In the gaming age we live in, there are almost no impossibilities in terms of games of games making “long-awaited comebacks.” Just look at the recent PlayStation Showcase with how Bungie announced the return of a title that was at the start of their lives as a dev team. But if you’re looking for a more recent example of a released title from so long ago, look at Square Enix with Live A Live. The original game came out on the Famicom over 25 years ago, and yet, in 202, it got an HD-2D remake for the Nintendo Switch.
While many people hadn’t heard of Live A Live before then, the game was easily one of the most ambitious RPGs ever made. It featured a storyline of eight characters at eight different points in time doing unique adventures. Then, in the end, their storylines would intertwine to showcase how connected they were in the grand scheme of things.
The RPG featured many tropes the genre has embraced over the last several years. There were branching storylines where you could choose one path over another, such as choosing an apprentice among three options. There was also a storyline where you could choose to kill everyone you saw or spare them all to take a more noble path. You could even choose to be the villain at the end and get the “bad ending” or fight for the best future for all.
That speaks nothing about each character’s unique combat mechanics based on their time period and personalities.
The game did well on Switch and then was ported to PlayStation and Steam, and that has gotten many wondering if the title could get a sequel. This was further fueled by an interview posted by Square Enix featuring producer Takashi Tokita. In the interview, he was asked if a sequel was possible. He said it was, but it would depend on the success of the game, specifically with the recent ports:
“If the Steam and PlayStation versions of the game can sell a million copies, then I would be very confident in proposing a Live a Live 2 to the company,” Tokita said.
That may seem like a lofty goal, but the Switch version alone sold over 500K in over a month, and that was back in July. So if the other versions can pick up the slack, perhaps we can get a sequel 25 years after the fact.