Reposted from January 17th, when the article had to be removed for reasons I can’t discuss 😉
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I’ve been wanting to be able to tell you all this for almost a week now, but I had to keep quiet about it. Didn’t get a chance to update with this last night, due to all my real life stuff, so unfortunately no exclusive for SFC this time…

Our good friends at Atlus USA are localising the GBA Shining Force remake for a USA release, which is estimated to be in June of this year 🙂 I hope to be getting a preview copy from them shortly, and will post as much as I can about it should this happen 🙂 Wish me luck 😉 I must say, from the screenies on Atlus’ site, the game is looking sweeter than ever!
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Since this article was first written, I have received a preview copy of the game, and hope to be including screenshots etc in the next day or so. I must say it’s looking fantastic! Pop along to the All Things Shining forum here at SFC for more info, as I’ll be trying to answer peoples’ questions about the game there, as I progress through it.

And for those of you who’ve been wondering how my man is doing – he now has a date for his transfer & surgery planned, at the start of next week. So, he should be home within 10-14 days if all goes well 🙂 Thanks for your support and understanding meanwhile. When he’s back at work (not sure when that will be), I’ll try to get a new contest etc up. For the time being, I hope you’ll understand when I say that’s something of a low priority for me!

More SFIII Scenario 3 translation sections coming in the next few days, courtesy once again of Magnus Andersson too – keep an eye out! Want to donate to help fund the translation? Scroll down…

Hope you read this one already 😉 Will repost it as soon as I have permission to do so!

For those of you who were worried after seeing the colours in the screenshots posted at Gamekult, for the GBA SF remake … don’t be! Forum member Daria has found some new pictures from Jeux-France.com – you can see and discuss them here, or see more here. I have to say that seeing these has me even more excited about the release!! 🙂

I do have a little more news, but unfortunately at this time I’m not allowed to post it. Of course you can depend on me to do so as soon as I possibly can 🙂

I’m also in the process of trying to obtain a preview copy, and hope to get some crystal clear shots of the game at that time… and also be able to answer any questions you may have about it. Will keep you posted on my progress with obtaining one.

In non-Shining news, though relevant to this site, my boyfriend seems to be doing better but is likely to be in hospital for another week at least, as such I should be able to post updates either AM before I go to visit him or late PM when I get home. Thanks for all the well-wishes I’ve received over the past few days, we both very much appreciate them!

Work on my SSII site has pretty much ground to a halt on account of all these hospital visits, but will of course get the site ready in time for the release of the game! Thanks for bearing with me folks 🙂

My apologies for the somewhat late posting of this news, however I’ve spent 12 hours of today in hospital, at the side of my boyfriend who was rushed in this morning – it’s been rather hectic and the site has been the last thing on my mind.

Thought I’d best post the news now, however little it may be, since I don’t know when I’ll next be able to update (my boyfriend will probably require at least a week of rest at home from work).
Well, in better news it seems Gamespot was not wrong with its news the other day 🙂 They just got the wrong screenshots. So, there is indeed a remake of the original Shining Force in development for the GBA, which includes “enhanced” graphics (though looking at them, I’m not sure I’d call them that… I’m something of a purist when it comes to the original classic!) and a new card battle/collection system… as well as three new characters (not sure what to make of this either).

I’ve contacted THQ with regard to the game, and they are still telling me its “under wraps” and that nothing more can be said until it’s officially mentioned on their site. Hopefully when there’s something on the site, they may be able to give us a bit of inside info 🙂 They did mention they are aiming for an April 2004 release in Europe.

With the above in mind, I’m not sure what to think of the screenshots shown on Gamekult – some of them look less than authentic IMHO, but I suppose this is explained by the fact that the game is still in development. Here’s hoping much of the messy info onscreen is just for the development stage, and that they don’t change too much of the original story or play. Looks at least as though the main maps are essentially the same. I hope they don’t set the default Hero name to Coal 😉 Max was kickarse ;P

Right, I should probably try to get some sleep now. It’s been a long day!

Will post more when I can (and have more info of course!).

Many thanks to all who have contacted me about these screenshots. Far too many to credit here, I’m afraid, but you all know who you are! 😀

Time to start getting back into the swing of things after Christmas. Sorry I’ve not updated for a while, I’ve been hard at work on my Shining Soul II site!
Speaking of which, today Gamespot added an article which states the new Shining Force game for the GBA, rumoured some time ago to be in the pipeline from THQ, is to be called “Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon”, and released in Europe in April…

Excited? Don’t be just yet! The screenshots on the report are all from Shining Soul II, and the mention of a card collection system leads me to believe that THQ have simply renamed SSII for it’s Euro release, probably to avoid a sales flop like with the original Shining Soul 😉 I’m trying to get confirmation of this, but THQ’s UK site is currently down, so I can’t get their contact number. More news as I get it! Oddly chosen name though, since Dark Dragon isn’t even in Shining Soul II! So, perhaps there is something to this, afterall…

In other news… more Scenario 3 translation is on the way in the next few days, again courtesy of Magnus Andersson 🙂 Also, news of a Shining Booth at a convention in Taiwan… the booth is being run by our dear Aspartate (translator of much of the Japanese Shining Force III scripts) and Q.GAME (doujinshi artist, “Incomplete Finale” etc) and their site for the booth can be seen here. If you’re going to be in Taiwan on January 17th, I strongly recommend a visit to the convention – Asp and Q will have a large selection of Shining artwork and more in their exhibition, along with fan merchandise for purchase. Proceeds from the booth will be going towards travel expenses for me to go to the Shining Only convention in Japan with Asp and Q in a couple of months. We’ll also be selling some fan merchandise here at SFC to raise funds too.

We hope to provide coverage of both conventions here at SFC, and if we raise the money for me to go to Shining Only, you can be sure I’ll pick up some cool Shining treats from Japan for contest prizes here 🙂

More updates soon!