is a series of

action role-playing video game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

s by

Nihon Falcom is a Japanese video game developer, best known for their '' Ys'', ''The Legend of Heroes'', and ''Trails'' series. The company was founded in March 1981, making them one of the oldest active video game companies. They are credited with pioneeri ...

''Brandish''

The original '' Brandish'' video game was released in 1991 for the

NEC PC-9801 The , commonly shortened to PC-98 or , is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2000. The platform established NEC's dominance in the Japanese personal computer market, and, by 1999, more th ...

and FM Towns and later ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super NES) and

PC Engine CD-ROM² The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation, commonly known as the 16-bit era, thou ...

in 1994–1995, including an expanded re-release titled ''Brandish Renewal''; the Super NES version was published by Koei in Japan in 1994 and in North America in 1995. A complete remake of the original ''Brandish'' for the PlayStation Portable (PSP), featuring 3D graphics and titled ''Brandish: The Dark Revenant'', was published by Nihon Falcom in Japan in 2009 and

Xseed Games Xseed Games is an American video game company founded by former members of Square Enix USA. It later became a subsidiary of the Japanese game company Marvelous, providing the localization and publishing services for video games and related mat ...

released a localized version on the

PlayStation Store The PlayStation Store (PS Store) is a digital media store available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The store offers a range of downloadable conten ...

in 2015.

''Brandish 2''

The original game proved popular enough in Japan to warrant two direct sequels exclusively in Japan that continued the adventures of Ares and Dela. The first one was ''Brandish 2: The Planet Buster'', originally released for the PC-98 in 1993 and ported to the Super Famicom (SNES) in 1995 (like Falcom's later '' Ys V'', the game was released in "normal" and "expert" difficulty versions). ''Brandish 2'' received a fan translation in 2009.

''Brandish 3''

The next sequel was ''Brandish 3: Spirit of Balcan'', originally released for the PC-98 in 1994.

''Brandish 4''

''Brandish 3'' was followed by ''Brandish VT'', originally released in 1996 and renamed ''Brandish 4: The Tower of Sleeping God'' when it was re-released for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

in 1998. This final game follows a similar gameplay format, now with isometric graphics, but with completely different storyline and characters.

Crossovers

Dela makes an appearance in Falcom's 2010 '' Ys vs. Trails in the Sky'' as a support character.

References

External links

* (series) *Nihon Falcom page
BrandishBrandish 4
{{in lang, ja Action role-playing video games Brandish Video game franchises introduced in 1991 Video games featuring female protagonists