Xenoblade Chronicles (video game)

This article is about the video game. For the series, see Xenoblade Chronicles.

Xenoblade Chronicles
Cover art, featuring the mythical Monado sword and Mechonis titan.
Cover art, featuring the sword Monado in the foreground and the Mechonis, one of the two titans featured in the game, in the background
Developer(s)Monolith Soft[c]
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)
  • Koh Kojima
  • Genki Yokota
Producer(s)
  • Shingo Kawabata
  • Takao Nakano
Designer(s)Koh Kojima
Programmer(s)Katsunori Itai
Artist(s)Norihiro Takami
Writer(s)
Composer(s)
SeriesXenoblade Chronicles
Platform(s)
Release
10 June 2010
Genre(s)Action role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Xenoblade Chronicles[e] is an action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Wii. Initially released in Japan in 2010, it was later released in the PAL regions in 2011 and in North America in 2012. A port for the New Nintendo 3DS was released in 2015, and a remaster for the Nintendo Switch, titled Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, was released in May 2020. Xenoblade Chronicles is the first entry in the Xenoblade Chronicles series, a subseries which forms part of the larger Xeno metaseries. Although it lacks direct narrative connections to previous Xeno games, like them, it incorporates aesthetic and narrative elements from both fantasy and science fiction. The game features navigation through an open world split into zones, side-quests tied to party members' affinity, and a real-time action-based battle system which incorporates Shulk's ability to see brief glimpses of the future.

Xenoblade Chronicles takes place on the frozen bodies of two warring titans, the Bionis and the Mechonis. The people of the Bionis, including the human-like Homs, are at perpetual war with the Mechon, a mechanical race of the Mechonis. Key to the Homs' efforts in fighting against the Mechon is the Monado, a sword said to have once been wielded by the Bionis. During an attack on his colony, the main protagonist Shulk discovers his ability to wield the Monado and sets out on a quest for revenge with his best friend, Reyn, with others joining in as the game progresses.

The concept for Xenoblade Chronicles originated in June 2006, when the game's executive director and lead writer, Tetsuya Takahashi, visualized and constructed a model of two giant titans frozen in place, with people living on their bodies. Development began in 2007 under the title Monado: Beginning of the World, though it was eventually rebranded with its current title to honor Takahashi's previous work on the Xeno series. The script was worked on by Takahashi, anime writer Yuichiro Takeda, and Nintendo writer Yurie Hattori. The music was handled by six different composers, including first-timer and lead composer Manami Kiyota and industry veterans Yoko Shimomura and Yasunori Mitsuda, with the latter also writing the ending theme, "Beyond the Sky".[8]

The game was announced in 2009 under its original title and released in Japan the following year. Despite releasing in Europe and in Oceania, its North American release remained unconfirmed until December 2011, when a fan campaign called Operation Rainfall drew attention to the game. Upon release, the game was critically acclaimed as one of the best recent role-playing games, while its New Nintendo 3DS port was praised for successfully re-creating the game in a portable form. It was particularly praised for its story, which critics called innovative and surprisingly complex, and was commercially successful in both Japan and the West. In the years since its release, it has been considered one of the greatest video games ever made. A spiritual successor by the same development team for the Wii U, Xenoblade Chronicles X, was released in April 2015. A sequel for the Nintendo Switch, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, was released in December 2017. A third entry, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, was released in July 2022, also on the Nintendo Switch.

  1. ^ Sahdev, Ishaan (8 July 2011). "Hey Europe, Xenoblade Chronicles Is Arriving Two Weeks Early". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 27 October 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  2. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (8 April 2010). "Date Set for Xenoblade". Andriasang. Archived from the original on 11 April 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  3. ^ Vuckovic, Daniel (1 August 2011). "Xenoblade Chronicles hits Australia September 1st, first print run gets bonus CD". Vooks.net. Archived from the original on 28 December 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  4. ^ "Xenoblade Chronicles for Wii – Game Info". Nintendo. Archived from the original on 18 December 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  5. ^ Romano, Sal (14 January 2015). "Xenoblade Chronicles 3D slated for April". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 13 May 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Wired3DS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ McWhertor, Michael (6 February 2015). "Xenoblade Chronicles comes to New Nintendo 3DS on April 10". Polygon. Archived from the original on 20 September 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  8. ^ "PROCYON STUDIO Official Site". www.procyon-studio.co.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2 August 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2023.


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