Xenosaga: Pied Piper Now Playable on PC Thanks to Preservationists – MonsterVine

With the looming launch of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Version a preservation group for Japanese cell video games has efficiently preserved Xenosaga: Pied Piper. Cellular video games, notoriously ephemeral, are sometimes left behind when requirements change, new kind components are adopted, or just throughout OS upgrades when corporations go beneath. Xenosaga: Pied Piper was one in every of two video games that have been solely launched for the collection in Japan. The opposite, a Nintendo DS sport titled Xenosaga I & II is meant to be a retelling of the occasions in each Xenosaga Episodes I & II which, in accordance to Wikipedia, expands on the narrative and characters from the primary two video games. Xenosaga: Pied Piper, initially launched on Vodaphone in 2004 and introduced to i-mode in 2006, is now ready to be emulated on PCs.

Above is a video of a Let’s Play by 桂樹(Keju_frangelico) captioned by ValakTurtle, who preserved the i-mode model of the sport. The announcement of the preservation, made on this YouTube videothat can’t be performed on different web sites, comes with a obtain hyperlink to each the sport and setup directions for the emulator. Together with the announcement for Xenosaga: Pied Piper comes the announcement of a translation as properly. ValakTurtle is working on a full translation patch for the sport together with Vector Translations & Preservation, which seems to be a more moderen collective of hobbyist translators and preservationists. Promising a brand new YouTube channel and social media accounts quickly.

The Xenosaga: Pied Piper Remake

Whereas the fan translation and preservation of the i-mode model of the sport are new, a remake has been within the works for a while. Final 12 months, posted on the Godsibb.internet boards, CycloneFox introduced that they have been working on an entire remake of Xenosaga: Pied Piper utilizing RPG Maker. On CycloneFox’s itch.io web page for the mission, they point out that many of the gameplay is misplaced and that there are some variations between the precise product and the remake they’re working on. A couple of of the variations are the localization used is from ValakTurtle’s video embedded above, no random encounters, greater high quality artwork, and the music. Notably, the music used for the remake is RPG Maker and royalty-free music. Nevertheless, with the unique now preserved, how a lot of that’s probably to keep the identical? A demo is on the market on CycloneFox’s itch.io web page for the mission and is totally playable within the browser.

What’s Xenosaga: Pied Piper?

Initially, Tetsuya Takahashi needed to embrace the story of Ziggy, who first appeared in Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht as an “ex-human” revived as a cyborg beneath the Life Recycling Act, as a situation in Xenosaga Episode II. Nevertheless, when contacted by the cell division of Namco to work with them on a cell property for Xenosaga, Takahashi determined to offload Ziggy’s story to the cell sport. Developed by Namco Cellular with assist from exterior studio Tom Create, who additionally helped with Xenosaga I+II for the Nintendo DS in 2006, Pied Piper was launched in 2004 on Vodaphone. The sport’s title is concerning the German fable, the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and was the third installment of the Xenosaga collection on the time. The i-mode launch coincided with the discharge of Xenosaga III: Additionally sprach Zarathustra. Pied Piper takes place 100 years prior to the occasions of Xenosaga: Episode 1 and focuses on Ziggy’s life as a human and what led to him changing into a cyborg. The story appears tragic however that must be no shock to Xeno followers.

There’s little or no probability of an official Namco launch of Xenosaga: Pied Piper, as the unique Xenosaga video games have been locked to their authentic launch platforms since launch within the mid-2000s. Whereas followers would love to see a rerelease or simply port to trendy platforms, it’s pretty ambiguous how a remake would go about now that Nintendo is the mother or father firm of Monolith Delicate. No matter the place these titles relaxation, followers the world over will go to nice lengths to make certain they’re preserved and translated, as we will’t count on corporations to try this work for us. Sadly, sport preservation, code preservation, and translation are sometimes missed by corporations who count on little to no return on these investments. Folks like ValakTurtle and CycloneFox who dedicate their free time to preserving our collective gaming historical past must be lauded for his or her efforts. Unfold the phrase, assist if you happen to can, and sustain the nice battle. I want each ValakTurtle and CycloneFox all the perfect on their impending releases.