Seven Nation Army" (The White Stripes)
“Hysteria” (Muse)
“Cowboys from Hell” (Pantera)
“Black Parade” (My Chemical Romance)
“Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” (Drowning Pool)
“Animal I Have Become” (Three Days Grace)
“Safari Song” (Greta Van Fleet)
“Emerald Sword” (Rhapsody of Fire)
“Through the Fire and Flames” (DragonForce)
To Zaboru, these were incredibly impressive songs — and ones he had always loved in his past life. They were challenging, which is why he was preparing himself to handle the vocals, capable of shifting his voice from low to high, even matching heavy metal growls, thanks to his body’s adaptation abilities from his Enlightenment skill.
For now, he was focusing on English rock and metal songs, but in the future, he planned to develop specialized Japanese song versions, carefully selecting tracks that blended intensity with cultural resonance, ensuring the Japanese setlist would be just as exciting and challenging as the Western one.
As for advertising the Guitar Hero arcade, Zaboru already had exciting plans — and he was confident it would launch with a bang.
To be continued.
AN : These are the songs that I love and don’t have very bad words in them lol.
