Torneko Remake Slammed by Scathing Review — 5ch Users: ‘The Controls Are Garbage’

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The story

A scathing review posted on Steam for Square Enix’s HD-2D remake of “Torneko’s Great Adventure” has become a hot topic on a 5ch thread. The review cited complaints about the controls — frequent misinputs during diagonal movement and a multi-second freeze every time the player levels up — and argued that development should have been left to Chunsoft. The thread debated how involved series creator Seiichiro Nagahata actually is with the project, while some pushed back against taking a single review at face value.

What people said

1AnonymousSep 11, 2026 08:58
If the red flags were obvious, that's on you for buying it anyway
2AnonymousSep 11, 2026 08:59
Graphics look pretty solid from what I can see, but no way it beats the original
3AnonymousSep 11, 2026 08:59
Seriously, what kind of project management gets you to a state like that?
13AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:06
Wasn't Torneko made by Chunsoft? Or was it originally a Square game?
16AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:07
Re: #13
The original was developed by Chunsoft
27AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:15
Shiren 6 was so good it's got me hyped for remakes of classics like Shiren 2, Asuka, and Torneko 2 — but only if the team behind 6 makes them
67AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:39
Re: #27
It really comes down to whether Nagahata, the series' creator, is actually involved
He's moved up to department head and stepped back from hands-on work, but apparently he came back down to the front lines for 6 to revive the series
68AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:42
Re: #67
No, Nagahata has been involved in the game balance of almost every Mystery Dungeon title since the Chunsoft days

Source: an interview in Seikimatsu Days
https://www.4gamer.net/games/416/G041627/20180807120/
69AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:43
Re: #67
Going by the string of stillbirths at other companies, you clearly need a few core people or it just doesn't work
This was absolutely the wrong genre to hand off to new-hire trainees
28AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:15
Not Recommended
Last 2 weeks: 0.6 hrs / Total playtime: 0.6 hrs
Posted: September 10, 8:10 PM

I played this a lot back in the day, so I bought it out of nostalgia — nothing but regret since.

The Bad
Controls are garbage. Diagonal movement is finicky, and you get constant misinputs in a game where every single turn matters.
Still happens constantly even after changing the settings

The log can't keep up, so it's hard to tell how much damage you actually did to enemies.
You can change the log to show 4 lines instead — made no difference

Every time you level up it freezes for about 5 seconds and stops taking input
Who was it that said it'd only be 2 seconds?

Slapping a sloppy HD-2D coat of paint on it isn't enough — did you actually debug this thing?
Wouldn't this never have happened if they'd just let Chunsoft handle development?
Square Enix is disrespecting its users as usual

Hm? Anything good?
The soundtrack
34AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:19
Re: #28
This guy doesn't really get what HD-2D is
31AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:19
Does Square Enix even have the basics of dungeon crawlers down?
36AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:20
Re: #31
Like Chocobo's Dungeon, or the Yangus one
33AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:19
Whoever decided the game should freeze every single level-up is a genius
They really understand the art of trolling
42AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:27
Re: #33
Sounds like Hunter x Hunter (infamous for its author's long hiatuses)
39AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:24
There was that hardcore poster who'd been on the Super Famicom board for like 30 years
Wonder if he's still at it
44AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:27
Re: #39
Wonder if that guy actually bought this one 😇
40AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:25
That fan-made Torneko 3 MAD (a fan-edited parody video) from way back looked like it had better production quality
45AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:28
Re: #40
You made the exact same mistake last time too
48AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:29
Wouldn't it have been way better to just unlock the original as-is as a Switch Online perk?
51AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:31
Re: #48
If you're already subscribed, you could just play Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Red instead, right?
55AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:33
Thought it was 2, but it's actually 1
Torneko 1 is too bare-bones — rough to go back to at this point
58AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:35
Re: #55
Hey, cut it out — there are still people out there playing it!
63AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:38
Why did they turn into a company that can only crank out remakes?
64AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:38
Re: #63
They've actually put out plenty of new titles this year
73AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:49
Re: #68
Was that really the case though?
As I recall he was tied up with Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, which the company was betting everything on, and barely touched Shiren 3
85AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:58
Re: #73
That's literally what I'm saying — Nagahata himself has said he's been involved in some capacity with almost every roguelike since the Chunsoft days
74AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:50
What are the hardcore grinders stuck in Torneko 3's Popolo Another World dungeon supposed to do now?
75AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:51
Re: #74
Even if it eventually gets remastered, it'll probably be based on the GBA version, so I'll just keep playing the PS2 version or an emulator mod
78AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:53
The map overlapping with Torneko's own sprite shows they don't understand anything
Classic Square Enix
80AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:55
Re: #78
You're probably just parroting someone else there, but you can actually move the minimap
86AnonymousSep 11, 2026 09:58
Give it a few months and it'll be patched up and going for a few hundred yen 🙄
87AnonymousSep 11, 2026 10:02
Re: #86
It's download-only, so it almost never goes on sale
108AnonymousSep 11, 2026 10:37
At this point I just wait a few months for reviews before buying anything from Bandai Namco or Square Enix
113AnonymousSep 11, 2026 10:41
Re: #108
I've got doubts about the 'wait for reviews' strategy too honestly
Give it time and it settles at like 82% positive, stuck between 'Positive' and 'Mostly Positive' like it's welded there — never moves again
111AnonymousSep 11, 2026 10:40
Wait, was Torneko actually the very first game in the Shiren lineage?
120AnonymousSep 11, 2026 10:44
Re: #111
Torneko was made by borrowing a familiar IP just to get people to pick it up in the first place
Shiren was the second entry
123AnonymousSep 11, 2026 10:45
Re: #111
Torneko is the one that made roguelikes accessible and spread them across Japan

Background and Key Points of the Discussion

“Torneko’s Great Adventure” is the first entry in the Mystery Dungeon series, developed by (then) Chunsoft using the Dragon Quest IP. In the thread, posters contrast their trust in Chunsoft, which handled the original development, with unease over the team behind this remake. Opinions were split on how involved series creator Seiichiro Nagahata actually is: some say he’s moved into a managerial role and stepped back, while others claim he returned to hands-on work for the latest release, “Shiren 6” — the thread alone doesn’t settle which is accurate. There was also debate over whether it’s fair to judge the game’s overall quality from a single Steam review. Right after launch, when review counts are still low, ratings tend to swing to extremes, and they often settle into a steadier category like “Mostly Positive” as more reviews come in — worth keeping in mind when gauging a game’s reputation.

※This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Torneko Remake — Planning and Development: Square Enix.”

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