History Creator / Falcom

*** Remade as ''Ys: Memories of Celceta'' - technically Falcom's own version of Ys IV, but it's so completely unlike any other version that it's worth playing at least The Dawn of Ys as well and possibly Mask of the Sun.

** ''Ys SEVEN''

'''Nihon Falcom Corporation''' 『日本ファルコム株式会社』 is one of Japan's oldest and most venerable video game development and publication houses, having begun business in 1981 selling UsefulNotes/AppleII hardware and software, and released their first game, ''Galactic Wars'', in 1982 on the {{PC88}}, with their first truly significant release being ''VideoGame/DragonSlayer'' two years later, that being perhaps the very first ActionRPG... [[NoExportForYou and you've probably]] [[BadExportForYou never heard of them]]. They are probably best known outside of Japan for creating the ''Franchise/{{Ys}}'' ActionRPG series and giving its games [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome catchy soundtracks]] courtesy of the company's internal sound production staff: the "Falcom Sound Team jdk"(not to be confused with jdk Band - a band made of freelance musicians who provides arrangements and performances of Sound Team jdk's music for both arranged albums/soundtracks and live on stage during concerts). In Japan they have a number of other famous franchises, most notably the ''The Legend of Heroes'' franchise, and '''especially''' the ''[[VideoGame/KisekiSeries Trails/Kiseki]]'' series.

'''Nihon Falcom Corporation''' 『日本ファルコム株式会社』 is one of Japan's oldest and most venerable video game development and publication houses, having begun business in 1981 selling UsefulNotes/AppleII hardware and software, and released their first game, ''Galactic Wars'', in 1982 on the {{PC88}}, with their first truly significant release being ''VideoGame/DragonSlayer'' two years later, that being perhaps the very first ActionRPG... [[NoExportForYou and you've probably]] [[BadExportForYou never heard of them]]. They are probably best known outside of Japan for creating the ''Franchise/{{Ys}}'' ActionRPG series and giving its games [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome catchy soundtracks]] courtesy of the company's internal band, "JDK Sound Team", which YuzoKoshiro was a part of. In Japan they have a number of other famous franchises, most notably the ''Legend of Heroes'' franchise, and '''especially''' the ''[[VideoGame/KisekiSeries Trails/Kiseki]]'' series.

Unlike other developer-publishers of its pedigree and generation (particularly Square and Enix), Falcom never established an overseas subsidiary... and as a result, their overseas releases have been ''extremely'' scattershot and spread among a legion of publishers, from Creator/{{Nintendo}} to {{Broderbund}} to {{Sega}} to NEC to WorkingDesigns to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sammy American Sammy]] to HudsonSoft to NamcoBandai to [[{{Sierra}} Sierra Entertainment]] to Creator/{{Infocom}} to {{Atlus}}. (Falcom even helped found "Kyodai Software Marketing" in 1988 in an attempt to self-publish on American [=PCs=], but that operation folded after just releasing ''Ys 1''.) The end result was very little consistency in release schedule or quality and style of translation, the Falcom name often not appearing on their own products (or at best tangentially appearing) leading to no brand recognition, general neglect of Falcom's strongest platform (the PC), and some of Falcom's best games taking ''years'' to cross the Pacific, especially in the latter part of TheNineties and into TheNoughties (with some ''still'' in NoExportForYou limbo as of this writing) and with some games getting [[BadExportForYou absolutely shameful treatments]] (the "Gagharv trilogy", ''Legend of Heroes'' III-V, being the most infamous disaster and one which nearly killed the chance for ''TrailsInTheSky'' to cross the Pacific). Recently, Falcom formed a partnership with XSEEDGames to bring a number of games to North America, ensuring that a more regular release pipeline for their games is maintained.

These days, Falcom's greatest focus is on their "Kiseki" or "Trails" franchise, the [[TrailsInTheSky first game of which]] finally came to North America in March of 2011. To date, seven ''Trails'' games have been released in Japan. The company remains well-respected for generally solid gameplay, great writing in its ''Trails'' games, and incredible music in basically every game it releases; JDK Band is so famous it releases its own [=CDs=] as side projects, and those constitute a not-insignificant portion of Falcom's income. While still not extremely well-known in the West, recent releases like ''Ys: Oath in Felghana'' have raised the company's profile significantly due to warm reception and ''Trails'' could cement their place in the relative mainstream.

You can find most of their musical works on [[http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz7eke4JGlbtc11_6mmA7ew this YouTube channel]] . Starting in January 11th, 2012, they also began to put their soundtracks up on the western portions of the [[http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/falcom-sound-team-jdk/id120174391 iTunes store]]! As of this edit, they have put up albums for the majority of their games released overseas as well as all the recent Trails releases in Japan, although music for older Japan-only titles remains missing (and, oddly, the Super Arrange Version for ''Ys Origin'' is also missing in action).

** ''Brandish 2: Planet Buster''

*** ''Dragon Slayer VIII: Legend of Xanadu''
*** ''Legend of Xanadu II''

** ''Dragon Slayer VI: Legend Of Heroes''
*** ''Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II''

**** ''Legend of Heroes III: The White Witch'' (''Legend of Heroes II: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch'' internationally, first to drop the DS branding)
**** ''Legend of Heroes IV: A Tear of Vermillion'' (''Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion'' internationally)
**** ''Legend of Heroes V: A Cagesong of the Ocean'' (''Legend of Heroes III: Song of the Ocean'' internationally)

**** ''VideoGame/LegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'' (''Legend of Heroes VI: Sora no Kiseki FC'' in Japan)
***** ''Legend of Heroes VI-2: Sora no Kiseki SC''
***** ''Legend of Heroes VI-3: Sora no Kiseki The 3rd''
**** ''Legend of Heroes VII: VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki''
***** ''Legend of Heroes: Ao no Kiseki''

**** ''Legend of Heroes: [[VideoGame/SenNoKiseki Sen no Kiseki]]''
***** ''Legend of Heroes: Sen no Kiseki II''

** ''Ys III: Wanderers From Ys''

*** Being remade Felghana-style as ''Ys: Celceta, The Sea Of Trees''
** ''Ys V: Kefin, Lost City of Sand''

You can find most of their musical works on [[strike: [[http://www.youtube.com/user/FalcomJDKSound this YouTube channel]]]] (defunct as of April 2015). Starting in January 11th, 2012, they also began to put their soundtracks up on the western portions of the [[http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/falcom-sound-team-jdk/id120174391 iTunes store]]! As of this edit, they have put up albums for the majority of their games released overseas as well as all the recent Trails releases in Japan, although music for older Japan-only titles remains missing (and, oddly, the Super Arrange Version for ''Ys Origin'' is also missing in action).

You can find most of their musical works on [[http://www.youtube.com/user/FalcomJDKSound this YouTube channel]]. Starting in January 11th, 2012, they also began to put their soundtracks up on the western portions of the [[http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/falcom-sound-team-jdk/id120174391 iTunes store]]! As of this edit, they have put up albums for the majority of their games released overseas as well as all the recent Trails releases in Japan, although music for older Japan-only titles remains missing (and, oddly, the Super Arrange Version for ''Ys Origin'' is also missing in action).

Unlike other developer-publishers of its pedigree and generation (particularly Square and Enix), Falcom never established an overseas subsidiary... and as a result, their overseas releases have been ''extremely'' scattershot and spread among a legion of publishers, from Creator/{{Nintendo}} to {{Broderbund}} to {{Sega}} to NEC to WorkingDesigns to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sammy American Sammy]] to HudsonSoft to NamcoBandai to [[{{Sierra}} Sierra Entertainment]] to {{Infocom}} to {{Atlus}}. (Falcom even helped found "Kyodai Software Marketing" in 1988 in an attempt to self-publish on American [=PCs=], but that operation folded after just releasing ''Ys 1''.) The end result was very little consistency in release schedule or quality and style of translation, the Falcom name often not appearing on their own products (or at best tangentially appearing) leading to no brand recognition, general neglect of Falcom's strongest platform (the PC), and some of Falcom's best games taking ''years'' to cross the Pacific, especially in the latter part of TheNineties and into TheNoughties (with some ''still'' in NoExportForYou limbo as of this writing) and with some games getting [[BadExportForYou absolutely shameful treatments]] (the "Gagharv trilogy", ''Legend of Heroes'' III-V, being the most infamous disaster and one which nearly killed the chance for ''TrailsInTheSky'' to cross the Pacific). Recently, Falcom formed a partnership with XSEEDGames to bring a number of games to North America, ensuring that a more regular release pipeline for their games is maintained.

'''Nihon Falcom Corporation''' 『日本ファルコム株式会社』 is one of Japan's oldest and most venerable video game development and publication houses, having begun business in 1981 selling UsefulNotes/AppleII hardware and software, and released their first game, ''Galactic Wars'', in 1982 on the {{PC88}}, with their first truly significant release being ''VideoGame/DragonSlayer'' two years later, that being perhaps the very first ActionRPG... [[NoExportForYou and you've probably]] [[BadExportForYou never heard of them]]. They are probably best known outside of Japan for creating the ''Franchise/{{Ys}}'' ActionRPG series and giving its games [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome catchy soundtracks]] courtesy of the company's internal band, "JDK Sound Team", which YuzoKoshiro was a part of. In Japan they have a number of other famous franchises, most notably the ''Legend of Heroes'' franchise, and '''especially''' the ''[[VideoGame/KisekiSeries Trails/Kiseki series]]''.

These days, Falcom's greatest focus is on their "Kiseki" or "Trails" franchise, the [[TrailsInTheSky first game of which]] finally came to North America in March of 2011. To date, six ''Trails'' games have been released in Japan. The company remains well-respected for generally solid gameplay, great writing in its ''Trails'' games, and incredible music in basically every game it releases; JDK Band is so famous it releases its own [=CDs=] as side projects, and those constitute a not-insignificant portion of Falcom's income. While still not extremely well-known in the West, recent releases like ''Ys: Oath in Felghana'' have raised the company's profile significantly due to warm reception and ''Trails'' could cement their place in the relative mainstream.

'''Nihon Falcom Corporation''' 『日本ファルコム株式会社』 is one of Japan's oldest and most venerable video game development and publication houses, having begun business in 1981 selling AppleII hardware and software, and released their first game, ''Galactic Wars'', in 1982 on the {{PC88}}, with their first truly significant release being ''VideoGame/DragonSlayer'' two years later, that being perhaps the very first ActionRPG... [[NoExportForYou and you've probably]] [[BadExportForYou never heard of them]]. They are probably best known outside of Japan for creating the ''Franchise/{{Ys}}'' ActionRPG series and giving its games [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome catchy soundtracks]] courtesy of the company's internal band, "JDK Sound Team", which YuzoKoshiro was a part of. In Japan they have a number of other famous franchises, most notably the ''Legend of Heroes'' franchise, and '''especially''' the ''[[VideoGame/KisekiSeries Trails/Kiseki series]]''.

You can find most of their musical works on [[http://www.youtube.com/user/FalcomClassics this YouTube channel]] (defunct as of July 2014). Starting in January 11th, 2012, they also began to put their soundtracks up on the western portions of the [[http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/falcom-sound-team-jdk/id120174391 iTunes store]]! As of this edit, they have put up albums for the majority of their games released overseas as well as all the recent Trails releases in Japan, although music for older Japan-only titles remains missing (and, oddly, the Super Arrange Version for ''Ys Origin'' is also missing in action).

You can find most of their musical works on [[http://www.youtube.com/user/FalcomClassics this YouTube channel.]] Starting in January 11th, 2012, they also began to put their soundtracks up on the western portions of the [[http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/falcom-sound-team-jdk/id120174391 iTunes store]]! As of this edit, they have put up albums for the majority of their games released overseas as well as all the recent Trails releases in Japan, although music for older Japan-only titles remains missing (and, oddly, the Super Arrange Version for ''Ys Origin'' is also missing in action).

* ''VantageMaster''

'''Nihon Falcom Corporation''' 『日本ファルコム株式会社』 is one of Japan's oldest and most venerable video game development and publication houses, having begun business in 1981 selling AppleII hardware and software, and released their first game, ''Galactic Wars'', in 1982 on the {{PC88}}, with their first truly significant release being ''VideoGame/DragonSlayer'' two years later, that being perhaps the very first ActionRPG... [[NoExportForYou and you've probably]] [[BadExportForYou never heard of them]]. They are probably best known outside of Japan for creating the ''Franchise/{{Ys}}'' ActionRPG series and giving its games [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome catchy soundtracks]] courtesy of the company's internal band, "JDK Sound Team", which YuzoKoshiro was a part of. In Japan they have a number of other famous franchises, most notably the ''Legend of Heroes'' franchise, and '''especially''' the ''TrailsInTheSky'' series.

**** ''Legend of Heroes: [[VideoGame/SenNoKiseki]]''

*** ''[[VideoGame/GagharvTrilogy]]'' [[note]]The trilogy was released out of order internationally. The games are listed in their Japanese release order here.[[/note]]

*** ''[[VideoGame/Gagharv Trilogy]]'' [[note]]The trilogy was released out of order internationally. The games are listed in their Japanese release order here.[[/note]]

*** ''Gagharv Trilogy''

**** ''Legend of Heroes IV: A Tear of Vermillion''
**** ''Legend of Heroes V: A Cagesong of the Ocean''

**** ''VideoGame/SenNoKiseki''
***** ''Sen no Kiseki II''

*** ''[[VideoGame/KisekiSeries]]''

*** ''Legend of Heroes III: The White Witch'' (''Legend of Heroes II: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch'' internationally, first to drop the DS branding)
*** ''Legend of Heroes IV: A Tear of Vermillion''
*** ''Legend of Heroes V: A Cagesong of the Ocean''
*** ''VideoGame/LegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'' (''Legend of Heroes VI: Sora no Kiseki FC'' in Japan)
**** ''Legend of Heroes VI-2: Sora no Kiseki SC''
**** ''Legend of Heroes VI-3: Sora no Kiseki The 3rd''
*** ''Legend of Heroes VII: VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki''
*** ''Legend of Heroes: Ao no Kiseki''
*** ''VideoGame/NayutaNoKiseki''
*** ''VideoGame/SenNoKiseki''

*** ''VideoGame/Legend of Heroes: Sen no Kiseki''

*** ''Legend of Heroes: Sen no Kiseki''

These days, Falcom's greatest focus is on their "Kiseki" or "Trails" franchise, the [[TrailsInTheSky first game of which]] finally came to North America in March of 2011. To date, five ''Trails'' games have been released in Japan. The company remains well-respected for generally solid gameplay, great writing in its ''Trails'' games, and incredible music in basically every game it releases; JDK Band is so famous it releases its own [=CDs=] as side projects, and those constitute a not-insignificant portion of Falcom's income. While still not extremely well-known in the West, recent releases like ''Ys: Oath in Felghana'' have raised the company's profile significantly due to warm reception and ''Trails'' could cement their place in the relative mainstream.

'''Nihon Falcom Corporation''' 『日本ファルコム株式会社』 is one of Japan's oldest and most venerable video game development and publication houses, having begun business in 1981 selling AppleII hardware and software, and released their first game, ''Galactic Wars'', in 1982 on the {{PC88}}, with their first truly significant release being ''VideoGame/DragonSlayer'' two years later, that being perhaps the very first ActionRPG... [[NoExportForYou and you've probably]] [[BadExportForYou never heard of them]]. They are probably best known outside of Japan for creating the ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' ActionRPG series and giving its games [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome catchy soundtracks]] courtesy of the company's internal band, "JDK Sound Team", which YuzoKoshiro was a part of. In Japan they have a number of other famous franchises, most notably the ''Legend of Heroes'' franchise, and '''especially''' the ''TrailsInTheSky'' series.

* ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}''

!!Games developed or licensed by Falcom[[hottip:*:omits a number of their pre-Dragon Slayer early-80s releases, as many of these were never carried forward onto newer platforms and, well, [[OldShame Falcom would rather forget some of them even happened ("Private Stripper", anyone?)]] :

* ''Dinosaur''[[hottip:*:A game that, helpfully, doesn't actually feature any dinosaurs]]

*** ''Legend of Heroes VII: ZeroNoKiseki''

Unlike other developer-publishers of its pedigree and generation (particularly Square and Enix), Falcom never established an overseas subsidiary... and as a result, their overseas releases have been ''extremely'' scattershot and spread among a legion of publishers, from {{Nintendo}} to {{Broderbund}} to {{Sega}} to NEC to WorkingDesigns to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sammy American Sammy]] to HudsonSoft to NamcoBandai to [[{{Sierra}} Sierra Entertainment]] to {{Infocom}} to {{Atlus}}. (Falcom even helped found "Kyodai Software Marketing" in 1988 in an attempt to self-publish on American [=PCs=], but that operation folded after just releasing ''Ys 1''.) The end result was very little consistency in release schedule or quality and style of translation, the Falcom name often not appearing on their own products (or at best tangentially appearing) leading to no brand recognition, general neglect of Falcom's strongest platform (the PC), and some of Falcom's best games taking ''years'' to cross the Pacific, especially in the latter part of TheNineties and into TheNoughties (with some ''still'' in NoExportForYou limbo as of this writing) and with some games getting [[BadExportForYou absolutely shameful treatments]] (the "Gagharv trilogy", ''Legend of Heroes'' III-V, being the most infamous disaster and one which nearly killed the chance for ''TrailsInTheSky'' to cross the Pacific). Recently, Falcom formed a partnership with XSEEDGames to bring a number of games to North America, ensuring that a more regular release pipeline for their games is maintained.

*** ''NayutaNoKiseki''

Nihon Falcom Corporation is one of Japan's oldest and most venerable video game development and publication houses, having begun business in 1981 selling AppleII hardware and software, and released their first game, ''Galactic Wars'', in 1982 on the {{PC88}}, with their first truly significant release being ''VideoGame/DragonSlayer'' two years later, that being perhaps the very first ActionRPG... [[NoExportForYou and you've probably]] [[BadExportForYou never heard of them]]. They are probably best known outside of Japan for creating the ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' ActionRPG series and giving its games [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome catchy soundtracks]] courtesy of the company's internal band, "JDK Sound Team", which YuzoKoshiro was a part of. In Japan they have a number of other famous franchises, most notably the ''Legend of Heroes'' franchise, and '''especially''' the ''TrailsInTheSky'' series.