Grandia (video game)
Grandia is a role-playing video game, developed by Game Arts and published by ESP Software for the Sega Saturn console as the first game in their "Grandia" series. Released in Japan in 1997, the game was ported to the PlayStation in 1999, with an English version of the game appearing on the platform in North America in the following September by Sony Computer Entertainment, and in Europe in 2000 by Ubi Soft. The game was produced by much of the same staff who worked on the company's previous role-playing endeavor, the "Lunar" series, including producer Yoichi Miyagi and composer Noriyuki Iwadare.
History of Eastern role-playing video games
The earliest role-playing video game on a console was "Dragonstomper" on the Atari 2600 in 1982. "Bokosuka Wars", originally released for the Sharp X1 computer in 1983, was ported to the NES console in 1985, and was a commercial success in Japan, where it laid the foundations for the tactical role-playing game subgenre. Other notable early console RPGs included ports of Namco's 1984 arcade action role-playing games: "The Tower of Druaga", which was ported to the NES in 1985, and "Dragon Buster", the first video game to feature a life meter (called "Vitality" in-game), also ported to the NES in 1987.