Updated information on the Soul Trilogy and its connections with other games from the same universe.
⚠️This little information may contain spoilers.
There are a few connections between Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma:
Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma deal with world regeneration and all three games deal with the concept of reincarnation.
Blazer and Will (in form of Shadow) have the technique of launching the spirit of the Firebird/Phoenix and apparently in Terranigma the weapons of the Hero, Ark, are shaped like a phoenix, too.
In both the Japanese and PAL versions the Soul Armor of Soul Blazer, appears in Terranigma.
In Illusion of Gaia, Will uses his powers to attract "Gems" like Blazer.
In Watermia, from Illusion of Gaia, Kara says: "Freejia was the same way, but beautiful. Things always have another side to them" in Japanese version: "As was the case with the City of Flowers, I wonder if beautiful things always have a back face." In Terranigma, when Ark reaches the sewers of Neotokio, has a similar line: "The more fancy a town, the more dirty at the back". In Japanese: "The more glittering the city is the more messy it is to look behind the scenes."
In Angkor Wat temple, which appears in Illusion of Gaia, there is a room containing crystals that strongly resemble those in the Shrine of the Master from Soul Blazer.
In Neotokio, the most advanced city in the world, Ark fights a ghost hidden in a garbage can, there by reviving the Quintet programmers, including a chicken, who are creating the game Illusion of Time 2 that is Terranigma. In the Japanese version the game, he is developing 天地創造 (Tenchi Sōzō), they were literally making Terranigma. Also, in that version, you could answer a questionnaire (Quintet Quiz) if you were an expert in the games of the company, among them Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia.
Some characters and locations seem to appear in more than one game with different names:
All three games feature a dog named Turbo: in Soul Blazer, he appears in Greenwood; in Illusion of Gaia, he's at the Diamond Coast; in Terranigma, he's Meilin's dog.
In Illusion of Gaia, "The Moon tribe" people, are in the form of a Soul Blazer enemy: Ghost.
The enemies of Illusion of Gaia, Dinapedes and Nitropedes are similar to Metapedes of Dr. Leo's Lab in Soul Blazer.
Both Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma deal with Dark and Light Gaia.
In Illusion of Gaia the secret boss is Metal Mantis, who was the first boss of Soul Blazer.
Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma share a painter in their story.
The "Tulip" that appears in Illusion of Gaia in the of Edward's Castle Prison, is the same as those that appear in Soul Blazer.
Terranigma has Capetown in South Africa (though it can't be visited) and Illusion of Gaia begins in South Cape.
Mu exists in Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma.
In Soul Blazer there is a place called St. Elle's Seabed, which is "Palace of St. Ells" (セントエルズの宮殿) in Japanese. Elle (エル) of Terranigma has a similar name, both in English and in Japanese.
In Terranigma, before entering Great Lakes Cavern, Ark speaks with a man named Servas, who is awaiting the return of his fiancée, Nana. When she died, she became a mermaid, which is a reference to a mermaid's dolphin in Soul Blazer, Servas, who is the reincarnation of a child who died with his father in the a shipwreck and also is mentioned on Illusion of Gaia in Larai Cliff.
Some characters and places are equivalent to the same ones from Soul Blazer:
Guardian of the Forest = Ra Tree (Terranigma)
King Magridd = King Henri (Terranigma)
Queen Magridd = Bloody Mary (Terranigma)
Magridd Castle = Sylvain Castle (Terranigma)
*Dr. Leo = Beruga (In Soul Blazer, Dr. Leo says, "I am not passing away, rather, I am going to sleep. When a scientist with my knowledge is needed, I will be back." In Terranigma, Beruga was alive in the ancient world before it was revived by Ark).
Connection of the Quintet classic games between Quintet Trilogy
ActRaiser and ActRaiser 2: For being the beginning of the Quintet Trilogy and their complementary games (Robotrek and The Granstream Saga), there are different references in these:
In Soul Blazer, The Master (a non-playable character this time) is represented as a serious, kind, understandable, positive, and pious deity. He forgave King Magridd and never gave up hope that Blazer would triumph against Deatholl.
In ActRaiser 2 The Master has the power to turn into the spirit of the of Firebird/Phoenix for a few moments to attack the enemy.
There is a child named Teddy in Soul Blazer, and he tries to sell the Goat's Food to Blazer. He is a reference to the boy of the same name from ActRaiser.
In the Japanese version of the ActRaier 2, "Tower of Souls" is the "Tower of Babel" (バベルの塔戦]), which appears in Illusion of Gaia.
In Angel Village, appear enemies similar to Ramskulls which are from ActRaiser.
The outside of Angkor Wat temple is very similar to ActRaiser's Marahna temple. Also, in this level, The Master uses the Earthquake and in Illusion of Gaia, Will (in Freedan's form) get the "Earthquaker."
In Terranigma, you can see two paintings: The Master of ActRaiser 2 painted by Matis and located in Mati's, which is in Loire, and the other in Britain in Sir Rich's mansion. Like some statues of one of three angels that help him in ActRaiser 2, specifically The Warrior Angel in Loire Castle.
ActRaiser and ActRaiser 2 are of the games that appears in the Quintet Quiz of Neotokio in Terranigma in the Japanese version.
In Terranigma the virus created by Beruga, "Asmodeus" is a reference of ActRaiser 2 the boss: Deception, in Japanese version: 欲望|Lust. Deception, apart from his attacks, sludge spit, fireball and bomb; he teleports to escape and uses his "Teleportation orb" to take The Master to another site on the same battlefield. Unlike "Asmodeus", that demon teleports the combatant, but doesn't erase him forever.
Although in interview of Koji Yokota by John Szczepaniak of his book The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers: Volume 1, he revealed that The Master is part of the games Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia. It's believed that he is also Light Gaia and Tanzra is Dark Gaia. This is believed because of the opening of Terranigma, (both in the original and the European version) which says, "They came to be called 'God' and 'Devil'."
The damaged sound effect of Blazer is the same of the ActRaiser when The Master is damaged.
The sound effect when defeating an enemy can be heard in ActRaiser, Soul Blazer, and Illusion of Gaia.
Sound effect of the enemies attacks bullet firing can heard in ActRaiser and Soul Blazer.
Robotrek: It's a relatively comical game where we can find again themes; such as is creation and destruction, human ambition, the use of science for good and evil, the theme of immortality that is implicit in Nagisa an assistant android with the resemblance to the deceased mother of the protagonist, problems between neighbors and among others. In addition to having some elements found in the ActRaiser and Quintet Trilogy, Robotrek would be the complement of those games:
The "Blade 4", in the Japanese version is called "SoulBlade" (ソウルブレイド), which could be the replica of the legendary weapon of the hero of Soul Blazer, "Soul Blade", with the technique of launching bullets shaped Firebird/Phoenix.
There are two ways to create "Blade 4", combining "Seed" with "Blade 3". The other way is combining "Smoke" with "Scrap 8", nonetheless the first combination is a hidden reference to the Kingdom of Freil from Soul Blazer, which in Japanese is フレイル王国|Fureiru ōkoku, where フレイmeans Freyr, reference to the name of the Norse god of fertility, which comes from Old Norse name Freyr ("lord"), meaning 'fertile'. Both in form and meaning, fraiwa- ("seed").
The form of Tetron (bipyramid) resembles the "Shrine of the Master" from Soul Blazer and the crystals of Angkor Wat from Illusion of Gaia.
Inside the Count Polinky's mansion you can see knight's armors similar to the enemies of Stormrook from ActRaiser 2, but without the axe and shield. However, in this stage you can learn create Axe 1 (Inventor's Friend Lv 9).
In the Clock Tower of Count Polinky's mansion where there is an enmity of some dolls with the mice of the place, this part of the game could be a reference to Soul Blazer in parody form.
On the South Isle, a native scares the main character with a joke similar to that made by the dog from GreenWood's Restaurant in Soul Blazer.
In the Japanese version, the chicken on the farm of Robotrek is called "Catherine" (カトリーヌ), which is mentioned in Terranigma by a boy watching the chicken race, also are the only Quintet Super Nintendo Entertainment System games where chickens appear and the main character can talk to them.
On Robotrek "Rococo Town" (ロココ町) is a reference of the art style that originated in Paris in the late 17th and early 18th century. In Terranigma, Ark buys for 800 Gems: "Rococo Apartment" (ロココアパート).
In the computer of the main character (Hero's house) and that of his father, mentions ActRaiser 2 and Illusion of Gaia (in the Japanese and American version).
With the CyberJack, the player can enter the computer in dad's house and meet the Development staff of Quintet. This secret is present in Actraiser 2 and Terranigma, too.
The outside of Gateau's space fortress is shaped similar to that of the Tower of Babel.
In Rococo Town, The Master is mentioned in one diary where it narrates the preparation of a wedding: "From the bottom of my heart, to the God who brought us together I can't help but get excited." ("ふたりをめぐりあわせてくれた 神様に 心の底から かんしゃせずにはいられない"), doesn't seem to refer to the God (神様) of South Isle. In addition to the fact that the main character of the game learned to create replicas of The Soul Blade. It is possible that people in another part of the universe believe in The Master from ActRaiser and ActRaiser 2, but it has not been confirmed.
Robotrek is one of the games that appears in the Quintet Quiz of Neotokio from Terranigma in the Japanese version.
In the Japanese manual of Robotrek, the story section compare technological advancement of Rococo Town to that of Japan: "The civilization of Rococo Town is a little more advanced than the present Japan."(ロココ町の文明は今の日本 より少しだけ進んでいますが). It's possible can be seen this mention of Japan in Neotokio from Terranigma.
On Terranigma, in one of the houses in Crysta there is a footboard from the one bed a generic cat's face carved in wood that is later seen again in a mini game in Liotto, however the cat face is similar to the official art of Kurogane the cat from Robotrek.
In both the Japanese and American versions, a girl's dog and her grandmother's have the name Turbo (タ ー ボ), a name given to the Turbo that appear in Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma.
In one video "Brute Press" VHS Vol.24 July 1995 (【非売品】ブルートプレス Vol.24 1995年7月号) published Terranigma Beta version.The sound effects can heard is the same of the Robotrek.
The Granstream Saga: It's not certain if the story takes place on Earth or in another planet in a distant future.In American version the story of manual tells us:"One hundred years ago, on the planet of Granstream, a great war devastated the land"; while the Japanese mention "the world" (世界) and "land" (地表) or "above ground (地上): "Going back in time, 100 years ago. The war that divides the world broke out, and humankind was on the verge of extinction. Based on different magical powers as the basis of civilization, the two opposing forces "Magical Empire Army" and "Spirit Alliance Army" do not yield to each other, and finally the empire destroys the enemy's center with forbidden super magic weapons Executed the operation. It shattered the earth's veins and caused cataclysms. The earth's axis tilted greatly and the surface of the earth was completely submerged. And all life and civilization rooted on the earth have perished".
"今より時をさかのぼること、百年前。 世界を二分する戦争が勃発し、人類は滅亡の危機に瀕した。 異なる魔法の力を文明の基盤とし、対立する二つの軍勢「魔導帝国軍」と「精霊同盟軍」は互いにあい譲らず、ついに帝国は禁断の超・魔導兵器で敵の中枢を破壊する作戦を実行した。 それは、大地の地脈を粉砕し、大変動を引き起こした。 地軸は大きく傾き、地表は完全に水没した。 そして、地上に根差したあらゆる生命と文明は、滅びた。"
Although in an interview Koji Yokota, identifies Terranigma and The Granstream Saga different from ActRaiser, Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia,these two games from different consoles, presented various themes related to the company's previous games, for these that suggest to be possible sequel of Terranigma. Due to the fact that the connection with the others isn't official, it could be considered as another complement to ActRaiser and Quintet Trilogy:
In the game Eon and Arcia make it a goal to raise the other continents to restore the world.
The level of Stalagmite Castle just like Dr. Leo's Painting of Soul Blazer.
A stone appears named: Star Stone.
Among Eon's weapons we find a sword called: "Arc Blazer" that increases damage to enemies that are weak against ice.And the axe of the Spirit King: "Gaia Edge."
The stained glass window of the church is very similar to the one that appears in Terranigma in Litz's church, but not the colours.
Outside of Airlim, the magic control Tower, it's similar to the form of Tower of Babel.
The background of Curio Shop, you can find a vase with two handle, just like Illusion of Gaia.
Appears the enemy "Mimic", like in Soul Blazer.
Eon use"Dried herb" and "Special herb" to heal like the herbs from Illusion of Gaia.
The original form of the Demon King Demaar (Digol) looks like the final form of Dark Gaia of Terranigma.
In The Granstream Saga, if Eon decides to sacrifice Arcia using her pure soul for defeat demon Demaar. In the end, "Deity" appears, sitting on a throne in the Palace of the Heaven, talking to her. This is possibly The Master from ActRaiser, but it has not been confirmed.
https://quintet.fandom.com/wiki/Similarities_between_Quintet_games
*Also it's possible that Dr. Leo has been reincarnated as the main character of Robotrek.
The reasons why the main character of Robotrek could be the reincarnation of Dr. Leo from Soul Blazer: https://master-gaia-tetron-crystalblue.tumblr.com/post/741438385542119424/the-reasons-why-the-main-character-of-robotrek
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