After Capcom’s successful string of fighting game compilations, the company should consider releasing a Breath of Fire collection. With the company recently bringing Breath of Fire 4 to GOG, it’s only natural to consider getting the whole series to other systems.
This series of JRPGs might not be the most innovative, but many fans grew up with them, and they would love to replay these games legally. Newer fans would also want to see how Capcom handled a traditional turn-based JRPG series, as they’re mostly known for doing Street Fighter and Monster Hunter.
Currently, the only way to play the first two Breath of Fire games is through Nintendo’s NSO subscription. Both games are in the $20 tier as part of the SNES line, so fans can technically access them there. However, not everyone owns a Nintendo console, and it would be great if they were available elsewhere.
GOG preserved the fourth game, but fans can also vote to make the third entry available on the platform. Both games were originally available on the PlayStation, so it’s interesting to see that they aren’t available anywhere on the PSN Network. The third game also had a PSP port that was only available in Europe and Japan, so Capcom has a version that already has widescreen support.
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter was the fifth game made by Capcom, and it deviated from the traditional turn-based formula drastically. Released on the PlayStation 2, this unique title experimented with a battle system that had turn-based and real-time elements. It didn’t predict Square Enix’s love for real-time combat or anything like that, but seeing all these hybrid RPG battle systems does make us think of this game.
With four traditional turn-based RPGs and a unique hybrid of turn-based and real-time combat, this would be a unique collection of games. Fans can also see how the industry changed with the first four games alone, as the SNES games and PS1 games look pretty different from each other. The SNES titles had traditional sprite work, while the PlayStation games experimented with sprites and 3D polygons.
click to enlargeThe aforementioned Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is unique, as it was designed with multiple playthroughs in mind. Having an interesting RPG like this end of the first collection would get a lot of people talking. Plus, it’s nice having a fully 3D PS2 RPG in there after four traditional games some would consider too safe for the genre.
It wouldn’t be too surprising if we eventually get a Breath of Fire collection, given how Capcom has made retro releases a part of their strategy. Maybe the collection will be enough to give fans a new game in this franchise, you never know what will happen.
For more articles like this, take a look at our Features page.