Bahamut Lagoon

Last updated
Bahamut Lagoon
Bahamut Lagoon Coverart.png
Developer(s) Square
Publisher(s) Square
Director(s) Kazushige Nojima
Producer(s) Tadashi Nomura
Designer(s) Hitoshi Sasaki
Programmer(s) Hiroshi Ono
Artist(s) Hitoshi Sasaki
Writer(s) Motomu Toriyama
Composer(s) Noriko Matsueda
Platform(s) Super Famicom
Release
  • JP: February 9, 1996
Genre(s) Tactical role-playing
Mode(s) Single-player

Bahamut Lagoon [lower-alpha 1] is a 1996 tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. Bahamut Lagoon was released on the Virtual Console in Japan on September 29, 2009 for the Wii and on February 5, 2014 for the Wii U.

Contents

Gameplay

Bahamut Lagoon is a tactical role-playing game in which players take on the role of Byuu, a soldier of the kingdom of Kahna who leads a campaign against Granbelos Empire across the floating lands of Orelus. [1] The gameplay blends 2D RPG grid-based combat with turn-based combat. Players have the ability to raise and battle dragons to fight alongside a player's other characters. A player has a squadron of four characters in combat, and players have six different squadron leaders they can choose from. Each squad leader has a dragon which can be evolved into different types by feeding it weapons, armor, accessories, and items. Feeding dragons foods they like will increase their loyalty, and food they don't like will decrease loyalty, but players can still use foods dragons do not like to make a dragon more powerful. Dragons are not controlled by the player, but are given general guidelines such as "Go!" or "Wait!". [1] [2] [3]

Plot

In the world of Orelus, continents called "lagoons" float in the sky, and war is threatened when the kingdom of Kahna is invaded by the Granbelos Empire. This leads Captain Byuu of the Dragon Squad to fight to repel this invasion, but after the initial victory, Kahna is overrun, and Byuu, the game's silent protagonist, leads a continued campaign against the Granbelos Empire.

Development

The concept for Bahamut Lagoon was created by Hitoshi Sasaki, known for his graphic design work on Final Fantasy VI , with him describing it as a game he had wanted to make for a long time. [4] Programmer Hiroshi Ono approached Hironobu Sakaguchi with the proposal of a team of new Square developers creating their own project. Beginning development around the concept of a traditional RPG with random encounters, it shifted to its current tactical design. [5] Sakaguchi, who was a fan of the tactical RPG genre, approved the project; [6] [7] it was originally titled " Final Fantasy Tactics ". [6] Production began in 1994 at Square's Development Department 6 and lasted for two years. [8] Sasaki acted as lead designer and lead artist. [8] [4] The game was directed by Kazushige Nojima, who joined the company in 1994 from Data East after working as writer for the Glory of Heracles series. [9] The producer was Tadashi Nomura. [10] The scenario was written by Motomu Toriyama, who also joined in 1994 and took up the role as no-one had. [11] [12]

The game's setting was inspired by Sasaki's memory of flying over the Izu Peninsula, wanting to evoke a similar feeling of a "floating lagoon". The scenario, which featured complex relationships and betrayals, was directly influenced by events in Toriyama's life. [4] Toriyama attributed his leading role in the scenario to the team's nature as a group of newcomers. [12] The battle system was designed by Takatsuga Nakazawa, who wanted to make the game challenging yet balanced for players, with Sasaki calling Nakazawa "brutal" with some of his trap placements. [4] Dragon breeding was implemented during the later half of development, which influenced its design transition into a tactical RPG. Ono wanted the dragons to exist as their own creatures outside player control, hence being driven by the game's AI. An abandoned idea was dragons fighting and eating each other during battles. [5] Sasaki also wanted the dragons not to act like party members, comparing them to pets that acted on their own. [4] Space limitations forced a reduction in the planned character behaviour pattern. [8]

Music

The music was composed and arranged by Noriko Matsueda. Teruaki Sugawara acted as sound engineer, and the sound programmer was Hidenori Suzuki. [13] Bahamut Lagoon was Matsueda's second major video game, having first co-composed the score of Front Mission with Yoko Shimomura. [4] [13] Matsueda wanted to create a score close to orchestral music, working within the platform's limited sound environment to create that impression through "reverb, spatiality, and balance". She also wanted music that would get players emotionally invested in the narrative, thinking of that before matching songs to in-game areas. [4] An official soundtrack album was published by NTT Publishing on February 25, 1996. [4] [14]

Release

Bahamut Lagoon was released for the Super Famicom on February 9, 1996. [15] It was one of Square's last Super Famicom releases before they broke with Nintendo to develop for Sony's PlayStation. [16] [17] As with other of Square's Super Famicom titles of the time, copies were priced high due to the growing expense of cartridge production. [18] It was re-released in the Japanese Virtual Console for Wii on September 29, 2009, and for Wii U on February 5, 2014. The Wii version was taken down with the console's Virtual Console store in 2019. [15]

The game has never been officially released outside Japan. [19] A fan translation patch was created by a three-person team including Clyde Mandelin and released in 2002, noted as sharing many issues of translations of that era. [20] A second notably-polished fan translation was created by Near, known for their work on Super Famicom emulators who had been working on and off on the project for over twenty years. The translation was released in 2021. [21] The updated Bahamut Lagoon translation was the last project completed by Near before their death by suicide in June of that year following an online harassment campaign. [22]

Reception

During 1996, Bahamut Lagoon sold over 474,600 copies, making it the 17th best-selling game of the year and Square's third best-selling title after Super Mario RPG and Tobal No. 1 . [26] Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave the game a score of 29 points out of 40. [24] VideoGames , as part of a feature on upcoming RPGs, described the game as looking "phenomenal", highlighting its graphics and gameplay design. [27]

The narrative saw mixed reactions. Edge praised the narrative as moving away from its initial premise, and lauding the cast as a blending of strengths between Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. [23] French website Jeuxvideo.com noted that the storyline evolved beyond its opening tropes due to how the characters acted and the plot secrets revealed during the last chapters. [25] RPGamer's Seán Michael Peters noted the use of multiple overused genre tropes, but also praised the story twists and character evolution. [2] Nick Rox of GameFan did not mention the story, but was dismissive of the premise. [28]

The graphics and music were generally praised. Edge described the graphics and sprite work as some of the best on the system. [23] Jeuxvideo.com gave praise to the graphics and highlighted the constant use of filters and effects, but faulted a lack of variety in the soundtrack. [25] Peters praised the graphics despite not matching other Super Famicom titles such as Star Ocean , and generally enjoyed the music despite some repetition. [2] Rox called the visuals and effects "excellent" despite finding them lacking compared to some earlier Square titles on the platform and positively noting the added character movement graphics, additionally praising Matsueda's score. [28]

The gameplay also met with praise from Western reviewers. Speaking about the gameplay, Edge lauded the amount of customization options given to the player and the depth of combat, comparing it favorably to later RPGs. [23] Jeuxvideo.com positively noted the gameplay depth and gave extensive commentary and praise to the dragon raising and commanding mechanics. [25] Peters enjoyed the gameplay mechanics, but described the difficulty as unexpectedly high. [2] Rox was mixed on the gameplay, finding it too easy, inferior to that of Front Mission and referring to the title as "basically Shining Force with dragons". [28]

Retrospective opinions on Bahamut Lagoon have been positive. [3] [19] [29] Alex Kwan of Game On USA praised its mechanics as innovative within the genre, but considered its difficulty to be fairly low. [29] Kurt Kalata, writing for Hardcore Gaming 101 positively noted the story's focus on clashing personalities and its depth of tactical mechanics. [30] Reviewing the Wii U Virtual Console release, Nintendo Life 's Kerry Brunskill noted that it stood out from other tactical RPGs due to its blend of gameplay elements and dragon raising mechanics. [3] Rolando Orcha of Siliconera praised its blending of tactical and standard RPG elements, hoping for its eventual appearance on other platforms and a localized release. [31] As part of an interview with Sakaguchi, Simon Parkin of Eurogamer noted Bahamut Lagoon as one of several "fascinating curios" produced by Square during the early to mid 1990s. [32] In an article on six Super Famicom imports, 1Up.com 's Bob Mackey called it a "fantastic game" and a notable title from Square's final year with Nintendo. [19]

Related Research Articles

<i>Chrono Trigger</i> 1995 video game

Chrono Trigger is a 1995 role-playing video game developed and published by Square. It was originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as the first entry in the Chrono series. The game's development team included three designers that Square dubbed the "Dream Team": Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Square's Final Fantasy series; Yuji Horii, creator of Enix's Dragon Quest series; and Akira Toriyama, character designer of Dragon Quest and author of the Dragon Ball manga series. In addition, Takashi Tokita co-directed the game and co-wrote the scenario, Kazuhiko Aoki produced the game, while Masato Kato wrote most of the story. The game's plot follows a group of adventurers who travel through time to prevent a global catastrophe.

<i>Final Fantasy VI</i> 1994 video game

Final Fantasy VI, also known as Final Fantasy III from its initial North American release, is a 1994 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the sixth main entry in the Final Fantasy series, the final to feature 2D sprite based graphics, and the first to be directed by someone other than series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi; the role was instead filled by Yoshinori Kitase and Hiroyuki Ito. Long-time collaborator Yoshitaka Amano returned as character designer and concept artist, while composer Nobuo Uematsu returned to compose the game's score, which has been released on several soundtrack albums.

<i>Super Mario RPG</i> 1996 video game

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is a 1996 role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was the final Mario game for the SNES. The game was directed by Chihiro Fujioka and Yoshihiko Maekawa, produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, and scored by Yoko Shimomura.

<i>The Legend of Zelda</i> (video game) 1986 video game

The Legend of Zelda, originally released in Japan as The Hyrule Fantasy: Zelda no Densetsu, is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo. The first game of The Legend of Zelda series, it is set in the fantasy land of Hyrule and centers on an elf-like boy named Link, who aims to collect the eight fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom in order to rescue Princess Zelda from Ganon. The player controls Link from a top-down perspective and navigates throughout the overworld and dungeons, collecting weapons, defeating enemies and uncovering secrets along the way.

Dragon Quest, previously published as Dragon Warrior in North America until 2005, is a series of role-playing games created by Japanese game designer Yuji Horii, character designer Akira Toriyama, and composer Koichi Sugiyama and published by Square Enix. Since its inception, development of games in the series have been outsourced to a plethora of external companies until the tenth installment, with localized remakes and ports of later installments for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Switch being published by Nintendo outside of Japan. With its first game published in 1986, there are eleven main-series games, along with numerous spin-off games. In addition, there have been numerous manga, anime and novels published under the franchise, with nearly every game in the main series having a related adaptation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Role-playing video game</span> Video game genre

A role-playing video game, role-playing game (RPG) or computer role-playing game (CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character immersed in some well-defined world, usually involving some form of character development by way of recording statistics. Many role-playing video games have origins in tabletop role-playing games and use much of the same terminology, settings, and game mechanics. Other major similarities with pen-and-paper games include developed story-telling and narrative elements, player character development, complexity, as well as replay value and immersion. The electronic medium removes the necessity for a gamemaster and increases combat resolution speed. RPGs have evolved from simple text-based console-window games into visually rich 3D experiences.

<i>Treasure of the Rudras</i> 1996 video game

Treasure of the Rudras is a Japanese role-playing game released by Square in 1996, and the company's last developed game for the Super Famicom.

<i>Tactics Ogre</i> 1995 video game

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is a 1995 tactical role-playing game developed and published by Quest Corporation for the Super Famicom. It was later ported to the Sega Saturn (1996) and the PlayStation (1997), the latter released in North America in 1998 by Atlus USA. The second entry in the Ogre Battle series, the story takes place in the war-torn kingdom of Valeria, where protagonist Denim Powell works in a local resistance force against occupying powers, ending up caught in the ethnic conflicts driving the war. Battles are turn-based, taking place on grid-based maps from an overhead perspective with a focus on positioning and using character class abilities.

<i>Itadaki Street</i> Video game series

Itadaki Street is a party video game series originally created by Dragon Quest designer Yuji Horii. It is currently owned by Square Enix. The first game was released in Japan on Nintendo's Famicom console in 1991. Since then, new installments in the series have been released for the Super Famicom, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Mobile Phones, Android, iOS, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. The series was exclusive to Japan prior to the 2011 Itadaki Street Wii, which was released as Fortune Street in North America and Boom Street in Europe.

<i>Dragon Quest II</i> 1987 video game

Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line, titled Dragon Warrior II when initially localized to North America, is a role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix in 1987 for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a part of the Dragon Quest series. Enix's U.S. subsidiary published the American release, Dragon Warrior II, for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. Dragon Quest II is set one hundred years after the events of the first game.

<i>Dragon Quest</i> (video game) 1986 video game

Dragon Quest, titled Dragon Warrior when initially localized to North America, is a role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was originally released in Japan in 1986 and by Nintendo in North America in 1989. It is the first game in the Dragon Quest video game series. Dragon Quest has been ported and remade for several video game platforms, including the MSX, MSX2, PC-9801, Super Famicom, Game Boy Color, mobile phones, and Nintendo Switch as of 2019. The player controls the hero character who is charged with saving the Kingdom of Alefgard and rescuing its princess from the evil Dragonlord. Dragon Warrior's story became the second part in a trilogy, with several spinoff anime and manga series.

Noriko Matsueda is a Japanese former video game composer. She is best known for her work on the Front Mission series, The Bouncer, and Final Fantasy X-2. Matsueda collaborated with fellow composer Takahito Eguchi on several games. Composing music at an early age, she began studying the piano and electronic organ when she was three years old. She graduated from the Tokyo Conservatoire Shobi, where she met Eguchi.

<i>Treasure Hunter G</i> 1996 video game

Treasure Hunter G is 1996 a turn-based tactical role-playing game developed by Sting Entertainment and published by Square exclusively for the Super Famicom, and in Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akitoshi Kawazu</span> Japanese video game producer and designer

Akitoshi Kawazu is a Japanese game designer, director, producer and writer. After joining Square in 1985, he went on to become a central developer for the first two Final Fantasy titles, then acted as creator and lead developer for the SaGa series.

<i>Dragon Ball Z: Buyū Retsuden</i> 1994 video game

Dragon Ball Z: Buyū Retsuden is a 1994 fighting video game developed and published by Bandai and Ecofilmes for the Sega Mega Drive. Based upon Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball franchise, it is the only game in the series released for the Mega Drive, following the Frieza and Cell sagas. Its gameplay has been described as a combination of the original Super Butōden and Super Butōden 2, consisting of one-on-one fights using a three-button configuration, featuring special moves and two playable modes.

<i>Blood of Bahamut</i> 2009 video game

Blood of Bahamut is an action role-playing video game developed by Think & Feel and published by Square Enix. It was released for the Nintendo DS in Japan on August 6, 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video games in Japan</span>

Video games are a major industry in Japan, and the country is considered one of the most influential in video gaming. Japanese game development is often identified with the golden age of video games and the country is home to many notable video game companies such as Nintendo, Sega, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Taito, Konami, Square Enix, Capcom, NEC, SNK, and formerly Sony Computer Entertainment. In 2022, Japan was the third largest video game market in the world after the United States and China.

The Turbo File devices from ASCII Corporation are external storage devices for saved game data on various Nintendo consoles. They have been sold only in Japan, and are mainly supported by ASCII's own games. The first one was designed primarily to allow players transfer data between the Wizardry games released on the Famicom.

While the early history and distinctive traits of role-playing video games (RPGs) in East Asia have come from Japan, many video games have also arisen in China, developed in South Korea, and Taiwan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoyo (Bahamut Lagoon)</span> Bahamut Lagoon character

Yoyo is a character in the 1996 video game Bahamut Lagoon. She was designed by Motomu Toriyama, and can be named along with the protagonist, Byuu. The game follows her story as the princess of the land of Kahna, particularly managing her kingdom, dealing with the opposing Granbelow Empire, and her romance with the empire's General Palpaleos. Her romance was a contentious thing for some players of the game, who were upset that she fell for the general instead of Byuu, partly due to some of these players naming her after a girl they liked. This led to her being labelled by these players as one of "Square's Three Big Bad Women", which writer Kurt Kalata speculated was because the people upset were in school at the time.

References

  1. 1 2 バハムート ラグーン 取扱説明書. Square. February 9, 1996.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Peters, Seán Michael. "Bahamut Lagoon - Review". RPGamer. Archived from the original on 2010-03-22. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  3. 1 2 3 Brunskill, Kerry (February 5, 2014). "Matters of Import: Bahamut Lagoon Roars Onto the Japanese Wii U eShop". Nintendo Life . Archived from the original on 2022-07-10. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Bahamut Lagoon - 1996 Developer Interview". Shmuplations. Archived from the original on 2022-02-25. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  5. 1 2 バハムート ラグーン. Game Walker (in Japanese). No. 17. Kadokawa Shoten. March 1996. pp. 45–46.
  6. 1 2 ファイナルファンタジータクティクス. Famitsu (in Japanese). No. 399. ASCII Corporation. 1996-07-26. pp. 122–125.
  7. ↑ "Final Fantasy Tactics – 1997 Developer Interview". Shumplations. Archived from the original on June 7, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 バハムート ラグーン. Famitsu (in Japanese). No. 372. ASCII Corporation. February 2, 1996. p. 66.
  9. ↑ 第151回 ステラヴィスタ 野島 一成 さん. Gpada.com (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2004-07-23. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  10. ↑ 第152回 モノリスソフト 野村 匡 さん. Gpara.com (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2004-10-23. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  11. ↑ Tong, Sophia (March 12, 2010). "FFXIII director intends to keep series story-driven". GameSpot . Archived from the original on December 19, 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  12. 1 2 Toriyama, Motomu (2009-07-28). シナリオライター編 ＜第１／４回＞ (in Japanese). Square Enix. Archived from the original on 2009-07-31. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  13. 1 2 Nomura, Tadashi; Matsueda, Noriko; Sugawara, Teruaki; Suzuki, Hidenori; Shimomura. Yoko (February 26, 1996). "Bahamut Lagoon Original Sound Track booklet". (in Japanese) NTT Publishing. PSCN-5046 Retrieved on 2022-10-24.
  14. ↑ バハムートラグーン オリジナル・サウンドトラック. NTT Publishing (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 1998-02-08. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  15. 1 2 バハムート ラグーン (in Japanese). Square Enix. Archived from the original on 2022-07-11. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  16. ↑ "2000 ~ 1996 Square Enix" (in Japanese). Square Enix. Archived from the original on 2015-06-29. Retrieved 2015-09-24.
  17. ↑ Leone, Matt (January 9, 2017). "Final Fantasy 7: An oral history". Polygon . Archived from the original on January 9, 2017. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
  18. ↑ blackoak. "Final Fantasy VII – 1997 Developer Interviews". Shmuplations. Archived from the original on September 23, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  19. 1 2 3 Mackey, Bob (August 19, 2011). "Six Must-Play Super Nintendo Imports". 1Up.com . Archived from the original on 2016-05-27. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  20. ↑ Faulkner, Jason (December 22, 2020). "Bahamut Lagoon English translation patch beta coming soon". GameRevolution . Archived from the original on 2020-12-24. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  21. ↑ Klepek, Patrick (March 8, 2021). "A 23-Year Perfectionist Journey to Localize the Obscure 'Bahamut Lagoon'". Vice . Archived from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  22. ↑ Macgregor, Jody (2021-06-28). "Near, creator of the higan and bsnes emulators, has died". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on 2021-06-28. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  23. 1 2 3 4 "Review: Bahamut Lagoon". Edge . No. 127. Future plc. September 2003. p. 107.
  24. 1 2 NEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: バハムート ラグーン. Famitsu Tsushin (in Japanese). No. 374. ASCII Corporation. 1996-02-02.
  25. 1 2 3 4 "Test: Bahamut Lagoon". Jeuxvideo.com . July 1, 2011. Archived from the original on 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  26. ↑ "1996 Top 30 Best Selling Japanese Console Games". The-MagicBox.com. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-21.
  27. ↑ "RPG Attack: Bahamut Lagoon". VideoGames . No. 85. LFP, Inc. February 1996. p. 88.
  28. 1 2 3 Rox, Nick (April 1996). "Bahamut Lagoon". GameFan . Vol. 4, no. 4. Metropolis Media. p. 77.
  29. 1 2 Kwan, Alan (August 1996). "Secrets of Square". Game On USA. No. 4. Viz Communications. p. 7.
  30. ↑ Kalata, Kurt (July 28, 2017). "Bahamut Lagoon". Hardcore Gaming 101 . Archived from the original on 2017-10-14. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  31. ↑ Ochoa, Rolando (February 11, 2007). "RPG In Memoriam: Bahamut Lagoon". Siliconera . Archived from the original on 2008-12-03. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  32. ↑ Parkin, Simon (February 27, 2012). "Hironobu Sakaguchi: Fantasy Man". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  1. ↑ Japanese: バハムート ラグーン, Hepburn: Bahamūto Ragūn
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.