This is the same Glory of Heracles series that has been so popular in Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System play. The newest installment, Glory of Heracles - is an RPG with a broad scope that inherits all the good points of the series and can be enjoyed by anyone.
In this special feature interview, we asked the development staff members - all fans of the series themselves to tell us about the attractions of this new Glory of Heracles.
A Series with All the Makings of a Great RPG Title for the Nintendo DS
A Series with All the Makings of a Great RPG Title for the Nintendo DS
| Nintendo: | Why was the decision made to create a Nintendo DS version of a title in the Glory of Heracles series? |
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| Nishimura: |
Originally, Nintendo had a plan to create a traditional RPG for use with the Nintendo DS, and we planned to do it as an in-house project. We studied a number of candidates, and we narrowed it down to titles that would be fun for first-time players of RPGs as well as people who had experience playing RPGs on the Nintendo Entertainment SystemandSuper Nintendo Entertainment System. The best among these in terms of the content and quality was Glory of Heracles. The original series was strong in originality compared to ordinary RPGs, and we made the judgment that this uniqueness would be a good match for the Nintendo DS, which is a highly original type of console having a touch panel and 2 screens. But since Glory of Heracles was not a Nintendo title, we decided to ask Paon, the copyright holder, and Mr. Kondo, the leader of the production team at Paon, to collaborate with us in bringing out this title.
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| Kondo: | Everyone on our Development Staff was a fan of the past titles, particularly Glory of Heracles III - Silence of the Gods and Glory of Heracles IV - Gift from the Gods, so we were extremely honored to be approached with this development proposal. | ||
| Nintendo: | You released a Heracles series game under the title Eternal Chronicle in the fall of 2007, didn't you? |
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| Nishimura: |
Eternal Chronicle was what we called it while it was in development. Properly speaking, the title is Eternal Chronicle - Glory of Hercules V. We had considered using a title that started with "Glory of Heracles" to show we were carrying on the series, but we decided to use a totally new title to give it some novelty. Then, however, while we were preparing for the release, the idea came up that using the title "Glory of Heracles" directly would help attract not only new players, but also those who were fans of the past series, so ultimately we stuck to the same title.
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| Nintendo: | What do you mean by the subtitle "Proof of the Soul"? |
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| Horita: | We all came up with a variety of ideas on how to attach a subtitle that matched the content of the game. Some candidates for the subtitle evoked fixtures of Japanese popular culture, for instance, "It's tough being a hero" and "I am Heracles," but since "soul" was one of the keywords in this installment in the series, we narrowed it down to ideas involving "soul." | ||
| Nishimura: | We finally decided upon "Proof of the Soul." Unfortunately, I can't give you any details about what this means, because giving it away now would spoil the fun of actually playing the game, but I can tell you that in the course of playing, you will come to understand what we mean by the subtitle "Proof of the Soul." | ||
| Nintendo: | How does this new installment in the series carry on from past titles? |
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| Nishimura: | It probably owes the most to its predecessors in terms of the scenario. At the point in time where the plan was first conceived, we thought, "If you're talking Glory of Heracles, there's really only one writer we can seriously consider," and we asked Kazunari Nojima, who wrote the scenarios for "Glory of Heracles III: Silence of the Gods" and "Glory of Heracles IV: Gift from the Gods," to write this one as well. | ||
| Kondo: |
 In other ways as well, we wanted to bring some of the fun and interesting peculiarities of past installments in the Glory of Heracles series to life again in today's world – for instance, the way immortal characters can jump from great heights, or funny scenes like a character getting chewed out for rummaging through a chest of drawers. Since this was an entirely new game and we weren't aiming for a complete remake, we didn't adopt all of the elements in the past Glory of Heracles titles—we just selected those elements that were suitable for this new title. We feel that we have carried on the tradition of the Glory of Heracles in a broad sense rather than in the sense of being faithful to each of the original elements.
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| Nintendo: | Did you use the same music as in the past? |
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| Kondo: | Since the opening of the scenario follows in the footsteps of "III," we also used music that would be familiar to series fans. | ||
| Hirota: | For the music that plays in the field, we used the field music from "III," and bits of the melody of the main theme music that played in past titles are rearranged and scattered here and there in various scenes. | ||
| Kondo: | Then, as the scenario unfolds in a way that is unique to "Proof of the Soul," the music also gives way to original music specific to this title. We aimed for a composition that would allow past players of the Glory of Heracles series to gradually become accustomed to the world of "Proof of the Soul." | ||
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