Is it too early to say “Konami is SO back?” Perhaps, but lately I’ve realized that when it comes to the recent handling of my favourite IPs from the storied Tokyo-based videogame maker, Konami seems to be returning to form. As a game publisher at least, 2025 Konami bears almost no resemblance whatsoever to the company it was a decade ago, where in the aftermath of its not-so-silent breakup with legendary game designer Hideo Kojima and the cancellation of his Silent Hills project, appeared to be shifting focus away from game development and towards its pachinko business. Angered fans weathered many questionable moves by Konami in the years that followed, including forgettable releases such as Metal Gear Survive and Contra Rogue Corps.
Fast-forward back to the present however and we now have a savvier, more confident Konami that looks to have comfortably resettled into its publisher role, wisely licensing out its lucrative IPs to trusted studios with the talent to develop new, Triple-A entries in its franchises (e.g. 2024’s Silent Hill 2 remake by Bloober Team, Contra: Operation Galuga by WayForward and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater by a yet unnamed developer). Meanwhile, Konami’s excellent remaster collections of older, original and licensed games from its 80’s and 90’s heydays keep trucking along, with Suikoden I & II HD Remaster bringing us another long-overdue classic from Konami’s past. And what do you know, there isn’t even a single Ninja Turtle in sight!
FYI: Suikoden I (1996) and Suikoden II (1998) were originally released exclusively for the original PlayStation and are two of the most seminal JRPGs to appear on the platform in its early years next to Square’s Final Fantasy VII. They were known and celebrated for their original takes on political intrigue and complex themes such as friendship, sacrifice, loyalty, and betrayal. Suikoden I would eventually be ported to the Sega Saturn and Windows PC in Japan, while its sequel would only get a Chinese PC port. In 2006, a compilation of both games, Suikoden I & II was released only in Japan for the PlayStation Portable. Hence this new release, Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars, is the first North American re-release of both games.
The epic events of Suikoden I & II are set three years apart and take place across a vast, fictional land mass known as the Northern Continent, whose inhabitants, creatures, cultures, and internal conflicts are heavily inspired by an amalgam of Chinese, Japanese and Western medieval fantasy motifs. In each game, the player assumes the role of the central character, a young hero who is charged with building a fortress and gathering together the “108 Stars of Destiny,” an army of both playable and non-playable characters that will fight alongside or assist the hero in his journey to rid the land of the tyrants that are oppressing it, either openly or secretly from within.
“Suikoden I & II HD Remaster upgrades the visuals to 4K60, adds more detailed artwork to its cities and dungeon areas, tidies up and injects more life into the majority of the character portraits and improves the alpha effects of magic spells…”
The first two Suikoden games are largely traditional, turn-based JRPG affairs, both teeming with conventions that fans of the genre will be intimately familiar with. Players will manage an ever-changing party of up to 6-members as they traverse a large world map; battle enemies in random encounters with options to fight or potentially flee; and collect valuable loot, money (Potch), magical artifacts (Runes, Rune Pieces, Orbs) and experience points (EXP) in order to upgrade each playable character’s stats, skills, and abilities. There are also occasional Duels and larger War scenarios that employ either a rock-paper-scissors-style mechanic or a streamlined, turn-based system involving groups of army units as opposed to smaller, traditional parties.
A prominent emphasis on Party Formation adds a welcome dash of strategy. All playable characters fall into one of three categories, Short Range (S), Mid-Range (M) and Long-Range (L), which in turn determine where a character’s skillset will be most effective within the party’s two-row arrangement. S-Range characters can only attack from the front row and are unable to reach targets in the enemy’s back row. M-Range characters can attack from the back row, but like S-Range characters they cannot hit backline enemies, while L-Range characters can hit any enemy from either row.
Should a character be placed in a position that is incompatible with their range, they will be unable to attack, though they may be able to assist in other ways, such as spell-casting or healing another party member with restorative items.
Generally speaking, S-Range characters, such as warriors, swordfighters or mercenaries are hardier and deal more damage. L-Range characters, like archers, tricksters or other classes that use thrown weapons tend to be spongier and deal less damage from afar. M-Range characters like spearwomen fall somewhere in the middle. They are strong enough to hold their own on the front-line but rely more on agility to avoid damage.
As one might expect, attaching runes to characters or rune pieces to their weapons can grant access to magic spells and buffs in either limited or unlimited uses, depending on the character. These abilities can quickly turn the tide during a particularly difficult enemy encounter or lengthy boss battle.
Regardless of which Suikoden title they choose to start with, players will quickly notice that while they can easily purchase items and armor at most shops when visiting a city or town, there are no weapon shops to be found. That’s because each of the game’s 108 characters possesses a bespoke, irreplaceable weapon that is unique to them. Instead, skilled blacksmiths can upgrade and occasionally evolve said weapons for a sizeable amount of Potch. At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the idea of not being able to change my character’s weapons, but I quicky came to realize that it was one less chore that I needed to worry about, as managing each armor sets for nearly a hundred playable heroes is busywork enough.
In my opinion, a big part of Suikoden I & II’s original appeal that still holds true today is its hybrid of 1990’s-era, 2-D sprite work, Super Famicom “Mode 7”-inspired special effects, and the simple but effective use of 3-D polygons for the terrain, allowing for quick, dynamic zooming and panning of the game camera for visual impact during combat. Developed during a period where the impending release of Final Fantasy VII loomed on the horizon and just about any game that wasn’t in full 3D was critically shunned, Konami’s Suikoden team was stubborn enough to go the opposite way, embracing a graphical style more akin to Square’s Final Fantasy VI and earning it a special place in my gaming memories from three decades ago.
Suikoden I & II HD Remaster upgrades the visuals to 4K60, adds more detailed artwork to its cities and dungeon areas, tidies up and injects more life into the majority of the character portraits and improves the alpha effects of magic spells, but otherwise leaves everything else untouched, janky 1990s animations and all. The result is a remaster whose improvements you’ll both appreciate yet barely notice, because you’ll be fooled into thinking you’re still playing the original PlayStation discs. The original soundtrack and effects have been fully restored intact as well, so those of you who can’t get enough of that duck “quack” sound when a command fails…uh, well, “Quack,” I guess!
Beyond looks and sound, there are a number of gameplay improvements with these remasters that I also consider to be godsends. The Suikoden I ability to run/dash in towns and dungeon maps from the start of the game without having to have a member in your party equipped with a specific rune is marvelous, as it can save players quite a bit of time in the early going. There’s also the Log, which keeps a record of every line of dialogue, original and repeated, in order from last to first. This enables players who have become lost or have forgotten what their next quest objective is can visit the log and scroll all the way back to the line of dialogue that gave them the assignment. Players can even bookmark up to 100 lines for quick access later.
“Suikoden I & II HD Remaster should still be considered a must-buy for anyone who considers themselves a classic JRPG fan and has even the tiniest amount of interest in the franchise…”
Revisiting Suikoden I & II after all these years is quite the punch in the nostalgia, but I’m not enough of a die-hard a fan that I would call them JRPG masterpieces. Both stories are engaging, but perhaps a bit too over-dramatic to be taken seriously. Many of the dialogue choices don’t appear to matter (apart from the ones that telegraphing how to unlock all 108 heroes), and there are frequent story points where some characters will leave or multiple characters will insist on joining my party at the same time with no option to refuse, messing with my formations and forcing me to kick out other valuable members of the party right there on the spot. But of course, we’re talking about a faithful 2025 remaster of two JRPGs from nearly 29 years ago, so some friction is to be expected.
Those very small complaints notwithstanding, Suikoden I & II HD Remaster should still be considered a must-buy for anyone who considers themselves a classic JRPG fan and has even the tiniest amount of interest in the franchise, as this will be the first time that these two games will be available in HD and English for every modern platform (excluding mobile). According to Konami there will also be physical editions for PS5, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch, so would-be collectors should take note.
R.I.P. Yoshitaka Murayama (1969 – 1995), the creator of both Suikoden and its spiritual successors, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising and Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, who passed away in February of last year.
