“I’ll ever stop my wandering”
-James Taylor

The fastest-paced RPG in the Western library of the SNES brings twitchy, nervous, occasionally disorienting gameplay to the table, though it forgot to bring the hit boxes and the tortilla chips. The star of the show more than makes up for it: the incredible soundtrack propels the player forward with its harmonic energy and polish.

As an early SNES RPG, Ys III often seems more like a NES RPG, like it belongs next to antiquated glassware on a Goodwill shelf rather than rubbing shoulders with the likes of later giants like Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy III/VI. It wields a localization as stiff and blunt as Adol’s sword he hammers enemies and poorly-designed bosses with, but auto-grinding helps mitigate that.

Unfortunately, as with Adol’s numerous whiffs when attempting to hit anything, the localization misses much of the game’s original context and certainly doesn’t convey its larger place in the shared lore of the Ys series. At least Adol isn’t shipwrecked in this one.

This may not be the best port of Ys III: Wanderers From Ys, but I’ve been told it’s also the hardest one of all of them. There’s no taking it Ys-y here!