Enix on the Super NES

[SlidellMan]

I thought it was about time we discussed SNES-era Enix. What are your favorites & least favorites during those years?

[Tanooki]

Favorite and hated, same franchise, not entirely a Enix US based bookend given the years, but sorta kinda is given when they pulled out.

Actraiser (love) Actraiser 2 (hate with a passion)

 

ActRaiser is a near perfect merging of the action hack n' slash with SimCity lite style building antics with some light combat touches to help.  The music is utterly stunning, best of the early era when you sat there coming off the NES to the SNES and hearing that symphony music with those samples it was mind blowing.  The great use of scenes, story elements, solid game play mechanics.  It's amazing, and makes you wonder why they'd ruin the games sequel so badly to kill the franchise. 

 

(AR2) NO saving without password, a double jump mechanics where you flop and flounder off platforms to get hit/die, and total removal of the SIM elements entirely -- a trashy badly designed though beautifully drawn and colored dumpster fire of a game.

 

 

Currently I do have Soul Blazer from them, nearly complete like AR, just no box.  I also have the one they published, my second copy (wish I still had all the manual/posters) of Ogre Battle a franchise I usually loathe due to the genre it is in, but I oddly do enjoy it knowing all well I could never finish it without lots of time, and a guide (which I do have.)

 

Used to also have Illusion of Gaia which was really good, but for whatever reason I never got it back years ago, now I just never think about it sadly but I should.  I had EVO up until a few years ago, quite the interesting and kind of entertaining game but very repetitive and kind of have to cheese bosses due to design but it's cool.  I liked the whole almost seemingly random evolutions you could pop up.

 

Robotrek and Brain Lord I've then and now not seem much positive said for them, so I've never bought, tried, or bothered with them even as roms.  The rest of it isn't localized out of Japan as far as I remember, and I don't bother really with translations, have enough games already.  I will add though, I have played the n64 sequel translated of Wonder Project J2 and if the older one is as well polished and fun as that, it's a must try I'd imagine for people.

[SlidellMan]

Brain Lord and Robotrek aren't anywhere near as bad as people say they are. Not as good as Illusion of Gaia or Terranigma, but still solid. Actraiser 2 has nothing on King Arther and the Knights of Justice. However, I will say that there are some things about it that needed fixing.

[+GoldLeader]

I wonder what Soul Blazers go for these days?   Mine doesn't have the instructions though.  It's one of those games I bought and figured I'd eventually get around to having the time to play...I have the Actraisers on cart too,  and Illusion of GAIA and Ogre Battle...I better get playing some of these, huh?

 

 

 

[newtmonkey]

The Quintet "trilogy" of Soul Blader/Blazer, Gaia Gensoki (Illusion of Gaia), and Tenchi Sozo (Terranigma) is awesome, full of fun combat, great dungeons, and surprisingly touching stories.

 

Actraiser 1 is a classic that's aged well to this day.  It's a shame they took out the sim portion for the sequel, but Actraiser 2 is actually one of the finest side-scrollers of the 16-bit generation—it just takes some time to get used to all the moves and increased mobility compared with your standard platformer from the era.  Great graphics and music, too.

 

I guess my response to "talk about Enix on the SNES" is "yeah, Quintet sure was awesome" haha

[DragonGrafx-16]

3 hours ago, GoldLeader said:

I wonder what Soul Blazers go for these days?   Mine doesn't have the instructions though.  It's one of those games I bought and figured I'd eventually get around to having the time to play...I have the Actraisers on cart too,  and Illusion of GAIA and Ogre Battle...I better get playing some of these, huh?

 

 

 

Ooh I too have a boxed copy of Jaki Crush... but a previous owner was stupid and cut holes into the cart so it would fit into a NA SNES. While my SNES has the tabs in the console removed.

Edited April 3, 2021 by DragonGrafx-16

[+GoldLeader]

3 hours ago, DragonGrafx-16 said:

Ooh I too have a boxed copy of Jaki Crush... but a previous owner was stupid and cut holes into the cart so it would fit into a NA SNES. While my SNES has the tabs in the console removed.

Awesome!  Me too!  Yeah I even removed the tabs on one of my FC-16 GOs so I could play some Jaki Crush.  Even though I never owned it back in the day and it's Super Famicom, I think it's my Favorite SNES game!

[Tanooki]

@GoldLeader That game is shocking me right now, $130-150 for the loose game on ebay.  I can't seem to figure out what the manual and poster add to it though, but it's one of those games I've got it all for but the box.  It's a really good game, slight bit more stiff than IoG, but it's more fun.

[newtmonkey]

@GoldLeader

 

I agree with @Tanooki, seriously consider putting aside some time to play Soul Blazer.  It's a short game for an action RPG and it's got a great soundtrack, and the story is really strangely touching in a lot of ways regardless of the competent but dry translation—I found it to have aged much better than the melodrama of most of the RPGs of the time.  If you haven't played it much and aren't aware, you basically are tasked with rebuilding the world one settlement at a time, with you rescuing individual inhabitants from dungeons as you explore.  You slowly rebuild the settlements this way, and it's really an interesting way to slowly reveal the story of the game.

 

The real treat is to play Illusion of Gaia which sadly removes the "rebuilding the world a town at a time" aspect of Soul Blazer but is overall a better game imo with great controls, excellent dungeons to explore (who hasn't wanted to go around the world solving mysteries in Incan ruins, the Great Wall of China, the lost continent of Mu, etc.), and an even more touching story (again, without being melodramatic or corny).  Great series all around.

Edited April 3, 2021 by newtmonkey

[+GoldLeader]

4 hours ago, Tanooki said:

@GoldLeader That game is shocking me right now, $130-150 for the loose game on ebay.  I can't seem to figure out what the manual and poster add to it though, but it's one of those games I've got it all for but the box.  It's a really good game, slight bit more stiff than IoG, but it's more fun.

 

Yeah that's one I picked up off eBay right as prices for some RPGs were starting to skyrocket.  I may have to see if I can find it, like in an old email (if it still exists) and see what I paid and when.  My guess is I got it in 2009 or 2010 and paid under $50, but that is really just a guess...

[SlidellMan]

Speaking of stories in Enix RPGs, I consider Dragon Quest 5's the one of the best of that generation.

[Tanooki]

18 hours ago, GoldLeader said:

 

Yeah that's one I picked up off eBay right as prices for some RPGs were starting to skyrocket.  I may have to see if I can find it, like in an old email (if it still exists) and see what I paid and when.  My guess is I got it in 2009 or 2010 and paid under $50, but that is really just a guess...

Yeah things are just so pandemic/payout toxic now, and watching sales vs copies that sit, people are catching on too as it sits but still paid is well over normal and acceptable.  I got mine returned to me maybe a decade ago, probably cost me $10.  When I was out in Cali again for a few years, I had a flea market friend, he kept a lot of paper and didn't want it, I tossed him like $20-30, nothing huge...but damn did I get a lot of stuff returned to me, Soul Blazer manual+poster was one.  The same bundle had FF2, FF3, SoM, and a few others in it too.  I've kept them since, they're fun reads from a lost era, but also just a nice reference.

[+GoldLeader]

In case anyone was curious:

 

I looked it up, and found the email trail of my Soul Blazer purchase!!   Ready for this?  I paid $31 in 2012!!  The guy told me to make sure I tested it, as he was unable to do so,..And also mentioned he was about to list Actraiser and Ms. PacMan, in case I was interested.  I told him I already had those...

[SlidellMan]

Here's one game that Enix made for the Super NES that has been forgotten, The Violinist of Hameln.

By the way, there was a fan-made dub of the anime.

[SlidellMan]

Dark Half is something that often gets ignored, which is a shame since it has an original premise, multiple endings, and is also known for being the only game WestOne did for the Super NES.

I recommend that you guys try this out at least once.

[SlidellMan]

Here's a longplay of Brain Lord, and years ago, I thought about renting that and Robotrek. Granted, Brain Lord isn't as good as Terranigma, but it is still solid for the most part.

I have to say that this and Soul Blazer had different main character sprites for left and right. A neat and underappreciated touch.

[SlidellMan]

For my fellow Terranigma fans, here's the concept art.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s2a5848i1ersvlu/DESIGN NOTE.pdf?dl=0

[SlidellMan]

Fun fact about Illusion of Gaia: Viper was originally a bird called Highwind.

Source: https://tcrf.net/Illusion_of_Gaia

 

[Rhomaios]

On 4/2/2021 at 8:32 PM, GoldLeader said:

I wonder what Soul Blazers go for these days?   Mine doesn't have the instructions though.  It's one of those games I bought and figured I'd eventually get around to having the time to play...I have the Actraisers on cart too,  and Illusion of GAIA and Ogre Battle...I better get playing some of these, huh?

 

 

 

Soul Blazer is much shorter than the sequels, so you don't really need to allocate too much time to play.

[SlidellMan]

By the way, @GoldLeader, there happens to be a second Tactics Ogre game on the SNES. However, Quest published it themselves.

 

[+GoldLeader]

On 4/12/2021 at 8:02 PM, SlidellMan said:

Here's one game that Enix made for the Super NES that has been forgotten, The Violinist of Hameln.

By the way, there was a fan-made dub of the anime.

I have this one too!  It's the box (side view) right above Soul Blazer in the pic ?

 

 

[SlidellMan]

King Arthur and the Knights of Justice:

This, in my opinion, is the game that killed Enix of America. Made all the more dreadful on account of A) Violinist of Hameln, and B) it should have been good.

[SlidellMan]

Burning Heroes

This was Enix' answer to Live A Live and the Romancing SaGa trilogy.

[jeremiahjt]

I will never forgive Enix (or SquareEnix) for not giving us Dragon Warrior V and Dragon Warrior VI.  The Dragon Warrior series was my favorite series on the NES and I was ready to buy (or at least ask for) a Super NES when Dragon Warrior V came out even though I already had a Genesis.  Alas, that never came to be. I received the Enix newsletter in the mail and was always anxious to see what was said about the next Dragon Warrior. I was crushed when they announced it was not coming over.

 

I have quite a few Enix Super NES games, but have never played any beyond testing them. Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia have been on my to play list for a while now though.

[newtmonkey]

10 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia have been on my to play list for a while now though.

You should really give these a go.  They aren't very long and both are a lot of fun.  SB is a bit simple, but IoG is one of the best games on the system imo.

 

(I also love the Dragon Warrior games on the NES!)

Edited April 30, 2021 by newtmonkey