Ah, Ys. One of the only games us lowly and few Turbo Grafx owners could feel proud of in the late eighties/early nineties. The good games on the Turbo were few and far in between sadly, and most of the decent work never made it across the Pacific. I have great memories of the system, though. I had it all: Turbo Grafx, Turbo CD, even the peerless TurboExpress, which, despite being about as heavy, bulky, and aesthetically pleasing as a car battery, was remarkably advanced for its time. Too bad NEC left their American office out to die.
I dig the Virtual Console showing the TG16 some love, it almost makes me want a Wii. . . . Almost.

everygoodusernameistaken

@Quijanoth: I thought Fahey was trying to rhyme it with "lease", which actually works...

Grave

Uh oh, here comes trouble!

@Mommar: @dadeisvenm: @dunnace: @TheShape: @Eltigro: NO! WRONG! WRONG WRONG WRONG! Not Y's! Not YS! It's Ys! Respect it. It's good stuff.

That said, everybody needs to play the hell out of this and SS2.

@Turambar: I love Oath, but I can still enjoy other entries in the series just fine, including the original version of Ys III. VI is still my favorite, though.

Grave

Depressing. "Y's" used as a bad near-rhyme for "Lives"... Any classic gamer worth his salt knows the name of the game is pronounced "eee's". Kotaku, I am ashamed.

Quijanoth

I've only every played a tiny bit of Ys III on the SNES as a rental and brief snippets of Ark of Napishtim, but the TG-16 compilation is a must-have for me.

And I am also considering downloading Samurai Showdown II since from what I understand, it's the best game in the series, and I can't imagine giving every game in the anthology disc release an actual workout.

Lezard

Sadly, having played Oath in Felghana first, all other Ys games are ruined for me. Now that was one master piece.

Turambar

I've had 9 space bucks sitting in the Wii forever, time to put 8 of 'em to use on Ys. Checking it out on youtube, the Turbo-CD version has some kickin' tunes on its soundtrack.

I don't know if this is up on the Nintendo channel or not, but somebody put this up today for Helix.

+ Watch video

Heavy use of generic Eurotrash techno. Let's hope "you touch my tralala, my dingdingdong" is in there somewhere.

DiscipleofJamzy

@Mommar: Yeah, and that is what's keeping me from dl'ing this. I can't wait for the compilation... sigh...

dae_giovanni

@dunnace: Only one of the best RPG's no one outside of Japan ever played...

ibelli

oh man, this is awesome news. i remember drooling over a turboduo (they had sent me a promotional VHS that i watched a million times) just to play games like Lords of Thunder and Ys!

ironhive

Wanted Y's ever since the TG-CD came out. Will definitely have to get this one...

Eltigro

I still have my turbo duo just because of YS...now if they'd release one that they only released in Asia

Darkest Daze

Awesome!

EmeraldDragon

Ys 1&2 are rather different from Ys 3. Ys 1&2 is a top-down action-RPG. Take Zelda, add in RPGesque experience and levelling, towns with weapon/armor shops, a story with cutscenes, and some amazingly awesome music, and there ya go.

Dreamwriter

Y's should be a pretty big game by VC standards. Even if they compressed everything, it still was on CD-ROM to begin with. I wonder how much space it will occupy on the 512 MB internal Wii storage.

TheShape

I hope we finally get SMRPG for the 250th VC game next week.

iamerror37

Hello, I'm the youth! *Waves.*
What the fuck is Y's?

dunnace

Y's is a classic RPG right up there with classic Phantasy Star and Final Fantasty. Good old school purchase. Might be lost on the youth.

dadeisvenm

The Samurai Showdown love is cool and all but aren't they selling a disc with all 6 of them pretty soon for the Wii anyway?

I think I played Y's 3 on the SNES. Are Ys 1 & 2 in a similar vein to that one?

Mommar

I might finally buy another game off the VC: Ys!!!. :D =/ My last VC purchase was River City Ransom. Books 1 and 2. =D Definitely sounds like a good deal.

I h8 ph15h with a passion

Ooh...Ys I and II? Tempted by this one, despite the fact I've been trying to hold off until they FINALLY release Castlevania III.

Dragoonkin

@DiscipleofJamzy:
Ugh, you're right, it's all Euro-Trance crap.

Mommar

@Grave: Yeah, I was being jokingly dramatic there. Both I and II were good games without a doubt, and the music absolutely wonderful.

Turambar

@2NinjasTapedTogether: Awww, is America missing SMRPG when the rest of the world has it? FEEL THE IRONY BITCH! 12 WE WENT WITHOUT! 12 FUCKING YEARS! YOU CAN WAIT!

dunnace

Dear Nintendo,

FUCK YOU!

Where is my Super Mario RPG on the American Virtual Console?

Suck My Balls,
2NinjasTapedTogether

PS: If I see you, I will rip off your head and shit down your neck. Toodles!

2NinjasTapedTogether

@Dragoonkin: You know what? Castlevania 3 is great for a VC release, but I think that game should get the 2D-3D treament ala bionic commando re-armed.

I'm sorry, but when I think of Castlevania, I think of that game, not Symphony of the Night.

FrigidAir44

If I still had my wii (left it at home for the siblings while I went to college) I'd get both VC titles and I'd look into getting the WW title.

BassForever

@dunnace:

This comment made me laugh. Hard.

iamerror37

Ys!!!! The ideal utopia... I have many copies of this game... and now, yes, I will have it on the Wii. The music in this game kicks my ass everytime I listen to it.

WordMan

Ys Books I & II ALWAYS had a full orchestral soundtrack and voice acting -- it came on on CD :P

jayntampa

Ys book I & II was the first game I stayed up all night playing. It was also the very night I bought my TG-16 CD attachment.

wild_world_girl

@2NinjasTapedTogether: Yep, I'm here, move to Wales... it's, uh, nice :)

dunnace

@dadeisvenm: NO! NO! NO! Ys not Y's fool!

dadeisvenm

@Grave: Yes. Respect indeed. Y's(pronounced E's to all you who are wondering)

dadeisvenm

@dunnace: Could.

Don't want to. Refuse to. That's it, I'm packing up and moving to England.

Unless you're there.

Then, I'll go somewhere else.

2NinjasTapedTogether

Ys... Is... Out...? SLKTJALKAKMALKMA [CHOKES ON HIS OWN DROOL]

GenRedLeader

Wow that Helix video makes it so... exciting... I always wanted a Wii Space Channel 5 but this looks kinda of butty. Some things are neat though, like their mulitplayer mode and personal calibration.

osteofight

Do we have information on wether YS games will require Gamecube controllers or will be playable with the wiimote? That's a pretty big thing for me

ydraliskos

holy mother of jesus god Ys Eternal wii port?

ydraliskos

For those of you who don't know what Ys originally was, it was a city on the north coast of France, Breton/Bretagne. It is now underwater due in part to early global warming, and a bit of devilish betrayal.
[en.wikipedia.org]

Hecateus

@ydraliskos: the orginal TG16 pad only had 2 buttons (and select/run) -- so it works perfectly with the Wii mote :)

jayntampa

Ys I&II used to be my favorite games, I really enjoy them, too bad I won't be enjoy them again.

Kai200X

@Grave: Nah, he was saying a "New lease on 'whys'"...a transposition/rhyming slang of "Ys" for "lives". But your explanation would provide a fair cover-up. Moot point. Cheers for being civil in your response either way, mate.

Quijanoth

Finally, some good news on the virtual console!

It's not Earthbound, but I'll take it.

Johnny_Under

Ys!

It rocks.

It's pronounced "ee-ss", like "lease".

Not "whys", not "ease", but "EEESSSS"

That's how it is in Japanese, and that's how it is in English.

Also, it rocks.

Also, it didn't always have a full rock/orchestral soundtrack, the TurboGrafx games are remakes of the PC88 originals which came 2 years earlier.

:) The end. :)

ry2

@Hecateus

Ys is not under water because of global warming.

if you have a glass of water with Ice in it and the Ice melts does your cup over flow??? think about it.

its under water because of an earth quake or because a lake had a dam break and over flow onto in. yes these things happen and back in medieval they didn't record those kind of things.

Assassin_Kensei

I had Ys on my TurboGraphx, some times I wish i didn't sell it, but I got $1,300 bucks for it and like 20 games. but now I can have my favorite game for it back, for only what $8 bucks, sweet.

Assassin_Kensei

@Mommar: Samurai Shodown 2 is the only one in the series worth playing, IMHO.

Knoxximus (360/PSN)

@FrigidAir44: I played a bit of it again recently on an emulator and...I want more. :\ I've been waiting almost a year on that game to show on VC.

Yes, yes, Castlevania, and Castlevania II are there...but not III. And that's "the game" for me.

Dragoonkin

@iamerror37: I've been waiting for that one too. After a couple months of "nothing anybody wanted" updates to the VC, I got impatient and installed the Homebrew Channel.
Since then I've played SMRPG, EarthBound, Super Mario Kart, and many others that I would have happily paid for had they been released months ago, all on my NTSC Wii.
I've been a dedicated fan of Nintendo since the first time I held a controller, but if they can't take a break from this new "casual games" bullshit for long enough to sell the actual gamers what they want, then the gamers are going to figure out a way to get those things anyway.
Come on, we're nerds. That's what we do.

Zorantor

Can someone explain what's good about Ys? The battle system looks pretty crappy, and people have said so little about the RPG mechanics that I'm going to assume there aren't any besides "You leveled up! Str increase. Now, walking into enemies does +1 damage."

Is there something to this game for people who prefer actual gameplay to cutscenes?

Soos

Stop calling the game "Samurai Showdown"! :-)

L_K_M

Ys is mostly famous for some of the greatest music in the history of videogames. Falcom have literally survived for nearly 15 years on re-releasing remixes of all their music. To be honest the only Ys games which actually had good gameplay didn't start appearing until 6.

The most recent game Ys Origins for PC was pretty amazing actually, its one of my all time favourite games.

+ Watch video

Some people go as far to say Ys: Oath in Felghana had the greatest soundtrack of all time also viewable below.

+ Watch video

Chalice

Helix music is (relatively speaking) fantastic - it's actual dance music. In a dancing game. Dance music in a dancing game! Simple concept but (to judge from, like, every other dancing game) difficult to master...

The music is a little samey (they reuse artists and there aren't many vocals; have these been reproduced as .mod files or something?) but who cares: it's dance music, in a dancing game.

Also if you want arm exercise this is the game to get - my arm still aches and I only played it for like an hour in total yesterday.

Gamewise I'm still sort of doubtful about it - move recognition doesn't work all that well yet (I got a bit better across my two sessions, maybe I will get used to it) and I don't really like the 'memory' aspect of gameplay (so far). Remembering what moves you're supposed to be doing next = not fun. But some of the moves are good...

Overall it is definitely worth the $10 and compared to all the crap that's been on WiiWare lately (sorry I'm in the 'strongbad = not funny' camp), a welcome change. If you like music games, this is one of the top WiiWare titles despite its flaws...

quen

@Assassin_Kensei: It depends on which legend of the City of Ys you read. In Breton mythology, Ys sank due to the machinations of Dahut and her father the King. In the Christianized version of the myth, Dahut was seduced by Satan to open the sea wall and flood/destroy the city ala Sodom and Gomorrah.

Iczer2

Samurai Shodown Twoooooooo... Great update indeed.

i_am_not

"Ys: Book I&II" was one of the flagship TG-CD games, which still today offers some of the best music to EVER grace a game. I still pop my copy into my CD player just to listen to the tunes (same w/ Ys III). Too bad MOST future attempts to "enhance" these games have failed (with the exception of "Oath in Felghana"). If only Ys Eternal kept the killer music of the original... To all interested in picking up the Japanese PC exclusives, visit Falcom's website; they gladly ship worldwide if you email them for an English order form.

jmsalal

@Soos: It had one of the better stories and the music was incredible for the time. Gameplay did lack a bit but the rest was pure gold.

Iczer2

Ys! HFS! I didn't even look at the update! YAY!

Human Bomb

@TheShape: It is huge. When I downloaded it the screen told me that I would have only one block free afterwards (I do have a bunch of other games though) so I was stoked and downloaded it. Then when I tried to start it, it told me I needed 5 blocks free for the save game :( So I deleted a few save games and then I started it and my wife told me to turn on the Democratic convention. NO!!!!!!!!

I really cannot wait to play it in a few days. Really I cannot describe how I cannot wait.

mzs

If only I played my Wii a lot, I would consider buying some points for Ys. But then, there is a good chance I can find a Turbografx in a box somewhere in my house.

michaelleung

@dunnace:

I don't think it's wise to antagonize him even further since it seems his psyche is already malformed...Also, what the hell is YS? That's an odd title for an RPG..

NESSter

@jmsalal: There are actually alternate soundtracks (compiled by Deuce, I believe) available for Ys I&II Complete for PC. Google around! It's a serious improvement.

Grave