Suikoden

幻想水滸伝 (Gensō Suikoden)PlayStation, Windows, Saturn, PSP +51995

  1. JP1995
  2. NA1996
  3. EU1997
  4. RU—

Suikoden is 幻想水滸伝 (Gensō Suikoden) in Japan. The easiest legal way to play it today is Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars (2025), which bundles it with Suikoden II on Steam and current consoles.

Suikoden is an RPG developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo. Konami released it for the PlayStation in Japan on 15 December 1995, in North America on 23 December 1996 and in Europe on 11 April 1997. Yoshitaka Murayama directed and wrote it, Junko Kawano handled design and art, and Miki Higashino was among the composers.

The story is loosely based on the Chinese novel Water Margin: the 108 Stars of Destiny rise up against the Scarlet Moon Empire. Up to 107 characters can be recruited, and over ninety of them can fight.

Japan received extra versions: a Windows port in March 1998, an enhanced Sega Saturn port and, in 2006, a PSP compilation with Suikoden II. Konami released Suikoden I&II HD Remaster worldwide on 6 March 2025. Warren Spector has called Suikoden his sixth-favorite game and cited it as an influence on Deus Ex.1

Names and releases

RegionTitle on the boxPlatformDatePublisherSrc
NA Suikoden PlayStation Dec 23, 1996 Konami 1
JP 幻想水滸伝Gensō Suikoden PlayStation Dec 15, 1995 Konami 2
JP 幻想水滸伝PlayStation the Best reissue. PlayStation Nov 29, 1996 Konami 2
EU Suikoden PlayStation Apr 11, 1997 Konami 1
JP 幻想水滸伝Windows 95 version developed by System Sacom; Japan only. Windows Mar 26, 1998 Konami 1
JP 幻想水滸伝Enhanced port by Konami Computer Entertainment Sapporo; English Wikipedia gives 17 September 1998, Japanese Wikipedia 17 September 1997. Saturn 1998 Konami 1
JP 幻想水滸伝I&IICompilation with Suikoden II; Japan only. PSP Feb 23, 2006 Konami 2
WW Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification WarsAlso on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Switch Mar 6, 2025 Konami 1

Also known as: 幻想水滸伝 JP2Gensō Suikoden JP1幻想水滸伝I&II JP2Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars WW3

Box art by region

  • Suikoden box art, North America release
    NA Suikoden
  • Suikoden box art, Europe release
    EU Suikoden

Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: libretro-thumbnails.

Version differences

  • ContentSaturn

    The Japan-only Saturn version is an enhanced port with new locations, new enemies, richer colors and a new opening video.1

  • GameplaySaturn

    On Saturn the headquarters gets a fighting arena, and one of the mini-games is swapped for a different one.2

  • TextHD Remaster

    The 2025 HD remaster adds official Latin American Spanish, French, Italian, German and Chinese text alongside English and Japanese.3

Translations

  • English Official

    Konami1996PlayStation · Japanese versionReleased · complete

    The official English version came out in North America in December 1996 and in Europe in April 1997.1

  • Spanish Official

    Konami2025Windows · HD RemasterReleased · complete

    The 2025 HD remaster adds official Latin American Spanish text.3

Where to play legally today

  • Steam Purchase

    Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars

    2025 HD remaster bundled with Suikoden II

    Checked: 2026-10-133store.steampowered.com

Reception

Suikoden averages 82% on GameRankings from 14 reviews, and IGN gave it 9/10. It won RPG of the Year, Best Game Story and Best Soundtrack at the GameFan Megawards 1996 and was nominated for Console Game of the Year at the 1st Interactive Achievement Awards.1

Sources

  1. 1en.wikipedia.org
  2. 2ja.wikipedia.org
  3. 3store.steampowered.com

Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13

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