Not every anniversary is always cause for celebration with companies. Nintendo was noticeably quiet during Legend of Zelda's 35th recently, but Nihon Falcom is doing things differently. A special 40th anniversary broadcast planned at 11am GMT, and will be hosted by President Toshihiro Kondo, looking back at the company's long history in RPGs. And what a history that is.
Nihon Falcom opened its doors on March 9th 1982 and was an early pioneer of RPGs, focusing mainly on Japanese personal computers. Nihon Falcom doesn't usually get the same love that other major publishers do ā Square Enix and Atlus are more famous in the west, for example ā but throughout its history, it has successfully developed a dedicated cult following.
After early efforts like Panorama Island, Nihon Falcom's first major hit came in 1984 with Dragon Slayer, a franchise that would eventually spinoff into The Legend of Heroes and Tokyo Xanadu. The latter hasn't been seen since 2015, but Legend of Heroes has been given wide renown for its impressive worldbuilding. It eventually led into the "Trails" sub-series, best known on Nintendo platforms for Trails of Cold Steel.
We can't discount Nihon Falcom's efforts in defining the action-RPG genre, which is often credited to Ys. Chronicling the adventures of red-haired adventurer Adol Christin, this series began in 1987 with Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished, arriving on Famicom a year later. These days, Ys has popped up on Switch with Ys Origin, Lacrimosa of DANA, and the upcoming Monstrum Nox.
These releases highlight a recent shift with Nihon Falcom. Having only sporadically appeared on Nintendo consoles, the last decade has seen a much more active push, even if release dates aren't especially steady when compared to the PlayStation and PC versions.
So, what can we expect from this broadcast? Well, we wouldn't count on any Western news, since NIS America generally handle publishing duties here. It appears to be a fan-driven affair for the most part, though new information is also due to be shown about Kuro no Kiseki, the latest Legend of Heroes entry.
We're hopeful for news of a Switch edition, but as we wait on further details, we'd like to wish Nihon Falcom a happy 40th anniversary. With Monstrum Nox not due until later this year, we can at least look forward to Trails of Cold Steel IV arriving next month on Switch.
Comments 34
Why did you decide to report on this 40min after the fact. It doesn't make sense.
A confirmation of a western release for ToCS I & II would be nice. Maybe Ys: Memories of Celceta for Switch as well?
The earlier ToCS games on Switch would be great. I really want to play III & IV however the fact they are so story driven really puts me off jumping in halfway through
I wish they'd publish a collection of Trails in the Sky games on Switch. I played a bit of the first on PC and enjoyed it's old school, straightforward nature but just fell off largely because I don't consistently game on my PC. But I would play them in handheld mode for sure.
More Ys for Switch please?
The Switch DOES need more Ys games.
Iād love to see Cold Steel I & II released on Switch, a Western release of the Crossbell saga games and perhaps would be nice having a console release of the 3rd Trails of the Sky game.
I'm not much into the trails series (the anime highschool setting and underwhelming soundtrack in the first game killed any sort interest for trying to pursue the series further), but I've enjoyed every single Ys game I've tried, the recently ported Origins being my favorite of the bunch, that game was so good.
I'm currently playing through the whole of Ys series. Right now playing Ys 6 Ark of Napishtim, it's mostly on Steam, but Lana and Monstrum I will play on the Switch
@Expa0 I was surprised how much I liked Origins' story! It was the best by far. I feel like they really broke out of the generic jRPG character writting and story that plague most RPGs
YS games are stellar please ys9 and Ys memories of celceta on switch
A Ys, Dragon's Slayer, or Brandish collection for Switch would be fantastic. An HD remastered of Popful Mail would be awesome too.
@Expa0 are you saying it's a budget persona?
@Magician damn, if that happen, JRPG fan on Switch will love this for sure.
@3dvCuong12
Yeah, ToCS I & II have been announced for Switch, but only in China at the moment. I'm hoping XSEED get off their butts and make the western release happen eventually.
I love Falcom as I love the Ys series. I've been hoping for a remake of Ys V (I've played the translated SNES game but I'd rate it just 'OK') and it would be nice if some of the games that are available on PSP and PC could come to console - like Ys I&II, Oath in Felghana and Ark of Napishtim. I expect Celceta will make its way to Switch at some point.
@Magician don't forget Ao and Zero ). Damn, that series are so good. And yeah i hope ToCS I & II will be localized soon, because i play this on Vita but perfomance not good enough for me
@Hobbesyall Ys IX was announced as coming to Switch in mid 2021. Don't know when it will reach the West, but shouldn't take too long as it has already been localised for PS4.
Edit: Coming to the UK on June 29th apparently.
For all the people asking for ports: Falcom does not create ports for non-PS consoles, they are developed by other companies (NIS, XSEED and Clouded Leopard usually), so they won't announce any; same for localizations: NIS is the copyright owner for western localization
I'll be honest, I'd never heard of Falcom until I learned of the Trails series and Ys VIII rolled around to the Switch. I've picked up the latter but still need to get around to playing it. XD Going by word of mouth/text, it seems that many of their JRPGs are decent.
Everyone seems to be asking for Celceta, but I think it would be really awesome if they'd remake Ys V: Lost Kefin. Not just a remaster of the PS2 version, but a full fledged remake.
@Ghost_of_Hasashi There are enough Brandish games to warrant a collection? I only ever heard of the first 2 on SNES.
@AuroraBoreale I donāt think any of those companies will be carefully browsing the comments, tallying a vote for which port to do next. Let us send our hopes into the wishing well
I want Ys 1-3
@BloodNinja
The only new thing they announced is the Cold Steel anime š
Anyway, I don't know if I even would buy more Ys or Trails games ports on Switch (I own all of them on one platform or another).
I'm lying, I bought Origin (for Switch) and Celceta (for ps4) even if I already had those on pc, I would buy pretty much all of them just to have a physical copy, there's something wrong with me š
@AuroraBoreale THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU.
My physical copies of the original Mega Man and Mega Man X series on literally every platform released is my source LOL
HOARDING NINJA APPROVED
@AuroraBoreale No thatās just how awesome Falcom games are
@AuroraBoreale There's nothing wrong with you. If it makes you feel any better, I bought Ys Origin 4 times (physical and digital for PS4 and Switch) and also bought Ys IX 4 times. Japanese PS4, physical and digital PS4 (my physical copy was arriving late and I didn't want to wait) and I have the Switch special edition pre-ordered from the NISA Store. If something is wrong with me, I don't want to be right.
@mauhlin12 mine was just a joke š Sometimes I think I should spend my money better, but I something makes me feel good money are well spent.
Nintendo rereleases their 25 anniversary game and new joycons but nope they forgot itās Zeldaās anniversary.... riiiiight.
@Expa0 "the anime highschool setting(...)killed any sort interest for trying to pursue the series further"
What? A Japanese game doing something Japanese? Scandalous...
Aside that I don't understand what's wrong with "anime high school" in a JRPG I need to inform you that you judged the setting too early. It's a European setting. The Cold Steel series takes place in Erebonia, which is Germany, kinda. To support that theory, there are locations with German names in Erebonia, the inclusion of Germanic mythology, and (military) vehicles with German names. ...Also it's a kinda aggressive country, that's really obsessed with Belgium uhm I mean Crossbell. And they're fighting their own people in the first two Cold Steel games because of class-system reasons. They even destroyed a village within the country borders and blamed it on Liberl, used that fake-reason to invade them. But that happened before CS1.
However... Doesn't sound very Japanese High School to me... If you ask me. I also think that Emma, Alisa, Altina, Fie, Laura, Sara, Duvalie, Jusis, Rean, Lloyd, etc aren't really Japanese names... One of the characters is named Rixia (I know, English is weird, so, try to say it like this: Ree-shee-uh), which is in fact Chinese. Hmm... So many Japanese people in this so called "Japanese High School" setting...
Also, it's only the first Cold Steel game (which actually is the sixth game of the whole series) where you're doing school stuff.
"(...) underwhelming soundtrack in the first game killed any sort interest for trying to pursue the series further"
Oh please... did we even play the same game?? Aside from that the "first game" actually is the sixth game...
Also, that's a really cool final boss music...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYc9-2StzXI
And that's a cool "I have issues" music...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2OBpsUK5PU
Well, it being my most favorite series ever hasn't much value and opinions are opinions, but it's kinda sad to see when people hate your favorite games because they're ignorant, superficial and start it with racistic pre-hate in the first place.
...A Japanese High School setting, in a Japanese game!! WHO COULD HAVE EXPECTED THAT?! ...But really, it's a European setting, with European-ish people (And you're not for long at that school. Which is btw a military academy and not a high school...). But feel free to show me the Japanese people that have "Victor S. Arseid" or "Mildine Juzalith de Cayenne" written as their name in a passport. I DARE YOU!
@Altina Good stuff, Allie and Sammy. Here's my favorite Trails song, plays during certain boss fights where you're probably going to get your butt kicked. It would be right at home in an Ys game, it's like Castlevania meets F-Zero meets Judas Priest.
https://youtu.be/L2OBpsUK5PU
1981. Not 1982. I thought my math skills were failing me and had to Google it.
I'm really conflicted on the first ToCS, the first 60-70 hours of the game were pretty mediocre. Just an incredibly slow Jrpg where all quest are either fetch quest, kill xx of a certain monster, kill a big baddy or talk to some random people.
Everytime the story was picking up some pace they go back to the boring school sextion of the game.
Only the last hour of the game was really phenomenal, but to sit through 60+ hours of bland content is really not worth it imo
@mauhlin12 Sen3 and 4 have a lot of great music.
How about this vsMagicKnight-theme?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5oiokKSF1c
Or this theme when Rean TOTALLY loses his *****?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze-6tgL_aTk
These are nice boss-themes too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8wbS0nDHzo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6FFQoH3F9Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im_VBzukO1s
I idled a lot in these place just to listen to these tracks...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzDG5PeXgVk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx8mD94QeGU
Dude @Expa0 who says that Kiseki has "underwhelming" music has no idea what he's talking about... But yeah, when he thinks that this European-ish WorldWar setting is the same as a Japanese High School setting, even though neither of these people are Japanese nor at a High School... then we don't really need to talk about it, right? ;D Obviously never gave the game the chance it deserves...
Here a track from a game that doesn't exist, because it was before the "first" one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sE6iyAg_z0
For future references: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Heroes
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