Not all birthdays are always a reason to celebrate with companies. Nintendo was remarkably quiet during The legend of Zelda 35th recently, but Nihon Falcom is doing things differently. A special 40th anniversary broadcast scheduled for 11.00 GMT and to be presented by President Toshihiro Kondo, looking back at the company’s long history in role-playing games. And what a story that is.
Nihon Falcom opened its doors on March 9, 1982 and was one of the first pioneers of role-playing games, focusing primarily on Japanese personal computers. Nihon Falcom does not usually have the same love as other major publishers (Square Enix and Atlus are more famous in the West, for example), but throughout its history it has successfully developed a dedicated cult series.
After first efforts as Panorama Island, Nihon Falcom ‘s first big hit came in 1984 with dragon hunter, a franchise that would eventually lead to The legend of the heroes i Tokyo Xanadu. The latter has not been seen since 2015, but Legend of Heroes has had a great reputation for its impressive world construction. It eventually led to the “Trails” sub-series, best known on Nintendo platforms for Cold steel routes.
We can’t rule out Nihon Falcom’s efforts in defining the action-RPG genre, which is often credited Yes. Chronicling the adventures of red-haired adventurer Adol Christin, this series began in 1987 with Ys I: Ancient ys gone, arriving at Famicom a year later. These days, Ys has appeared on Switch with Ys Origin, Lacrimosa de DANA, and the next Monstrum Nox.
These releases highlight a recent change with Nihon Falcom. Having appeared sporadically on Nintendo consoles, the last decade has experienced a much more active momentum, even if release dates aren’t particularly constant compared to PlayStation and PC versions.
What can we expect from this broadcast, then? Well, we wouldn’t have any Western news, as NIS America usually handles publishing tasks here. It seems to be a fan-based issue for the most part, although new information should also be shown. Kuro no Kiseki, the latest entry from Legend of Heroes.
We hope to receive news about the Switch edition, but while we wait for more details, we would like to wish Nihon Falcom a happy 40th anniversary. With Monstrum Nox not defeated until the end of this year, at least we can expect that Cold Steel IV Routes will arrive next month at Switch.