It’s a busy month in terms of releases, but classic role-playing games will doubtless appreciate Suikoden 1 and 2 HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars. Launching on March 6th, it’s a remastered compilation of Konami’s first two Suikoden titles, arguably some of the finest games ever made.
Reviews are going live and largely positive per Opencritic, but one has to wonder: Why did it take so long for the remasters to launch? Following its announcement in 2022, it was to arrive in 2023 before an unexplained delay. Planning also began in 2020.
Producer Rui Naito has since revealed the reason to Dengeki Online (translation via Automaton-Media). “With Suikoden 1 and 2 HD Remaster, I told [director Yoshitaka] Sakiyama and his team to ‘make something solid’ because it is the starting point for the IP’s revival. If we were to release a half-baked product, then [our attempt to revive the series] would be over.” Working with old code also presented some challenges for the team.
Why not a remake instead of remasters? Naito responded, “At the time, Murayama (Yoshihito Murayama, Suikoden series’ original creator) and the other game designers who came before me put significant thought into how to express these games’ stories in a limited number of bits. Even the number of exclamation marks in their original dialogue is an expression of their thoughts and feelings.
“Therefore, I knew we must not lose these aspects of the games. At the very beginning of the development process, we worked out what we should improve, and what we should leave untouched.”
Significant work has still gone into refreshing the visuals, including Suikoden 1 character designer Junko Kawano redrawing all portraits for the 108 Stars of Destiny. “I am very grateful to her for doing not only these portraits but also the illustrations for the opening and various illustrations for the games’ release,” said Sakiyama. All the backgrounds have also been redrawn to accommodate modern displays.
Interestingly, Sakiyama reveals that this was possibly the team’s “last chance” to remaster the titles with input from the original developers. “Fortunately, some of the staff that worked on the original games are still at Konami, so we were able to discuss things with them. In this sense, this was likely our last chance to remaster the games [with their input].”
Suikoden 1 and 2 HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars will launch for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC. Check out our feature for more details on what to expect.