Ys Book I & II
1989 · RPG · TurboGrafx-16
Overview
Ys Book I & II is a compilation of the first two entries in Falcom's action RPG series, presented on a single TurboGrafx-CD disc with fully voiced cutscenes, a redbook audio soundtrack, and enhanced visuals over the original PC releases. The game became a landmark title for demonstrating the CD-ROM format's potential in home gaming.
Deep Dive
Ys Book I & II was among the first games to fully exploit the TurboGrafx-CD add-on's capabilities when it launched in 1989. The original Ys games had been acclaimed PC titles in Japan, but the CD version transformed them with a complete dramatic voice track — thousands of lines of professionally recorded dialogue — and a musical score performed with quality approaching the recordings heard in cinema. The gameplay retained Falcom's distinctive bump system, where protagonist Adol Christin attacked enemies by running into them from the side or slightly above, a mechanic that demanded constant positioning awareness rather than button-mashing. The compilation connected the two games with a narrative bridge that made the experience feel like a single epic journey. Falcom's RPG design philosophy — tight maps, fast pacing, a focus on story momentum over grinding — made Ys Book I & II feel more kinetic than the turn-based JRPGs dominating the market. Boss fights required learning attack patterns and exploiting weaknesses, presaging the action RPG design language that would influence later games like Dark Souls in its reliance on skill over statistics. Ys Book I & II is remembered as the game that sold the TurboGrafx-CD concept to sceptical consumers. Reviewers pointed to its voice acting and musical quality as evidence that CD-ROM gaming represented a genuine leap over cartridge limitations. The game introduced Western audiences to the Ys franchise and remains one of the highest-rated TurboGrafx-16 titles ever released, frequently appearing on lists of the greatest RPGs of the 16-bit era.
Developer Story
Ys was created by Nihon Falcom, a Tokyo-based developer founded in 1981 that specialised in computer RPGs before most Japanese developers had considered the genre. The original Ys games were designed by Masaya Hashimoto and Yuzo Koshiro, the latter contributing a musical score that became legendary in the RPG community. Hudson Soft handled the PC Engine CD port, adding voice acting and enhanced visuals while preserving Falcom's gameplay design. The collaboration between Falcom's design vision and Hudson's technical execution produced one of the definitive titles of the CD-ROM era.
Did You Know?
- The game's redbook audio soundtrack was arranged and recorded specifically for the CD release, with performances by professional musicians — the original PC versions had FM synthesiser music.
- Adol Christin, the protagonist, never speaks dialogue himself across the entire Ys series — a deliberate design choice by Falcom to allow players to project onto the character.
Sources & further reading
- Ys I & II — Wikipedia
