to the team changing the name of the title to Tear Ring Saga and removing any direct references to Fire Emblem a month and a half prior to release. While these initial changes allowed the game to be released as scheduled on May 24, 2001, Nintendo sued Tirnanog and publisher Enterbrain for still infringing on game licenses and copyrights shortly after release in July. Nintendo sought for over 258.3 million yen in damages, (roughly equivalent to 2 million dollars at the time) and to prohibit sale and distribution of the game. The first trial ended in November 2002, where the Tokyo District Court turned down Nintendo's claims. Nintendo filed a second lawsuit on appeal, and the second trial began three months after the first, this time under the Tokyo High Court. The second trial ended in November 2004, and Enterbrain was ordered to pay a fine of 76 million yen to Nintendo. However, the game was not ruled as a breach of copyright, and copies remained in stores. Nintendo and Intelligent Systems made another appeal to the Japanese Supreme Court, where the second ruling was upheld. The game was released on May 24, 2001 in Japan. The game was never officially translated into English, due to the legal battles and being released late in the lifespan of the PlayStation, though a rough unofficial fan translation was released in English in 2012. Two official game guides were released in June and July 2001, both by Enterbrain. A novelized version of the game has also been released by Famitsu Bunko in 4 volumes between 2001 and 2006 (the release of the final volume was prolonged for over a year due to the lawsuit by Nintendo). The game's soundtrack was released in a two disc set by Scitron on June 20, 2001. Reception On release, Famitsu magazine scored the game a 32 out of 40. Hardcore Gaming 101 praised the game for successfully emulating the Fire Emblem formula, stating that "for a clone, it's exceptionally well done, and the 32-bit graphics of the PlayStation look significantly better than any of the 2D entries in the Fire Emblem series". RPGFan praised the game's soundtrack, favorably comparing it to Hitoshi Sakimoto's music for Final Fantasy Tactics, though conceding that they thought a game released so late in the PlayStation's life cycle would take better advantage of the system's sound system, nor did they approve of