During a recent Q&A conducted by Natsume’s Community Manager, CeeCee, the company made clear what the situation is with the Lufia series. When asked about what it would take to get Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals on the Wii U Virtual Console service, CeeCee said they would need to work with Taito to re-release it.
From the blog post:
We have a long history with Taito (now a subsidiary of Square Enix), and have released quite a few of their titles in the United States, such as Bust-A-Move 4, Lufia II, and Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals. Since we know [it’s] a little tricky to navigate who owns what, we’ll clarify that the Lufia trademark is owned by Taito, and we would need to go back to them if we ever wanted to re-release Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals.
Along with their long history with Taito, Natsume also had a long history with developer Neverland, which they worked with in developing Lufia: The Legend Returns on the Game Boy Color, as well as localizing a number of Rune Factory games. The publisher is “deeply saddened” by the closing of Neverland.
We have had a relationship with Neverland for over 18 years, both professionally and personally, and we mourn seeing such a creative and talented company close their doors. We wish the best to their employees, and hope to see them again soon.
CeeCee also mentioned that any inquiries about the Rune Factory series should be made to Marvelous AQL.
The Lufia series has been developed by Neverland since the beginning, with Square Enix co-developing the DS game Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals. Even though the series has been critically well-received, the games have a rather niche audience, which may make it difficult to see either a new release or a re-release.
