In the early 2000s I began to dabble in the emulation scene. As the decade progressed, access to games was exponentially increasing, with some of the more popular consoles receiving the most attention.
Of course, the SNES was one of the focal points of the scene with compatibility increasing at a steady rate, and a blossoming community of fan translators giving English speakers, like myself, the opportunity to experience narratives previously locked away in Japan.
One of the first games I played was Final Fantasy V. As a completed translation of the SNES version, it provided the entire experience, with a huge advantage over the slow loading times of the Final Fantasy Anthology edition for PlayStation.
I immediately followed with the Fire Emblem SNES trilogy: Monshou no Nazo (Mystery of the Emblem), Seisen no Keifu (Genealogy of Holy War), and Thracia 776, the latter of which had an incoherent and essential barely usable translation (in 2019 TEAM EXILE fixed this issue by providing a near perfect translation HERE for details.)
Despite all the issues with Thracia, and the epilogue of Seisen no Keifu not being translated (ouch), I still immediately considered these three games some of my all-time favorites.
Thirsty for more of what I was missing, I then stumbled upon fan translations for Tales of Phantasia and Star Ocean, two games whose greatness were continually promoted on internet forums.
I started with the exceptional Tales of Phantasia, a JRPG, but upon entering battle the player is thrusted into a side-scrolling, action RPG-like battlefield. This novel battle system combined with the ability to cook food and modify items, provided an exciting experience that offered an engaging level of depth.
I wanted to experience something similar, but sufficiently different to provide a sense of nuance. So instead of diving more deeply into the Tales series, I decided to play the spiritual successor to Tales of Phantasia, the aforementioned Star Ocean.
Star Ocean promised an even deeper level of customization with a completely different, real-time battle system.
When I finally was able to configure the specialized add-ons to the ZSNES emulator and got my translation patch, I dove right in.
Continue reading “Japan-Only Release: Star Ocean (SNES) Review and Resource”
increasingly perturbed, knowing I may never get the chance to play their original games. Then came the day Fire Emblem was announced for the Gameboy Advance. To my pleasant surprise it was a turn-based strategy game, similar to the previously released Advance Wars. Being a huge fan of the latter, I pre-ordered Fire Emblem immediately and was treated to one of my favorite games of all time. After playing through eight times and completing all possible routes, I ventured forth to the internet to search for new route of Fire Emblem delivery to satisfy my new addiction. This was when I was introduced to emulation in all its early, somewhat inaccurate glory. The first game I obtained, or “ripped from my personal copy of a Japanese Super Famicom cartridge” was Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu (translation: Genealogy of the Holy War) along with an early version of its translation patch. I was absolutely blown away by the game, its multi-generational plot, large scale battles, and series staple perma-death mechanics resulted in it being instantly classified in my top 5 favorite games of all time. I yearned for more, and luckily my needs were satisfied by Seisen no Keifu’s epic “mid-quel” entitled Fire Emblem: Thracia 776.