{"id":45155,"date":"2025-03-04T18:51:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T09:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=45155"},"modified":"2025-03-04T18:55:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T09:55:26","slug":"suikoden-i-ii-hd-remaster-took-5-years-to-make-because-the-devs-want-to-reboot-the-ip-with-a-faithful-remaster-that-honors-the-originals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/suikoden-i-ii-hd-remaster-took-5-years-to-make-because-the-devs-want-to-reboot-the-ip-with-a-faithful-remaster-that-honors-the-originals\/","title":{"rendered":"Suikoden I & II HD remaster took 5 years to make because the devs want to reboot the IP with a faithful remaster that honors the originals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune & Dunan Unification Wars<\/strong> is set to release on March 6 for Nintendo Switch, PS4\/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam). In a recent interview with Dengeki Online<\/a>, the developers behind the remaster discussed why it has taken so long to bring these two classic RPGs to modern consoles, and revealed that, if all goes well, Suikoden fans can expect this to be the start of the series\u2019 revival. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planning for Suikoden I & II HD Remaster started back in 2020. After its announcement in September 2022, it was slated for global release the following year. However, it was ultimately postponed until March 6, 2025<\/a>. Why has a remaster, not a remake, of two old-school Konami RPGs taken this long? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Suikoden<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the developers explain, this has to do with the difficulties of working with old data and the team\u2019s commitment to creating a truly high-quality remaster that was faithful to the originals. Producer Rui Naito reveals that this was his main directive to director Takahiro Sakiyama and the dev team: \u201cWith Suikoden I & II HD Remaster, I told Sakiyama and his team to \u2018make something solid\u2019 because it is the starting point for the IP\u2019s revival. If we were to release a half-baked product, then [our attempt to revive the series] would be over.\u201d Naito explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naito also clarifies why he was determined to release a remaster and not a remake. It seems this decision was made out of respect for what the creators of the original games achieved so well in the 90s, despite the limits of technology. \u201cAt the time, Murayama (Yoshihito Murayama, Suikoden series\u2019 original creator) and the other game designers who came before me put significant thought into how to express these games\u2019 stories in a limited number of bits,\u201d Naito explains. \u201cEven 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.\u201d Sakiyama adds that \u201cAt the very beginning of the development process, we worked out what we should improve, and what we should leave untouched.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Suikoden<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most of the changes made relate to the game\u2019s visuals, and appear to have been made with the aim of being as faithful to the original games as possible. This was still a huge undertaking, however. Each main Suikoden game has a protagonist and 107 recruitable characters that can aid you in your quest, known collectively as the 108 stars of destiny. For the remaster, Sakiyama explains that they asked Suikoden I\u2019s character designer Junko Kawano to redraw all 108 character portraits for the combat and dialogue screens. \u201cI am very grateful to her for doing not only these portraits, but also the illustrations for the opening and various illustrations for the games\u2019 release.\u201d Sakiyama adds.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another big undertaking was Suikoden I & II\u2019s backgrounds, which got completely redone for the remaster. The original\u2019s pixel art backgrounds looked fine on the curved screens of a CRT TV back in the day, but for the game to look good on modern HD TVs, it was decided to redraw all the backgrounds as HD illustrations.\u00a0Other tweaks include a clearer user interface and HD sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Suikoden
Comparison between original pixel art background (above) and the HD remaster (below).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Suikoden<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although the remaster will include QoL improvements like autosave and the option to speed up the game\u2019s turn-based battles, combat difficulty was ultimately kept the same as the originals, which lean towards the easier side compared to other 90s RPGs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sakiyama mentioned that the dev team were able to consult with staff from the original about the remasters. \u201cFortunately, 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].\u201d Sadly, Suikoden\u2019s original creator Murayama (who left Konami in 2002) passed away last year, and will not get to see the remaster\u2019s release nor the series\u2019 revival plans come into fruition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune & Dunan Unification Wars<\/a> is scheduled to be released on Nintendo Switch, PS4\/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam<\/a>) on March 6, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From preserving dialogue to redrawing 108 character portraits, Suikoden I & II HD’s devs reveal the sheer amount of effort that went into the remasters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":45159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-45155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nSuikoden I & II HD remaster took 5 years to make because the devs want to reboot the IP with a faithful remaster that honors the originals - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From preserving dialogue to redrawing 108 character portraits, Suikoden I & II HD's devs reveal all the effort that went into the remasters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/suikoden-i-ii-hd-remaster-took-5-years-to-make-because-the-devs-want-to-reboot-the-ip-with-a-faithful-remaster-that-honors-the-originals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Suikoden I & II HD remaster took 5 years to make because the devs want to reboot the IP with a faithful remaster that honors the originals - 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