Lufia GBC receives new name, plot

[04.10.00] » First a PlayStation title with a bankrupt publisher, then a hand-held title with a fluid release date, Lufia for the Game Boy Color is now a different game entirely.

   While speaking with Natsume today, the GIA learned that the much-beleagured third title in the Lufia series has been hit with yet another major change: a completely new plot and game title. Most recently known as "Lufia: Ruins Chaser" for the Game Boy Color, the game has now been retitled "Lufia: The Beginning of a Legend", and takes place, chronologically, some time before Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals. The game's new title and timeframe seem to suggest that the game will center around a younger Maxim, hero of Lufia II.

   Thankfully, the changes made have not adversely affected the game's development or release date -- the same development team at Never-Land behind previous Lufia titles is still driving the current game's creation, and Natsume still maintains a third quarter 2000 release for North America. It's unknown exactly what will happen to the detailed characters and plotline from Lufia: Ruins Chaser -- perhaps the elements will become the basis for a PlayStation 2 Lufia title hinted at by Natsume at last year's E3 tradeshow? (The preview for Lufia GBC's previous incarnation remains here.)

   It's interesting to note that, with this new plot, each subsequent title in the Lufia series has moved further and further back in the Lufian timeline -- Lufia: The Beginning of a Legend is, in effect, a prequel to a prequel. Lufia II took place 100 years prior to the first Lufia title, though series fans will remember that Lufia's intro sequence was actually the end of Lufia II.

   Natsume expects to demonstrate the title for the first time at E3 next month in video-only form -- expect screens and impressions when the show begins.