Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
A remake was published by Square Enix in Japan and Nintendo worldwide, being released first for Nintendo Switch in 2022, and the following year for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows.
Production began in late 1993, and was the directorial debut of Takashi Tokita.
The music was composed by Yoko Shimomura as her first large-scale project after joining Square.
The game was the directorial debut of Takashi Tokita, who had previously worked in a designer role for Hanjuku Hero and Final Fantasy IV.
served as the sole composer for Live A Live; it was her first job after joining Square.]]
Live A Live was Shimomura's first major RPG composition, and her first job after arriving at Square.
Her only previous work on RPGs was minor work on Breath of Fire prior to leaving Capcom.
The album was reissued on iTunes in July 2008 as one of the first releases from "Square Enix Presents Legendary Tracks", a series of rare album re-releases.
The name of the protagonist, "Katsu Takahara", was taken one character at a time from the names of 4 professional wrestlers who were the aces of the 4 U-style organisations at the time of release: "Taka" from Nobuhiko Takada, "hara" from Yoshiaki Fujiwara, the unpronounced "hi" from Akira Maeda, and "katsu" from Masakatsu Funaki.
There is an anecdote that the character designer Kazuhiko Shimamoto himself submitted lyrics he had thought up to the open public call under the name "manga artist Kazuhiko Shimamoto, resident of Tokyo", and they were adopted as the lyrics of verse 2 (incidentally, verse 3 used a combination of lyrics submitted by 4 ordinary readers).
In the "Cross Review" feature of the magazine Famitsu, the four reviewers gave 8, 7, 7, and 7, for a total of 29 out of 40. In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by Family Computer Magazine, it scored 24.5 out of 30, as shown below.
The instruction manual of the Super Famicom version stated that a "complete guidebook" containing exclusive interviews with all 7 artists was to be released by Shogakukan, but this did not come about, and none of the strategy guides above contains interviews with the manga artists.
Selling 270,000 units, the original release was considered a failure, while the remake sold 500,000 copies worldwide.
The original release of Live A live sold 270,000 copies in Japan, which at the time was considered a failure compared to the company's Final Fantasy releases.
Between July and September 2022, the remake sold 500,000 copies worldwide, with over 140,000 units being sold in Japan.
Additional character artwork, including designs for the "Lord of Dark" narrative, was done by Kiyofumi Katō of Square.
The album was reissued on iTunes in July 2008 as one of the first releases from "Square Enix Presents Legendary Tracks", a series of rare album re-releases.
In 2008, the tracks "Birds in the Sky, Fish in the River" and "Forgotten Wings" were included on Drammatica: The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura, a compilation of the composer's work at Square Enix.
Remixed and karaoke versions of "Kiss of Jealousy" and "Megalomania" were released on the 2014 compilation album Memoria, which also featured tracks from Shimomura's work with Square.
"Birds in the Sky, Fish in the River" and "Megalomania" were later released in 2015 as downloadable content for Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call.
In an interview with the magazine Super Play, Square localization staff member Ted Woolsey said that its overseas release was unlikely due to its low graphical quality compared to other popular titles at the time.
On the subject of a remake, Tokita said it would depend entirely on fan demand.
The game was harshly criticised in a review article in the game magazine Game Hihyo Vol. 02, released in 1994-12.
Sales began as the 1st release in "SQUARE ENIX Presents Legendary Tracks", in which Square Enix distributes soundtracks of past classic games for iTunes.
The remake was praised by Western reviewers, particularly its overall design and redone graphics and music, though several noted gameplay elements that had aged poorly.
In its review, Micro Magazine's publication Game Criticism lauded the attempt at its omnibus storytelling style and use of popular manga artists, but ultimately felt it lacked substance and heavily criticized the final chapters and "imbalance" between the mature narrative and low-difficulty gameplay.
Andrew Reiner, writing for Game Informer, was very positive about the remake and recommended it to genre fans, with his one complaint being pacing issues with some chapters, Heidi Kemps of GameSpot praised the game's subversion of genre and gaming tropes, citing it as a game that had aged well and benefited from the remake.
Settings based on Live A Live were also used in part in R:MIX works before this one, but those were derivative works from a time when it was a theatre company of the doujin-circle sort, and since Tokita joined "R:MIX New Project" through the connection of "Pures", a youth theatre unit formed by Machida and Tokita in 2005, neither Tokita nor Shimomura was involved in works earlier than this one.
A rumor reported by GamePro was that the title was originally planned for an English release.
In 2011, GamePro included it on the list of the 14 best JRPGs that were not released in English, adding that "rumor has it the game was originally slated for a US release, making its absence here sting all the more.
The name of the protagonist, "Katsu Takahara", was taken one character at a time from the names of 4 professional wrestlers who were the aces of the 4 U-style organisations at the time of release: "Taka" from Nobuhiko Takada, "hara" from Yoshiaki Fujiwara, the unpronounced "hi" from Akira Maeda, and "katsu" from Masakatsu Funaki.
As for the origin of the name Watanabe, it was revealed in a Niconico Live broadcast on 2015-7-4 marking the Wii U release that it was taken from a friend of the producer Nobuyuki Inoue.
Tokita had difficulty adjusting to his role as director, particularly as he could not be as hands-on with the graphical elements as he had been for Final Fantasy IV.
In its review, Micro Magazine's publication Game Criticism lauded the attempt at its omnibus storytelling style and use of popular manga artists, but ultimately felt it lacked substance and heavily criticized the final chapters and "imbalance" between the mature narrative and low-difficulty gameplay.
The album was reissued on iTunes in July 2008 as one of the first releases from "Square Enix Presents Legendary Tracks", a series of rare album re-releases.
Andrew Reiner, writing for Game Informer, was very positive about the remake and recommended it to genre fans, with his one complaint being pacing issues with some chapters, Heidi Kemps of GameSpot praised the game's subversion of genre and gaming tropes, citing it as a game that had aged well and benefited from the remake.
In an interview with the magazine Super Play, Square localization staff member Ted Woolsey said that its overseas release was unlikely due to its low graphical quality compared to other popular titles at the time.
Alana Hagues, writing for Nintendo Life, enjoyed her time with the remake despite some vague directions in the latter half of the game, additionally praising the localization for convincingly mimicking accents from each time period and location.
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