Terranigma (Super Nintendo) Review

You start out in control of Ark, a young boy living in a magical village by the name of Crysta. Being the usual RPG rascal, he ignores advice from the village elder, stumbles across a room with Pandora's Box in and opens it. A strange pink blob hovers out and starts talking to Ark (much to his surprise, of course). This is Yomi, your sidekick for the adventure. On leaving the room, Ark finds that the villagers have all been frozen in a deep state of sleep. But things are much worse than he imagines...Thus begins the pair's task of awakening the sleeping world and restore to life to the planet's surface!

Released as the SNES was lying on its death-bed, the graphics were as they should be – eye-poppingly good. The characters had a pseudo-3D look to them and the towns and landscapes were at times breathtaking. It seemed that a leaf had been taken out of Nintendo’s book, with painstaking attention to detail just to make the game feel even more immersed than they already were. There were small cut-scenes as well, which took SNES graphics to places they never been before. This game was a technical marvel by all standards.

A sweeping score accompanies much of the game. Be it sweet, soft music in Crysta village or the waltz-type music when you reach Europe, there’s something for everyone. Some of the looped tunes, though, do eventually begin to grate, especially in levels that seem to last for an age (the jungle section, Zue, springs to mind). But in general, as far as RPGs go anyway, this was definitely more than acceptable stuff.

From Quintet, the people behind Soulblazer and Illusion of Gaia (or ‘Time’ as it changed to on its UK release), this built on everything that was found in the first two games. The game starts off so simple, easing the player into the role of Ark, saviour of the planet – and then gradually up the ante whilst keeping things on the right side of ‘fair’. As well as the excellent extras throughout the game (such as the Chicken Races or the hidden development room where you can talk to members of Quintet!), the inspired addition of letting the players decisions change the development of re-awakened towns was pure genius. This game should really not be missed!

There was plenty to do, with four huge chapters to wade through, culminating in one mother of a final boss. Plus with all the secrets and side-quests, you certainly won't polish this game of in a night! Now if only it would be ported to the GBA...Go on Enix, you know you want to!

+ Superb graphics, pushing the old SNES to its limits
+ No frustration involved - the game mechanices are nigh-on perfect
+ A true aural treat, with plenty of variety on the whole...

- ...but some tunes grate after long periods
- The game could have been longer...?
- Nope, that's all; and that second one was me struggling to find fault!