Star Ocean is an action RPG developed by tri-Ace and released by Enix for the Super Famicom in Japan on July 19, 1996. Joe Asanuma directed it, and Motoi Sakuraba composed and arranged the music.
The cartridge held 48 megabits of data thanks to the S-DD1 compression chip, used by only two games. It also included spoken voice clips in battle, which were rare on the Super Famicom.
The game never left Japan in its original form: Enix America had closed its publishing operations by the end of 1995, and Nintendo passed on the game. Western players had to wait for the PSP remake Star Ocean: First Departure, released in Japan on December 27, 2007, and in the West in October 2008. The remaster Star Ocean: First Departure R followed worldwide on Switch and PS4 on December 5, 2019. Before that, the fan group DeJap made an unofficial English translation of the Super Famicom original.1
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JP | スターオーシャンSutā ŌshanJapan only; 48 megabits of data with S-DD1 compression chip | SNES | Jul 19, 1996 | Enix | 1 |
Also known as: スターオーシャン JP1Sutā Ōshan JP1
Box art by region
JP スターオーシャン
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: libretro-thumbnails.
Version differences
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AudioSFC
The S-DD1 compression chip let most of the graphics and map data fit on the cartridge, at the cost of lower audio quality. The game still had battle voice clips through a 'Flexible Voice Driver' that changed with enemy strength.1
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ContentSFCPSP remake
The 2007 PSP remake Star Ocean: First Departure, developed by Tose, and its 2019 remaster First Departure R are the only official versions released outside Japan. First Departure R offers English voices or Japanese audio, either from the PSP version or with the re-recorded Super Famicom cast.1
Translations
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English Fan
DeJap TranslationsSNES · Japanese versionReleased · complete
DeJap Translations made an unofficial English fan translation of the Super Famicom game.1
Reception
Star Ocean sold about 235,000 copies in Japan, just over 175,000 of them in 1996. Famitsu's four reviewers gave it 8, 6, 7 and 7, praising its ambition but disagreeing on the story. Nintendo Life's 2009 retro review gave it 9/10.1
In lists
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
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