Breath of Fire II — stories left

In order to promote the game, Capcom hired J-pop singer Mio Watanabe to record a theme song that played during the game's television commercial in Japan called "Owaranai Ai" (lit.

A reviewer for Next Generation said that the game "is larger and more involved than its predecessor, but unfortunately also much less interesting.

GameSpot compared the game to the previous version, calling it a "faithful translation of the SNES game" and praised the title's new save feature allowing players to record their progress at any time, but found that its music "leans toward the bland side of things" and "lack[s] personality".

GamePro awarded the Game Boy version a perfect score as well as an Editor's Choice Award, stating that the only flaw was the game's low difficulty, declaring that "In the realm of today's high-powered next-gen role-players, BOFII is an excellent time-killer".

The game would later be nominated for "Best Port of a 16-bit Classic" and "Best Role-Playing Game on Game Boy Advance" in GameSpots Best and Worst of 2002 Awards.

GameSpot called attention to the title's "pleasing visual presentation" and breadth of content, but found the game's localization to be "terrible" along with unpolished gameplay mechanics that made it appear to be a "hasty, careless effort".

The game's pacing was also said to be poor, with too many "mundane tasks" laden throughout the story, recommending it to players who could look past its "rough edges".

IGN called the game's translation "average at best" with the lack of adequate spacing in text fields still present, yet ultimately calling it a "solid, enjoyable RPG experience...though not a role-playing masterpiece on the level of Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger".

In 2018, Complex listed the game 75th on their "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time" writing: "Breath of Fire II isn't too different from the original, but different enough to not be a direct clone.

In 2023, Time Extension included the game on their "Best JRPGs of All Time" list.

The game was released in North America one year after the Japanese version in December 1995, and would later become the first Breath of Fire title to become available in Europe in April 1996.

To celebrate the game's release in December 2001, Capcom of Japan held an art contest for fans to submit artwork featuring characters from the first two Breath of Fire games, with the winner chosen by the Game Boy Advance version's staff.

A complete musical selection from the title would not be made commercially available until 2006, with the release of the Breath of Fire Original Soundtrack Special Box, which contained all music from the first five games of the series.

Breath of Fire II was released on December 2, 1994 for the Super Famicom, the same week as Sony's PlayStation console in Japan, and debuted on Japanese software charts as the seventh highest-selling game of its first week with 89,700 copies.

IGN found the game to be a step up from the first game's Game Boy Advance port, stating that "The storyline and characters make Breath of Fire II a much better game than the first adventure in the series...even though the game hasn't changed a whole lot.

GamePro awarded the Game Boy version a perfect score as well as an Editor's Choice Award, stating that the only flaw was the game's low difficulty, declaring that "In the realm of today's high-powered next-gen role-players, BOFII is an excellent time-killer".

First released in 1994, the game was licensed to Laguna for European release in 1996.

Unlike the original Breath of Fire, which was licensed to Square Soft for its North American release, the English version of Breath of Fire II was localized and published entirely by Capcom USA.

The game was released in North America one year after the Japanese version in December 1995, and would later become the first Breath of Fire title to become available in Europe in April 1996.

Similar to the original Super Nintendo Entertainment System release, the Game Boy Advance version met with mostly positive reception from critics, with the Japanese version receiving a 29 out of 40 score from Weekly Famitsu magazine.

GameSpot called attention to the title's "pleasing visual presentation" and breadth of content, but found the game's localization to be "terrible" along with unpolished gameplay mechanics that made it appear to be a "hasty, careless effort".

Breath of Fire II was released on December 2, 1994 for the Super Famicom, the same week as Sony's PlayStation console in Japan, and debuted on Japanese software charts as the seventh highest-selling game of its first week with 89,700 copies.

It was given an 8 out of 10 in two separate Reader Cross Reviews printed by Famicom Tsūshin, and it would go on to sell a total of 350,000 copies in the region by the end of 1995.

GameSpot compared the game to the previous version, calling it a "faithful translation of the SNES game" and praised the title's new save feature allowing players to record their progress at any time, but found that its music "leans toward the bland side of things" and "lack[s] personality".

GamePro awarded the Game Boy version a perfect score as well as an Editor's Choice Award, stating that the only flaw was the game's low difficulty, declaring that "In the realm of today's high-powered next-gen role-players, BOFII is an excellent time-killer".