Breath of Fire (Japanese: ブレスオブファイア, Hepburn: Buresu obu Faia?) is a role-playing video game series developed by Capcom. It originated on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993. The series is notable for its recurring characters and ambiguous continuity; though each game is its own self-contained story, the names of the two lead characters are, invariably, Ryu and Nina.The story commonly involves an adventurer named Ryu who can shapeshift into different types of dragons. Over the course of his journey, he befriends Nina, a girl with wings. At its inception, Breath of Fire took place in a medieval fantasy style fictional world. Following the mainstream success of Japanese role-playing games in the 1990s, the series began using the original anime-style artwork for later Western releases of the games (rather than the Westernized art that was drawn specifically for the Western releases of the first two games), post-apocalyptic themes, and an increased emphasis on character development. Despite these changes, the core structure of Breath of Fire remains largely linear and plot-focused. As of 2003, five Breath of Fire titles have been released, with three games being ported to handheld game consoles as well as Nintendo's Virtual Console. To date, the series has sold over 3 million units worldwide.