Suikoden 1 and 2, the beloved Konami RPGs, will return as HD remasters for PlayStation, Xbox, Steam and Switch in 2023.
Announced at Tokyo Game Show 2022, the two games will be part of a single collection titled (deep breath) Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars. The collection definitely appears to sit somewhere between a remaster and a remake, with major improvements made to looks, new character drawings included, and game improvements such as auto-battling and more.
You can check out an exclusive clip of the Neclord boss battle from the Suikoden 2 remaster below:
According to Konami, these are the headline changes in the collection:
Pixel sprites and environment art enhanced with new screen effects including lighting, clouds, and shadow animations Flickering flames, smoldering smoke, the movement of leaves and insects, all add up to a lively in-game atmosphere!
The effects and direction have been redesigned, bringing memorable scenes back to life in more beautiful ways!
All character portraits have been updated in HD. Junko Kawano, who designed the characters for the original version of Suikoden released in 1995, has newly re-drawn all the character portraits for Suikoden I HD Remaster: Gate Rune Wars.
Field Sound – A large number of environmental sounds not found in the original version, such as the sound of running water in the river, wind, insects, and running footsteps, have been added. You can enjoy an immersive experience like never before!
Battle Sound – All sound effects are now in HD. In addition to the impact of the 3D effects, the realistic sound greatly enhances the dynamism of the battles!
Many new features have been added, such as dialogue log, auto-battle, double-speed battles, etc.
Originally released on PlayStation, Suikoden is an RPG series most famous for including over 100 playable characters in its mainline games, as well as stylized 2D art and animations and fortress building aspects. In our review of the original game, we called it "undeniably one of the best RPGs ever made." We like 1998's Suikoden 2 even more, once calling it the best game you've never played.
Key members of the Suikoden team have since revealed a spiritual successor, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, which became a huge hit on Kickstarter and is due to arrive next year.
Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].
chobi83 on September 16th, 2022 at 16:44 UTC »
Too early in the morning for me to be this aroused. Goddamn
griminald on September 16th, 2022 at 16:26 UTC »
I'm dating myself a little bit (this originally came out in the US on PlayStation in 1999), but a remastered Suikoden II is exciting to me.
It ticked a lot of RPG boxes for me. And some mechanics that set it apart at the time from other RPGs.
There was the usual turn-based party fighting stuff RPGs had, but also an army battle mechanic where units of your army and the opposing army fought on a battlefield.
Was also one of the only RPGs I've played where the main antagonist is defeated after a hard fight -- but due to a plot twist, the main story is only about halfway over.
You could recruit over 100 characters, about 80 of whom you could put in your 6-person party as fighters. I only remember about 20-25 being useful, the rest were somewhere between jokey (you could have a party of just the Hero and 5 flying squirrels) and just B-Team.
Some of the characters had "unite" attacks, so certain combos of characters were useful in the same party.
I still remember using the Strategy Guide to find the characters, because many were tied to side missions or had other obscure requirements.
cfunkallstar on September 16th, 2022 at 16:22 UTC »
This is very unexpected news, and of course I am super stoked. Hopefully it will be available on all platforms.