Falcom’s long-running franchises have a sometimes convoluted history, but nothing in the twisted Xanadu family tree compares to the odd tale of Ys IV, the game that never was. Now, there were two games called Ys IV back in the 16-bit era — Mask of the Sun for Super Famicom and Dawn of Ys for PC Engine — but not only did neither one come to the U.S., neither was actually made by Ys creators Falcom. Rather, they were developed by proxy. Mask of the Sun was created by Tonkin House (who had ported Ys III to Super NES) while Hudson was behind Dawn of Ys. Falcom has stated that Dawn of Ys is the canonical game, although Mask of the Sun has its share of fans, but the fact is that there’s never been a Falcom-made Ys IV.
That will change once Ys: Calceta No Jukai (Calceta Sea of Trees) arrives on Vita next year. Like Ys: The Oath in Felghana, it will be a comprehensive remake of an older entry of the series developed in-house by Falcom. Where Felghana remade Ys III, Calceta is reinventing Ys IV. However, while it’s presumed to be based on Dawn of Ys, what Calceta really feels like is a sequel to last year’s Ys Seven.
