Suikoden (Series) | HD Remasters - TGS '24 Trailer

[Moonface]

Konami has announced HD remasters of both Suikoden 1 and Suikoden 2, which will be released in a single collection titled "Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars". The announcement was made today at Tokyo Game Show 2022.

This is a list of improvements being made to the games, per Konami:

• Graphical Improvements
  • Pixel sprites and environment art enhanced with new screen effects including lighting, clouds, and shadow animations Flickering flames, smoldering smoke, the movement of leaves and insects, all add up to a lively in-game atmosphere!
    
  • The effects and direction have been redesigned, bringing memorable scenes back to life in more beautiful ways!
    
• New Character Drawings
  • All character portraits have been updated in HD. Junko Kawano, who designed the characters for the original version of Suikoden released in 1995, has newly re-drawn all the character portraits for Suikoden I HD Remaster: Gate Rune Wars.
    
• Sound Improvements
  • Field Sound – A large number of environmental sounds not found in the original version, such as the sound of running water in the river, wind, insects, and running footsteps, have been added. You can enjoy an immersive experience like never before!
    
  • Battle Sound – All sound effects are now in HD. In addition to the impact of the 3D effects, the realistic sound greatly enhances the dynamism of the battles!
    
• Game System Improvements
  • Many new features have been added, such as dialogue log, auto-battle, double-speed battles, etc.
    

If you want to see some of these improvements for yourself in more detail than the announcement trailer above, Konami also released gameplay footage from Suikoden 2's Neclord boss battle:

Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars will be released in 2023 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Steam.

[ShiraNoMai]

Brooooo this is so hype. There have been no official re-releases of the game since Suikoden 2 was put onto PSN for PS3/Vita, and ESPECIALLY for the first game because that game only released about 2000 copies in the US so it was INSANELY rare to play legitimately.

These games are fantastic and I'm honored I had a chance to play them legitimately on the PS2 (PS1 backwards compatible). I can't wait for these. They look SO good. I also can't believe they redrew ALL 100+ character portraits for BOTH games. That's incredible, and to have been from the original artist no less... what a blessing.

[Dragon Lord]

Very excited for these remasters. I've always heard that Suikoden is one of the best classic JRPG series out there, but I never had a chance to play them before. Glad to see that Konami is FINALLY PULLING THEIR HEADS OUT OF THEIR ASSES and giving their classic games some love.

Now only if Capcom would follow suite with Breath of Fire 1-3 Remasters/Remakes. Maybe they'll see all these other companies reviving their classics and will jump on the wagon once they're done with Monster Hunter Rise and have finished development on Dragon's Dogma 2. One can hope, at least.

But yeah, hype meter is at a definite 10/10 for these.

[queenzelda]

I am SO glad these are getting a remaster. I own all of the Suikoden games so yea, I understand how big these remasters are. Woot!

[Moonface]

I hope this does well, just so that it potentially persuades Konami to remaster some of the other games in the series. I expect if they do then those will be done one at a time and might take longer, since looking at Suikoden 3 it seems that's when the series moved to 3D models instead of sprites.

It's also surprising to see Konami give these games another shot after I just found out they remastered the first two Suikoden games back in 2006 for the PSP, but it was only releases in Japan and performed really badly sales wise in respect to the reception the games themselves have.

[Moonface]

Suikoden I & II HD Remasters Delayed to 2024
The Suikoden I & II HD Remasters have both been delayed to 2024, as indicated by this statement from the developers on the games official website:

We would like to thank Suikoden fans everywhere for your ongoing passion and support for the Suikoden series.

Regarding the planned release of Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars, we have reached the conclusion that despite the very best efforts of our dedicated development staff to release the Remasters in 2023, additional time is needed to ensure the quality performance and gameplay experience our users deserve.
The entire Suikoden team is renewing our efforts to bring Suikoden I & II HD Remaster to release as soon as is possible.

We will share further release information as soon as it becomes available, on our official social media accounts and official homepage.
We appreciate your understanding and sincerely hope you will continue to lend Suikoden your support.

Thank you,
The Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars Team

Source: https://www.konami.com/games/genso/rem/1_2/us/en-us/

The remasters were originally scheduled to be released some time this year.

[Dragon Lord]

The fact that they cannot give even a hint of a new release frame isn't a very good sign. There must be something extremely wrong with the ports that they need to fix.

[Moonface]

The fact that they cannot give even a hint of a new release frame isn't a very good sign. There must be something extremely wrong with the ports that they need to fix.

Whatever issue has come up with the game must be unexpected and/or substantial to delay the game by at least four months, especially considering that these games were due to be released in two weeks and it had yet to go gold for the physical copies to be produced and shipped. I'm sure there's been cases but I can't recall another game that delayed itself this close to launch (especially by such a huge amount) that wasn't a digital only title.

EDIT: I am an idiot and somehow thought the delay was for the Baten Kaitos remasters when the announcement clearly said it was for the Suikoden ones. I refuse to edit this post to hide my incompetence.

[queenzelda]

The only reason these are even releasing is because the creators of suikoden are releasing new games that are making MONEY. KONAMI certainly seemed content to sit on the ip before the creators started to make a serperate ip from Suikoden and were profiting from it.

[Moonface]

The only reason these are even releasing is because the creators of suikoden are releasing new games that are making MONEY. KONAMI certainly seemed content to sit on the ip before the creators started to make a serperate ip from Suikoden and were profiting from it.

Wouldn't surprise me, considering the Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake announcement too. Guess those pachinko machines stopped paying out fat bonuses.

[Moonface]

Suikoden I & II HD Remaster | TGS 2024 Trailer
A new trailer for Suikoden I & II HD Remaster shown at Tokyo Game Show 2024 has revealed new details and a new release date.

• All background art has been redrawn in HD with enhanced visual effects.
  
• Environmental sound effects and footsteps have been added while making sure these new sounds don't get in the way of the original soundtrack.
  
• While the original UI specs have been respected, the UI has also been optimized for ease of use.
  
• The battle system has new support features such as speeding up combat and automating battles with a single button.
  

Despite being originally delayed from 2023 to 2024, Suikoden I & II HD Remaster has been pushed back to next year and will now be released on March 6, 2025.

[queenzelda]

I'm probably getting the Suikoden games on pc. I have the original PlayStation discs already, so getting them on pc is fine.