I give this game a 9.6.Enjoy the Review
STORY
RATE: 9.8/10
The story's pretty simple and typical for a normal RPG, but it adds oh so much more. You're a boy named Ark, who's living in his village of Crysta. After breaking into a room that was forbidden to the villagers of Crysta, Ark frees some weird Bat creature and everyone in Crysta, except Elder, Ark and the Bat, Yomi, become frozen solid. After learning what happened by talking to Elder, Ark sets off and leaves Crysta to restore his town and set things right. Though, after accomplishing this task, he learns of a much greater task that he now must fulfill and that's to go to the Upper World and spread growth around Earth and help creatures and plants out, to mainly save the world. The story then sets off from here, as Ark helps not only plants, but Animals and Humans grow and even begins to help towns, which later flourish into present day cities, appear, all while combating a mysterious evil..
Now, this sounds like a typical ''Oh no, the world is in danger. You are the Legendary Hero. Go save it!'' game, right? Wrong. Terranigma sets itself apart from the other games, because of its plot and story. There's alot of biblical references in this game, such as Ark being related to Noah's Ark and helping to save the world and spread growth. It also deals with God here and there, mainly with some guy wanting God like power (Think Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7, but in a lesser extreme.) and also deals with both good and evil in man. The game has alot of emotion in it and character development, which is amazing for a Super Famicom game. Not to mention, you actually journey AROUND the world, not a alternative Universe like in most RPGs, but the REAL Earth. You can travel to North America, Japan, etc. Not to mention, this game is filled with historical figures. Columbus, Bloody Mary, (From the French Revolution, during the Reign Of Terror. Remember her? It takes a bit of research, but you'll be surprised.) Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, etc.
There's even some people that are based off other historical people, such as Will, who's a knock off of Wilbur Wright of the Wright Brothers, who invented the Airplane. (Just note, though, some people don't have the EXACT names of the historical figures, but Columbus and Bloody Mary are examples of names that were kept, but those are small examples.) The greatest thing is, you have to help them and you even learn a thing or two about history. Now, this game isn't a boring lecture on history, but it just throws a few facts your way that make you go ''Oh hey, I know what that is!'' which is really cool and original. Also, you can even help build the towns and cities, up to modern day cities, with Televisions, Computers, Phones, etc. Heck, you can even buy your own Apartment and go shopping for stuff for it! How cool is that?
Now, you might be asking ''Who's the enemy, though?! I've heard of no bad guy yet!'' Well, that's simple. There is no real enemy, until near the end of the game. You're mostly fighting monsters around Earth that are prohibiting growth and you really don't see a ''real'' bad guy come about until the Humans are around. I won't spoil anything, but you'll see if you play the game. Well, I could go on forever, but that should be enough to give you an idea of how good the story is. Over all, the story is just action packed, with it being full of surprises at every turn and having you meet famous people and even help them out a bit, as well as building towns and cities and help the growth of Earth be spread around and just trying to set things back to normal, so you can go back home and lead a normal life...but how normal will it be if you ever return? You'll have to play to see...
GamePlay RATE 9.2/10
Terranigma keeps an almost constant top-down perspective view of the world, with only a few brief side-scrolling parts in the game. Instead of turn based battles, which were common for most RPGs at this time, Terranigma utilizes an action-based combat system that allows the player to perform different attacks depending on whether or not the protagonist is running, jumping, tapping the attack button, or using a combination of these three techniques. Each attack is meant to be suited for dealing more damage to certain kinds of enemies, but most of them will take the same amount from any technique, regardless of the type used. The only form of defense is the X-Guard, where Ark crosses his spear in front of him, forming an X. This can only block small projectiles, such as tiny fireballs. However, it remains ineffective against melee attacks.
On the overworld map, where the player travels between towns and dungeons, the view utilizes Mode 7 graphics and appears wrapped around to convey the spherical shape of the Earth. The player then appears significantly smaller, unlike many other RPGs of its time in which the same sprite is used for towns, dungeons, and the overworld.
Terranigma also has a unique magic system. Rather than using magic points that decrease when casting spells, as most traditional RPGs have, all spells take the form of one-time-use items called "spell rings". Each ring is used up when the protagonist casts the item's corresponding spell. Players can acquire more spell rings by taking items called Magirocks to the various magic shops found in the game and transforming them into different rings. Once a spell ring is used the Magirocks used to create the spell ring are returned to the user, allowing them to be reused for the creation of new spell rings. New spell ring types are usually obtained after defeating a boss.
GRAPHICS RATE: 9.2/10
I'm in awe. Honestly. Was 1995 and up a good year for the Super Famicom or what? These graphics are just...wow! Everything is so just so detailed and colored, its amazing. From the character design to the towns and cities to the Dungeons and areas around the world, the graphics are perfect for everything. You can tell alot of time and thought went into these and you won't be let down, I promise you that. This game also uses transparencies, which alot of Super Famicom games began using around this time and they work really well and add to the game ALOT. The enemies also look very well done and the animations for them, let alone everyone else in the game have so much to them. Not to mention the animations for Ark and his attacks. They just look great. Even the World Map looks very well done and I have no complaints about any of it.
I'm pretty sure there's little Super Famicom games currently around that can even begin to compete with Terranigma's Graphics.
SOUND/MUSIC RATE: 9.4/10
This game just keeps getting better and better...man, the music in this game is superb. It has your happy, sad and adrenaline rush themes for the Battles and everything a typical RPG has. There's even a few catchy tunes in this game I enjoyed and even thought rivaled alot of today's game's music. The music really fits the mood for each area and is enjoyable, so don't worry, you can listen to it without tearing your ears off or muting it and playing your own music. No sir, this music is top notch for a Super Famicom game and should definitely be given a shot before you decide to mute it off for the whole game.
As for the sound effects, those are also done very well for all parts of the game. When Ark hits a enemy, you'll hear a sound effect and it sounds good. The sound effect for when you attack and also perform different attacks sounds great, especially the kicking up dirt sound you hear when you do certain moves. Just some really good sound effects in my opinion and I had no problem at all with any of them in the game what so ever. Over all, some great music that actually fits the current mood and setting in the game and some really good sound effects that also fit and don't sound like nails on a chalkboard. What more could you ask for, honestly? I don't think it gets any better than this for the music or sound effects.
OVERALL 9.6/10
Well, there you have it. That's what makes Terranigma so good. Though, I don't think there's enough words to explain how good this game really is and unless you play this for yourself, you won't really know for sure, now will you? Anyway, I strongly suggest you give this game a shot if you're looking for a Super Famicom game to play that you haven't tried yet. Besides, if you liked Chrono Trigger, any of the Zelda games or Seiken Densetsu 2 or 3, you'll DEFINITELY enjoy Terranigma. The story's really good, the controls are great, the graphics are AMAZING, the music and sound is GREAT and the gameplay is top notch, with the replay value being pretty good for a Super Famicom RPG. What more could you want from a Action RPG?
Anyway, if you get the choice to buy Terranigma, by all means, buy it. You won't be disappointed. And the great thing is, even though it was never released to the US, you can still buy it in English, as the PAL Version is in English, as it was sold in Australia and New Zealand. Sweet, huh? Though, you'll need a PAL Version of the Super Famicom to play it, so I hope you have one. And, of course, the option of playing it through Super Nintendo emulation is available as well. So, don't worry about having to play this game in Japanese, unless you really wish to. Well, I hope you'll play the game now and if this Review has helped you to decide to go ahead and play it and give it a shot, then I've done my job.