Zaboru approached the table where the guy had invited him. There were already four people sitting there, all with drinks, snacks, and the kind of serious expressions gamers had when discussing something that normal people would never understand. It was not just casual talk either. The air around the table felt like a court debate, except the court was about secret characters, hidden stages, and whether one recurring mascot had ruined or improved ZAGE history. The guy with blond ponytail hair took a sip of beer, then gestured for Zaboru to sit before saying, "My name is Brandon. That guy with the red hat is Wallace, the bald guy is Niko, and that really tall guy over there is Rody. And you?"
Zaboru smiled politely while sitting down. "George. My name is George." Brandon grinned as if he knew half the people in Gamer Talk used names that were either fake, exaggerated, or stolen from RPG characters, then replied, "Heh, don't worry. We all use made-up names here anyway. This place is basically half bar, half gamer club, and half secret society for people who argue too much about pixels. But still, George, what we want is your opinion… regarding ZABO-Man."
Zaboru's expression froze for just a moment. He had expected people to ask him Popular games or newest games He did not expect ZABO-Man to become the topic this quickly. He adjusted his glasses and asked carefully, "What about ZABO-Man?"
Wallace fixed his red hat with the seriousness of a prosecutor preparing to expose a criminal conspiracy, then said, "ZABO-Man started as this mysterious character in ZAGE's first games, even back when they were still ZAS and it has 4 games. Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., Pac-Man, and Super Mario Bros. all had him, but the annoying part is that he appears as something different in each one. In Donkey Kong, he's just a cameo who also bothers the player. In Mario Bros., he appears as a hidden enemy. In Pac-Man, he has a random chance to help the player kill one of the ghosts. And in Super Mario Bros., he becomes a secret superior playable character if you beat the game without losing a life."
Zaboru chuckled softly. It seemed Wallace was not a casual fan at all. The man knew his ZAGE history in painful detail, and honestly, Zaboru felt a little impressed. Not many players remembered ZABO-Man's earliest appearances so clearly. But then Wallace sighed deeply and continued, "That's why I hate him so much."
Zaboru's eyes widened slightly. "Huh? But why?" Wallace leaned back and answered with the tired frustration of someone carrying a decade of gaming trauma. "Because he takes the spotlight away from the main characters. There are some ZABO-Man fans out there who focus more on finding him than actually playing the games properly, you know? It ruins immersion for me. Sometimes he's fine as a cameo, sure, but sometimes he gets involved in the storyline too much. Like in Megaman 2, where he appears and helps Megaman fight the boss. He's not just hiding in the background anymore. He's involved. And not just in that one. There are plenty of examples where people stop talking about the actual game and only scream about ZABO-Man."
Niko nodded beside him with a grave expression, as if Wallace had just explained a national disaster. "Exactly. Sometimes I want to talk about the actual story or mechanics, but the forum is full of ZABO-Man hunters. Someone will post, 'Hey, did you notice this level design?' and then some lunatic replies, 'Forget that, I think ZABO-Man's pictures is hidden behind the tree on frame 37.' His pict, George. His pictures. Do you know how insane that sounds?"
Brandon laughed into his drink and told Niko that he was exaggerating, but Niko immediately pointed at him and said he was not exaggerating at all because he had personally seen someone argue for four pages about whether a silver pixel in Pac-Man was a secret ZABO-Man clue pictures or just a graphical glitch. Wallace looked vindicated by that, while Rody only sighed like he had heard this argument a hundred times before.
Rody leaned forward and said, "But that's his charm, isn't it? I actually think Megaman 2 is quite ZABO-Man canon, and Ninja Gaiden too, right? The fact that he fights Ryu's enemy, The Embodiment of Pain, gives him this strange feeling like he exists outside the normal boundaries of each game. Most of the time, especially in recent ZAGE games, he becomes a cameo, an unlockable character, a secret boss, or sometimes just a random merchant. But that randomness is part of the fun. He feels like a weird visitor who can appear anywhere."
Wallace immediately groaned. "That is exactly my problem. If I'm playing a serious game, I want the serious game. I don't want to suddenly see ZABO-Man selling suspicious items from a corner like he pays rent inside the plot."
Rody laughed and replied that random merchant ZABO-Man was one of his favorite versions, because he always looked like he had no business being there and yet somehow belonged there. Brandon agreed while saying that ZABO-Man was like ZAGE's strange ghost, always haunting the games in different forms. Sometimes he helped, sometimes he annoyed players, sometimes he was too strong, and sometimes he only appeared to make people question reality.
Niko rubbed his head and said, "That's the problem. You people call that charm. I call it emotional harassment. In Pac-Man, I was already stressed enough with ghosts chasing me. Then suddenly ZABO-Man appears like some suspicious uncle from another dimension and helps me kill one of them. Was it useful? Yes. Did I understand it? No. Did I spend the next week trying to make him appear again? Unfortunately, yes."
Zaboru almost laughed, but he held it in. Somehow, hearing people complain about ZABO-Man with such specific examples felt both painful and hilarious. It was like listening to someone insult your child, but the insult was so well-researched that you had to respect it.
Rody continued, becoming more animated now. "And say what you want, but Chrono Trigger makes him even more interesting. You can find the ZABO-Man Society stage there, and even though you can't really do much inside it, the fact that it exists implies that ZABO-Man might be some kind of multiverse being. Then there's Tekken 2 in the arcade, where he appears as a super boss, and that version is absolutely disgusting. He reads you, counters you, punishes you, kill you in one attack and makes you feel like the arcade machine personally hates you."
Wallace's face darkened immediately. "Don't remind me of Tekken 2 ZABO-Man. That bastard kicked me so badly I started questioning my sanity the requirement of perfect for each stages are insane." Brandon grinned and said Wallace only hated him because he lost, but Wallace snapped back that losing was normal, while being emotionally dismantled by a joke character with god-tier reaction speed was different.
Rody laughed loudly and said, "That's what makes him legendary!" Wallace shook his head and replied, "No, that makes him annoying. And don't even get me started on ZAGE Smash Bros. It's an insanely good game with a lot of ZAGE IP characters, sure, but the fact that the first game focuses so much on Evil ZABO-Man versus Good ZABO-Man made me want to puke. I don't care about two or hunderds ZABO-Man or ZABO-Men having an identity crisis. I wanted crossover fights, not ZABO-Man philosophy."
Rody leaned forward and said, "Well, that crossover happened because of ZABO-Man, and honestly, it makes sense. It had build-up, it had history, and it connected the games in a way that normal crossover stories usually don't. You're just hating, Wallace." Wallace immediately frowned, but before he could fire back, Brandon sighed and said that Wallace and Niko still had to admit ZABO-Man had charm. According to Brandon, ZABO-Man had been with players since 1991, and whether people loved him, hated him, feared him, or got emotionally destroyed by him in Tekken 2, he had already become part of ZAGE's identity. Then Brandon turned back toward Zaboru and asked, "So, George, what's your opinion on this?"
Zaboru was genuinely surprised that the topic had become this intense. ZABO-Man was special to him. At first, he had simply wanted to make a recurring video game cameo, something similar to the way Stan Lee appeared in Marvel projects from his previous world. But after reincarnating into this world and becoming directly involved creating games, that small idea had grown into something much larger. ZABO-Man had become his signature, his joke, his secret mark, and sometimes even his way of telling players that he had touched that game personally. If a ZAGE game had ZABO-Man in it, then to Zaboru, it meant he had been involved with that project in some way.
That was why hearing some fans say they hated ZABO-Man made his heart sting a little. He had always known not everyone loved the same things, of course, but he had never really sat at a table with strangers while they casually dissected one of his favorite recurring creations. It was funny, but also strangely educational. He had thought ZABO-Man was mostly beloved, but apparently some players saw him as too distracting, too dominant, or too self-indulgent when used too heavily.
Zaboru, still pretending to be George, took a slow breath before answering. "Honestly, ZABO-Man has a special place in my heart somehow. Ever since the ZEPS 1 era, after I finished playing games, I usually looked for ZABO-Man clues. You guys remember the silver and black Z-card, right? The one with riddles?" Everyone at the table nodded immediately, and even Wallace looked like he could not deny that part. Zaboru smiled a little and continued, "That was honestly really fun for me. Finding him felt like there was another layer inside the game, something hidden for people who wanted to look deeper."
Wallace crossed his arms, clearly not fully convinced, but he listened. Zaboru continued more carefully, "But I also understand what you mean. Sometimes, if ZABO-Man is involved too much in the story, it can feel like the game becomes about him instead of the main characters. However, for something like ZAGE Smash Bros, I actually think ZABO-Man makes sense there. If he is treated as a multiverse-type being, then he can become the bridge that makes all those ZAGE IPs collide naturally. Without someone like him, the crossover might feel like random characters being thrown together just because the company owns them."
Zaboru adjusted his glasses and continued, "Good ZABO-Man and Evil ZABO-Man being central can still be annoying if someone doesn't like him, sure. But structurally, it gives the crossover a reason to exist. He is already the strange character who appears across different ZAGE games, so using him as the trigger for worlds connecting actually fits his role. In that sense, ZABO-Man is not stealing the crossover. He is the excuse that allows the crossover to happen."
Niko immediately pointed at Zaboru and said, "See? That explanation is good, but I still hate him." Brandon burst out laughing and said that Niko was the only person who could admit the logic made sense while still refusing to emotionally accept it. Rody nodded with a grin and said George had the rare balanced opinion, while Wallace muttered that "balanced opinion" was just a fancy way of saying "cowardly neutral." That made Brandon laugh even harder, and even Zaboru had to chuckle.
Zaboru then added, "And the other way I see it, ZABO-Man represents Zaboru himself in a strange way. I mean, if ZABO-Man exists in those games, then maybe it means Zaboru was involved in that game. Because there are ZAGE games without ZABO-Man, like Koro-Cool or Jasper Crank. They are still ZAGE games, but Zaboru was not involved in them, right? So maybe ZABO-Man is not just a random recurring character. Maybe he is like a creator's fingerprint."
For a moment, the table went quiet.
Wallace frowned thoughtfully. "A character that represents Zaboru, huh...? That's quite a way to put it." He looked down at his drink, clearly thinking about the idea more seriously than he wanted to admit. "Still, I'm not a big fan of him."
Niko nodded. "Same. I respect the fingerprint idea, but sometimes that fingerprint is on my face."
Brandon laughed so hard he almost spilled his drink, while Rody slapped the table and said that was the most accurate anti-ZABO-Man comment he had ever heard. Zaboru also laughed, even though it hurt a little, because Niko's timing was too good.
Brandon leaned forward and said, "But isn't that proof he works? Even people who hate him remember everything about him. Wallace says he hates ZABO-Man, but he remembers Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., Megaman 2, Ninja Gaiden, Chrono Trigger, Tekken 2, and ZAGE Smash Bros. That is not normal hate. That is historian hate."
Wallace immediately pointed at Brandon and replied, "I remember because he keeps invading games I like." Rody grinned and said, "So he lives rent-free in your memory." Wallace glared at him for a second, then suddenly leaned back with surprising confidence and said, "Don't misunderstand me. I hate ZABO-Man, but I'm still ZAGE's number one fan. And Zaboru's number one fan too." He adjusted his red hat coolly, as if he had just declared something sacred. "That's exactly why I complain. A fake fan praises everything blindly. A real fan suffers, studies, complains, and still buys the next game anyway."
Zaboru, still disguised as George, almost choked on his drink. For a second, he simply stared at Wallace with pure amusement. This man had just spent several minutes complaining about ZABO-Man like a personal enemy, only to proudly declare himself ZAGE and Zaboru's number one fan in the same breath. Somehow, that made him feel even more like a real gamer.
Brandon burst out laughing and said, "See? Historian hate." Rody nodded while grinning and added, "No, this is worse. This is worship disguised as criticism." Wallace crossed his arms proudly and replied, "Correct. I criticize because I care."
The conversation became heated again after that, but it was fun rather than hostile. They debated whether secret characters should stay as Easter eggs or become part of larger lore, whether ZABO-Man was better as a cameo or secret boss, whether ZAGE Smash Bros used him too much, and whether Tekken 2 ZABO-Man was unfair or simply a test of human dignity. Zaboru joined in carefully, still hiding his identity, but he found himself enjoying the argument far more than expected.
It was rare for him to hear ordinary players speak this honestly. At ZAGE, people respected him too much. Even when they criticized something, they often softened the words because he was the boss. But here, nobody knew he was Zaboru. They complained freely, praised freely, mocked freely, and argued like their lives depended on fictional characters. It was chaotic, but incredibly valuable.
Zaboru smiled quietly while listening to Wallace and Rody argue again. He had learned something today. ZABO-Man was beloved, yes, but not universally. Some players loved the mystery, the continuity, and the absurdity. Others felt he sometimes swallowed too much attention. Both sides had a point.
And strangely, that made Zaboru love ZABO-Man even more.
To be continued.
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