Terranigma is an ambitious game with an original storyline and Revolutionary gameplay like no other SNES RPG.
Genre: RPG-Adventure
Developer: Quintet/Enix
System: Super Nintendo (SNES)
Total Score: 88/100
Value Score: 8.8/10
• Story: 10/10
o Terranigma's storyline takes place in a mysterious world and town named Crysta. You play as Ark who is a town kid who creates trouble with his neighbors and great friends with local girl Ellie. One day the elder of the village left for somewhere and Ark was pushed on to opening a mysterious door in which a mysterious voice chimes from time to time. Once he goes down he founds a strange box and opens it, unfortunately for him the villagers turn frozen. The elder returns and tells Ark that he opened up Pandora's box and now must rebuild the world. Once he rebuilds the continents he must go down (or in this case up) to the newly re-made world and create life for it.
• Characters: 9/10
o There are a variety of different type of characters mixing it with humans, spirits, plants, animals and even machines. You'll encounter several historical characters as well such as Columbus and many of the famous inventors of the west. You'll be meeting a variety of characters in different areas of the world of the game. You'll also come across a large variety of different types of enemies. In terms of characters that play a minor or major role in the game, they might not be much compared to other RPGs but the amount of support characters there are is quite a big number and each of them plays a vital role in the overall storyline of the game.
• GamePlay: 10/10
o Terranigma can be considered as the predecessor of games like Kingdom Hearts or the post-SNES Mana series. The game was developed by Enix and features similarities to what the mentioned games have had in their battle system such as 3D movement in a 2D plane, jumping and traveling through different levels of the same area. For a game of its time, it was quite revolutionary as most games were limited in what they could do. Terranigma works on a level based system where you must kill enemies to gain experience and level up from it. Your main stats that increase when you level up include HP, Strength and Vitality. You can change weapons, armors and even use items both normal items for healing, trading, or for increasing stats. There are key items which you can use which will allow your character to travel through a part where he couldnt before he got the item or to even use magic. In the beginning of the game you'll be going through different towers to open up continents which you will travel to later to repopulate the earth and resurrect different beings. You'll come across some towns which you can assist in the growth of the town and by doing so allowing you to complete more sidequests, finding out more of the storyline of the world and obtaining rare items and opening up shops. Most of the game involves going back and forth but exploration and storytelling through gameplay is key in the game.
• Graphics: 9/10
o Terranigma's visual style is similar in comparison to games like Final Fantasy VI and Secret of Mana 2. Possibly one of the best looking SNES games that also includes some incredible pieces of art during cutscenes which animate and change which one can say is precursor to CG cutscenes which come later on in the gaming industry. Terranigma at first may seem like it is a dark game but it becomes a game with vibrant colors as you travel through the different parts of the world. The game has a balanced structure of light and dark in the environments. Although some of the NPCs may seem a bit bland and some of the characters look more like they are generic - the game makes up more for its enemy designs and the environment visuals.
• Sound: 8/10
o Terranigma's sound is more focused than other games. You'll know when a character talks, you'll know when a enemy is defeated, if a enemy drops a item or a gold, whether you open a treasure chest. There's a sound effect for pretty much everything especially in aspects where most RPGs in its time would skip out on.
• Music: 10/10
o Possibly the best aspect of the game is its music. The music consists of various tones which vary from peaceful orchestral tracks which soothe the soul to a vibrant tone where if you were called up to arms (mostly the boss battle depicts this emotion). You'll enjoy the classical feel and one of the best soundtracks to ever exist on the SNES.
• Length: 7/10
o Terrangima should take about 15 hours or so to complete and that includes sidquests however does not include times you may have to grind out a bit. You'll be traveling back and forth completing sidequests, exploring the terrain of certain areas and finding rare items along the way. There isnt a way to fly around like in other RPGs or to warp however you can go by ship and travel to different parts of the world which again will take some toll on the amount of time to complete the game.
• Replay Value: 5/10
o There's not much replay value in the overall game especially if you go along and finish the expansions of the towns and completing side quests. You can of course go through the full game's storyline and come back to do the expansion quests.
• Player Value: 10/10
o Terranigma is simply one of the best RPGs made on the SNES. The storyline is quite unique, large variety of characters, graphics and gameplay are incredible. The music being the best aspect will keep you for more. There's a lot of side quests in the game which will add more to your overall play time and the unique ability to help expand towns through assistance through side quests makes the overall journey even more enjoyable. The gameplay itself is amazing and will make you hooked on it especially if you are a fan of games like Kingdom Hearts and Secret of Mana.