Takashi Tokita is a deeply influential figure at Square Enix, being the driving force behind
Final Fantasy IV on Super Nintendo (which we’ve
thoroughly documented) and
Parasite Eve on PlayStation 1, among many other projects. His most significant title that never had a worldwide release is surely
Live A Live, a fascinating Super Famicom RPG that takes place across multiple different time periods with different protagonists in wildly different situations. Each episodic adventure offered its own unique tone — comedy, sci-fi, horror, western,
Street Fighter knock-off, etc. — and there has never been anything
quite like it before or since.
However, last night, Tokita
voiced on Twitter his desire to release
Live A Live worldwide someday. He made this statement in response to… uh, me.
Live A Live worldwide release someday?
Setting aside that one of my favorite game directors responded to me about one of my favorite video games, there are various ways
Live A Live could see an international release. For one thing, it could arrive on Nintendo Switch Online as a new SNES entry, as games
never previously seen in North America have released there before, but it’s admittedly unlikely.
Live A Live is probably far too much text to translate to release for “free” on Switch Online.
Another option is to release the game in a bundle of classic Square games, similar to what Konami has done with
Castlevania, Contra, and its classic arcade games. Square Enix itself released
Collection of Mana, including a freshly translated
Seiken Densetsu 3 as
Trials of Mana. Maybe
Live A Live could be packaged with other oddball Square releases like
Secret of Evermore and (if we want to get really daring)
Front Mission.
Alternatively, last June, Square Enix voiced its desire to someday
offer its entire catalogue of games in a streaming service, and
Live A Live would just beg for translation and release in such a circumstance. Takashi Tokita would likely agree.
And finally, Square Enix could just remake the game, which would probably be incredible. But that sounds like a big ask, so a port will do just fine.
For the moment,
Live A Live may be played via fan translation and it works just great, but wouldn’t you like to see Takashi Tokita’s classic receive a formal release?
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