The Legend of Heroes
The Legend of Heroes[1] is a series of role-playing video games developed by Nihon Falcom. First starting as a part of the Dragon Slayer series in the late 1980s, the series evolved into its own decade-spanning, interconnected series with fourteen entries, including several subseries. All nine games released since 2004 are part of the Trails subseries, known as Kiseki (軌跡) in Japan. The most recent entry, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV, was released in 2018.
| The Legend of Heroes | |
|---|---|
| Genre(s) | Role-playing video game |
| Developer(s) | Nihon Falcom |
| Publisher(s) |
|
| Platform(s) | PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows |
| First release | Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes December 10, 1989 |
| Latest release | The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV September 27, 2018 |
History
The first entry of the series was released in 1989 as Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes, and was part of Nihon Falcom's Dragon Slayer line of games. It was released for various computer platforms, as well as consoles such as the Mega Drive, Super Famicom, and the PC Engine. The PC Engine version would be the only version to be released in English, and the only Legend of Heroes title released in North America until 2005. Meanwhile, in Japan, the series continued with Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes II, released in 1992 for a similar selection of platforms.
Subsequent games in the series dropped "Dragon Slayer" from the title. The Legend of Heroes III, The Legend of Heroes IV, and The Legend of Heroes V comprised the "Gagharv trilogy", a set of connected games taking place in the same world.
After the conclusion of the Gagharv trilogy, Falcom introduced a completely new world and story with their next game in the series: The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, which would later receive two sequels: Trails in the Sky SC (second chapter) and Trails in the Sky the 3rd. This trilogy of games makes up the first arc of a new subseries: the Trails series, known as Kiseki (軌跡) in Japan. This series would end up becoming a major succese for Falcom, spanning multiple story arcs set in the same fictional continent of Zemuria.
Falcom switched to a duology for the next arc of the series, consisting of The Legend of Heroes: Zero no Kiseki in 2010 and The Legend of Heroes: Ao no Kiseki in 2011. These games were met with critical acclaim in Japan and Asia, winning multiple awards.[2][3] Following that, the company moved on to the Cold Steel subseries, releasing Trails of Cold Steel in 2013,[4] Trails of Cold Steel II in 2014, Trails of Cold Steel III in 2017, and Trails of Cold Steel IV in 2018.[5]
Main games
| Sub-series | English name | English release | Original name | Original release | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dragon Slayer | Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes | 1992 | Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes | 1989 | The first game in The Legend of Heroes series, the sixth subseries of the Dragon Slayer series. |
| Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes II | N/A | Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes II | 1992 | The second game in the Legend of Heroes series, the last to have the Dragon Slayer moniker, and still unreleased in English territories. | |
| Gagharv | The Legend of Heroes II: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch | 2006 | The Legend of Heroes III: Shiroki Majo | 1994 | The third Legend of Heroes game and first of the Gagharv trilogy. It was re-numbered as II for the English release. |
| The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion | 2005 | The Legend of Heroes IV: Akai Shizuku | 1996 | The fourth game in the Legend of Heroes series, and the second in the Gagharv trilogy. For its English release, all numbering was removed, making it appear to be the first game in the trilogy. | |
| The Legend of Heroes III: Song of the Ocean | 2007 | The Legend of Heroes V: Umi no Oriuta | 1999 | The fifth game in the Legend of Heroes series and third and last of the Gagharv trilogy. It was renumbered as III for the English release. | |
| Trails | The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky | 2011 | The Legend of Heroes VI: Sora no Kiseki | 2004 | The sixth game in the Legend of Heroes series, the first game of the Trails sub-series, and the first game of the Trails in the Sky arc. The game is contemporarily as Sora no Kiseki FC, dropping the "VI" numeral. |
| The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC[6] | 2015 | The Legend of Heroes: Sora no Kiseki SC | 2006 | The second part of the Trails in the Sky trilogy | |
| The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd[6] | 2017 | The Legend of Heroes: Sora no Kiseki the 3rd | 2007 | The final part of the Trails in the Sky trilogy | |
| The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero | N/A | The Legend of Heroes: Zero no Kiseki | 2010 | The first part of the Crossbell arc | |
| The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure | N/A | The Legend of Heroes: Ao no Kiseki | 2011 | The second and final part of the Crossbell arc | |
| The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel | 2015 | The Legend of Heroes: Sen no Kiseki | 2013 | The first part of the Trails of Cold Steel arc | |
| The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II | 2016 | The Legend of Heroes: Sen no Kiseki II | 2014 | The second part of the Trails of Cold Steel arc | |
| The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III | 2019 | The Legend of Heroes: Sen no Kiseki III | 2017 | The third part of the Trails of Cold Steel arc | |
| The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV | 2020 | The Legend of Heroes: Sen no Kiseki IV -The End of Saga- | 2018 | The fourth and final part of the Trails of Cold Steel arc | |
| Unknown | Unknown | The Legend of Heroes: Hajimari no Kiseki | 2020 |
Spinoff games
| Original name | Original release | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki: Alternative Saga | 2010 | A fighting game crossover containing characters from the Ys and Trails series. |
| Nayuta no Kiseki | 2012 | A standalone action RPG set in an different world from the main Trails series. |
| The Legend of Heroes: Akatsuki no Kiseki | 2016 | An online gacha game developed by UserJoy Technology under licence from Falcom, it takes place in Liberl, Crossbell, and Remiferia, and includes some characters from earlier Trails games. |
Manga and anime
A Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes original video animation anime was released in 1992, the same year that Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes II was released, loosely based on the story of the first game.[7] In 1997, it was dubbed into English by Urban Vision and was released onto VHS in North America. The English dub has yet to be released on DVD.
In 2009, three volumes of a Sora no Kiseki (Trails in the Sky) manga were published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, followed the next year by a sequel Zero no Kiseki - Pre-Story - Shinpan no Yubiwa, published by ASCII Media Works. Two original video animation anime episodes of Sora no Kiseki were released on October 10, 2011 and January 28, 2012 respectively.[8]
References
- The Legend of Heroes (英雄伝説, Eiyū Densetsu)
- "Japan Game Awards 2011 > PRESS RELEASE".
- https://www.jp.playstation.com/info/release/nr_20111205_psawards2011.html
- Spencer (19 February 2013). "Meet The Characters In The Legend Of Heroes: Trails In The Flash". Siliconera. Retrieved September 14, 2013.
- https://gematsu.com/2018/10/media-create-sales-9-24-18-9-30-18
- Spencer (December 27, 2011). "The Legend Of The Heroes: Trails In The Sky Series Soaring To Smartphones… In English!". Siliconera. Retrieved September 14, 2013.
- Marshall, Marc (August 16, 2011). "Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes". Akemi's Anime World. Retrieved September 14, 2013.
- "Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Anime #2 Teaser Posted". Anime News Network. December 12, 2011. Retrieved September 14, 2013.
External links
- Falcom's official website (in Japanese)
- Trails series website (in Japanese)