About once a week I visit Falcom.com. Not entirely sure why, I can't read Japanese so I have no idea what the site is saying. I guess I just go to download wallpapers and see screenshots of new games that will likely never be released in the US.
On a recent visit I saw a new wallpaper commemorating the 20th anniversary of the original Ys game. Suddenly I felt quite old. Yeah I've seen several favorites turn 20 this decade but this one struck me differently. I suppose it's because I associate it with the 16-bit gaming generation and forget that Ys started on the PC in 1987 (and the Sega Master System shortly thereafter). Although I was oblivious to the game prior to 1990, it has since been one of my favorites.
I wanted to find some way, any way, to say “Happy 20th Birthday Ys!” On my mile long “to do” list is an entry to create a site with maps of Ys Book I & II, but that ain't happening any time soon. Instead, I'll pay tribute by simply sharing my experiences with the Ys series...
From 1987-1998 I could only be described as an NES fanboy. As far as I was concerned there was no other game system on earth (Nintendo's market share at the time practically made that a reality though). OK, I owned an Intellivision and Atari 7800 that were collecting dust and I knew there was something called the “Sega Master System” out there but the NES was the only system I cared about. I wasn't much of PC gamer, the only computer my family owned was an Apple ][+ clone that once in a while I'd write a BASIC program for. I had virtually no chance of discovering the original Ys game. Even if I saw it, I probably would have shrugged it off. That 1987 version didn't hold a candle to something like Legend of Zelda.
By 1990 I saved whatever money a 15 year-old could and bought a Sega Genesis. I wasn't enough of a Nintendo fanboy to wait for a 16-bit system from the “big N”. Along with it came a rebate for a free Power Base Converter (don't ask what store was running this promotion at the time, I totally forgot). Back then the only Sega Master System game I was remotely interested in was Phantasy Star, hadn't even heard of Ys: The Vanished Omens.
A friend of mine, who was evidently a better saver than I, bought a TurboGrafx-16 CD that same year. The first CD game in his collection was something called “Ys Book I&II”.
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