Players control Vyse, a young air pirate, and his friends as they attempt to stop the Valuan Empire from reviving ancient weapons with the potential to destroy the world.

Skies of Arcadia uses traditional Japanese role-playing game systems such as turn-based battles and experience points, but puts greater focus on exploration, with the player flying an airship in 3D space.

The development team included staff who had contributed to the Panzer Dragoon, Phantasy Star, Sonic the Hedgehog and Sakura Wars series.

[4] Gameplay is similar to early 3D Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games; the player engages enemies in turn-based battles to earn experience points, making their characters stronger.

[4] The overworld is divided into six regions, traversed by flying airships in 3D space; "Discoveries," hidden locations, reward the player with extra benefits.

[7] The dungeons exist in the format of a maze, with the player navigating the characters through it to obtain beneficial items in treasure chests while taking on enemies in random battles.

[8] The game takes place in the fictional skies referred to as Arcadia, where six civilizations coexist on floating continents orbited by six moons of different colors.

The most advanced, the Silver Civilization, used their Gigas to summon the Rains of Destruction, which pulled meteors from the orbiting moons and crashed them down onto the planet's surface.

[6] Vyse and Aika are members of the Blue Rogues, a faction of Robin Hood-minded air pirates gathered together to resist the militant and tyrannical Valuan Empire.

When Drachma's ship is damaged in a Valuan attack, Vyse is stranded on the small Crescent Island, where he uncovers letters and a map left behind by another pirate seeking treasure.

Aika and Fina find out about the same treasure Vyse learned of, and the three reunite, but are captured by Ramirez and brought to the Valuans' prison fortress.

Vyse rallies a fleet of Blue Rogues, Yafutoman warships, and ships from other regions of the world to battle the Valuan Armada.

[6][7] Producer Rieko Kodama had worked on Phantasy Star 1, 2 and 4, and the first two Sonic the Hedgehog games for the Sega Genesis, while scenario writer Shuntaro Tanaka had written the stories for the first two Sakura Wars RPGs.

[14] Expectations were high, as Team Andromeda's prior game, Panzer Dragoon Saga (1998), had received critical acclaim, and the Dreamcast had few well-reviewed JRPGs.

[15] The team made conscious decisions to make entering individual buildings in towns seamless, without loading, and to use an expressive, anime art style to more clearly show facial expressions and emotions of characters, both of which they felt had been lacking from recent popular RPGs such as Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII.

The historical architecture and ancient civilizations are attributed to team member Shuntaro Tanaka, who majored in history at university and conceptualized the world and scenario, inspiring the "discovery" aspect.

The two were influenced by the work of Joss Whedon, adding many dry, sarcastic responses to the dialogue that had been more straightforward exchanges in the original Japanese script.

[24] All traces of cigarettes are removed, shops serve Loqua juice instead of alcohol, and the female character Bellena's attire is altered to be less revealing.

[26] US developer Point of View Software was brought on to help with the conversion,[27] though the original staff from Overworks continued to work on the game.

[15] Skies of Arcadia Legends was released on the GameCube in Japan on December 26, 2002, in North America on January 28, 2003, and in Europe on May 23, 2003,[32] with Infogrames distributing for the latter territory.

[15] It features improvements such as slightly more detailed character models, a more stable frame rate,[15][36] reduced loading times,[37] new side quests and subplots, new hidden discoveries, and a "Wanted List" of new enemies to find.

[37] With the GameCube lacking the Dreamcast's VMU, some effects, such as Cupil’s notifications, were moved to the television screen, while the "Pinta Quest" minigame was removed outright.

[53] Edge gave the game eight out of ten, saying, "Gripping to the nines, extraordinary to behold, with rich character development and innumerable statistics, Skies Of Arcadia is a wonderful experience, and bodes well for all 128bit [sic] RPGs to come.

[72][73] During the 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Skies of Arcadia in the "Character or Story Development", "Console Role-Playing", "Console Game of the Year" and "Game of the Year" categories; all were ultimately awarded to Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, Final Fantasy IX, SSX and Diablo II, respectively.

[79] In a 2017 retrospective from Metacritic on the highest-rated exclusive games (at time of release) per platform, Skies of Arcadia placed third for the Dreamcast, behind Soulcalibur and Jet Grind Radio.

"[83] A common source of the lower scores were the game's graphics, with criticism coming from the fact that they had not been substantially improved despite more powerful hardware and over two years passing from the Dreamcast's release.

[87] In February 2003, Overworks president Noriyoshi Ohba announced that a Skies of Arcadia sequel had entered the planning stages.

[88][89][90] However, in a December 2004 interview, Kodama stated that while there had been plans for a sequel, the project was put on hold indefinitely while many members of the team were pulled into working on Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love.

[91] Starting in 2010, Sega began a campaign of releasing HD remasters of Dreamcast games digitally on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, including games such as Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure 2 and Jet Set Radio.

[92][93] In 2012, Sega brand manager Ben Harborne stated that a Skies of Arcadia HD was a likely next release, after Shenmue, as they were the most frequently requested titles for re-release.