A Tribute To Falcom
Toshihiro Kondo looks back at numerous games from the company’s 40-year history
FORTY YEARS OLD AND STILL A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH TODAY, NIHON FALCOM HAS ALWAYS STOOD PROUD AS A BEACON OF INDEPENDENCE AND CREATIVITY IN ITS FAVOURED GENRE – THE RPG. WE SPOKE TO COMPANY PRESIDENT TOSHIHIRO KONDO ABOUT THE JAPANESE DEVELOPER’S PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
Since the company’s creation in 1981 Falcom has released over 80 games – an average of at least two for every year it has existed – and it’s no exaggeration to say certain genres would be very different today without the developer’s continuing influence. But as large as it now looms over the RPG genre its beginnings were small, releasing a smattering of now-forgotten titles across a range of long-gone Japanese computers, just another fledgling company trying to find its voice in what was then a brand-new medium.
And then in 1984 Falcom created Dragon Slayer, an overhead action RPG available on two types of floppy disk or cassette tape, depending on the format. That game didn’t just sell well or put Falcom on the map, it changed gaming forever, Dragon Slayer’s ideas and influence reaching international shores even before the game or any other by Falcom did.
In Japan Falcom’s early success on home computers blossomed into canny business decisions and partnerships that saw its most popular games released across a variety of Nintendo and Sega hardware as well as NEC’S PC Engine, all reimagined and redesigned to better suit the technology running them and the slightly different expectations of these new customers. For a time Falcom titles came bundled with order sheets offering fans anything from T-shirts and keyrings to floppy disk folders and mouse mats, and official manga, anime and drama CDS were produced for Ys, The Legend Of Heroes, Xanadu and beyond.
Overseas it was a very different story. Scattershot releases were handled by an array of Japan-curious publishers with little care for consistency or continuity, and in the early days players had to make do with whatever they could find.
Yet in spite of all this Falcom’s titles still drew a small but faithful following, with shared murmurings across forums and fansites building from a trickle of plays of old untranslated PC games into a flood as XSEED brought titles once thought impossible to be localised for English-speaking people all over the world. Fans worldwide now eagerly await news of the long-running developers latest works, clamouring to play not only its new games but hoping for official translations of older titles as well.
In many ways the Falcom of today continues to do what it has always done so well: capitalise on its successes, shift without sentiment across formats and styles as its fans do, and create its own trends. After 40 years of independence the company has not only survived where so many others have fallen, but gone from strength to strength, rightfully known for producing critical hits and commercial successes in every style of RPG imaginable – and it has no intention of stopping.
“There will always be trends in game design, and the hardware used to play will always change with the times,” Toshihiro Kondo, Falcom’s company president tells us. “We actually enjoy these types of changes, and want to be proactive in regard to them. In addition, we want to carry on the Falcom traditions that have allowed us this longevity, like doing what we do best, never cutting corners yet still being careful not to spend too much time on any one thing. We will continue doing our best so that we can always release games that we are proud of.”