''The Legend of Heroes'', known in Japan as is a series of

role-playing video games A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

developed 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 pioneer ...

. First starting as a part of the ''

Dragon Slayer A dragonslayer is a person or being that slays dragons. Dragonslayers and the creatures they hunt have been popular in traditional stories from around the world: they are a type of story classified as type 300 in the Aarne–Thompson classifica ...

'' series in the late 1980s, the series evolved into its own decade-spanning, interconnected series with fourteen entries, including several subseries. All games in the franchise released since 2004 are part of the ''

Trails A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. The ...

'' subseries, known as in Japan. The most recent entry, '' The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki II – Crimson Sin'', was released in 2022.

History

The series was created by

. It began with the release of '' Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes'' in 1989 as a part of ''

'' franchise. It was released for various computer platforms, as well as consoles such as the

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in E ...

, and the

TurboGrafx-16 The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC, NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth genera ...

. The latter would be the first and last game in the series released in English until 2005. In Japan however, the series continued with '' Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes II'', released in 1992 for a similar selection of platforms. The third game in the series, ''The Legend of Heroes III'' (1994), later released in English as '' The Legend of Heroes II: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch'', dropped "Dragon Slayer" from the title. It would be followed up by ''The Legend of Heroes IV'' (1996) and ''The Legend of Heroes V'' (1999), later known outside of Japan as respectively '' The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion'' and '' The Legend of Heroes III: Song of the Ocean''. The three games form the "Gagharv trilogy", a subseries following a shared narrative within the same world. After the conclusion of the Gagharv trilogy, Falcom introduced a completely new world and story with their next game: '' The Legend of Heroes VI: Trails in the Sky'' (2004). The game, later dropping the VI from the title, received two sequels: '' Trails in the Sky SC'' (2006) and ''

Trails in the Sky the 3rd ''The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd'' is a 2007 role-playing video game developed by Nihon Falcom. The game is a part of the ''Trails'' series, itself a part of the larger ''The Legend of Heroes'' series, and serves as the final en ...

'' (2007). The three games made up the first arc of a new subseries, known as in Japanese and ''

'' in English. ''Trails'' would end up becoming a major success for Falcom, with every ''Legend of Heroes'' game released since being a part of it. The next two games in the series, '' The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero'' (2010) and ''

Trails to Azure ''The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure'', known as in Japan, is a 2011 role-playing video game developed by Nihon Falcom. The game is a part of the ''Trails'' series, itself a part of the larger ''The Legend of Heroes'' series. ''Trails to Azu ...

'' (2011), form the "Crossbell" arc of the ''Trails'' narrative. The ''Trails of Cold Steel'' arc would follow, starting with '' The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel'' in 2013 and ending with ''

Trails of Cold Steel IV is a 2018 role-playing video game developed by Nihon Falcom. The game is a part of the ''Trails'' series, itself a part of the larger ''The Legend of Heroes'' series, and is the sequel to '' Trails of Cold Steel III'' and the final entry of the ...

'' in 2018. '' The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie'' is usually grouped into this arc. The ongoing arc, ''Kuro no Kiseki'', started with the release of '' The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki'' in 2021.

Manga and anime

A ''Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes''

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

was released in 1992, the same year that ''Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes II'' was released, loosely based on the story of the first game. In 1997, it was dubbed into English by

Urban Vision Urban Vision Entertainment Inc. was an American-based production/distribution company created in Los Angeles, California formed in July 1996 by Mataichiro Yamamoto to help introduce the animation medium known as anime to the American mainstrea ...

and was released onto VHS in North America. In 2009, three volumes of a ''Trails in the Sky'' manga were published in Japan by

Kadokawa Shoten , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines su ...

, which was followed next year by a sequel, ''Trails from Zero: Pre-Story'', published by

ASCII Media Works ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...

. Two original video animation anime episodes of ''Trails in the Sky'' were respectively released in October 2011 and January 2012. '' The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War'', an

television series by

Tatsunoko Production and often shortened to , is a Japanese animation company. The studio's name has a double meaning in Japanese: "Tatsu's child" (Tatsu is a nickname for Tatsuo) and " sea dragon", the inspiration for its seahorse logo. Tatsunoko's headquarters are ...

and set in the ''Trails'' universe, began airing in January 2023.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Legend of Heroes, The Role-playing video games Video game franchises introduced in 1989