What is the best way to play Mask of the Moon and Sun?

[Oguzhan]

Recently, I completed Ys 1 and 2 and fell in love with them. At first I was a bit hesitant to play them due to the "bump" system but after trying it out, it turned out to be REALLY fun.

I remember hearing that this game was a remake of Mask of the Moon/Sun and that those games had a much better story (not a hard thing to do considering the character writing in this game), and now that I am comfortable with the bump system, I would like to try those games. I also hear that this game changed a lot when it comes to the lore. Like, apparently the goal in those games was to resurrect Darm or something, not sure. I guess Falcom is trying to shift focus when it comes to the lore of Ys instead of connecting everything to the kingdom of Ys, but I digress.

So yeah, what is the best way to play these games? Do they have any localisations? an easy way to play them? to acquire them? Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the gameplay in this game (the story I couldn't give a rats ass about) but I would like to try out the original you know.

[Doomlord]

There are two versions of the original Ys IV: Mask of the Sun on the SNES and Dawn of Ys on the PC Engine CD. Both of them have fan translations (Dawn has a fandub as well which is great), only the PS2 remake of Mask lacks a translation (as far as I'm aware) but that game is garbage, so don't bother.

Mask of the Sun isn't all that great gameplay wise, but it has some really cool lore bits (which are sadly no longer canon). Dawn of Ys is a must play, the story is glorified fanfiction and was never canon, but it's some of the best fanfiction ever (if you loved Ys I & II you're gonna adore Dawn) and I'd say it's also peak bump combat.

As for how to get them: It should be pretty obvious in this day and age, but in order to avoid a potential ban I will only say there exists "software" that lets you play them on PC.
The other option is to have the actual consoles themselves and either find a cartridge/CD with the translations applied and play with those, or use a USB storage or something, console modding isn't my thing so I can't say much on the subject..

[Oguzhan]

Originally posted by Doomlord:

There are two versions of the original Ys IV: Mask of the Sun on the SNES and Dawn of Ys on the PC Engine CD. Both of them have fan translations (Dawn has a fandub as well which is great), only the PS2 remake of Mask lacks a translation (as far as I'm aware) but that game is garbage, so don't bother.

Mask of the Sun isn't all that great gameplay wise, but it has some really cool lore bits (which are sadly no longer canon). Dawn of Ys is a must play, the story is glorified fanfiction and was never canon, but it's some of the best fanfiction ever (if you loved Ys I & II you're gonna adore Dawn) and I'd say it's also peak bump combat.

As for how to get them: It should be pretty obvious in this day and age, but in order to avoid a potential ban I will only say there exists "software" that lets you play them on PC.
The other option is to have the actual consoles themselves and either find a cartridge/CD with the translations applied and play with those, or use a USB storage or something, console modding isn't my thing so I can't say much on the subject..

Okay so I should play Dawn of Ys then, got it. And yeah, I saw it on the wikia that the events in Dawn of the Ys are, sadly, no longer cannon. I say sadly because I genuinely didn't care about this game's story, nor did I care about the characters, particularly the side villains.
Great gameplay though, which puts it high on my list. Thank you for the quick answers. Now what I am curious about is, how the hell did Falcom allow a fan fiction become an actual game :D

Ys confuses me with its releases, particularly the ones from early falcom. There are so many versions of the games, not every version is consistent with others, some have exclusive areas.... damn. :D

[Doomlord]

Dawn was never canon to begin with since Hudson took too many liberties with the plot, Mask of the Sun was canon up until Celceta came about.

As for your confusion: trying to explain the absolute clusterf*ck that was Ys prior to Eternal will result in a wall of text I'm too lazy to write. There are videos on Falcom's early history on Youtube, look those up.

[Oguzhan]

Originally posted by Doomlord:

Dawn was never canon to begin with since Hudson took too many liberties with the plot, Mask of the Sun was canon up until Celceta came about.

As for your confusion: trying to explain the absolute clusterf*ck that was Ys prior to Eternal will result in a wall of text I'm too lazy to write. There are videos on Falcom's early history on Youtube, look those up.

Oh I know, trust me I know. Still confuses me to no end though :D