Lufia 2

I don’t remember much of either of these games. I rented the first one when I was younger, but was distracted by who knows what and never finished it. I haven’t played the second one, but I’m aware that there were a ton of changes from the first in this prequel, and that many of them seem to be the kinds of things you saw in later RPGs. For instance, the IP attacks were a bit like the Limit Breaks of Final Fantasy VII, and you could capture monsters and use them in battle like in Dragon Quest V or of course, the king of that genre, Pokemon. Battles were no longer random, which is sure to make some people happy, and the game was loaded with puzzles with a variety of challenge.

Lufia_II

Natsume, if you still own the rights in North America...

I think I would be happy just seeing the second game to be honest, as those puzzles and the monster catching should make this an enjoyable experience despite my lack of nostalgia for it. I have no idea who owns the rights to it though: Taito published it in Japan, Nintendo published it in Europe, and Natsume published it in North America. Neverland was the developer, who you know from their wonderful work with Rune Factory, which also kind of makes me want to see another Lufia title.

The coolest part may be the Diablo-esque dungeon that changes its layout every time you enter it–it’s 99 floors and is a sidequest, so when you add that to the regular game and charge $8 for it, the player is going to get their money’s worth. I love additions like that to games, and it’s something we do not see a ton of anymore. Kind of a shame.

Secret of Evermore

Okay, okay, this is the last RPG I will mention for awhile. What makes Secret of Evermore interesting is that it was a Squaresoft RPG developed in the United States by Square USA; it is, in fact, the only Square game developed in North America, and it was never released in Japan. It’s also famous for the fact that people think it kept Seiken Densetsu‚  3 from releasing in North America, which would be true only if the people developing Evermore were the same as those developing Seiken Densetsu (they weren’t) or if Evermore was a Mana title (it was not).

Secret of Evermore

You would think the inclusion of tentacles would secure a Japanese release, but you would be wrong.

It’s an action-RPG, where you control the hero and his dog interchangeably, with the other character being controlled by the game’s AI. You’ve got your basic battling and the like in this title, but there are some neat ideas you never see in other games. For instance, each of the four worlds you visit uses a different kind of currency; you need to exchange your money from one area into another, like you’re traveling from the United States to Canada. You can also trade in goods at the marketplace; you don’t see much bartering going on in RPGs.

It’s also very American in its presentation–the art style is not the same as what people were used to seeing from Square at the time, and much of the design came from B-movies rather than the world of fantasy. Some complained about this, but a change of pace is nice sometimes, don’t you agree? Regardless, this is still the only game that has been developed by Square on this continent, though the development house that made it is now an integral part of Square’s CGI development.

What do you think? This is just half of the 10 titles I want to see on the Super Nintendo portion of the service soon, but I also want to know which ones you want to see. Tomorrow’s edition will be a little lighter on the RPGs, but don’t worry, there’s still a few more classic SNES RPGs that need to make their way to Virtual Console.

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About The Author

Marc Normandin was gaming editor of Blast from 2008 to mid-2010. You can reach him via e-mail at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter @Marc_Normandin

One Response

  1. RougeCell

    Great list!
    I had a Sega Genesis and missed out on alot of SNES games. Luckily my friends had SNES so i could play there. I am waiting for Pilot Wings and Aladdin personally. Cant wait to see your second half of games!

    Reply

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