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[Taruranto]

Actually replayed it some months ago, so good. Too bad SE forgot the same exists.

 

[Galdius]

I'm playing Chrono Trigger for the first time this month and I have a Terranigma repro cart waiting to be played. I don't know if I will start it right after Chrono Trigger but it is definitely on my list to play as soon as possible.

 

[mStudios]

Illusion Of Gaia is my favorite RPG EVER, Terranigma is Second.

I wish they could make more games

 

[Conrad Link]

My Dad found this game randomly on clearance (like $5-10) at a music store of all places and got it for me! Now I'm from New Zealand which is a PAL country so while not that crazy to imagine... this was well after the N64 was out and the SNES never really officially came out here in any major capacity so it was a bit weird as far as pick-ups go!

But as I discovered later with the Internet, it was an amazing find!

Another random memory of this game, my older sister had the SNES in her room for awhile (it was attached to her small TV because the main one had the N64 now) and one day I saw her playing it. I asked her about it and she said she had randomly started playing it and it was really good, and she'd been at it for awhile!

This was odd to me as she wasn't that huge a gamer at that time, so for her to just be playing that game out of the blue of all things and to be really into it, I was surprised. I still have no idea how or why she picked that game to start playing, it wasn't Zelda or something she would 'know'. But I'm glad she enjoyed it! I wonder if she would even remember about it these days if I asked her lol.

I still own that copy, we have a lot of history together haha.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Happy anniversary! Shame it never made it stateside.

I liked Soul Blazer but was disappointed by Illusion of Gaia. Still, I'd love to play this one some day and complete the trilogy.

 

[theSlacker]

Spoiler

Ark fell into a deep sleep...
And Ark dreamt his last dream...

It was a dream of becoming a bird and seeing the world grown older.

:c

 

[J_Ark]

*Looks at his nickname.

*Tears of joy T_T

 

[Haunted]

One of the all-time greats of the 16-bit era. Right up there with FFVI and even better than Chrono Trigger, imo.

It had so many different systems, unique locales, I remember even being blown away by the fact that the world map was loosely based on the actual continents.

 

[KainXVIII]

:c

Ending is free for speculations!

Spoiler

i believe that it is Ark who knocks the door in the last scene (in human form)

I played on Retroarch last time and applied some useful hacks - like easier to read fonts and 50hz-to-60hz conversion.

 

[Haunted]

Undergrounds-dungeons

Nearly 20 years later and it still sent a chill down my spine.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

this and illusion of time. best snes games ever.

 

[Bennettt2]

Ending is free for speculations!

Spoiler

i believe that it is Ark who knocks the door in the last scene (in human form)

guys, in regards to the ending

Spoiler

it must be Ark in human form that meets Elle in Stockholm. It would otherwise be a lesser satisfying and more abstract ending if it was just the bird Ark that knocks the door. To put your collective minds at ease, I think it helps to just assume that the "they will meet again by fate" clue means they will finally get their chance of love as humans.

Terranigma is one of my favourite games. I vote for a remake.

 

[Hayama Akito]

If you think the english translation was bad the official spanish one is a joke. I'm pretty sure the spanish translation was the only one who changed the names, i remember Elle was called Naomi and some other dumb shit.

 

[Sojiro]

Yeah this is the only game from the Soul Blazer trilogy I haven't really played. I remember starting it ages ago, but never actually played it any. I honestly don't know why either, seeing as I really liked Soul Blazer and loved Illusion of Gaia, this would really be right up my alley. I will have to try and make up for that sometime, this along with Star Ocean are the two big SNES games I know I haven't played.

 

[threelights]

guys, in regards to the ending

Spoiler

it must be Ark in human form that meets Elle in Stockholm. It would otherwise be a lesser satisfying and more abstract ending if it was just the bird Ark that knocks the door. To put your collective minds at ease, I think it helps to just assume that the "they will meet again by fate" clue means they will finally get their chance of love as humans.

Terranigma is one of my favourite games. I vote for a remake.

Well, he did say it was open for interpretations.

I myself thought

Spoiler

it was just Fyda.

I'm lame lol

But I think that the fact there are so many possibilities and they are all unpredictable is a good demonstration of how well made the story is.

 

[Nevadatan]

that was the rare moment on my life when i had the Snes but had to emulate it on my Pentium PC.
Back then i didn't understand English so i was lucky the European Version were on spanish. As for the game, well, the music and the combat system was awesome back then.

this game really need a proper worldwide re-release.

 

[zakujanai]

I stupidly sold my copy of Secret of Mana as a teenager and read import reviews of Chrono Trigger countless because I couldn't afford to import. The fact I still have this and Illusion of Time is my only consolation

Replayed Terranigma recently and was surprised by how good it still felt. Couldn't recapture the same magic with SoM when I played on vc, but this still has it for me.

 

[Tarin02543]

I learned about this game through emulation. I was mesmerized by the music and beautiful 16 bit graphics.

By the way, to all those who own a genuine SNES cartridge. Prices on Ebay start at around 400 € (carts without box)

 

[blackoak]

Soul Blazer was always my favorite, but Terranigma was great too. Actually, I unearthed a number of Terranigma interviews recently from Famitsu and Dengeki Super Famicom... just waiting for some time to free up so I can translate them.

 

[BasilZero]

Fantastic game - played and beat it at least three times. Its that great!

 

[sörine]

Best SNES game America never got. This and SD3 broke my heart.

I think I have this issue of GameFan stashed away somewhere. I don't think GDNet ever really panned out for anyone.

Yeah, sad to think about where those studios are today although I guess that's par for the course when reflecting on 90s Japan devs. Treasure, Sting, Alfa System and JAM still exist, and Game Arts was bought by Gungho, but none really seem to be doing anything exciting now. Mostly licensed IP, except for Tresure who's pushing their back catalog with ports and Sting's stuck making rpgs for Idea Factory. Everyone else closed or vanished.

 

[Celine]

Great OP going to read the interviews later. Still wish I could officially play this in the US legally.

Yeah, going the interviews translated by Shmuplations are gold:
http://shmuplations.com/quintet/

Here a brief excerpt:

—In the second half of the game the player must make the ultimate choice, between Overworld Elle and Underworld Elle. But whichever you choose, nothing different happens in the game. Was that intentional?

Miyazaki: We thought about adding some consequences to that decision, but we came to the conclusion that we, the developers, didn’t want to be the ones to express that. The Elle that is chosen will depend on the player. The story ends at Elle’s home, but as for what happens after… perhaps Ark’s future will change depending on which Elle was chosen.
—Are you saying that the conclusion of the final scene is left up to the player?

Miyazaki: That’s right. Terranigma is a RPG through-and-through. The player roleplays the character Ark in the world of Terranigma, but the reverse also occurs, that Ark roleplays the player. Therefore, as the creators of this game, we didn’t want to impose a single conclusion on the story–or better to say, we couldn’t even if we had wanted to. If the player chose the Overworld Elle, perhaps Ark is reborn and returns to Elle’s side. If he chooses the Underworld Elle, maybe he says farewell to Overworld Elle and is reunited with Underworld Elle after reincarnation. Maybe the player doesn’t like either Elle, and something different happens altogether. We left the conclusion up to the player’s imagination: everything has been your own fantasy.

Soul Blazer was always my favorite, but Terranigma was great too. Actually, I unearthed a number of Terranigma interviews recently from Famitsu and Dengeki Super Famicom... just waiting for some time to free up so I can translate them.

Yes, please!!!
Post here when you are ready.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Was Granstream Saga any good? According to MobyGames a decent portion of the development team also made Orphen on PS2.

Little known fact: They helped development on Shenmue 1.

 

[Phat Michael]

Just got this and did up to tower 2 so far.i really need to put more time into it as I haven't really felt it so far.

 

[Sciz]

Just got this and did up to tower 2 so far.i really need to put more time into it as I haven't really felt it so far.

The towers can drag a bit, yeah. Stick with it, there's a payoff.

 

[Celine]

But what I said is after that =X

Anyway, then if you know what happened, please, do tell.

Miyazaki never left Quintet until the company went down.
He (and other members of Quintet) outsourced their work for other companies projects.
The creation of Shade is deeply associated with Quintet but at the same time the two are separated company.
Basically when the next gen came in new possibilities arise.
Quintet completed their final work for 16 bit market in late 1995 and seem that they were soon after snatched up by Sega to do a sort of a remake of the first Actraiser for Sega Saturn (with some sort of involvement by Enix) which would later become Solo Crisis.
At the same time the creation of Shade let them work on PS1 (for non other than Sony itself, SCEI to be precise).
Shade was tasked to do an action RPG for PS1 while collaborating with Arc Entertainment (Arc the Lad dev) thus Granstream Saga was created.
Later on the same formation did another action RPG for PS1 called Brightis.
Quintet returned to work under Enix ( in conjunction with Zeque, the dev behind the cult game Kowloon's Gate) for the bizarre Project Laika for PS1.
At the same time Quintet published its first and only game, Solo Crisis (probably the Quintet-iest game they have done after the 16 bit era), for Saturn (oddly enough it doesn't seem Sega published it despite everything).
A few months after SC Quintet released through ESP the weird adventure-racing game Code R.
Around 1999 they began to do a string of work for hire jobs for big publishers like Sega (Godzilla) and Koei (Mystic Heroes).
The company quietly disappeared in early '00s.

 

[Lothar]

Just got this and did up to tower 2 so far.i really need to put more time into it as I haven't really felt it so far.

The game doesn't really begin until after you do the towers. It has a very slow start. I hated the beginning. Which is strange because Illusion started out amazing.

 

[Celine]

Cool video that celebrate Terranigma 20th anniversary:
https://youtu.be/aNf5XlJh_4o

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Miyazaki never left Quintet until the company went down.
He (and other members of Quintet) outsourced their work for other companies projects.
The creation of Shade is deeply associated with Quintet but at the same time the two are separated company.
Basically when the next gen came in new possibilities arise.
Quintet completed their final work for 16 bit market in late 1995 and seem that they were soon after snatched up by Sega to do a sort of a remake of the first Actraiser for Sega Saturn (with some sort of involvement by Enix) which would later become Solo Crisis.
At the same time the creation of Shade let them work on PS1 (for non other than Sony itself, SCEI to be precise).
Shade was tasked to do an action RPG for PS1 while collaborating with Arc Entertainment (Arc the Lad dev) thus Granstream Saga was created.
Later on the same formation did another action RPG for PS1 called Brightis.
Quintet returned to work under Enix ( in conjunction with Zeque, the dev behind the cult game Kowloon's Gate) for the bizarre Project Laika for PS1.
At the same time Quintet published its first and only game, Solo Crisis (probably the Quintet-iest game they have done after the 16 bit era), for Saturn (oddly enough it doesn't seem Sega published it despite everything).
A few months after SC Quintet released through ESP the weird adventure-racing game Code R.
Around 1999 they began to do a string of work for hire jobs for big publishers like Sega (Godzilla) and Koei (Mystic Heroes).
The company quietly disappeared in early 2000.

Their logo showed up in Development Credits for Shenmue 1, though.

 

[Ledsen]

Played it like ten times. One of the best games of all time for sure.

 

[sörine]

Their logo showed up in Development Credits for Shenmue 1, though.

Shenmue 1 released in 1999.

Although I thought Quintet was credited in some later PS2 Gust games for random outsourcing?

 

[threelights]

Miyazaki never left Quintet until the company went down.
He (and other members of Quintet) outsourced their work for other companies projects.
The creation of Shade is deeply associated with Quintet but at the same time the two are separated company.
Basically when the next gen came in new possibilities arise.
Quintet completed their final work for 16 bit market in late 1995 and seem that they were soon after snatched up by Sega to do a sort of a remake of the first Actraiser for Sega Saturn (with some sort of involvement by Enix) which would later become Solo Crisis.
At the same time the creation of Shade let them work on PS1 (for non other than Sony itself, SCEI to be precise).
Shade was tasked to do an action RPG for PS1 while collaborating with Arc Entertainment (Arc the Lad dev) thus Granstream Saga was created.
Later on the same formation did another action RPG for PS1 called Brightis.
Quintet returned to work under Enix ( in conjunction with Zeque, the dev behind the cult game Kowloon's Gate) for the bizarre Project Laika for PS1.
At the same time Quintet published its first and only game, Solo Crisis (probably the Quintet-iest game they have done after the 16 bit era), for Saturn (oddly enough it doesn't seem Sega published it despite everything).
A few months after SC Quintet released through ESP the weird adventure-racing game Code R.
Around 1999 they began to do a string of work for hire jobs for big publishers like Sega (Godzilla) and Koei (Mystic Heroes).
The company quietly disappeared in early 2000.

Right. And then there's Miyazaki's name in the credits of that Yu Yu Hakusho game =X

Or was that one a lie too? lol

But yeah, I knew about Solo Crisis, I just thought Miyazaki went back to Quintet afterwards or something...

 

[keisuke999]

The best 16 bit game. No question.

 

[Celine]

Their logo showed up in Development Credits for Shenmue 1, though.

I meant "early '00s" instead of "early 2000".

 

[djtiesto]

I played this for the first time on an emulator in college, and then replayed this via a repro cart earlier this year while recovering from wisdom teeth removal... the game still holds up excellently, stirring music and great emotional moments. Don't know what it is about SNES RPGs but they are still the absolute best gaming experiences for me.

 

[Vazduh]

One of my all-time favorite games. Glad to see this thread. Good job, OP!

 

[10 Year Lurker]

I know that there's the NTSC rompatch, but has anyone ever gotten around to figuring out a Game Genie or Pro Action Replay code to bypass the region lock screen when playing the European PAL version on a North American SNES?

I actually did this with my Australian copy back in 2003. I compiled a post with all the info I had discovered on the Terranigma board on gamefaqs back in the day, which has miraculously survived in one of the megafaq topics. I'll repost it here:

I got the game a few years ago and went through the hassle of getting it to work on a US system, so i should be able to answer your questions.

1. The game was not released in the US. It got releases in Japan, Australia and Europe. The European version comes in several different languages, including, to my knowledge, German, French and Spanish, so if you want an english language version, you need to make sure to get specifically an Australian or UK version.

2. Terranigma came out near the end of the SNES' lifespan, so it has one of the most complex region lockout schemes of any release. Consequently, you have only two options to get it working.

-Get one of the following adaptors:

--Pro Action Replay 2, version 2.T

This one also comes in a version 1.0 variety, which will also play the game, but will not be able to save. The two carts are identical, so you can't tell which version you have until you actually boot it up, and it'll be on the title screen. Definitely get whoever you're buying this from to boot it up and check before plunking down any money.

--Pro Action Replay 3

--Datel Programmable adaptor

I don't have any experience with the second two. All three are exceptionally rare, but far more common in Europe than the US. I was only able to get mine from looking at foreign ebay sites and eventually dealing with a guy in Germany. Which brings me to your other option:

Installing two switches into your system. A 50/60 Hz switch and a region lockout switch. The first is required because the game checks if you're using PAL or NTSC on startup, and the second is for the standard region lockout. Detailed instructions can be found at this link:

http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/nintendo/snes-switches-1.htm

 

[Celine]

I've bought Terranigma casually in an italian shop in 1997 and it was a revelation.
The concept was so ambitious yet the execution was very solid that I was floored.
At the time I remember to have thought no other game could have matched Terranigma in the future ...
... I wasn't wrong.

Love the game, love the atmosphere, love the music, love the world...
Seriously, where the fuck is Tomoyoshi Miyazaki?

Wait, that guy just disappeared? Like, out of the blue, he & the company had gone off the line?

What?

From what I gathered in the early '00s members of Quintet were subcontracted to work on other company projects.
They surely never worked again on game they could call their own.
I do think Quintet doesn't exists anymore despite nobody saying a word.
In December 2008 Tomoyoshi Miyazaki founded a company named Giga Factory which should have worked on online games and web based applications.
One project they've developed was a gambling game portal called WebPachi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JylDHrE_7I

The company filed for bankruptcy in mid 2010 and from that moment nothing more is known about Miyazaki's fate.

 

[maxcriden]

Thank you for this wonderful thread. This is a game that has always fascinated me. I'm studying JP and my reward for fluency will be powering on my SFC for the first time and playing this and SD3 with my wife. We have these items in a box in our closet currently, courtesy a very generous GAFer who gave me an amazing deal on them.

In the meantime, some questions as someone who hasn't played any Quintet games.

My wife and I just started playing Secret of Mana for the first time on Wii VC. I noticed a post in this thread referring to Terranigma as a Mana game. Why is that?

I heard this game has something involving creating the world's first burger, but I also heard there is some touching scene involving cows. Please tell me the two aren't related....

Is ActRaiser also made by Quintet, and the game to play before SB/IOG/this game?

 

[TheMoon]

My wife and I just started playing Secret of Mana for the first time on Wii VC. I noticed a post in this thread referring to Terranigma as a Mana game. Why is that?

I heard this game has something involving creating the world's first burger, but I also heard there is some touching scene involving cows. Please tell me the two aren't related....

Is ActRaiser also made by Quintet, and the game to play before SB/IOG/this game?

Mana game -> oO the person was on crack. Zero relation. At all. Different dev, different publisher, different gameplay, different theme, different everything.

Burgers / cows -> unrelated. I don't even remember anything about cows. Also unrelated but I think I already once explained that one sad animal-related scene to you since I know you're very sensitive in that area. But again, nothing related to burgers. It's just a fun sidequesty thing of "stand here, tell me if it's good." In the German version it's Currywurst.

ActRaiser is from Quintet but has little to nothing to do with the Soul Blazer trilogy (or quadrilogy if you want to count The Granstream Saga on PSOne made by some former Quintetians)

 

[maxcriden]

Mana game -> oO the person was on crack. Zero relation. At all. Different dev, different publisher, different gameplay, different theme, different everything.

Burgers / cows -> unrelated. I don't even remember anything about cows. Also unrelated but I think I already once explained that one sad animal-related scene to you since I know you're very sensitive in that area. But again, nothing related to burgers. It's just a fun sidequesty thing of "stand here, tell me if it's good." In the German version it's Currywurst.

ActRaiser is from Quintet but has little to nothing to do with the Soul Blazer trilogy (or quadrilogy if you want to count The Granstream Saga on PSOne made by some former Quintetians)

Thanks Moony. I think you did. it's about a goat, right? I wonder if I can find that PM. Mind terribly re-telling it?

ActRaiser is to be played first if I want to play the whole Quintet oeuvre, right? And it's the only one on VC in NA?

I wondered if someone called this a Mana game because they're both ARPGs. I think Mana is genuinely the first ARPG I (or my wife) have ever played. It's weird having it be halfway between Zelda style and RPG style...kinda reminds me of Super Paper Mario a bit. Getting used to it, though, and the cat shopkeeper is winning us over in terms of enjoying the game.

 

[Celine]

My wife and I just started playing Secret of Mana for the first time on Wii VC. I noticed a post in this thread referring to Terranigma as a Mana game. Why is that?

I heard this game has something involving creating the world's first burger, but I also heard there is some touching scene involving cows. Please tell me the two aren't related....

Is ActRaiser also made by Quintet, and the game to play before SB/IOG/this game?

1) Nothing Mana related, Terranigma is also a much better game than Secret of Mana IMO.
2) Nah the touching scene with an animal is related to a goat (or a certain important bird but that's more subtle).
3) ActRaiser was made by Quintet but like every other Quintet game it isn't directly related.

 

[maxcriden]

1) Nothing Mana related, Terranigma is also a much better game than Secret of Mana IMO.
2) Nah the touching scene with an animal is related to a goat (or a certain important bird but that's more subtle).
3) ActRaiser was made by Quintet but like every other Quintet game it isn't directly related.

It's good, though, right? I probably will play it first (in English).

Are the subsequent Quintet or related games post-SNES any good? Code Soul or something? And Granstream?

Thanks Celine, really enjoyed reading through this thread very much.

 

[TheMoon]

Thanks Moony. I think you did. it's about a goat, right? I wonder if I can find that PM. Mind terribly re-telling it?

ActRaiser is to be played first if I want to play the whole Quintet oeuvre, right? And it's the only one on VC in NA?

I wondered if someone called this a Mana game because they're both ARPGs. I think Mana is genuinely the first ARPG I (or my wife) have ever played. It's weird having it be halfway between Zelda style and RPG style...kinda reminds me of Super Paper Mario a bit. Getting used to it, though, and the cat shopkeeper is winning us over in terms of enjoying the game.

I doubt you still have the PM since you recently had your box full and probably did a big purge and that PM was a long time ago. Yea it was about that goat Celine also mentioned.

The goat

Spoiler

sacrifices itself for you so you don't starve

at an early point in the game. It's one of the most touching moments in any? game.

 

[TheMoon]

It's good, though, right? I probably will play it first (in English).

Are the subsequent Quintet or related games post-SNES any good? Code Soul or something? And Granstream?

Thanks Celine, really enjoyed reading through this thread very much.

None of them are Quintet games. Just some of the former staff. Granstream Saga resembles the previous work the most, I'd say. The last actual Quintet game I think was Solo Crisis for Sega Saturn (JP-only).

 

[maxcriden]

I doubt you still have the PM since you recently had your box full and probably did a big purge and that PM was a long time ago. Yea it was about that goat Celine also mentioned.

The goat

Spoiler

sacrifices itself for you so you don't starve

at an early point in the game. It's one of the most touching moments in any? game.

Ah, right. Thank you. When I purged the PM box, I try to delete only sent items. I'm up to 9989 right now so I have to get on that again.

None of them are Quintet games. Just some of the former staff. Granstream Saga resembles the previous work the most, I'd say. The last actual Quintet game I think was Solo Crisis for Sega Saturn (JP-only).

Thanks. How was Solo Crisis?

 

[TheMoon]

Ah, right. Thank you. When I purged the PM box, I try to delete only sent items. I'm up to 9989 right now so I have to get on that again.

Thanks. How was Solo Crisis?

ask me after I acquire a Saturn for that one game and learn Japanese

I bought a copy (dirt cheap, cost like a buck or two) just to put it on the shelf^^)

 

[DarkConfidant]

Really wish I had an opportunity to play this game. I might have to hunt it down in Japanese, and wait until I finally can read it (I'm also learning Japanese). :\

That'll be a while though.

Would an EU copy of this work on a SFC?

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Why hasn't Square-Enix ever released this game on Virtual Console? Missed opportunity. Would love to play it.

 

[GulAtiCa]

I'll play this one day... Wish it came out in NA. I hope it one day comes to VC.

Heck, where is Soul Blazer on VC?! That's among my top 5 games of all time.