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Well... After slogging through the first two entries in the series, this was the one I was really looking forward to and it did not disappoint.

HUGE leap forward in gameplay for their third outing in Ys, although the story oddly seems to be lacking a bit, especially compared to Ys II. It's been so long since I played the SNES version released in the states that I can't remember if that was the case there as well or if it was just a matter of dumbing it down for the 8-bit console.

While I do agree with the previous reviewer that this game is reminiscent of Zelda II, the controls are a lot looser here and not nearly as good as they were on the SNES. Though this was a huge step up from "run into enemies to kill them" combat style from the previous two games, if you're looking for the great combat from Zelda II you're honestly not going to find it with Ys III for the Famicom.

If I had to compare it to another game, I would pick a little known title called Zeliard for DOS. Actually, the similarities between the 8-bit version of Ys III and Zeliard are really quite staggering. I don't think I noticed that with the 16-bit polish the SNES version got. I would have loved having this on the NES when I was a kid, and it would have blown my mind to then play a 16 bit upgrade to it on the SNES a few years later.

No FAQ required at all for my playthrough of this one, which is how I like my Retro. :)

I didn't notice a single problem or glitch with the game and the translation. Then again, I'm not the greatest human spell checker in the world and to reference the previous review again, I didn't notice for years that Bimmy Lee was in Double Dragon III until the AVGN pointed it out to me. That being said, nothing here amiss that I think 99 out of 100 people would notice in any case. This was a great translation.

Many thanks to the Vice Translations team for bringing another classic NES RPG to a grateful English speaking audience.

Really terrific work on this patch. With the exception of one small typo toward the very end, and one cutscene with slightly weird text layout, it otherwise felt like I was playing an official English localization of Ys III. (And typos are hardly unknown in official releases: just ask Bimmy Lee!) The script is clean and clear, with idiomatic English that flows smoothly.

I don't recall a single thing that seemed crudely or poorly handled, nor was there any hint of the injokey nonsense - or excessively literal Japanophiliac reverence - that mars some fan translations. The entirety of the game was treated with professionalism, and all its functionality worked crisply and without any glitches of any kind (not an easy feat in a game that lets you save anywhere).

The original game itself is only so-so, of course - it's very linear and has almost no challenge if you do some grinding upfront. But Vice has done as good a job as I can imagine doing with Ys III on the NES, and it's about time it got a review that gives it the praise it deserves.