Well, hopefully by now, you have all heard that Lufia: The Legend Returns, has finally been released. I don't have much here at the moment, but I am in the process of creating a Lufia 3 section, so just be patient. Most of the information and pics on this page comes from: The Gaming Intelligence Agency. The screenshots above were sent to me by Maxim, and scanned by Arek. The other ones were sent to me by MasterX900. The following excerpts are from the March 2001 and April 2001 issues of Nintendo Power. The second one describes Lufia III in GREAT detail.

March 2001 issue:

The day will soon dawn when RPG fans awake to discover that Natsume's long awaited epic, Lufia: The Legend Returns for Game Boy Color, is calling their names. The legend began in 1993 when Taito released Lufia & The Fortress of Doom for the Super NES. It grew stronger three years later when Lufia II: The Rise of the Sinistrals appeared. For five years the legend has slept, but now it is stirring. Natsume is just completing the English translation and hopes to release the game this spring. NP's exclusive screen shots from Natsume show highly detailed graphics of overworld and interior areas of the game. The battle system, said to be similar to the system used in Lufia II, allows you to use weapons, spells, items, or your shield. As for the story, 100 years have passed since Doom Island sank into the waves, and 12 heroes have appeared in the land to combat growing darkness-among them are a Warrior, a Magician, a Princess, a Pirate, a Robber, a Wanderer and an Idol. They head for the "Tower of Judgement" together, in quest of something they don't understand. All will become clear one day soon. Awaken, dreamer, awaken!

April 2001 issue:

For well over a year, Natsume has been working on Lufia: The Legend Returns for GBC, and the result is a truly epic RPG in the grand tradition of Final Fantasy III. Nintendo Power received the first English language copy of the game in North America to bring you exclusive coverage this month in Game Watch and next month in a special preview. The adventure begins now.
Let's Storm The Castle
The adventure actually begins in Patos Village, a sleepy hamlet where you live quietly, practicing your sword play until the day the a stranger appears. The stranger is a woman named Seena from Northland, a fortune-teller who has heard your reputation as a fighter. At first, she's not impressed with you (go figure), but then she sees you in action when you save a child from a fire. That does it. She wants you to join her party. So the first twist in the Lufia story is that you join someone else's quest, not the other way around. It seems that Seena has heard that the four Sinistrals (the bad guys from previous Lufia games) are back in action. Seeking the legendary home of the Sinistrals, Doom Island, she needs your help. Without a second thought, you join up, because that's just the sort of selfless hero you are. The game is full of story driven drama that builds a sense of who the characters are and gives you direction in your quest.
A-Questing We Will Go
Once you hit the road on your Lufia adventure, expect lots of exploration, beast battles, building up of levels, and acquiring information and items. All of that is pretty standard, but there's plenty of novelty for epic fans, too. Lufia features a huge arsenal of cool weapons, powerful magic spells, large parties of as many as nine characters and a vast array of items that range from simple concoctions like Charred Newt to Mystery Potion. If you're new to epic gaming, you'll find that Ibla the trainer can teach you all about the unusual aspects of the game, like the fact that the floor plans of dungeons and towers will change every time you enter anew.
Hidden Gems
Lufia is filled with unexpected depths on play. In dungeons and towns, you'll find a speed-walk function that lets you tear around like a sprinter-a real time-saver. And when you're in dungeons and towers, you'll have the use of two sword moves for cutting plants, freezing enemies, and uncovering hidden passages and traps. You'll see your enemies in dungeons, as well, and you can avoid them or attempt to catch them off guard to enhance your attack. Even more interesting is the battle system itself. Part of the strategy is that you'll have to position your fighters on a three-by-three grid to maximize your power, and your characters can share Spiritual Force-an energy that allows you to learn ancient spells-if they're aligned properly on the grid. Them menu system is designed to let players check all their stats with a minimum of button pushing. Sweet. The onboard mapping system is essential since each dungeon is never the same twice. Even the large text characters are a welcome feature of Lufia. It's one of the best structured RPGs ever.
A Place In History
From comic episodes, melodramatic meetings, heroic battles and sinister plots, Lufia has it all, which is why it is destined to be a classic RPG for Game Boy Color. Natsume plans to release the game by early summer, so save some spare time-a lot of time when you return to the legend of Lufia.

The game will take place 100 years after the first Lufia, so we're gonna get the first sequal to Lufia! The story is, since mankind is now at peace, and everyone has nothing to fear, Doom Island once again rises to wreak havoc on the little people. The Sinistrals are aided by Balzak, the God of Fire. Wein, a descendant of the legendary hero Maxim, will gather with 11 other characters to once again extinguish the Sinistrals.

The game engine is also supposed be like the other 2 games where the characters are at the bottom of the screen, and you select your fighting options from the cross shaped selector. There are also challenging puzzles involved.

Apparantly, the other 2 versions of Lufia 3 (Ruins Chasers and Beginning of a Legend) were not conceived by the writer of the first two original games, so his ideas were scrapped, and the original writer has returned and created "The Legend Returns." This is good news to those of us who love the story line behind Lufia. I also heard from Yukio Nakajima, composer of the Lufia III demo song, that the original composer of the music, Yasunori Shiono, has agreed to work on The Legend Returns. Hopefully this information is true and we can all look forward to amazing Lufian themes.

Here are some character descriptions (Click on some names to view a picture):

• Wain - Wain was living a boring life in a small local village with no excitement. A girl by the name of Seena having hair of cerulean blue appeared in front of him. Wain decided to go on a journey with Seena. Wain, having a genuine heart and full of curiousity, now beings his adventure.

• Seena - The beautiful girl, Seena, challenges the riddle of the four towers which have mysteriously appeared. Seena, strong-minded, and a little sentimental has begun her journey alone with a certain destiny. Soon after Seena happened to meet Wain, she felt something inside of him that she has never felt in others. Seena asked Wain to join her on her adventure...a journey which would determine her life span.

• Randorf - Randorf is a faithful vassal of Princess Melfis. Ralforf was called "The Master of Twin Swords" when he was young and people were afraid of him. He is now old and not strong as he once was, but his loyalty to the Princess never faltered.

• Melfis - Princess Melfis was confined to an underground jail due to a betrayal of a subordinate. Due to this experience, she starts to become curious of the world outside her castle. She starts her journey throughout the world in disguise.

• Dei - He is a likeable robber. His skill of robbery is not as high as he claims it to be. He is a man of compassion and gives all that he takes to the poor, leaving nothing to himself.

• Aima - Aima is a monk training herself to be a Master of the Fist. Aima's Master points out that she must first work on her mental weakness to become a Master of the Fist, thus she decides to go with Wein and his friends on their journey. She is big-hearted and likes to live naturally.

• Deckard - Deckard, the wandering, long pirate. His motto is "I do what I want when I want." His business is pirating, but he never attacks the boat of a good person. He has no self-awareness of his criminal nature. His past is mysterious and a big bounty is put on his head.

• Ruby - Ruby is a very glamorous female gambler. Her beautiful, small eyes give an impression that she is cold, bewitching, and tricky, but in fact she is emotionally and sentimental. Sometimes she cheats on a bet, but has never been found out.

• Milka - She is a descendent of the elf race, who are rare now. She witnessed all the Doom Island Wars. Elves love nature more than anything else, and regret the industrialized human society.

• Isac-Shia - He is an inventor and a magician. He is a descendent of the great inventors of the Shia family. He is always invention something wacky, and there tends to be explosions in his laboratory. His ideas are too eccentric for people to understand.

• Chelsee - Her dream is to be an idol. She is tough and always tries her best, usually not with the best results. She takes everything positively and is very sweet. She continues dreaming of being a star some day.

• Bareia - He is half Human and half Vampire. Lately he has been feeling weak because he hasn't drank any blood. He thinks that he is a gorgeous count, however he is the only one.

• Yurist - A mysterious wanderer and a poet. He seems to have some knowledge of medical science. He lives the way he likes. What would he have in his eyes?

• Panapas - He is an artist and a musician. He is very young, but he speaks the way a wise man would. Because of that, he has no friends his own age. In fact, he is very lonely, but he does not want to admit it.

• Mousse - Moose, the Capsule Monster. It can not speak, but seems to have the power to understand the will of humans. It lives far inside the woods and seems to be a creature of deep sympathy.

• Balzak - He is the mighty God of Fire that covers the entire sky. Once he steps on the ground, nobody can stop him from burning everything.

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  This is a photo of the Lufia: The Legend Returns promo tape exhibition. You can't see the screen too well, but I think it's a pic of Doom Island... This photo was taken at the E3 show.