The Suikoden Windows 95 PC Port: A New Way to Play

REVIEW: IGFTW Ep. 34 is the third and final video I'll be producing for the #SummerOfSuikoden 2017 collaboration, this is part two in a planned three-part video series covering the various Japan-only ports of the original Suikoden. I look at the hard-to-find and rarely brought up PC port of Konami's classic RPG, which brings many unique changes to the game that, at the time, was only possible with the Power of the PC™.
Part 1 on the Saturn port here: • The Suikoden Sega Satu...
HUGE THANKS to my friend Andrew from Retro Island Gaming for helping me get some shots of his PC game collection, that gorgeous shot of Kailua Beach, and for being an overall supportive guy and motivator for me to complete this video. Please take a look at this truly & criminally UNDERVIEWED videos at his KZbin channel. Really great stuff on JRPGs and PC games that need a bigger audience.
Andrew's channel: / retroislandgaming
Help support Import Gaming FTW:
T-shirts & junk: import-gaming-...
Patreon: / importgamingftw
Import Gaming FTW! playlist: • Import Gaming FTW! (Ja...
Summer Of Suikoden playlist: • S.O.S. - Summer Of Sui...
Gameplay was captured using the Elgato Game Capture HD, and video/audio was edited using Sony Movie Studio Platinum Suite, Version 12.
Other games featured in this video are Suikoden (Konami, PS1) and Gensou Suikoden (Konami, Saturn). I did sneak in some footage of Final Fantasy VII and some audio from Chrono Cross...did you catch either of them?
The music used for this video are all tracks from the featured game except for one, which "Eternal Empire" from the Genso Suikoden Celtic Collection 2 arrange album.
Japanese title: 幻想水滸伝
Release date: 3-26-1998
Publisher: Konami
Developer: KCG Aoyama and Media Entertainment (port)
Platform: Windows 95 CD-ROM
#Suikoden #幻想水滸伝 #ImportGamingFTW

[@disciple012]

15:14 "will cause the music to ski-ski-skip" Laughed a little too hard at that.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Summer Of Suikoden in late October? Sorry it's for the delay, folks, just been busy, and lost a bit of motivation midway, too. Anyway, this one is strictly for the Suikoden fanboys. Not my best video, for sure, but hey, it's on a topic not many cover, so that makes up for it, I hope. Big thanks to my buddy Andrew from Retro Island Gaming for helping me get some shots for this video, and being a good friend and motivator. I listed his channel in the video and description, so I hope you'll check his excellent channel out. Thank you in advance.

[@SuperDerek]

I think ending seasonal events well after the end of the season is a KZbin tradition! Can't wait until next year's SOS! :)

[@ImportGamingFTW]

You're contractually obligated to be excited and participate in it, so I'll see you then and there.

[@DreamWarrior00]

How much would you price it complete? With how rare it is.

[@Darmalarm777]

Your vids are always so well edited, you can tell they're made with love!

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Thank you--and you got me, I make these things out of a sense of passion, and sharing it with others.

[@robbyrobot3303]

This is so weird to see Suikoden broken up in Windows. Thanks for sharing this, was always curious ever since seeing the brief mention of this on a Hardcore Gaming 101 article maybe 10 years ago

[@HistoricNerd]

I can always tell there is nothing but passion for the subjects you make videos about. :)

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Thanks--I have nothing but passion for you...just don't tell your wife. Or your boyfriend, Yahel.

[@andersdenkend]

Finally a new vid! Very well done all around. Editing, content, narration, just everything. Very interesting!

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Always appreciated, thank you.

[@Venoix]

This was a really well put together review. Thank you so much for taking the time to go through the PC version of the game, and detail the changes compared to the Saturn and PS1 versions. Suikoden was one of my favourite games for the PS1 (as well as the sequel, of course). I currently live in Japan, so will keep my eye out for this game in the wild, just for the artwork alone.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Thanks for watching, I'm glad a fellow Suikoden fan enjoyed it. I really wanted to put my best effort into covering these games and the response has been overwhelmingly positive, but obviously you can't please everyone, even other Suikoden fans. Good luck finding a copy of the PC version of Suikoden, it's a tough one to spot in the wild. I was going to suggest looking at the Surugaya online store since there was a copy for sale there for several months, but it must have been sold VERY recently because it's gone now.

[@Venoix]

@@ImportGamingFTW Oh yeah, I know that feeling. Just have to keep on producing and ignore the naysayers. Besides, they probably are wearing the Black Rune and don't know any better. ;) Thanks for the heads up about a copy of the game. I'll have to do some investigating. I want to find the manga and novelizations too (I already have the Suikoden III manga).

[@megamancards]

Thanks for the video Jimmy. I need to jump back into this RPG series for sure.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Thanks Jonathan, I hope you do. Suikoden is the best...though I may be biased.

[@ThomasJeff1898]

What a coincidence. I watched this after the Suikoden I & II remaster got announced on the Tokyo Game Show for modern consoles as well as PC via Steam.

[@AvalancheReviews]

HOW DID YOU MAKE THIS SO INTERESTING?!?!?! The use of those menus make the game feel a bit like a sim or something.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

I didn't make it interesting, you're just sexually attracted to my voice.

[@Zirakzadeh]

Fantastic video dude. Knew it was Daisy handling those NA Big Boxes the seconds I saw those cuffs. Really enjoyed your part in SoS, and as always, amazing editing and script work.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Good old Daisy and his fancy, overpriced Korean designer shirts, eh? Thanks for watching, Donovan.

[@SamuraiSam]

Wow, had no idea this existed!! Thanks for showing it off!

[@ImportGamingFTW]

No problem, Sam!

[@electricmastro]

Actually, I think that depending on how willing people are to learn how to upgrade their PCs, as well as how willing they are to spend, PC gaming probably won't replace console gaming as much as some may think. It could go either way really. Nice review too Jimmy! :D

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Thanks Daniel--I'm not a modern PC gamer, so I hope consoles stick around for a lot longer.

[@Charmchar]

I love the the layout of the game on the PC. It just reminds me of 90s rpgs on the pc. Solid.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

I'm going back and playing some old PC games, and yeah, the typical layouts...I'm diggin' 'em.

[@braikingboss9137]

You Just Sooooooo Made Me Wanna Play My Ps Suikoden!!! Thank God I Have My Old 1&2 Ps Copys

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Nice! I wish I still had my English copies of 2! Maybe replay them this Summer Of Suikoden!

[@myloch]

Woah! Another collector of rare foreign games! I'm very excited because I found a gem I was searching for such a long time: pc version of Nba Powerdunkers! All the nerds and collectors I asked to had no idea about it or they said it was cancelled. Yeah I had luck, it never appeared on japanese auction sites for years and I could have missed that if casuality didn't lead me to search this game today but this is the typical "If you want something done, do it yourself"-type situation. This was probably a very limited release during the same year they released Genso Suikoden you talked about.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Hell yeah, collectors of rare foreign games unite! I had no idea about NBA Powerdunkers' PC port until now. Excellent find!

[@HansOilaf]

can't wait for part 3

[@The_Badcompany]

I really enjoyed watching, thank you sharing this video. I look forward to seeing your next one.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Thank you for watching--the last part won't be worked on until next year, so I hope you stick around until then.

[@The_Badcompany]

Jimmy Hapa (Import Gaming FTW!) OH! I will I've been watching you for several years now.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Wow, well, thank you for the years of support!

[@poptheweasel100]

Gonna be honest: Seeing a JRPG in a Windows 95 border is FREAKING STRANGE. It'd be pretty sweet if someone did a fan translation for this, though.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Fingers crossed that someone goes for it!

[@alvercaine8893]

@@ImportGamingFTW and maybe who knows, people could get around modding it then, i know some people from ffhacktics tried.

[@warmslurm]

Still waiting for that PSP video...

[@enjirube1]

Where is part 3 (the psp port)? :(

[@Roninkinx]

Most of the issues are running it on windows XP, but especially the musical slowdown that plagued a lot of older games sadly. Another thing that could cause problems is when you speed it up, it’s running faster than it originally would on a pc from the time and as such things will move much faster than intended. This game also uses a much antiquated version of Direct X, I remember having so many problems with XP games running 98 and 95 games. Final Fantasy 7 was unplayable in the chocobo races as it went too fast crashed etc due to its old direct X version.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Thanks for the confirmation, I had a suspicion OS incompatibility was the case. I've had other problems with 95/98 games in XP, but not much. Sad to hear about FFVII! I'm sure there are some solutions to the problem with emulation, but I'd love to find a Windows 95 machine to play these old games the proper way.

[@Yessir470]

I love the fail ost you put in

[@FakYuhGoogel]

Could the audio issues be due to your hard drive? You might try to dump an image of the CD and use a virtual hd.

[@Dongled]

Hahaha as i'm watching the beginning and seeing all the big box PC games...I thought to myself...wait a minute...this is Andrew's collection! Sure enough right afterwards, his channel info popped up. Ugh, the locked screen on this is a huge dealbreaker. I'd probably grab the PS1 version. This is honestly the only game in the series i'm interested in.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

You gotta do that I-II combo with this series, at the very least.

[@Ianke1]

Que vídeo ótimo de se ver, não fazia ideia que Suikoden teria um porte para PC. Grande abraço do Brasil!

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Thank you for watching (and for the hug, I think?)! Obrigado!

[@BawesomeBurf]

I want a Hapa-Tech monitor. The battle visuals in this version look gorgeous, but I would get really annoyed with the tiny window for the rest of the game. I know you said we would have to wait a while, but I'm looking forward to the Suikoden I & II PSP video.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Thanks man--I thought about extending the Summer Of Suikoden until Winter, but I think I'm a bit Suikoden'd out right now. A recharge will do me good for next summer. And you can probably find a Hapa-Tech monitor at a Goodwill or on craigslist. I see them pop up from time to time.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

I will let your transgression of not completing the third video slide on account of how good this one was.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Oh yeah? Why don't we meet and the ring and you can try saying this to me again, but to my face, shortly before my right arm's bicep crushes your melon in a fierce headlock.

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

Jimmy Hapa (Import Gaming FTW!) Well, if it takes you as long to put this headlock on as it did for you to reply to my comment then I think I'm safe. 😘

[@neoflashjf]

I love your ganbare Goemon game reviews, and would really like to see more of those. But if you have time and wanna look into something a little different, can you look at the Super Chinese world series, mainly 2 and 3? They came out on Super famicom, but not SNES? The only game we got over here was Super ninja boy on the SNES, and its one of my favorite games. Just sad that we didn't get more of the series here.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Thank you, I am planning on doing another Goemon video in the next two or three months, so I hope you'll enjoy it when it drops. And I have the first and second Super Chinese World games, but I was pretty disappointed with how they play, so I scrapped the idea of doing a video on either. I'll look for the third game and try it out, though.

[@space_asylum]

Your deadpan shalom cracked me up. RPGs on pc... I can’t do it.. it just ain’t right.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Wait a sec...are you (((Space Asyllum - Gaming in Space!)))?

[@space_asylum]

We are actually changing our name to Space Shalom - The real Chutzpah in Space. (We are trying to rebrand these days)

[@THESHMUPMASTER]

Another great video man! I find comparison videos fascinating. It's also interesting to see how console games fare on the PC, especially back in the mid to late 90s. This one looks like it has potential, but the cramped view screen in the top left corner would ruin it for me I'm afraid. REALLY looking forward to your Suikoden 2 vids next year. That is my favorite game in the series. I played the crap out of it in High School. It was really my first true 32 bit RPG experience. And so much better than FF7 IMO. Also nice to see Andrew in there as well. Especially those hilarious photo shop jobs you did a few years ago! LOL! Keep up the great work!

[@ImportGamingFTW]

I didn't know you were a Suikoden fan--would you be interested in contributing something for next year's SOS?

[@THESHMUPMASTER]

YUP! I'd love to! It would also give me an excuse to pick up a PSONE and Suikoden 1 and 2...

[@FakYuhGoogel]

3:00 Jimmy, what's the game below Trails in the Sky?

[@ImportGamingFTW]

The one you're talking about is probably The Rhapsody of Zephyr, a Korean RPG that Falcom published in Japan.

[@FakYuhGoogel]

Ohhh, thanks Jimmy! I really love that boxart, I almost feel like searching for that game just because of it. Highest resolution I could find was a 1024x768 wallpaper... damn you Falcom, get with the time D:

[@AtticusMJ]

Thanks for videos on the ports and the PSP game I never new there was ports of 1st game ever so was cool seeing them in there own light And while I own the PSP game its something rotting on my import shelf in hopes of a patch

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Thanks very much for watching--I hope that patch happens, and before your copy of Woven Web decomposes!

[@alvercaine8893]

i found your videos by chance. great work, clear voice, nice fact and intel. i was trying with a friend to make an online suikoden (with mmo like multiplayer) where you were playing as another mcdohl bodyguard, selecting between 6 classes, man/woman and 3 color each with possible branching classes evolutions... i made quite some pixel work for the unique classes, and alot of other thing, but my programmer on unity trowed the towel . shame that i see this version only today, maybe thing usefull could have be gained.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Thank you--that Suikoden MMO idea of yours sounds really cool. Do you have any assets of those still lying around somewhere online where I could see for myself?

[@alvercaine8893]

still have the full maps folder size1/1 all the sprites, sounds, and some of my custom ones. thing is, we never found the magic animations sprites. i'll be up to redo some work on it and make more custom classes (there was going to be 6 base with 3 evolutions each) if people motivated and good coders come in too.

[@alvercaine8893]

here you go, sorry i had health problems so i couldnt get back to you before. drive.google.com/open?id=1l9uv-rL0vgh9-1Lzi3XlcqsxHpgaFb76 its a teser of the custom classes (who are mainly a mixup between characters and recolorations. i have 3 of the 6 bases classes done, 1 class evolution done for now, and a full class now take me atmost 2/3h of work. sorry its mid quality patchwork but i intend to keep them for a serious project and would not like to see them in some poor rpg maker fangame

[@rifatulkarim261]

Nice video. The pc port does make the nagivation and equiping items so smoother experience which was the gripe of the original version (that could had been more grueling part if it was made for snes instead of ps1!). Still though I would recommend newcomers to play the ps1 version because you can transfer your data to the second game. But definitely could had used this port as replaying the game if there was english patch and also makes me want to play some old pc rpg games given how easy to control the menus.

[@YcerKaer]

Thank you so much for your effort

[@ImportGamingFTW]

No problem--thank you so much for watching and commenting.

[@Caspicum]

No Tactics Ogre poster will ever escape me. Don't even try.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Well, I've had that poster since I was in high school, and I still have it with me today--so, YOU LOSE, GOOD DAY, SIR!

[@Erosennin36]

man i love this siries suikoden 1 and 2 is the best for me

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Same here--it's hard to capture or replicate the "magic" from those games, especially when paired together.

[@ZeroWalker26]

your back I was wondering what happen I was checking you channel out and all your videos where like gone was it a copy right issue ? Got scared you left youtube.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Thanks for the concern--I just had some personal issues that caused me to shut down the channel for a week or so. It won't happen again.

[@ZeroWalker26]

good to hear I was worried there love your videos and would be sad if you left.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Well, I don't plan on leaving any time soon--thank you again for the support!

[@trunks10k]

This looks like it was made for DOS. With the low resolution. I'm sure in DOS or even if you're willing to mess with DOSBox you could get it to run on modern PC's.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

I haven't tried, but yeah, it probably should work on DOSBox.

[@ShadowWolfRising]

Did you hear about the Suikoden Spiritual Successor by the Creator on Kickstarter?

[@doscuramenos]

Great introduction!...

[@mondruner]

What was the 3rd port? Where is the video?

[@pepitopacquiao]

Can it be played on Virtual Box?

[@gensoucollection3224]

May I post a short sequence of this video on my Instagram?? I mention your KZbin channel of course. ❤️

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Of course--and I would appreciate the link back to the video or channel! Thanks!

[@MellowGaming]

I don't think many gamers these days would cope with a port like that. They'd need it to all be big screen and enhanced in every way over the originals now. Although that would likely end up being like those weird Final Fantasy PC ports with the DS and Mobile phone version graphics. Yuck. I'd play this version though, if I could speak Japanese. I think I remember reading that Japanese PC gaming was often a bit wobbly in terms of options and port quality. Only Japanese PC only game I think I've ever played was Recettear (Which is brilliant) and that had weird resolution options, funky controller support and really odd keyboard configurations. Glad you're back in the habit again. It makes sense to push the PSP port to next year seeing as it includes Suikoden 2. Now, I need to go campaign to Sony to finally give us the downloadable versions of the first 2 games in the UK. BTW, you encouraged me to try covering an RPG on Twitter ages ago... so I may be going overboard and covering 5 in one video early next year for a certain series 15th anniversary. This will be your fault if I go mad.

[@ImportGamingFTW]

I'll keep an eye out for Recettear, it looks very nice. And glad to hear you're still gonna tackle that RPG video...five in one, eh? Ha ha, you will go mad...but best of luck, and I'm looking forward to seeing the final product.

[@MellowGaming]

Jimmy Hapa (Import Gaming FTW!) Oh yeah. I'm going made just recording footage. Luckily it's disgaea so more mechanics and functions heavy than being story heavy. Plus I'm focusing on disgaea 5 because it's a masterpiece. Nothing as complete and in depth as your rpg vids for sure.

[@namebp]

I got to play the 2nd one and it was one of my top favorites rivaling final fantasy series

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Yeah man--II is SOOOOO good! I'll talk about the PSP port this summer, and I'm looking forward to playing the game over and over again like I did the first for Summer Of Suikoden 2017.

[@namebp]

Jimmy Hapa (Import Gaming FTW!) I like how the series drew inspiration from Far-East setting instead of your typical medieval fantasy setting.

[@TheGenio911]

I hope that you can do a video about the psp version. Best regards

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Thanks--I recorded footage for it to put out this summer and wrote some of the script, but I missed it. NEXT SUMMER!

[@TheGenio911]

Ok I Will wait for that video :D. Thanks for your answer! Greetings.

[@pferreira1983]

Ironically what people call 'Limited Collector's Edition' games are now Big Box PC games. It's ironic as those should be the norm for PC.

[@oldirtygamer]

Cool!

[@cacadodo666]

This would have been a great port if it had allowed for fullscreen without the filler tiles.

[@Grimkai_]

I just wish I could play this exact version of a pc Suikoden but english patched... ui looks so usefull

[@rockhyde7775]

Do any of you guys happen to know any J-fighters (Japanese fighting games, I love those! [before anyone asks, I put a dash there because it makes it snappy to say] I invented/created/came up/thought up that term [you guys need to use that term] because of JRPGs which is short for Japanese role-playing games, I’m a big fan of Action RPGs though, my favourite sub genre of role-playing games btw but enough about that) on Windows computers prior to 2000? That means no Melty Blood or EFZ because those games came out way after 2000, I want to know what Japanese fighting game came out on Windows PCs (95 or 98 before there was Steam!), so no Sharp X68000 or FM Towns. If it’s an anime-style fighting game released on Windows 95 or 98 and came out before 2000 and is only released in Japan, I’ll be very happy. It’ll please a weeaboo (I’m not insulting myself, you shouldn’t take it as an insult either, I call myself a weeb which means I have a strong interest of Japanese stuff) like myself.

[@foeof]

Is there an ISO of this anywhere?

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Sorry, none that I know of...but perhaps it's out there. Try searching "幻想水滸伝　PC ISO" on Google or the Japanese language versions of Bing or Yahoo.

[@borjitasstoi]

where is suikoden 2 windows?

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Oh man, if I can ever get my hands on a copy of Suikoden II for Windows, I'd make a video on that so fast, I think I'd be done before the game even finished installing!

[@alexanderjones1265]

I've played the chinese PC version of Genso Suikoden 2 awhile back. Was great fun and the battles seem much smoother/faster than on the PS1. However it doesn't have the old-style PC windowing features of the first game, videos didn't seem to work for me (could be a Win7 compat issue) and the traditional chinese characters get pretty pixelated making things hard to read at times. Was a total blast to play though and I'd argue it's better than the console version!

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

nowadays, you know what I think of when I think of suikoden? I think of that otherkin that thought she was luc

[@ImportGamingFTW]

That's hilarious and sad at the same time. I've had some conversations about said "Luc/Sasarai otherkin" recently with a few people...

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

@@ImportGamingFTW its really weird also. of all the characters in the game she chose luc? and choosing suikoden too. crazy that was back when suikoden was super underrated too

[@RussiaGoodFantastic]

The pc version looks horrible, way worse than PS1

[@ImportGamingFTW]

It's not horrible, but the PS1 game is definitely the way to go.

[@vitormelo22]

In Steam ia ser um sucesso.

[@AvalancheReviews]

Also, look at that smoothing effect on the battle sprites. EWWWWWWWWW!

[@ImportGamingFTW]

I'm a pixel purist like you, but this time the smoothing effect actually looks pretty great. Maybe you need to see it in person to be convinced.

[@snakeintellectualadam5944]

b以後 ティンさん フィルターよう

[@mielthesquid6536]

you should really drop the stereotypical asian cartoon face animations, it's uncanny as hell lmao. It feels like you try to make fun of them.

[@DhavidSetiawanKilluaDhavid]

And Konami make it worst with Suikoden Pachislot

[@ImportGamingFTW]

Is there a Suikoden Pachislot? If so, I'm not shocked, but I've never heard or seen it.

[@melvinprado3478]

Dhavid Setiawan KilluaDhavid never heard of it

[@cinnamondan4984]

Consoles or nothing 4 ever!

[@ImportGamingFTW]

I'll always be a console guy...until the day of the STEAMING, I guess...but even then, I'll be playing the old stuff! Like I mostly do now...