The last SNES game created by developer Quintet was their finest hour on the system. Released in Japan and the PAL regions, Terranigma never was released in North America. This was in part because Enix America closed before the game’s Japanese release in 1995. It’s also possible that Nintendo of America wanted to focus solely on the Nintendo 64 by this time. Enix games not being big sellers may have been a factor, as well.
You play as Ark, a troublemaker from the town of Crysta. Throughout the game, you travel through the light and dark realms of a fictional Earth in order to restore the planet and destroy the forces of evil. And while that may sound like some of the earlier mentioned games (Illusion of Gaia and Soul Blazer), this game is considered the best of the three, with a story that rivals that of Squaresoft’s Final Fantasy III/VI.
It’s kind of disappointing that Soul Blazer didn’t make the list. Then, we could not only have had Enix games bookending the list (with Illusion of Gaia in the middle), we would’ve had all the games from the unofficial Soul Blazer/Gaia series.
It’s also a bit of a shame that Robotrek didn’t get any support during the process. Not only would it have strengthened an already strong showing from Square Enix, it would’ve left little doubt that Quintet was unquestionably one of the best developers for the SNES. Well, I guess we’ll have to settle for this outcome.
But I think the selection of all of these games really says something about the depth of the SNES library. For instance, when it comes to ratings from Famitsu, the top 3 received scores of 30, 24, and 30 respectively. Keep in mind that this was when Famitsu was at its toughest for scoring games.
This list also proves that this truly was a golden age of gaming. This was the generation that took the ideas that were born on the NES and expanded on them in ways that truly brought gaming into its own. Stories were becoming complex. Gameplay was being smoothed out and experimented with. Artwork became more creative. Sounds were becoming more than random beeps. Music was becoming more orchestral. With a few exceptions, you’d be hard-pressed to find this type of across-the-board expansion of ideas since then. The closest thing I can think of is the indie boom as digital gaming became a regular, viable option.
But I’m just rambling on right now. What I’m trying to say is this:
Square Enix, release this [CENSORED] on Virtual Console!
And that is our list of the SNES games we want on the Virtual Console. Agree? Disagree? Feel we left something off our list? Let us know in the comments.
Special thanks to Brodie Dayton-Mills for helping out with the images in this article.
