Capcom Should Spread the Breath of Fire Around

Capcom released a good batch of soundtracks on Steam a couple of weeks ago, with the Breath of Fire soundtracks being the most notable among them — news brought to the Damage Control staff’s attention by Angela in our Discord channel (feel free to join!). Capcom hasn’t been a stranger to releasing some BoF soundtracks in the last few years, previously doing so for the first three games through their official store as DRM-free MP3s, but the offer was too good to last (the link to them is dead now). The Steam versions are DRM free, and it’s difficult to complain about the $8 price.

This is all great, but it raises another question: What about rereleasing the games?

It’s no secret that Capcom rereleases games a lot. I can’t count the number of times each Resident Evil game, for instance, has been rereleased for several consoles across generations. They’ve done the same for other franchises like Mega Man (kept alive solely through rereleases at one point), Street Fighter, and Devil May Cry. They’re unwilling to do the same for the Breath of Fire series to the same extent, but should do so given the quality of each game in the series. The games are more difficult to play on modern platforms than they should be, proof that even one of the most port-happy publishers around is far from perfect at preserving their software library.

It’s possible there wouldn’t be any way to play most of the BoF titles these days if it wasn’t for retro gaming services. The first two games have only been rereleased through Nintendo’s Virtual Console and Nintendo Switch Online services. Nintendo ended the VC with the Wii U and 3DS, and considering NSO downloads only provide for temporary ownership for subscribers (as in, as long as they’re subscribing), there’s no way to own them on their current platform. But these games have been better off compared to subsequent titles.

Breath of Fire III was only rereleased for PSP, a port previously distributed only in Japan and Europe thanks to Sony America’s concept approval system apparently blocking it in North America due to a lack of new content. It took until 2016 for it to be released in NA through PlayStation Network as a digital download, more than a decade after releasing in Japan and Europe in 2006. The PSOne version has never been rereleased. Breath of Fire IV was rereleased through PSN as a PSOne Classics title, playable through PlayStation 3, PSP, and Vita, though nowhere else.

At least the first four games are playable on Switch and Vita, two modern platforms — though I’m being very generous with Vita here. They could be worse; they could be like Breath of Fire (V): Dragon Quarter. Following it’s PlayStation 2 release, the only rerelease for Dragon Quarter happened on PlayStation 3 through Japan’s PS2 Classics system in 2016. But even that didn’t last when the game was delisted from the service a little over a year ago with no explanation. As it stands, there’s no way to legally play the game in any country outside obtaining a PS2 system and the original game disc.

It’s long past time for Capcom to rerelease the games in a collection, just as they’ve done for several Mega Man and Street Fighter games in the last few years. Including them as they were with good emulation would be fine, but it would be even better if the games received enhancements. For example, the first two games could receive the updates from the Game Boy Advance ports, which included updated portraits and faster movement. Breath of Fire II could even use a brand-new translation, even if the old one steps into unintentional hilarity territory. This is asking for a bit much given the extra resources it would require, not to mention how abnormal it would be for Capcom to take this on. Jjust look at how many times they’ve rereleased Mega Man X6 with its hilariously bad translation. A mere collection would be satisfying enough.

This isn’t even getting into the potential for a new game, the chances for which are more nonexistent than ever. Capcom’s only attempt at reviving the franchise in recent memory was Breath of Fire 6, a free-to-play mobile game that aesthetically and thematically was a significant departure for the franchise. It released only in Japan in 2016, and its service was ended in 2017. Capcom is currently going all in on AAA games outside rare exceptions like Mega Man 11 and rereleases, which leaves little space for brand-new BoF game.

Not to get off track here. The only main suggestion is for a collection including all the Breath of Fire games with good emulation so they can be more easily preserved for future platforms. This is not in any way too much to ask, but the chances of this happening aren’t as high as I’d like to believe. Capcom will likely prioritize rereleasing another series of Mega Man titles (like the Battle Network games) before getting around to this. But they really should do the BoF titles, so the positive side of me has his fingers figuratively crossed.

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