Years and years ago, I popped a CD — very cutting edge technology for gaming at the time — into my TurboDuo and thus discovered the magic of Ys.

Now mind you, that was in 1832 or thereabouts, so I don’t remember it well (OK actually it was 1992 or so) but I remember loving the game. Since (and before) then there’s been a bunch of Ys titles (including a current version for the DS, Legacy of Ys: Books I & II) but up until now I’ve never gone back. You can’t go home again and all that…

So maybe that’s why I was totally unaware that there was an Ys MMO: Ys Online – Call of Solum. It has apparently been live in Japan for some time, and is now being brought to Europe by KeyToPlay, where it has just entered closed beta.

Unfortunately there is no indication that anyone has picked up the title for a North American release. If any of my European readers gets a chance to play, I hope they’ll share their thoughts (assuming any NDAs allow that, of course).

Maybe I need to order that DS version. Or just dig out the old TurboDuo!!