Rating: 4.3/5
I played the first Ys game on the Sega Master System. It was awesome for being 8-bit game. Later, I played Ys I & II on the TurboGrafx-CD and it an epic experience. Of course, given the size of a CD-ROM versus an 8-bit cartridge, the visual differences are immediately noticeable, but what really set this title apart was its use of fully orchestrated Red Book audio. In fact, this game represented one of the very first video games to feature a full CD soundtrack. And, WOW, did it drive the dynamic of the game! Ys I & II is an overhead arcade-esque RPG similar in many ways to The Legend of Zelda that spans two distinct storylines… the second part beginning immediately after the first leaves off. The many anime style cut scenes were something we had rarely seen in a game prior to this. This title was designed to really show off the capabilities of the CD-ROM medium as a viable gaming format and it definitely did its job as the last quarter-century has predominantly been comprised of video games offered in some variation of the disc format.
You also need an emulator to run this game. To grab one quickly, please check out our PCECD emulators section.