Xenogears

ゼノギアスPlayStation, PlayStation 3, PSP1998

  1. JP1998
  2. NA1998
  3. EU—
  4. RU—

Xenogears (ゼノギアス in Japan) kept the same name in the West, but it only came out in Japan and North America — Europe never got a PAL release. It was later re-released digitally on PlayStation Network for PS3, and in Japan as a Game Archives title for PS3 and PSP.

Xenogears is a role-playing game released by Square for the PlayStation in Japan on 11 February 1998 and in North America on 20 October 1998. Director Tetsuya Takahashi and Kaori Tanaka first pitched the idea for Final Fantasy VII, but it was judged too dark and complicated for a fantasy and was developed as a separate game. A staff of thirty made it in about two years, and Yasunori Mitsuda composed the music. Its ending theme, Small Two of Pieces, was the first ending theme with lyrics in a Square-developed game.

Party members also fight in Gears, giant humanoid robots that run on fuel instead of Action Points. Square nearly skipped the English version because of the game's religious themes, and Xenogears never reached Europe.

Weekly Famitsu counted 891,675 copies sold in Japan in 1998. Missing the one-million target led to the cancellation of the planned sequel.12

Names and releases

RegionTitle on the boxPlatformDatePublisherSrc
NA XenogearsNever released in PAL regions. PlayStation Oct 20, 1998 Square Electronic Arts 1
NA XenogearsGreatest Hits reissue. PlayStation December 2003 — 1
NA XenogearsPlayStation Network release. PlayStation 3 Feb 22, 2011 — 1
JP ゼノギアス PlayStation Feb 11, 1998 Square 2
JP ゼノギアスSquare Millennium Collection reissue. PlayStation Nov 30, 2000 Square 2
JP Xenogears ゼノギアスPS one Books budget reissue. PlayStation Dec 20, 2001 Square 2
JP ゼノギアスGame Archives digital release (PS3/PSP). PlayStation 3 Jun 25, 2008 — 2

Also known as: ゼノギアス JP2Xenogears ゼノギアス JP2

Box art by region

  • Xenogears box art, North America release
    NA Xenogears
  • ゼノギアス box art, Japan release
    JP ゼノギアス

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

Version differences

  • TextNA

    Square almost passed on an English release because of the religious themes. Translator Richard Honeywood had to adjust references such as the ending's idea of "killing God" while staying true to the original premise.1

  • Contentall

    In every version, the second disc is told largely through narration: Tetsuya Takahashi explained that the inexperienced team could not finish the full planned game in two years, so the second half was compressed.1

Translations

  • English Official

    Square Electronic Arts (translator Richard Honeywood)1998PlayStation · Japanese versionReleased · complete

    The official English localization for North America (Square Electronic Arts, 1998) was Richard Honeywood's first major project; he called it one of the most troublesome of his career.1

  • Spanish Fan

    —PlayStationReleased

    Several fan teams translated the game into Spanish, according to Spanish Wikipedia; no Spanish version was ever sold in stores.3

Reception

Xenogears shipped 1.19 million copies by March 2003 — 910,000 in Japan and 280,000 abroad. It holds 84/100 on Metacritic and 91% on GameRankings; Famitsu gave it 31/40 and IGN 9.5/10.1

Sources

  1. 1en.wikipedia.org
  2. 2ja.wikipedia.org
  3. 3es.wikipedia.org
  4. 4ja.wikipedia.org

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

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