Suikoden fans never thought they would see the day their beloved RPG returned to modern consoles, but a new day may be dawning for Konami’s previously lost series.
Earlier today, Konami confirmed that Suikoden I & II HD Remaster is coming to Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Spearheaded by long-time Konami developers like Yasuo Daikai and Takahiro Sakiyama, the latter of whom directed Suikoden 5, it features some significant enhancements, including auto-save functionality, a fast-forward command, and widescreen support.
Speaking with IGN at TGS 2022, the pair took some time to answer some pressing questions about the new update, beginning with whether it would receive a new script. The original game’s localization was famously flawed, filled with translation errors, questionable word choices, and garbled sentences. It also lacked the nuance of the original writing, which Daikai says is owed to the original’s limited text box.
“Initially, for the original games, the size of the dialogue box was quite small and there wasn’t a lot that we could fit in there. Japanese is a language that can say a lot in a very short amount of space, but for English and other languages, you need a lot of space to say the same thing usually. So in this game we have expanded the size of those dialogue boxes, and that has let us retool and work on the localization to get us more in tune with the Japanese script,” Daikai explains.
It’s unclear how extensively the localizations for the two games will be overhauled, but either way it should enhance their already excellent tale of intrigue and tragedy.
Elsewhere, the pair talked about the decision not to bring the remaster to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, saying that they prized the larger install bases of consoles like the PS4 over the technical improvements offered by current consoles. Asked whether the collection would include concept art collections or restore cut content, they merely responded, “No comment.” However, they did confirm that the soundtrack will be updated and improved.
But it was Daikai’s comments about what the remasters mean for the series that may get fans the most excited.
“I can’t say anything specific right now but we didn’t really want to have an end with just the remaster,” Daikai says, “So yes, I would really like to keep making more Suikoden games in the future. So we hope all of our fans will root for us and support us, and we hope that we can deliver on those promises and you guys can enjoy them.”
For long-suffering Suikoden fans, it’s a marked reversal from Konami’s decade of silence surrounding the series. It’s far from a guarantee that more Suikoden is forthcoming, but it leaves the possibility open just a crack for more entries in the long-running series.
One way or another, it would seem that Konami is very interested in revisiting its old franchises again. Castlevania, Contra, and other franchises have received elaborate retro collections, and there are persistent rumors of multiple Silent Hill games in the works.
Suikoden is one of Konami’s more niche franchises, but it retains a devoted fanbase to this day. First released for PlayStation in 1995, the first two games in particular are consistently listed among the greatest RPGs of all time thanks to their beautiful 2D sprites, elaborate stories, and massive rosters. The series is popular enough that when series creator Yoshitaka Murayama took to Kickstarter to promote Eiyuden Chronicle, a spiritual successor to the original Suikoden, it was funded almost immediately. That success was almost certainly on Konami’s mind when it greenlit the Suikoden remasters, but Daikai and Sakiyama wouldn’t say either way whether that was the case.
“When you think of Konami’s RPGs, you think of Suikoden,” Daikai says. “It has a lot of fans and it’s a really good product, so from here on out we want to make sure that lots of people are able to interact with the series that we’ve made.”
For now, Suikoden 1 and 2 HD Remaster is well into development, and when it releases in 2023 it may well signal the beginning of more to come.
Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
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