Wild Arms and Shadow Hearts creators’ Kickstarter adds Final Fantasy, SaGa composers

Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy) and Kenji Ito (SaGa) have joined the project

The “world’s first double Kickstarter” campaign, currently being run by the developers of cult PlayStation RPGs Wild Arms and Shadow Hearts, has added two legendary RPG composers to the project.

The unique campaign, which has met its target, is raising money for the development of two separate games – Armed Fantasia and Penny Blood. Each is a spiritual successor to the PlayStation games in question.

In a new update, it has been revealed that Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu and SaGa series composer Kenji Ito are now both involved in the development of one of the two games, Penny Blood.

Penny Blood – a spiritual JRPG successor to Shadow Hearts that promises to tap into the same gothic horror setting – takes place around the world, and it’s now been confirmed that both composers will help with the music in different locations in the game.

Specifically, Uematsu will “assist with research and insight into authentic Irish music” for the game’s American locations, while Ito will “help create the authentic sounds of Japanese locales”.

The other game in the double Kickstarter, Armed Fantasia, is a new RPG that pays homage to the westernpunk aesthetic of PS1 title Wild Arms.

The campaign gives backers the option to support one or both titles, with stretch goals benefitting both.

At the time of writing, the campaign has raised $1.9 million, eclipsing its $690,000 goal, and will end on September 30 at 12:50pm ET / 5.50pm BST.

To celebrate the campaign’s success, a closing stream will be held live in Tokyo on September 30 at 9am ET / 2pm BST and will feature interviews, special guests, creator challenges and new music.

A special ‘Golden Ticket’ concert will also be held on October 1 at 6am ET / 11am BST, and will feature a “surprise special guest”. This concert can only be viewed by campaign backers.

Wild Arms creator Akifumi Kaneko is teaming up with other Wild Arms veterans to create Armed Fantasia, while Shadow Hearts creator Matsuzo Machida is leading the game design on Penny Blood.

Speaking to VGC when the campaign launched last month, the pair told us: “The core connective tissue is both are games that JRPG fans love. It’s hard to say how many people played both but by combining both games into one campaign the goal is to raise awareness for both titles.

“Neither have been as popular as a Final Fantasy so this is two creators helping each other in an effort for both to achieve success.”