The latest issue of Japanese publication Famitsu has revealed the first two entries in the tactical role-playing series Langrisser will be receiving Nintendo Switch remakes at some point in the near future. Langrisser I & II are being recreated from scratch, with new graphics and the intention to make the games more accessible to first-time players.
Here's some information about the remakes courtesy of Gematsu:
The games are being fully remade, from graphics to systems, and optimized to be easier to play for newcomers. Character designs are completely new, the scenario is fully voiced, and the UI is being optimized. Battles also have cut-ins, and new elements not included in the original games will be added.
The remakes are expected to be officially announced on 29th August, with the development currently at the halfway mark. This latest reveal aligns with the news at the start of this month about the Langrisser website teasing a new announcement.
The Langrisser series started out on the Sega Mega Drive in 1991 and was developed by Masaya Games. Several titles from the series have been released over the years with the most recent one for Nintendo players being the 2015 3DS game, Langrisser Re:Incarnation Tensei. For a full series recap, check out our feature.
Have you played a Langrisser game before? Are you excited about playing the first two games on the Switch? Tell us in the comments.
[source gematsu.com]
Comments 42
More great news! Lunar + Eternal Blue next please!
more hours added to my backlog!
I have never heard of this series before ever. Might take a look though.
The Switch continues to get a stream of JRPG's which is always good. I haven't played any games in this series but if it turns out to be good than I might check it out.
I feel like I have heard of this series, somewhere, but don't know much about it. But some more classic JRPGs getting remastered sounds good to me.
[edit] after a quick jaunt on google this does look more like a Tactical RPG than a JRPG. And a good bit like Fire Emblem. Sounds good to me still!
This will surely come to the west....surely.
These are most definitely not JRPG's and I'm surprised Nintendo Life have neglected to mention that you'd likely know the original game as Warsong. A game which has more in common with the likes of Fire Emblem and Shining Force with the addition of soldiers for each of the characters to command. For me Warsong was and still is one of my favourite games on the Megadrive so I'm pretty excited for this.
First Grandia I & II HD and now Langrisser I & II HD, see Sega this is why you should HD remake Shining Force I-3, and Phantasy Star 1-4 for Switch as well. We need all the remake classics for Switch as much as possible, I know you skip Shenmue 1 & 2 but give us the retro classics and you can have our money.
Woah, that looks like some 80's anime art right there and I love it.
@Claude YES! THIS! Please please please! Lunar is one of my favorite series and Eternal was THE game for me on the Sega CD. Would love a remake
@carlos82 Did you click the link at the end of the piece?
Getting tons of oldies I missed out on owning the first time around. Looks like I'll perpetually have 100+ hours of SRPG and JRPG backlog to contend with.
@Damo I did but still feel it should have been noted in the article itself, particularly when that's essentially the name many will recognise in the west.
@carlos82 I'd argue that most people will know the series as Langrisser, thanks to the recent 3DS game. Hardly anyone bought Warsong back in the early '90s.
First Grandia and now Langrisser. What a weird day!
Warsong was my favourite Genesis game. I am genuinely over the moon! Wow. (I do hope they don't change it too much, especially the music!)
@Damo hardly anyone bought Langrisser on the 3DS either 😁. Even Langrisser 2 is commonly referred to as Warsong 2 online and it was never actually called that. I only know it was called Langrisser due to Rom sites and finding out the series continued in Japan, the second game was translated to English because people wanted more Warsong.
I know many people who played Warsong back in the 90's who would have no idea it's original name even today. Looking above several here don't know the name Langrisser, they may not know the name Warsong either but there's a chance.
Also why wouldn't you put the name Warsong in the article to help people find a game they may have enjoyed as a kid or by other means more recently? It just seems strange that when a game that was actually called Warsong here is getting remade and there's no mention of that name and for no actual reason either
@ReaderRagfish It's a generic 90s fantasy anime art style. Looks like Slayers, Record of Lodoss War, Dragon-Half, most 90s JRPG Japanese box art...
I haven't heard of this before, but after reading the article about the history of the series I'm well up for giving it a go
@SmaggTheSmug @ReaderRagfish
It's art by the acclaimed "Master of Breasts", Satoshi Urushihara (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satoshi_Urushihara) (do not google his works in work, veeeery NSFW). The remake, though, will be drawn by the illustrator for Ar Tonelico.
The 3DS game sucked major, but Warsong for the Mega Drive and Der Langrisser for the SNES (translation available) are both fantastic Fire Emblem-like games. Reports of "optimizing difficulty for newcomers" do not sound good, but I can't help but wonder if this will be as good as the originals.
I'm happy because I love Langrisser but gosh, if the Switch had to be a city, it should be "Portland" !
@carlos82 Bear in mind that Warsong didn't get a UK release. I had to import it.
@Cobalt Welcome to Portland. Population: Classics.
@kozaihod So that's why it reminded me of Chirality...
@GrailUK Yeah I know, strangely though in Leeds, (particularly Gamestation) there seemed to be an abundance of Genesis games and Japanese titles to buy. As a kid I never even knew Genesis games weren't meant to be sold over here but had and still have plenty of them.
I bought the Japanese Megadrive from there to get games like Wonderboy 3, Battle Golfer (which was a pain to get beyond the menu) and Darwin 4081 which is still my favourite shooter. Sorry I've gone a bit off topic there 😆
So I guess I will never get to keep money in my bank account huh?
"...and new elements not included in the original games will be added."
I'm most curious about what this will be. I'm not saying the original Langrisser games were perfect, but the last time they tried to innovate the design resulted in utter crap.
I'm also disappointed that they still couldn't keep the old artist, especially since the new one is just...boring. I looked him up (Nagiryo), and I see that his work is in a lot of stuff, with the most noteable being his contributions to the Ar Tonelico franchise...honestly, IMO, he's a good illustrator, in terms of composition and posing, and I really love his technical and monster designs...but even his characters tend to look like robots. Very unexpressive and just boring to look at on there own. Same with his costume designs nowadays, but we'll see if he changes that up this time around.
I dunno, it's rare enough that I get distinctive art styles that stand out anymore, so it's a shame that one of the games that I used to be so quick to identify is now just going to look like every other game out there.
Here's hoping they'll hit west! I have played both games but not quite finished either - still in the middle of Warsong atm and my old Der Langrisser save was lost barely after I completed the default path. It'll be high time to finally own these impressive titles and perhaps I might as well start both anew on Switch.
Granted, while Re:Incarnation certainly remains on my 3DS wishlist, I do personally hope these remakes will keep the original sprite battle sequences instead of the aforesaid entry's CG ones.
@carlos82 these most definitely ARE JRPGs, of the turn-based tactics variety just like Fire Emblem and Shining Force are. Yes, they do add more elements of "pure" TBTs like hiring numerous troops and the vital importance of positioning them, but they feature recognizable and plentiful JRPG elements nonetheless. Denying this would deny the classification of what is an entire long-running subgenre by now.
If we do get Langrisser I and II I wonder if they would do remakes of III through V?
@nhSnork I get what you're saying but I would class those games more as how you originally described, such as tactical rpg/turn based stragery. My point about not being JRPG's was more to distinguish them from what most would naturally think of in that genre. Both are amongst my favourite genre's and I know I need someway to distinguish between them
Just to be clear, the artist behind these remakes is Nagi Ryou who whilst certainly not as impressive as the original series artist Satoshi Urushihara, is at least far more competent than the 3DS Langrisser's Hiroshi Kaieda... who really turned in a dogs dinner that shift, super rushed.
The remakes look like in good hands.
@ReaderRagfish a lot of classic anime shows have this art style.
There are some screenies in Famitsu. The over world artwork and character portraits look faithful to the original whilst the battleground units look more chibi (3DS). Certainly not a disaster
It's pretty funny reading through the comments on Nintendo sites since the launch of the Switch. During the Wii U days everyone complained about all the droughts. Now people are complaining about there being too many games lol
Never played Langrisser (don't think they were released in UK) so not as excited as the awesome Grandia. Heard good things though so obviously day one purchase. Me thinks I better check Ladbrookes for the odds on a Suikoden double I and II being next.
I'm really digging this trend, plus the general return to form for the "JRPG" genre as a whole in recent years.
As for other blasts from the past I'd like to see:
Capcom: Breath of Fire collection.
Falcom: Ys Collection.
Konami: Let's see that Suikoden 1 & 2 for PSP that was never localized given the Switch treatment.
Sega: Skies of Arcadia!
SquareEnix: Star Ocean 1 & 2 remakes for PSP, and do something with the Ogre series!
@xaviorq8 you've pretty much included all the bases. I'd add a Baten Katos double, a Legend of Heroes triple, and a Saturn Shining compilation.
@Sakura7 Never have been able to get into Baten Kaitos, but would still be cool to see. Trails in the Sky trilogy would definitely be cool too, and it's literally impossible to show enough love to the Shining Series.
Thinking about it some more, also want some Wild Arms, Xenosaga, Dark Cloud, and collections of Shin Megami Tensei and Growlanser for some official localizations of games in those series.
While at it, Mega Man Legends 1 & 2, too. Maybe even find a way to get Landstalker and a localized Lady Stalker together in a release? Basically, just compile all series on carts on Switch; that's what I seem to want!
Wait, fanboys say it's IMPOSSIBLE for 3DS games to be ported to Switch, that Switch is only the successor for Wii U, not the successor for 3DS (despite Pokemon actually moving from 3DS to Switch), so this means that porting a 3DS game is actually possible, and that Switch is the successor for 3DS as well? Huh, who'd have thought it? Oh, everyone with a brain!!
Haven't they remade these games several times now? The last time I researched them, they looked really awful. I would just stick with the originals. I mean, how about actually localizing the original games first? I'd love to see a collection of Langrisser I-V in English rather than these terrible remakes. Last I checked, they completely butchered the art style too.
Not only that, but the chances of us even getting this in the US or PAL regions are next to none.
Cautiously optimistic. Huge fan of the first Langrisser (which I played as Warsong on the Genesis) and I still have my original copy, making it the game in my collection I've owned the longest! I imported Langrisser II and its SNES remake Der Langrisser and played those with fan translations, but never to completion.
Same style of game as Fire Emblem, so here's hoping they implement lots of the quality of life improvements that series has seen over the years.
I'm also hoping these are done better than that crap 3DS game! Can I ask for the original games to be included with the remakes? Or is that too much?
Can we dare hope intelligent systems will want to do this for Fire Emblem games?
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