Updated: 2021.12.19
This page is a work in progress and will continue to be updated.
Please note that this page is a work in progress and more information and/or further edits may occur at any time! If you need any help signing the petition, which ought to be entirely in Japanese, feel free to contact me via Twitter and I’ll do what I can to help you out! Let’s band together for these amazingly talented creative minds and show them our support!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- The Petition
- We’ve Reached
5,0007,500 Signatures! - Resurrection of the Hero Fes
- The Return of Ark Exhibition by Fujiwara Kamui
- Interview with Fujiwara Kamui, Kobayashi, Miyoko, and kisato by J-CAST News (Exclusive English Translation)
- Introduction to the Game & More
- Related Links
- News Links
- Tweets & Videos
This page details information regarding the recent push to get the SNES game Terranigma released digitally! Official members of the development team such as the art and character designer, Kamui Fujiwara, and one of the music composers, Miyoko Kobayashi*, have also joined the fan movement! (Miyoko’s wiki page states that she goes by the name Miyoko Takaoka more these days, but she still uses “Miyoko Kobayashi” on all of her personal sites such as Twitter, so I’m confused why this is… I will use her old name for the purpose of this article.)
>> Please SIGN and SHARE the petition!! <<
ABOUT THE PETITION
The following is an English translation of the petition linked above:
Petition:
We want the Super Nintendo title
“Terranigma” released digitally!
We hope to revive “Terranigma” (formerly Enix / Quintet), my favorite game for over 25 years, for it to be added into the archives and made available for online distribution!
This petition is in cooperation with Kamui Fujiwara, the art director and character designer of the game, as well as Miyoko Kobayashi, the composer of countless divine themes on the soundtrack. Let me explain a little bit about how I—a mere fan—came to partner with the both of them.
Terranigma (天地創造 Tenchi Souzou) was originally released on October 20, 1995 in Japan, developed by the former Quintet Co., Ltd. and produced by the former Enix Co., Ltd. It’s a magnificent story based on the theme of “Genesis” with an overwhelming world view created by art and character designer Kamui Fujiwara along with a number of divine musical tracks created by sound creators Miyoko Kobayashi and Masanori Hikichi that accentuate and give further color to the world. Put all of that together and you begin to understand how this game, even now, has captivated so many people, and there’s still many others who are eager for additional ports and remakes!
I was one of many who was captivated by this game. Although many highly acclaimed, retro masterpieces (often called “god games” or “super masterpieces”) from 20 years ago or more are seeing new ports or remakes, many fans of Terranigma find it strange that this honor has yet to be bestowed upon this game. It’s become considerably difficult to play these games on an actual Super Nintendo (the actual cart isn’t readily accessible, save functionality is bad, save data is easily lost, etc.), and I’m afraid this is a cultural part of gaming history that may be lost forever. I cannot help but feel anxious at that thought because Terranigma has taught me many precious things in life.
With the hope that our fan activity might reach the eyes and ears of the game’s creators, we’ve been holding the “Resurrection of the Hero Fes” event every October 20 on Twitter (Please see the related links to Twitter and the home page). The idea is to connect fans through the hashtag and share many thoughts and memories of the game. Then on the 20th Anniversary, we collaborated with Miyoko Kobayashi and were able to create the “Terranigma 20th Anniversary Video”. For last year’s 25th Anniversary, we collaborated with Miyoko Kobayashi for the first time in five years to release the “Terranigma 25th Anniversary Video”. It wasn’t until after Kamui Fujiwara saw this video that he responded by posting a high quality illustration on Twitter, which fans were beyond elated to see!
Around this time, Miyoko Kobayashi and Kamui Fujiwara contacted each other personally and pulled me in, inspiring me to do what I could for the TRUE revival of Terranigma. Kamui Fujiwara started sketching up all sorts of illustrations while Miyoko Kobayashi created new songs to go with his illustrations. My role is to invigorate the fans to get active and support their works.
Essentially, I’d like a port AND remake, but at the very least, I hope the game could be released digitally on modern devices.
And if THAT is successful and we have tangible “results” from this campaign, I sincerely hope there could be a future for the series. The first thing you can do to participate in this movement is to sign the petition and share this information! I’m sure there are many fans out there who aren’t aware of this movement, so just sharing this information would mean a great deal! Thank you so much for your support!
Please consider adding your name to the list and also leave a comment! The petition page is written in Japanese and most of the comments are as well, but please don’t like that discourage you from participating and sharing the link!
For ease of sharing and to help international fans band together in this movement, I’ve set up a handy bit.ly link that will shorten the petition URL for easy sharing. Plus, I started the following hashtag specifically for sharing information about the petition and your own fan comments and such as well! Please feel free to post wherever on social media, and if you’re an illustrator or could express somehow your feelings about the game creatively, it would be awesome if you could participate that way as well!
Please use the following tags:
#Terranigma #天地創造 #TerranigmaResurrection
Also, if you’re on Facebook and would like to help spread the word regarding the Petition, please head over to the Terranigma Resurrection – Petition Campaign page. I will be posting up-to-date information that’s easier to share!
WE’VE REACHED 7,500 SIGNATURES!
The petition has reached its second milestone of gathering 7,500 signatures in support of a digital release for Terranigma!! Thank you to everyone who came out to support this cause and made your voice heard!
We still need to push even harder to spread the word and get fans of the game active! The next goal is to gather 10,000 signatures, and I really believe we can do it! Let’s keep up the amazing work shown thus far and multiply it even more!
Read the Comments from the Terranigma Resurrection Team for Meeting 7,500 Signatures!
Comments from the Terranigma Resurrection Team for Meeting 5,000 Signatures:
To show their appreciation for this awesome first milestone, kisato, Miyoko Kobayashi, and Kamui Fujiwara have given us some great comments that I’ve translated below! Definitely check it out and thank them for their own roles and support for this petition!
Thanks to everyone, we’ve surpassed 5,000 signatures! Thank you so much! We’ve been getting about 500-600 new signatures a day (about 1,000 when news sites picked it up). Both Kamui Fujiwara and Miyoko Kobayashi were excited every day (haha), but our next goal is to reach 7,500 signatures… (via Change.org (haha))
This still isn’t enough to pass to Square Enix, but I think it’s good pacing to reach 5,000 signatures in less than 10 from the start of the petition. The campaign to get more signatures will continue! Fujiwara will be hosting the “Terranigma Exposition” from September 3-13th, and the movement to gather more signatures will continue through this period. (Actually, I will be helping to staff the exhibition; announcements about the exhibition will be posted on Twitter in August.)
Since the beginning of the petition, I’ve been able to see a lot of thoughts on Terranigma in my Twitter timeline, and I’m really happy that I took the plunge to start it! I’ve also received a lot of encouragement from Fujiwara and Kobayashi. Personally, I’ve really wanted to retweet so many related tweets, but have avoided doing so since the purpose of my main account is to release notifications because I can’t perform my role if important notifications get buried, so try to at least like the posts I see. Thanks to Fujiwara and Kobayashi for retweeting a bunch of tweets! I really appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm, too!
I’ve received thank you messages from fans both inside and outside Japan for starting the petition, but all I did was set it up, so I’m in the same boat as all of you, getting excited and supporting the game; the power of you fans is really amazing! I can’t thank you enough! I know I may be sounding like a broken record by now, but it’s really important, so I will do so over and over again. This is I all thanks to you! Thank you!
Lastly, it’s not necessary to send a thank you DM, so I’d really appreciate it if you could do so in a regular tweet that can be seen by anyone—this would actually be much more beneficial to our movement! It’s also much easier to find these posts with hash tags like #天地創造 and #Terranigma. Please be sure to use these tags when you tweet! I also want to see Square Enix’s reaction to seeing all of this (haha)! Thank you for your cooperation!
—kisato
We’ve reached 5,000 signatures! Thank you! I think it’s amazing to have reached 5,000 signatures in just a week in support for a 25-year-old game! We would like to express our sincerest gratitude for all your support.
I am so impressed and filled with emotion when I see the wonderful fanart and everyone’s tweets (I’m sorry to retweet without permission). Thanks to you, I feel motivated! I would like to continue composing music along with Kamui’s artwork that are based on everyone’s feelings.
This is my dream, but once everything has been cleared, I want to realize my long-time desire to have an orchestra concert. I composed the main theme with an orchestra in mind, so it would be amazing to also hear the overworld theme and the last boss theme with a live orchestra!
It’s so wonderful that we’ve surpassed 5,000 supporters, but this is just the first milestone in our journey. I’m looking forward to your continued support in the future!
—Miyoko Kobayashi
We’ve reached 5,000 signatures! Thank you for your support! I would like to express my gratitude for everyone’s support with an illustration. Let’s aim higher! MAY ARK BE WITH YOU!
* The illustration is a coloring of a recently rediscovered rough sketch.
—Kamui Fujiwara
Riding on this tailwind, the petition surpasses 9200 signatures!
By: kisato (Terada Noriko)
September 24, 2021
Hello! How’s everyone doing?
Fujiwara Kamui’s Terranigma exhibition has concluded with great success.
(The above image is a shot of the reproduction illustration acrylic panel. It looks great with a back-lit display!)
I posted many live tweets from the solo exhibition on Twitter, and everyone who came to the venue and those who weren’t able to come themselves all got psyched up. So, if you’re interested in getting a taste of this, please have a look at the mash-up of tweets here.
Even after the exhibition finished, the passion of fans has not waned. Toward the end of the exhibition, many people had fun drawing illustrations of Yomi along to a Yomi-drawing song composed by Kobayashi Miyoko, or taking photos with the mini Yomi rubber mascots that were sold at the exhibition (people had fun with miniature props and other toys from dollar stores, posting them to Twitter), plus even Kamui-sensei started posting colored pencil sketches of event scenes he drew during the solo exhibition. All these extra goodies for Terranigma fans will not cease (haha)
During the exhibition, I had the opportunity to discuss it on the radio.
On the evening of September 21, I appeared on the “Tsukuba You’ve Got 842!” radio program (FM84.2) and talked about Terranigma for those who haven’t had the chance to play it!
Actually, I had met the personality Komura Etsuko several years ago. From the GanGan era, she was surprised that I was involved in the petition with Kamui-sensei and that he had his own solo exhibition. She gave me the opportunity to promote the petition on the radio. (^_^)
After the show, Komuro Etsuko had a short recitation segment and Yumeno Gyokudo wrote an article about the Terranigma petition campaign (^^)
* Komura on Facebook
* Yumeno Gyokudo on Facebook
Around that time, Kamui-sensei uploaded illustrations from Illusion of Gaia and Soul Blazer, which got fans of those games excited, and perhaps thanks to them, we saw about 200 additional signatures to the petition in a single day??
Oh, and September 23 was Kamui-sensei’s birthday!
The Terranigma 25th Anniversary has become a miracle and a revolutionary year for fans, but it is undoubtedly due to these consecutive linked events. I am deeply grateful to Kamui-sensei for his efforts with Terranigma, and I my greatest wish for his continued health. (*’∀’)
And today (September 24) is actually the 30th Anniversary of Actraiser, originally released in 1990, and its remake has just been released!! Actraiser is, of course, another game by Quintet. This good news greatly boosted fans of games by Quintet… and also helped to get Terranigma trending!!
[ A screen shot of Terranigma trending was posted by Twitter user Kanai here. ]
This is absolutely amazing! (´;ω;｀)
In just the last three days, the petition has received an additional 1,000 signatures! It’s been a while since we’ve seen such a pace! It slowed down a bit when we reached 5,000 signatures, so…
I think many who signed the petition want to play Terranigma, and if its revived, other Quintet games as well! Thanks to everyone who signed the petition!!
Getting Terranigma released digitally isn’t just a dream anymore.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support! At any rate, I’ve thrown more money into advertising the petition! (haha)
And we’ve got a comment by Miyoko!
“Terranigma has entered the trends in the gaming world. I’d like to see it follow the path of Actraiser. Thank you all for your support for today alone, and I hope you can continue to support the campaign.”
Like I’ve said many times before, I would like Terranigma to be digitally released so we can pass it down to future generations, and so we can give back to those involved in its creation. I’m sure those who were able to come out to the exhibition know this, but with the sheer amount of illustrations by Kamui-sensei–! Such passion! It was difficult to realize many of them with the specs at the time, but if all goes well and the game is remade, it would be great if all of Kamui-sensei’s designs are represented. If that happens, I’m sure it would make Kamui-sensei, as a creator, very happy…
If we succeed in getting the game digitally released, I would especially like the rights to be squared away and the creators involved be properly admired for their work.
And I’d like Miyoko’s dream of having an orchestra concert come true. I also hope a full soundtrack could be released.
But first we need to get the game digitally released, and I hope both creators and fans will be delighted.
Once the petition reaches 10,000 signatures, I’d like to send it over to Square Enix!
–kisato
RESURRECTION OF THE HERO FES
Translation of the Resurrection of the Hero Fes Top Page:
October 20, 2021 is the 26th Anniversary of Terranigma’s release! This is kisato from the “Resurrection of the Hero Fes”!
This is an annual event for fans to interact with each other on Twitter.
Additionally, the sound creator Miyoko Kobayashi often helps run the Prime Blue Shop booth at the Summer and Winter comic market. This year for the 26th Anniversary, we also have Kamui Fujiwara on board!
So, Kamui Fujiwara, Miyoko Kobayashi, and kisato will be releasing another collaboration video on October 20th, 2021! Be sure not to miss it!
Not only that, but…
From July 21, 2021, we’ve started a petition to get the game released digitally! See details on Change.org!
Kamui Fujiwara will also be holding the “Terranigma Exhibition: The Return of Ark” from September 3-13. Please check his Twitter account for more information!
Please be aware that this is strictly an informal project with the purpose of interacting with other fans. There is no official collaboration with the original copyright holder.
THE RETURN OF ARK EXHIBITION
BY FUJIWARA KAMUI
Fujiwara Kamui had his solo Terranigma art exhibition managed by ACG near Harajuku, September 3-13. I will be posting some photos from the gallery soon!
International Orders Are Now Available Through PROXY Services
It has come clear that FORWARDING services will not work with the ACG shop, which is powered by the BASE system of online shops. The recommended PROXY service is From Japan, but you are perfectly free to do your own research to find the best service for you. I haven’t had the need to use a proxy service in the past 17 years since I moved to Japan, so I can’t give you any personal recommendations.
You can also follow ACG’s updates regarding this issue. Please be aware that International orders will be available through October 4, an additional 2 weeks past the September 20 domestic order deadline.
List of Available Items:
- Terranigma Setting Material Book
Price: 2,500 yen (tax not included) - Terranigma Exhibition – Return of Ark Original Soundtrack CD
(7 completely new tracks)
Price: 2500 yen (tax included) - Terranigma Yomi Rubber Mascot
Price: 600 yen (tax not included) - Terranigma T-shirts (4 types)
Price: 4,000 yen (tax not included) - Terranigma A3 Acrylic Panel (1 type)
Price: 15000 yen (tax not included) - Terranigma B4 size Framed Reproduction Genga (3 types)
Prices: 10000 yen (tax not included)
Additionally, a fan on Twitter helped point out these VERY IMPORTANT issues related to using From Japan. This is a direct quote:
One important thing to note is to make sure you have all the items you want prepared for charge 1 before you pay anything. Otherwise if you pay separately, you will have to pay multiple times for the Japan domestic shipping fee.
There will be cases where the items at the Terranigma shop get sold out and FromJapan will be unable to order for you. You will have to wait and check it got restock again and try to “Request a price quote”.
When you pay for charge 1, there is an option to cancel your order if either 1 of the items get sold out. This is pretty useful as ideally, you would want to place your order ONCE only to save the Japan domestic shipping fee. If any of the items you want get sold out again, you’ll just have to wait till it restocks and try adding in again.
Interview with Fujiwara Kamui, Kobayashi Miyoko, and kisato by J-CAST News
(Exclusive English Translation)
I recently contacted J-CAST News to see if I would be able to translate their interview with the Terranigma Resurrection Team, and they were very helpful in allowing me to do so! Please see the following link for the translated article!
Interview With the Terranigma Resurrection Team by J-CAST News (Translation)
INTRODUCTION TO THE GAME & MORE
While browsing through Twitter, it’s recently come to my realization that there’s currently a push to get one of my favorite SNES games released digitally: Terranigma! Originally developed by the former Quintet and published by likewise the former Enix in October 1995 in Japan and later in December 1996 in Europe, Terranigma never saw a release in North America. But many of us computer savvy kids of the 90s found various ways around that to at least play the European English release. Luckily, I was one of those kids. Well, I didn’t get around to playing it until my first or second year of college.
Back then, I didn’t play many action RPGs, but for whatever reason this one caught my attention, and let me tell you, I was blown away by the story… the illustrations and character designs… the pixel art… the amazing music… everything about it sucked me in. It was unlike any other RPG that I had played before. Mind you, I hadn’t played many action RPGs prior to this, so I didn’t have much to compare it to. What intrigued me the most was the setting and particular atmosphere, the unique style of storytelling. The opening sequence instantly drops one of the game’s major themes of duality as it discusses the cycle of life and death via the mystical energy of the universe: the Lightside and the Darkside (not to be confused with Star Wars). It talks about how there’s always two sides of a coin, good and bad, creation and destruction, and how you cannot possibly have one without the other. They are two halves of a single whole. That is life; that is existence. It seems pretty deep for a cartoony SNES RPG, but that’s what makes this game amazing and instantly a title that remains with you even 20+ years later.
The themes of duality also delve into the concept of “Genesis,” which in general terms, is merely the origins of something. In terms of Christianity, however, it deals with the creation of the universe. This is depicted in the game as we follow the quest of Ark, the main character, as he works to resurrect the world, nurturing and guiding its growth through the course of thousands of years which pass by quickly from chapter to chapter. Throughout the game, you have many choices that are presented to you in abstract ways that you typically wouldn’t notice unless you were paying attention—they’re not given to you in clear-cut “Yes” or “No” prompts but are based on the actions—or inaction—you take throughout the game as you interact with the world. Personally, I don’t think I looked at it too deeply back in the day, so I’m not exactly sure how much would change given different choices, but it’s amazing that such an “old school” game would take such creative choices to mix things up narratively. I don’t think anything drastic will change, though, and there should be only one ending, so your actions shouldn’t have much impact on the overall story.
Anyway, long story short, the game left a lasting impression on me, which is why I was pleasantly surprised when I started to see a bunch of illustration being posted to and spread around on Twitter all of a sudden. I’ve been so busy that I didn’t look to closely at it and merely liked and retweeted the posts, but eventually I realized that there was a push on Change.org to get the game released digitally and that the actual character designer for the game, Fujiwara Kamui, took it upon himself to take illustration requests from fans, posting around 50 NEW illustrations! Many of them depict pivotal moments in the story, many of which are absolute tear-jerkers if you know the context of the illustrations.
RELATED LINKS
Also, here are some important people to follow regarding the game itself and the petition:
• Kamui Fujiwara (Artist)
• Miyoko Kobayashi (Composer)
• Resurrection of the Hero Fes: Twitter
• Resurrection of the Hero Fes: Website
• 20th Anniversary Illustrations
• 20th Anniversary “Resurrection of the Hero Fes”
• 21st Anniversary “Resurrection of the Hero Fes”
• 22nd Anniversary “Resurrection of the Hero Fes”
• 23rd Anniversary “Resurrection of the Hero Fes”
• 24th Anniversary “Resurrection of the Hero Fes”
• 25th Anniversary “Resurrection of the Hero Fes”
• Animated gifs by Rekka Alexiel
NEWS LINKS
The following is a list of all sorts of official and fan-based news reports and blog posts regarding the Terranigma petition. Please let me know if you find any more that should be added to the list!
- J-cast News – (Japanese) Interview with Fujiwara Kamui and kisato
- Yahoo! News – (Japanese) Coverage on the Interview with Fujiwara Kamui and kisato by J-cast News
- Bollyinside (English)
- DenFamiNicoGamer (Japanese)
- EzAnime.net (Spanish)
- Forum Adrenaline (Portuguese)
- Game News Tokyo (Japanese)
- Hachima (Japanese)
- Livedoor News (Japanese)
- Maniac.de (German)
- Marseille News (French)
- n-Switch-on (German)
- News Topics (Japanese)
- NicoNico News (Japanese)
- Nintendo Life (English)
- Nintenderos (Spanish)
- nJoy (Japanese)
- Square Enix – Game Details (Japanese)
- TecMundo (Portuguese)
- Today Hot News (Japanese)
- Universo Nintendo (Spanish)
- Yahoo! Japan News (Japanese)
TWEETS & VIDEOS