Update [Thu 30th May, 2024 10:30 BST]: It has been revealed that Ys III: Wanderers From Ys has been temporarily removed from distribution.
"We are currently suspending distribution of the EGG console game "Wanderers from Ys (PC-8801mkIISR)"," says the official EGG Console account. "We are currently preparing to resume distribution, so please wait for a while. Thank you for your understanding."
In the absence of any official explanation, fans are filling the void with speculation; one Japanese player points out that the scanned manual included with the game has a bare-breasted harpy enemy, and this could potentially be why the game has been pulled, as its current CERO age rating is not correct.
"Can't they at least forgive the guy who scanned the instruction manual for the original product?" says the Twitter user. "I mean, they should just lift the ban on CERO already..."
Original Story [Thu 2nd May, 2024 10:00 BST]: The PC-88 Action RPG Ys III: Wanderers From Ys is being released on Nintendo Switch on May 9th, as part of D4 Enterprise's EGGCONSOLE series of classic reissues (thanks Gosokkyu!).
Originally released in 1989, the game represents a notable departure from the earlier two titles in the series, exchanging the top-down view for a sidescrolling perspective and swapping out the bump combat of the originals for a manual attack.
The story of the game takes place almost 3 years after the events of Ys II and follows Adol Christin, the hero of the first two titles, as he travels to his friend Dogi's hometown of Redmont. Hearing reports of an evil threatening the land, Adol must jump into action once again, embarking on a new adventure to help the townsfolk.
There are a couple of interesting things to note about the game. The first is that the developers weren't actually credited on the original release, having left shortly before the game's release to form the studio Quintet. The other, meanwhile, is that the game wasn't initially marketed as YS III.
Instead, the developers considered it a Gaiden adventure due to it not being related to the ancient kingdom of Ys from the first two games, but Nihon Falcom eventually changed the name to YS III — likely to further capitalize on the series's name recognition.
Besides the PC-88, the game was also released on the PC-98, MSX, X68000, Mega Drive / Genesis, PC Engine CD-ROM² / TurboGrafx-CD, SNES, and Famicom. It also received a remake for Windows in 2005 called Ys: The Oath in Felghana, which was ported to the PSP, Nintendo Switch, and the PS4 / PS5. Out of all these releases, the SNES, Mega Drive, TurboGrafx-CD, and the PSP versions were the only ones to get an English localization.
If previous EGGCONSOLE releases are anything to go by, this new Switch release won't be translated, but will feature an English main menu screen and "How to play" sections to offer tips to help guide people through the game.