After 20 years stuck in Japan, the unlikely PS2 remake of the most divisive JRPG in the beloved Ys series is finally playable in English thanks to a fan translation

After years of niche standing even among JPRG fanatics, the long-running Ys series seems to have found its global fanbase, and just about the entire franchise is now officially available in English in one form or another. There’s a big exception in Ys 5, arguably the most divisive entry in the series, but fan translators are making sure that no entry in the Ys canon is lost to English-speaking JRPG enjoyers.

Ys 5: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand was originally released for Super Famicom (the Japanese version of the Super NES) in 1995. Developer Nihon Falcom ditched the breezy bump combat that had mostly defined previous entries in the series in favor of Zelda-style fighting with buttons for attack and defense – a choice that resulted in a game that Ys fans tend to think of a sluggish black sheep, though one that offers some worthwhile charms.