#actraiser

Little Message 2025

This is January's. I took a break from the FRC for the first week of February, so you're getting them now! They're organised by fandom. You'll need to go to AO3 to check tags and content warnings.

Twenty-two offerings this month. :) Here we go!

Title: ActRaiser / アクトレイザー

Developer: Quintet / Ancient Corp.

Publisher: Enix Corporation

Release date: 16 December 1990

Catalogue Code: SHVC-AR

Genre: RPG

I've covered Actraiser 2 before, so it's about time I do the original justice.

Actraiser isn't so much one specific game as it is two almost completely different games, welded together. It's a SimCity-like town simulation game, where you're trying to build a town, while protecting the people from the random (and frequent) monster attacks. Then, it's a Castlevania-like action game, where you're making your way through a stage, fighting off enemies with your sword and magic, and at the end of a level have a boss to fight. How do these two completely different games mesh together? In Actraiser, you are the creator of the land, but your power has been sapped by an evil force, and your land has been destroyed. Your goal is, with the help of your little angel friend, to rebuild the land, fend off the enemies, and defeat the evil force. When the game begins, your first task is to take care of several monsters in an area so that you can begin rebuilding the land. So, you descend into the monsters lair, and, in an action segment, work through the level and defeat the boss at the end. Once this is completed, you can begin work on the land.

After clearing the land, the simulation mode begins. Here, you take control of the angel and direct the people in their building. The town starts with only two people, but as you expand it, the population grows. You do this by, from the starting square, selecting a square of land nearby to build. The people will run over there, make a road, build some houses, and the population will grow. You continue expanding your town outwards, over the available land. As you expand, you'll run into a number of small monster lairs. From these lairs, monsters will be coming, and, if left on their own, will go over the village and destroy it. With your angel, you have a bow you can shoot at the monsters to kill them, but they'll keep coming back as long as the lair is there. So, along with building up the population, your other goal in the simulation mode is to expand the town over toward the monster lair, and when the people try to build on a square with a monster lair, they will go over and seal it up, stopping the monsters from coming. As you continue the simulation mode, once you've had your people seal up all of the monster lairs around town, the monsters will stop coming to harass your people. They will, however, find a main source of trouble, which you will have to come down and destroy as you did at the beginning of that town. So, down you come again, through another action segment, and defeating the boss at the end. This is how the game progresses as you pass through the many towns. At the beginning, there is an action segment. Then, you work through the simulation segment, building up the population and clearing the monster lairs. Then, after you finish clearing the lairs, you head back down to destroy the final monster area and free the town from all of the enemies.

There's more to say about the simulation segments, however. The first question you may be wondering is, what's the point of building up the population? Why even bother with the people? Why not just clear the lairs as quick as possible and move on to the next town? Well, the first important part is that all of the town's populations get added to a total world population, and as the population passes certain marks, you gain extra life for the action segments, similar to "leveling up" in an RPG or such. So, while you can go with the bare minimum on population, it always helps to increase it when given the chance. The other reason is that, as the people wander across the land, they'll find or discover gifts to give you. This can be as simple as a bomb to destroy enemies with, or something like the ability to build bridges. In some cases, you'll need to leave a town until later, and then come back to share another town's gift with them. A town might not be able to expand over a river, but then, when you get a gift from another town of the ability to build bridges, you can bring it back to them to share, and they can now build over water. Many other gifts can be shared across towns like this, and lead to further expansion and increased population. Not to mention, once you've cleared all the monsters from an area, you don't have to worry about the people being attacked anymore, so you can expand without fear. As well, since all the towns are next to each other on the world map, if you have the people build over to the edge of their town, they'll build a road connecting to the next town. There are several little intricacies to the town building like this. While your interaction with them is limited to just choosing their building direction (there's no placing power plants or anything like that), it can still be very fun just trying to squeeze out a few more people in a given town.

The action segments, although they were presented earlier in this review in a rather bland, straightforward manner, are definitely not just randomly stuck in there; the second battle in an area always has a reason behind it. As you're building the town, the people will come and talk to you about their problems. Some of them may be insignificant, but one of these problems will also lead to the second monster encounter. It could be something as simple as discovering a haunted tree, or a family having their son kidnapped, and you needing to rescue him. Each town has its own individual goings on and story pieces as you're building them, which give you a sense of meaning to the action segments. The game doesn't exactly have a huge gripping story to it, but it's more than just your random "battles for the sake of battles" type of action game, since the simulation mode gives you reasons behind the battles.

Graphics in the simulation mode aren't too much to speak of, just a map screen, with little dots of people moving around, building their small houses. The enemies look nice enough, but aside from that, it's nothing too special. In the action mode, the graphics are fairly impressive, with some nice environments, as well as some nifty effects with spells, water, and other such things. Sound in the simulation mode is basically just calming background music, again, nothing too out of the ordinary. Sound in the action segments, again, is very good, going through a number of different background musics for the different areas, fitting the mood very well. And speaking of which, this was the first SNES/Super Famicom game in which Yuzo Koshiro composed the music for. In fact, he first used a PC-8801 to compose the music for training before converting them to SFC quality. As a matter of fact, he actually used a PC-8801 Soundboard II to compose the music initially (the PC-8801 Soundboard II has the same Yamaha YM2608 sound chip as the PC-9801-86 Stereo FM Sound Board). In fact, his prototype PC-88 Actraiser tracks would be included in the Misty Blue OST CD, Yuzo Koshiro Best Collection Vol.1 and the Actraiser Original Soundtrack & Symphonic Suite albums.

As far as length and replay go, if you decide you don't really care about building up your populations and just try to get through the action segments with whatever health you have, the game could be over fairly quickly. If you decide, however, to try to maximize the populations in towns, it's a nice little challenge. There are about half a dozen towns you'll get to build, and around a dozen or so battles you'll have to deal with. Overall, it's not exactly an epic quest of a game, but the simulation mode adds some good length to the game if you desire to pursue it. The action modes can range from very challenging to fairly moderate, depending on how much time you put into the simulation mode and how much health and other stuff you get from it. Even once you beat the game, there's always the challenge of going back through the towns and trying to squeeze the last bit of population out of them.

If you like action games but don't like simulation games, the simulation mode might seem like a bit of a chore, and the action segments shorter than you may like. If you like simulation games but not action games, the simulation mode might seem a bit lacking, while the action modes might get annoying and in your way. If you like both action games and you like simulation games, however, you will love this game. It's a very enjoyable blend between the two, working very well to complement each other as you make your way through the game. If it sounds at all interesting to you, it's definitely worth checking out. It's a very enjoyable game, with a good challenge and reasons to go back through it, and it's very fun to play.

⚠️This little information may contain spoilers.

The Quintet Trilogy.

There are many 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 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 (Terranigma). 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 his sword into the spirit of the of 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."

On Illusion of Gaia, the boss on the Great Wall of China is very similar to the boss of the Kasandora's desert boss from ActRaiser.

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 Phoenix.

There are three 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"). And the last way, would be reaching level 80 and learn from the Inventor's friends Lv 80, located in the Kirara Library.

The form bipyramid of the Tetron or "Tiatron" (ティアトロン) resembles the "Shrine of the Master" from Soul Blazer and the crystals of Angkor Wat from Illusion of Gaia.

It's probably the name "Tetron" is the combination of two words:Tia,Theia/Thea"Divine"or "Divine light" and Tron "Tool" take into account that Theia or Euryphaessa is one of the twelve Titans, the children of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus in Greek mythology, also it could be a little reference of the Giant-impact hypothesis.

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. Also of the Japanese SF novel "Rococo Town: Rococo-chō" by Masahiko Shimada. 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 (from Robotrek), The Master is mentioned in diary of the young man in love with Pops' daughter, where it narrates the preparation of a wedding: "From the bottom of my heart, to the Deity 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 deity of South Isle.

Robotrek is one of the games that appears in the Quintet Quiz of Neotokio from Terranigma in the Japanese version.

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。"

Due to the fact that the connection with the others isn't official, it could be considered as another complement to the 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.