Chrono ranked 14th on Famitsu's "Most Wanted Sequel" poll

[Chrono'99]

http://www.ps3hyper.com/news/famitsu-readers-voted-their-most-wanted-sequels/

1. Sakura Taisen (aka Sakura Wars) 267 votes
2. Shenmue 249 votes
3. Okami 204 votes
4. Gotchaforce 189 votes
5. Xenogears 185 votes
6. Breath of Fire 180 votes
7. Rockman Dash (aka Mega Man Legends) 176 votes
8. Ogre Battle 174 votes
9. Chikyuu Boueigun (aka Earth Defence Force) 162 votes
10. Kowloon’s Gate 151 votes
11. Shinobido 141 votes
12. Demon’s Souls 123 votes
13. Rockman X (aka Mega Man X) 110 votes
14. Chrono 107 votes
15. Z.O.E 94 votes
16. Mother 92 votes
17. Romancing SaGa 90 votes
18. Senjou no Valkyria (aka Valkyria Chronicles) 87 votes
19. Justice Gakuen (aka Rival Schools) 82 votes
20. Medarot 81 votes
21. Subarashiki Kono Sekai (aka The World Ends With You) 79 votes
22. Shadow Hearts 77 votes
23. Ore no Shikabane o Koete Yuke 75 votes
24. Panzer Dragoon 72 votes
25. Baten Kaitos 69 votes
26. Infinite Undiscovery 65 votes
27. Lost Odyssey 65 votes
28. Wild Arms 64 votes
29. OZ 60 votes
30. Jet Set Radio 59 votes
31. Dewprism 58 votes
32. Ougon no Taiyou (aka Golden Sun) 57 votes
33. Another Century’s Episode 56 votes
33. Estopolis Denki (aka Lufia) 56 votes
33. Fire Pro Wrestling Spike 56 votes
36. Biohazard Outbreak 55 votes
37. Eternal Arcadia (aka Skies of Arcadia) 54 votes
38. Shirokishi Monogatari: Inishie no Kodou (aka White Knight Chronicles) 51 votes
39. Panzer Front 50 votes
40. Seiken Densetsu 48 votes
41. Front Mission 46 votes
42. Grandia 43 votes
43. Arc The Lad 42 votes
44. Bullet Witch 41 votes
45. Racing Lagoon 39 votes
46. Drag-On Dragoon 37 votes
47. Panekit 36 votes
48. Metal Wolf Chaos 33 votes
49. Tokimeki Memorial 33 votes
50. Famicom Tantei Kurabu 30 votes

For the top 15 titles, Famitsu actually contacted their publishers for comments but most of them answered through their PR, who obviously won’t say anything interesting.

In addition, Xenogears ranked 5th ( ) and Baten Kaitos 25th. Curiously, no Final Fantasy appears on the list.

[V_Translanka]

BoF & MML above the Chrono series eh? Yeah, Famitsu, you just lost any credibility you may have had right there.

[Jutty]

BoF isn't bad I can actually see it possibly ranking there, but MML riiiight.

[Jeff Zero]

Eh, I like both. But certainly neither deserves a sequel more than Chrono.

I'm impressed Xenogears is up that high, though. It will never happen, especially not after the Xenosaga trilogy and the fact that so much of the core team is with that company now, but still.

[V_Translanka]

Eh, I like both. But certainly neither deserves a sequel more than Chrono.

Yeah, that's what I meant (as I would LOVE to see a sequel to either BoF or MML as well, just not near as much as the Chrono series deserves)...Maybe it's a list of series that don't currently have sequels in the works? Maybe that's why no FFs, DQs or KHs are on the list...?

[FaustWolf]

Yeah, the Xenogears tally is pretty surprising, especially since the Xenogears fan community is so small and fractured compared to...well, us. However, it may be a different situation in the Japanese speaking Xeno comunity.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

i'm surprised there were so few votes total...

[Chrono'99]

Yeah, the Xenogears tally is pretty surprising, especially since the Xenogears fan community is so small and fractured compared to...well, us. However, it may be a different situation in the Japanese speaking Xeno comunity.

It's more like the Famitsu-reading community. It's kind of a magazine for hardcore gamers.

[Jeff Zero]

@V: Oh. Hear, hear, then. I'd imagine you're right in figuring how they're doing the poll, too. Obviously series that are definitely continuing shouldn't bother being listed, because it's not like they'd think to revitalize a brand if they're already going through with it. (Wishful thinking that Square is even remotely interested in starting up old series again based on a Famitsu poll, but considering how powerful a name Famitsu is over there, I'd not be totally floored if that were the case.)

Unfortunately, Chrono being so low on the list is a bit depressing. I think it might be bigger here in the United States than in Japan, and then bigger in Japan than in the UK (as evidenced by some fairly disappointing European sales; much of which I'm sure has to do with the fact that so many Europeans aren't remotely familiar with it.)

Not to mention, the Japanese are notorious for noting first and foremost their country in regard to sales, at the expense of what I'd think would be fairly decent profits overseas. That might be changing now that the climate for the industry is at least temporarily waning a fair bit compared to other countries, but as evidence I'd like to bring up the Mega Man X hiatus. Claiming X8 and the remake of the original didn't sell as well as they'd thought it would, Capcom put the series on an indefinite hiatus; IIRC, however, they sold pretty nicely in the US. Just not so overwhelmingly grand in Japan. *shrugs* But then, that series is one higher than Chrono, even, so maybe interest has been revitalized in the Land of the Rising Sun. Either that, or that's not a good sign. >_>

Or maybe I'm just analyzing something to death.

@Faust: It certainly might be. It's a shame the Xeno community is so fractured; I think the real reason is, the Xenosaga trilogy really wound up alienating more people than Chrono Cross could ever have done with the fans of Trigger. In Xenosaga's case, it's not a sequel, not in the literal sense. Nor a prequel, as all sorts of fans will try to tell you to this day. It's set in a universe very reminiscent of the earliest portions of Xenogears Perfect Works' definitive timeline, but it isn't the same universe by a long shot, and some of the things the designers did just really did a number on Xenogears fans. Myself included, for the record. I loved the depth of characters such as Albedo, but beyond a few good lines and an awesome soundtrack, that trilogy is nothing to the titan that was Xenogears IMO.

If a lot of people concur, then there will be all sorts of fracturing. And frankly, Xenogears turned ten last year and there's been no port, nothing, to more literally follow in its footsteps. Xenosaga basically took over the name, and got some terribly mixed reception. And not in the 'GameFAQs has reviews that are either 10/10 or 1/10' for Chrono Cross sort of way... 'Saga just really pissed a lot of people off.

So all that combined surprised me to see Xenogears so highly ranked over there. Indeed, perhaps it is quite different in their country, and I can cross my fingers that that means something eventually. But Takahashi wouldn't be involved; he runs the show over at Monolith Soft now. Masato Kato could presumably work on another Xenogears iteration, I suppose, but I'd much rather he just help with an updated port or something, and instead devote his talent to a third Chrono title. Xenogears, while dramatically incomplete in many aspects, was also a true work to itself that answered virtually all lingering questions. Chrono Cross created several questions that fan projects like Crimson Echoes can tentatively answer, but I'd love to see something new in the 'canon' universe someday.


On an unrelated note, I'm also surprised Shenmue still has so many fans, and it's interesting to see that something like Sakura Wars, which is by no means big overseas, is enormous over there.

[Chrono'99]

And frankly, Xenogears turned ten last year and there's been no port, nothing, to more literally follow in its footsteps.

Xenogears was released on the PlayStation Network last year.

[Delta Dragon]

Wow.  I never would have guessed MML would rank higher than Chrono.  Although I personally think it needs one more. 

[FaustWolf]

Was that only in Japan, '99? Maybe that accounts for renewed interest in Xenogears amongst Famitsu readers.

Jeff Zero, completely agreed with you on the superiority of Gears to Saga. Saga Episode I was really superb IMO, but all the weird falling outs at Monolithsoft utterly destroyed Episodes II and III. Kajiura did an astounding job filling in Yasunori Mitsuda's shoes though. Oh, that reminds me -- there was a guy named "int" awhile back who was putting together Zenosaga.com, which might have stood out in the Xeno community like the Compendium does for Chrono. int was all set to become the ZeaLitY of the Xenoverse, then Xenosaga Episode II came out and he just gave up the ghost because he was that disgusted by it. Tons of Xenogears (like Xenogears Xenogears) resources and knowledge might have lost with the site. I think int had an entire archive of all Xenogears sprites, for example, stashed away somewhere. It was sort of like the Fall of the Roman Empire for Xeno fans.

[FouCapitan]

I definitely wouldn't mind another Breath of Fire game.  One that carries the spirit of the first four, and redeems the failure that was Dragon Quarter.  Also agree with MML being on that list.  MML2 just did not seem like the end of that series, honestly.

Nice to see some of the more obscure gaming gems be on that list as well.

[Jutty]

Am I the only person who thought MML blowed?

[Samopoznanie]

Nice to see some of the more obscure gaming gems be on that list as well.

I agree. Thought that was a pleasantly surprising list. Great to see some of the lesser known ones, not to mention some old series, still  commanding a degree of popularity. Particularly glad to see these ones in there:

Chrono (obviously)

Shenmue (I thought this was really, really cool at the time it came out on Dreamcast. It was a damn shame so few played it.)

Breath of Fire (I'd totally forgotten about this franchise! Hadn't played any of them extensively since BoF II, though a friend had the third one)

Ogre Battle (this was so hard to find at the rental stores back in the day... always out!)

Mother (long overdue!)

Romancing Saga (I was terrible at these games, but always found the concept / setting really cool. I'd like to read the book sometime)

Panzer Dragoon (Panzer Dragoon Saga was just awesome. They had it for sale for 29.99 at the end of the Saturn's lifespan and I didn't pick it up at the time.  )

Eternal Arcadia (cool to see this make the list)

Seiken Densetsu (still waiting for a REAL sequel for this one...)