Breath of Fire

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This article is about the videogame series. For the first game of that series, see Breath of Fire (video game). For the Yoga breathing technique, see Agni pran.
Breath of Fire
BreathofFire.png
Genres Role-playing video game
Developers Capcom
Publishers Capcom
Creators Tokuro Fujiwara
Makoto Ikehara
Platforms Android, Cellular phone, Game Boy Advance, iOS, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Windows
Platform of origin Super Nintendo Entertainment System
First release Breath of Fire
April 3, 1993
Latest release Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
November 14, 2002

Breath of Fire (Japanese: ブレスオブファイア Hepburn: Buresu obu Faia?) is a role-playing video game series developed by Capcom. It originated on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993. The series is notable for its recurring characters and ambiguous continuity; though each game is its own self-contained story, the names of the two lead characters are, invariably, Ryu and Nina.[1]

The story commonly involves an adventurer named Ryu who can shapeshift into different types of dragons.[2] Over the course of his journey, he befriends Nina, a girl with wings. At its inception, Breath of Fire took place in a medieval fantasy style fictional world. Following the mainstream success of Japanese role-playing games in the 1990s,[3] the series began using the original anime-style artwork for later Western releases of the games (rather than the Westernized art that was drawn specifically for the Western releases of the first two games), post-apocalyptic themes, and an increased emphasis on character development. Despite these changes, the core structure of Breath of Fire remains largely linear and plot-focused. As of 2003, five Breath of Fire titles have been released, with three games being ported to handheld game consoles as well as Nintendo's Virtual Console. To date, the series has sold over 3 million units worldwide.[4]

Games

Main series

Title Details
Breath of Fire

Original release date(s):
    		 Release years by system:
    1993 — Super Nintendo Entertainment System
    2001 — Game Boy Advance
    2014 — Wii U eShop
    Notes:
    • Originally released in Japan as Breath of Fire: Ryū no Senshi (ブレスオブファイアＩ　竜の戦士 Breath of Fire: The Dragon Warrior?).
    Breath of Fire II

    Original release date(s):
      		 Release years by system:
      1994 — Super Nintendo Entertainment System
      2001 — Game Boy Advance
      2007 — Virtual Console
      2013 — Wii U eShop
      Notes:
      • Originally released in Japan as Breath of Fire II: Shimei no Ko (ブレスオブファイアＩＩ 使命の子 Breath of Fire II: The Destined Child?).
      Breath of Fire III

      Original release date(s):
        		 Release years by system:
        1997 — PlayStation
        2005 — PlayStation Portable
        Notes:
        • Only game with no subtitle in its Japanese name.
        Breath of Fire IV

        Original release date(s):
          		 Release years by system:
          2000 — PlayStation
          2003 — Microsoft Windows
          2011 — PlayStation Portable
          2011 — PlayStation 3
          2012 — PlayStation Vita
          Notes:
          • Originally released in Japan as Breath of Fire IV: Utsurowazarumono (ブレスオブファイアＩＶ うつろわざるもの Breath of Fire IV: The Unfading Ones?).
          • All releases on PlayStation systems are the original PlayStation version.
          Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter

          Original release date(s):
            		 Release years by system:
            2002 — PlayStation 2
            Notes:
            • Originally released in Japan as Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter (ブレスオブファイアＶ　ドラゴンクォーター?).
            Breath of Fire 6

            Original release date(s):
              		 Release years by system:
              2016 — Android, iOS, PC
              Notes:
              • Full Japanese title: Breath of Fire 6: Hakuryū no Shugosha-tachi (ブレスオブファイア6 白竜の守護者たち lit. Breath of Fire 6: Guardians of the White Dragon?).

              Mobile games

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              See also: Mobile phone games of the Breath of Fire series

              Beginning in November 2003, Capcom began releasing Breath of Fire titles specifically for mobile phone devices in Japan.[5] Each game was developed for use on NTT DoCoMo, au, and SoftBank brand cellphones that use the i-mode, EZWEB, or BREW services. The first title, Breath of Daifugō (ブレス オブ 大富豪?), is a replication of the Japanese card game daifugō featuring characters from Breath of Fire IV, and would be followed by a sports game called Breath of Fire: Ryū no Tsurishi (ブレス オブ ファイア 竜の釣り師 lit. Breath of Fire: Dragon Fisherman?) in October 2005, which contained an expanded version of the fishing minigame also from the game.[6] Two action role-playing spin-offs of Breath of Fire IV titled Breath of Fire IV: Honō no Ken to Kaze no Mahō (ブレスオブファイアIV 炎の剣と風の魔法 lit. Breath of Fire IV: The Sword of Fire and the Magic of Wind?) and Breath of Fire IV: Yōsei-tachi to Hikari no Kagi (ブレスオブファイアIV 妖精たちと光のカギ lit. Breath of Fire IV: The Faeries and the Key of Light?)' were released in November 2007[7] and November 2008 respectively.[8]

              Music

              The music of each Breath of Fire games has traditionally been produced by rotating members of Capcom's in-house sound team. While the themes from first game were composed by four members of the company's sound team Alph Lyla, which included Yasuaki Fujita, Mari Yamaguchi, Minae Fuji, and Yoko Shimomura, the second game's score was produced entirely by fellow company composer Yuko Takehara.[9] Breath of Fire III's soundtrack took a jazz-inspired approach, and was written by the team of Yoshino Aoki and Akari Kaida, with the music of Breath of Fire IV provided solely by Aoki herself. For the first time in the series, the music of Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter was created by an outside employee, Hitoshi Sakimoto, with Yasunori Mitsuda serving as music producer on the project.[10]

              In March 2006, Capcom released the 11-disc Breath of Fire Original Soundtrack Special Box boxset on their in-house record label Suleputer, which contained all music from the first five games in the series.[9] The set includes the first-ever soundtrack release of the original Breath of Fire, as well as the first complete soundtrack releases for Breath of Fire II and Breath of Fire III, which had previously only received single-disc selections during their original printings, with a total of 307 tracks from all five titles.[11] Capcom produced a limited run of only 2000 copies of the boxset, which was distributed on their online store e-Capcom, as well as special retailers, and included a 28-page booklet featuring art from the series.[11]

              Reception

              Review scores and sales
              Game First-year sales
              (Japan only)              		 Famitsu GameRankings Metacritic
              Breath of Fire
              —
              —
              78%[12]
              79%[13]
              Breath of Fire II
              350,000[14]
              —
              79%[15]
              81%[16]
              Breath of Fire III
              425,000[17]
              —
              74%[18]
              —
              Breath of Fire IV
              334,000[19]
              —
              82%[20]
              83%[21]
              Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
              140,073[22]
              32 / 40[23]
              78%[24]
              78%[25]

              As of the fifth game in the series, the Breath of Fire franchise has sold a total of 3.1 million units worldwide, with Capcom calling it their "best known and most successful role-playing game."[4] Sales of each successive title continued on an upward slope which peaked at the PlayStation entries in the series, with the fifth game, Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter on the PlayStation 2, representing a significant dip.[26] Each title received mostly positive reviews from aggregate review websites GameRankings and Metacritic, with critics such as Gamasutra finding each game to be good, but largely formulaic, calling the franchise "always solid, if not particularly ambitious".[3] The series has routinely been compared to Square Enix's popular Final Fantasy games, with GameSpot stating that "Though the Breath of Fire games have never been as well received as bigger RPG names like Final Fantasy, the series indicates that Capcom is definitely learning something about the fine art of RPG development."[27]

              In May 2009, nearly seven years after the release of the latest game, Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, readers of Japanese Famitsu magazine voted the series 6th in the publication's survey of the Top 50 Most Wanted Game Sequels.[28] IGN would later name Breath of Fire the 4th greatest Capcom franchise of all time in June 2010, stating that "Though the Breath of Fire games evolved across the SNES to the PlayStation 2, the core held steadfast to Japanese RPG formulas – something that many gamers still celebrate."[29]

              Series future

              In a December 2008 interview with gaming website 1UP.com, Capcom's former Head of Production Keiji Inafune stated the Breath of Fire series would be put on hiatus due to the company's lack of staff and an increasingly competitive role-playing game market, stating "There are currently no plans on making a new Breath of Fire game. Apart from that, regarding RPG titles, they are very popular in Japan, but only certain RPG titles sell so Capcom doesn't really need to even consider making these titles as an option."[30] Capcom USA Vice President of Strategic Planning Chris Svensson would later claim on the company's official message boards in June 2009 that the series remains a "resting IP".[31] Other companies such as Camelot Software Planning have expressed interest in developing a title for the series if Capcom remained unwilling to do so.[32]

              Appearances in other media

              Breath of Fire would later be featured in Archie Comics' Worlds Unite crossover event as one of several Capcom and Sega guest franchises appearing in the company's Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man titles.[33]

              See also

              References

              1. ↑ David DeRienzo. Hardcore Gaming 101 - Breath of Fire. Retrieved on 2010-02-02.
              2. ↑ Breath of Fire series. MobyGames. Retrieved on 2008-4-8.
              3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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              6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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              8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              13. ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/game/game-boy-advance/breath-of-fire
              14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              16. ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/game/game-boy-advance/breath-of-fire-ii
              17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              23. ↑ プレイステーション2 - ブレスオブ ファイアV ドラゴンクォーター. Weekly Famitsu. No.915 Pt.2. Pg.81. 30 June 2006.
              24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
              33. ↑ http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/02/23/capcom-and-sega-join-forces-for-worlds-unite-comic-book-crossover

              External links

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