Remember Skies of Arcadia?

I don’t remember Skies of Arcadia for its story. It’s a classic save-the-world story. Nevertheless, the way it’s presented is captivating, and the characters are striking. They’re either good or evil, with the latter often appearing silly and incompetent. This gives the game a light-hearted feel, setting it apart from other examples of the genre around the turn of the millennium. And that’s its charm.

I remember it mainly because of its original setting – and because it was released for Sega’s last console, the Dreamcast.

Great world, lovable characters

You play a pirate’s son called Vyse. But «pirate» is misleading – Vyse is an archetypal Robin Hood, who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. He also sails through the sky rather than on water. In the world of Skies of Arcadia, people live on large islands that float in the air. What lies further below is just as mysterious to them as what lies on the seabed is to us.

One night, Vyse and his crew raid a ship belonging to the mighty Valuan Empire. They not only steal treasures, they also rescue Fina – a mysterious young woman who’s been captured. What follows is an adventure story where Vyse and his friends sail through the skies, meet people from many foreign cultures and uncover long-forgotten secrets that threaten the whole world.

The main characters are likeable and somewhat naive. They’re excited to discover everything the world has to offer. Vyse has something to say about many objects in the world if you press the action button near them. This isn’t only great for world building; it also shows the curious and adventurous side of the protagonist. The story itself also offers a lot of situational comedy from the lively characters and the sometimes stupid-looking admirals of the empire.

There’s no explanation of why the world of Skies of Arcadia is the way it is. But that doesn’t matter because it’s wonderful. There’s something new to discover everywhere. When you interact with certain places in the game world, you can make discoveries. You can find ruins of past civilisations, geological phenomena or even new animal species. As a reward, you get a few lines of text that explain the world to you in more detail. You can then sell this information to the Sailors’ Guild.

Today, the map doesn’t look like anything special, but it was huge for the year 2000. You sail through the skies with your ship and gradually open up new areas by improving your ship. You can dock at various locations and then explore the world on foot.

Ship battles are a highlight

If you’re on foot, you’ll encounter enemies – as is typical for a JRPG – which you’ll slaughter in turn-based battles. And there are plenty of them. The frequency of battles is incredibly high. This is particularly annoying when you want to interact with the environment but can’t find the trigger point straight away. You may have to complete four or five battles before you can do what you originally wanted. The high encounter rate was reduced when the game was re-released for the Nintendo Gamecube, but it’s still high.

In addition to traditional combat, there are also ship battles. These take place in turns, which are divided into three to four actions, depending on how many members you have in the group. The whole thing is shown on a grid, with each column representing a round and each row representing a member of the group. The characters use one row to perform an action. This includes firing a cannon, using an object or carrying out a defensive move. Corresponding markings in the first row show you what to expect from the enemy ship. This allows you to plan your actions. Certain ship battles also force you to make strategic decisions, such as which side of the enemy ship to attack or how to change speed to surprise your opponent.

Later in the game, you can improve your ship by recruiting new crew members. From today’s perspective, the ship battles aren’t particularly complex. But back then, the game mechanics really grabbed me and I couldn’t get enough. From today’s perspective, the ship battles aren’t particularly complex. But back then, the game mechanics really grabbed me and I couldn’t get enough.

Cool virtual memory unit integration

The Dreamcast version had an original feature of its own: the mini game Pinta’s Quest for the visual memory unit (VMU). The VMU isn’t just a memory card; it’s also an additional display in the gamepad – or a standalone handheld. You can only play the mini game once you’ve spoken to the character Pinta in the main game. In Pinta’s Quest, you travel the world with Pinta’s ship and collect items, gold and experience points. You can integrate the items and gold into the main game. Which parts of the map you reach with Pinta’s ship depends on your progress in Skies of Arcadia.

The mini game is fun, but it’s not important for the main game – it was even removed from the Gamecube version without anything to replace it. I can still remember taking my VMU everywhere with me to keep myself financially afloat in the main game.

There will probably never be a sequel

The imaginative world of Skies of Arcadia, lovable characters and cheerful narrative make the game a great adventure. Unfortunately, there’s still no HD remake, let alone a sequel. And, if it did happen, it would have to be without the original’s producer, Rieko Kodama, who died unexpectedly in 2022. So, only the original remains – and it’s still a first-class game.