Toys ‘R’ Us filed for bankruptcy in 2017 before returning in a limited capacity years later. Even before that though the company didn’t have the relevant position it used to when video games were considered toys, rather than an industry. After all, it was over 50 years ago that Nintendo decided to market its home entertainment system in the boy’s aisle of the toy section, influencing not the trajectory of gaming that remained well into PlayStation’s life cycle of gaming, some might say it remains. For a young me, Toy’s ‘R’ Us was the place to go if you wanted to buy games, with the alternative being smaller family-owned stores, which one close by to where I lived did factor into my buying habits, but if you were looking for the best selection, the former was the right place to go. This year three titles arrive that harken me back to those days, the games being Suikoden, Lunar, and Power Stone. While they aren’t the only ones, this year is poised to be a great year for the generation that grew up on Geoffory the Giraffe.
Suikoden
On March 6th the long-awaited Suikoden 1 & 2 Remaster releases in the West, only about a week after its planned release in Japan. Based, extremely loosely on the Chinese novel Water Margin (which itself translates into Japanese as Suikoden), the title is a beloved JRPG developed by Konami. Armed with 100 protagonists in both titles it was a big RPG that set itself apart from others in the space pretty easily and stands as a reminder Konami used to develop RPGs, with this remaster serving as a reminder that Konami is at least trying to return to their roots now, after departing the core gaming space.
For me, I have more friends who love them more than I do, but I do remember returning home from school for the better part of a month and grinding out Suikoden instead of doing homework or really… Anything of value. In context, I wouldn’t have a PlayStation till 2000 shortly after the release of Final Fantasy IX, bought at Toys ‘R’ Us with a selection of 5 titles (see, I was going somewhere with that plug-in) for good grades, being a Nintendo mainstay for years prior. Unfortunately for Suikoden II which was part of this purchase, it had such close proximity to Final Fantasy IX, which would have the important role of reminding me why I loved Final Fantasy and solidifying it as my favorite series to this day, that Suikoden never got the chance it deserved, a mistake I plan to correct when the titles re-releases.
Lunar
Then the following month, on April 18th, a remaster collection I seriously was starting to doubt I would ever see released, the Lunar Remastered Collection. Made by GameArts, both Lunar games are at their heart love stories in a world that harkens back to the Anime I used to stay up till 2 in the morning to watch on Adult Swim. Unlike the previous title, here the party is always capped at 4 combatants, but the way the game would bring new characters and have characters leave predated Final Fantasy VIIs Aerith moment not to mention put real weight on the time with your characters.
Funnily enough, the Lunar Remastered Collection is a remaster of a remake, and my first introduction to the series was through Lunar II: Eternal Blue in early 2001. Originally both games were released on the Sega Saturn, a reminder that the platform’s problem was never the pedigree of games to release on it. They would later be ported to PlayStation with complete versions and, honestly, a pretty boss collectors edition. One of which I would convince my mom to drive to Toys ‘R’ Us to buy after seeing it, having to listen to her scream at me after because it was more than the usual cost of a game. Thankfully she had to drive 30 minutes to buy it so she felt she needed to justify the trip. Between Lunar, Grandia, and Shenmue, three games I fell in love with after begging for them off their covers alone, my gaming habits would be dramatically altered, appreciating how much an experience can expand your world.
Power Stone
Finally, while it doesn’t have a release date there is the Capcom Fighting Collect Vol 2 that will have a few throwback titles under its belt, but the ones I want to focus on are Power Stone titles from the Sega Dreamcast. While not a completely comparable experience, the title was in a lot of ways Dreamcasts answer to Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. at a time when there weren’t 20. Dreamcast went after a crossover audience a few times, Sonic Shuffle being the obvious other example. It was a 3D brawler with dynamic levels that you punched your friends around as you attempted to collect the titular power stones to help solidify your win. Looking back, a few elements of it seem to have made it back to Super Smash Bros. completing the cycle.
Both of which I wouldn’t play till 2001 when the Dreamcast was the dominating present for my birthday which I made clear I wanted when in, you guessed it Toys ‘R’ Us. This was a period in time where all the kids that lived on your block were your friends despite probably hating half of them. Power Stone became the game people knew that I had so weekends were sleepovers were this and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, and after school was a revolving roster of people, none of whom I speak to anymore or even remember their names vieing for next game. Most games know the pain of the loser getting the next game, especially when one of the players was so good they never lost… That player was not me.
These three titles are coming out so soon and all evoke such powerful memories despite having originally played them over 2 decades ago. And it’s hard to imagine they don’t invoke similar moments for other people, a time and place when your only obligations were taking out the trash and finishing your homework. These remasters most have little hope of transporting the way Nostalgia begs you to get your hopes up, but I’m excited to return through the vignette of everything that came after those moments.
What about you dear audience, do you have memories of these games? Feel free to share! Gaming is always better through the shared perspective of a multitude of experiences.
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