Will It Go International?
Online marketplaces like Nintendo’s eShop are great places to discover obscure and often overlooked titles from older systems. Japanese 3DS owners will soon have another chance to do just that thanks to the arrival of a little-known RPG by the name of Crystal Warriors.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with the game, Crystal Warriors (known in Japan as Ariel: Crystal Legend) is a turn-based strategy game developed by Sega and released for the Game Gear in 1991. It was relatively well-received when it was originally released, but it failed to catch on commercially and lived on as a very quiet part of the Game Gear’s lengthy history.
As of now, the title’s re-release is only targeted for the Japanese market, so those of you who may have wanted an international release are out of luck for now. If you live in Japan, however, you’ll have a chance to get the game and explore some of Sega’s earliest attempts at an engaging RPG. Crystal Warriors is set to be released for the 3DS Virtual Console on February 6th for 300 yen, or $3.20.
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Crystal Warriors was hands down my favorite game gear game.
How hard could it be to release the Western version in the western eShop? Seriously, even if it doesn’t sell well, how much money could it possibly take to release this?? Japan has gotten so many Game Gear eShop games, while here in North America we haven’t gotten anything since Sonic Triple Trouble! What’s up, SEGA? What’s your excuse?
Here’s another +1 to Crystal Warriors being released in the North American 3DS eShop. This is one of the greatest games in the entire Game Gear library, a favorite of mine, and one that holds up well to the scrutiny of time. It was my first strategy RPG, and its music, graphics, and gameplay are all just as wonderful now as they were then.
If you don’t believe me (or want to reminisce), check out these screenshots from Crystal Warriors on MobyGames: [ https://www.mobygames.com/game/game-gear/crystal-warriors/screenshots ]
They should have released it next to Fire Emblem to ride the free hype for the genre.