Nearly 25 years after its first release, cult classic JRPG Breath of Fire 4 is back thanks to 23,000 fans who championed its return.
CD Projekt-owned digital storefront GOG just announced that a new batch of classics have come to the platform as part of its game preservation initiative, which previously gave us re-releases of the first three Resident Evils, the two Dino Crisis games, OG Diablo, and Monolith Productions' F.E.A.R. (RIP).
Good Old Games has now enshrined Ultima Underworld 1 and 2, Ultima 9: Ascension, Worms Armageddon, Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood, Realms of the Haunting, Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon, Stonekeep, and most notably, Breath of Fire 4 on PC.
Capcom's beloved but oft-forgotten turn-based series managed to stand out in the subgenre's very crowded golden age, but they were never huge sales successes, prompting the publisher to put the series on ice for years. Nowadays, you can play the first two SNES entries with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, though Breath of Fire 3 and 4 are much harder to come by unless you can dig out a PS1 and pay extortionate fees for an old copy of the classics.
How come the fourquel gets a GOG release and the others don't? Well, Breath of Fire 4 was the only one that enjoyed a limited PC release back in the early 2000s, making this much easier to pull off since GOG itself doesn't have the legal rights to fully port an SNES/PS1 series to new platforms. Plus, around 23,000 fans voted for it to make a comeback via GOG's Dreamlist program, which lets players have a say too.
In case you're not in the know, GOG's preservation effort provides "convenience and compatibility with modern systems, even if the original developers of the game do not support it anymore," and everything is DRM-free, so you can play it without an internet connection or specific launchers.
Breath of Fire 4's GOG edition includes both English and Japanese localization, full support for most modern controllers, improved mini-games, new rendering options, and much more for $10. Hopefully it does well enough for Capcom to consider a full remaster in the vein of the recent Suikoden or Lunar collections.
For now, check out some of the best JRPGs of all time.
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