Article / News

Xenosaga: Pied Piper Found, English Patch on the Way

The Zohar is summoned by Dr. Masuda in the beginning of Xenosaga Episode I.

Xenosaga fans, your time is now! Previously, we reported on a fan-translated walkthrough for one of the more obscure titles in the series, Xenosaga: Pied Piper. However, for over 20 years, the game has not been playable outside of Japanese i-Mode cellphones… (cue dramatic music) until now.

As reported by Noisy Pixel, the game has been preserved through the efforts of Xeno fans including the walkthrough author ValakTurtle, the Vector Translations fan group and the Keitai (Japanese Feature Phones) Wiki!

What does this mean? ValakTurtle is currently developing an English patch using the walkthrough as a base, with the hope of other languages in the future. The process will take a few months “to ensure the highest possible quality.”

There’s also an unofficial remake in the works. Another fan, CycloneFox, is remaking Xenosaga: Pied Piper with several enhancements. This effort is free, and a demo can be accessed on itch.io.

Honestly, this is a big win for game preservation! No longer do you have to experience Xenosaga: Pied Piper recorded from a low-quality camera with a fan translation script by your side. I hope this shines a light on Xenosaga as a whole, as fans unearth more and more buried content. Also, with a tired sigh, I ask: when will we see a remaster of the trilogy, Bandai Namco?

What even is Xenosaga? Is it related to Xenogears or the Xenoblade games? Reading our So you want to get into the Xeno series… feature might help! Otherwise, stay tuned to RPGFan for more coverage of RPGs with the Xeno prefix!

Source: Noisy Pixel

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Tyler Trosper

Tyler Trosper is a news writer for RPGFan. He has an unhealthy obsession with the Xeno franchise, especially Xenosaga. He runs a podcast about the series in his free time and sometimes works on fan projects. Tyler would die happy if Xenosaga Episode IV was announced. Besides Xeno, Tyler enjoys watching anime, his favorite being Neon Genesis Evangelion.

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