It’s been an entire decade since Capcom has so much as touched their cult classic RPG series, Breath of Fire. In terms of new titles, the series hasn’t stirred since 2003’s extremely divisive Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter on the PlayStation 2. Finally however, Breath of Fire is ready to rise again!… Sort of.
Yes, Capcom did announce Breath of Fire 6 today, a game that fans have waited such a long time for!… But unfortunately, they also said that it’s only coming to mobile devices and browsers… And will be an online game… And has no plans to be localized outside of Japan at this time. Well, that’s a bummer…
Still, at least this finally offers solid proof that Breath of Fire isn’t dead, even if this no doubt isn’t the game that fans were hoping for, particularly since it’s being branded as a mainline sequel. It’s not completely outside the realm of possibility for the game to be localized, according to Capcom, but right now, it’s probably unlikely. Sadly, this is understandable, as demand for a game like this in the West would probably be quite low, especially given Breath of Fire’s lesser cult status compared to the Japanese publisher’s other more popular brands.
At the very least, fans in the West will be receiving another gift. In announcing the sixth game and addressing its (shaky) status for Western localization, Capcom also mentioned that they would be bringing Breath of Fire II to the Wii U Virtual Console sometime in the next few months. Yes, once again, it seems that Capcom is only releasing the second game on Nintendo’s retro channel, just as with the Wii Virtual Console.
This could be because the North American publishing rights to the first Super NES title actually belong to Square Enix, and they’ve never done anything with them on the Virtual Console or otherwise. Yes, it’s odd, but for whatever reason, Capcom initially refused to localize Breath of Fire on the Super NES in 1993, having Squaresoft (pre-Enix merger) use their cult RPG status to secure Western publishing rights themselves. Despite this, Capcom was able to design an updated port of the original Breath of Fire for the Game Boy Advance’s launch back in 2001, and has handled Western publishing for all games in the series from the second game onward.
Is the (sort of) return of Breath of Fire something that gets you excited? Are you upset about the heavily altered nature of the game from its cult-adored predecessors on the Super NES/Game Boy Advance and PlayStation? Leave your comments below.
Eggplante will continue to stoke your Breath of Fire news, as it’s kindled!