Soul Blazer
Developer(s)	Quintet
Publisher(s)	Enix
Release date(s)	31 January 1992 31 December 1992 27 January 1994
Genre(s)	Role playing game
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	None
Platform(s)	Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Media	8-megabit cartridge

Soul Blazer (or Soul Blader in Japan) is a Super Nintendo Entertainment System game by Enix and Quintet released in 1992. Similar to their previous game ActRaiser, the player takes the role of an angel sent by a deity to destroy monsters and release the captured souls of a world's inhabitants. This game is the first in a loosely-grouped trilogy of similarly-themed Enix/Quintet titles referred to by fans as the Soul Blazer trilogy, along with Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma. Image File history File links Box art for Soul Blazer (Soul Blader) This is the cover art for a video or computer game. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates computer or video games. ... Quintet is a videogame developer that created games as ActRaiser, ActRaiser 2, Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, Terranigma, Robotrek and Granstream Saga among others. ... Video game publishers are companies that publish video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer. ... Enix, or more formally Enix Co. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Japan. ... January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_States. ... December 31 is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... January 27 is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... Computer and video games are generally and popularly categorised into genres. ... Computer role-playing games (CRPGs), often shortened to simply role-playing games (RPGs), are a type of video or computer game that traditionally use gameplay elements found in paper-and-pencil role-playing games. ... In computer games and video games, single-player refers to the variant of a particular game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. ... The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia. ... The megabit is a unit of information storage, abbreviated Mbit or sometimes Mb. ... In a variety of electronic equipments, a cartridge (in video game terms, cart, game pack, or Game Pak) can be one method of programming different functionality, providing variable content, or a method by which consumables may be replenished. ... The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia. ... Enix, or more formally Enix Co. ... Quintet (クインテット Kuintetto, properly Quintet Co. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... ActRaiser is a 1990 Super Nintendo Entertainment System side-scrolling developed by Enix and Quintet that combines traditional side-scrolling platform game sections with urban planning simulation sections. ... Illusion of Gaia ) is an action-RPG video game that was released on January 1, 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). ... Terranigma or Tenchi Souzou , Creation of Heaven and Earth) in Japan, is a 1995 action role-playing game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System developed by Quintet and published by Enix. ...

Gameplay

As in ActRaiser, the player frees a series of towns by fighting monsters in traditional dungeon-crawl battles (Act Raiser was side-scrolling; Soul Blazer has a top-down perspective). However, Soul Blazer eschews the SimCity-like aspect of ActRaiser. Instead, the player frees the towns incrementally — by destroying monster lairs in the dungeons, a soul belonging to a former town occupant is liberated and reincarnated. This is often a human, but it could be anything from a dolphin to a talking tulip. As souls are freed, the town is reconstructed around the people. The new town occupants give the player advice and items. When the player defeats the boss monster imprisoning the soul of the head of each town, the area is cleared and the player can continue. After the hero frees the first six villages, he is granted access to the "World of Evil" where the final villain awaits. This article is about the computer game. ... ... Grand Theft Auto Top-down perspective, also sometimes referred to as birds-eye view or helicopter view, is a view used in computer and video games that shows the player and the area around him or her from above. ... SimCity is a simulation and city-building computer and video game first released in 1989 and designed by Will Wright. ... Flag Ship from the video game Gorf In video games, a boss (sometimes called a guardian) is a particularly large or difficult computer-controlled character that must be defeated at the end of a segment of a game, whether it be for a level, an episode, or the very end...

The game has also been recognized for its score by Yukihide Takekawa, rivaling the Final Fantasy and Chrono video game franchises. Outrun (1986) is an arcade game with an integral soundtrack. ... Final Fantasy ) is a series of computer and console role-playing games produced by Square Enix (originally Square Co. ... The Chrono video game series includes the games: Chrono Trigger Radical Dreamers Chrono Cross Chrono Break (entered preplanning in 2001 but was not greenlighted for development) This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... A media franchise is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting, and trademarks of an original work of media (usually a work of fiction), such as a film, a work of literature, a television program, or a video game. ...

Plot and characters

Plot

The game's history concerns the Freil Empire, a kingdom ruled by King Magridd. Magridd learned of an inventor named Dr. Leo in his kingdom who could invent virtually anything. He had Dr. Leo imprisoned and forced him to create a machine that could be used to contact the evil spirit Deathtoll. Deathtoll offered the king one gold piece for each soul from his kingdom, and under the counsel of his wife, Magridd agrees. As a result, the villages were destroyed, all living creatures became incarcerated souls in Deathtoll's monster lairs, and the world became empty. The Master of the world sees this devastation and sends one of his heavenly servants to the kingdom in the form of a human warrior to defeat the monsters and liberate the inhabitants. The hero defeats the monsters in each of six areas and gathers the magic stones needed to open the path to Deathtoll in the "World of Evil", and along the way falls in love with Dr. Leo's daughter Lisa. He also finds the three sacred artifacts that he uses to call upon the power of the phoenix to defeat Deathtoll. The kingdom is restored and the King Magridd is horrified at his actions. The hero then returns to heaven, but one year later the Master realizes that the hero misses life as a human. The Master sends the hero back to the Freil Empire but under the condition that the hero will not have any memory of his past. The hero wakes up in the first town, Grass Valley, where Lisa recognizes him. Though he does not remember her, they walk off together and renew their relationship. The phoenix from the Aberdeen Bestiary. ...

Characters

• The Hero (Blazer) is the protagonist, an angel sent by the Master to restore the world's down creatures to life. Skilled with a sword and possessing the ability to speak with any living thing and be understood, he battles the hordes of Deathtoll with the assistance of his Soul helpers. In Illusion of Gaia he is referred to as "Blazer" by the hidden boss, Solid Arm (Soul Blazer's Metal Mantis).
• The Master is the chief deity in the Soul Blazer world. Townspeople close to death often speak that they hear the Master "calling" them. The Master transports the hero between the regions on the overworld map. He also will save the game progress, and entering his temple will also restore the hero's health to full capacity. It is possible that the Master is the same as the deity featured in ActRaiser.
• Dr. Leo is a scientist who created the machinery by which King Magridd's pact with Deathtoll was executed. He also created a series of paintings and models so realistic that one could be drawn into them by touching them. He possesses an empath's level of closeness to nature despite his technological background.
• Lisa is Leo's daughter and a resident of Grass Valley, where she lives alone on the edge of town. When the hero saves her, she harbors a gratefulness to him that gradually transforms into romantic interest.
• Turbo the Dog, Lue the Dolphin, Nome the Snail, and Marie the Doll are pets of Dr. Leo and Lisa. A dog named Turbo also appears in the Enix games The Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma.
• King Magridd is a misguided, easily manipulated king who felt a disconnection from his subjects. This dissatisfaction led him to coerce Dr. Leo into designing a machine to summon Deathtoll, bringing about the fall of the world and himself.
• Queen Magridd was seduced by the potential that lurked underneath Dr. Leo's skills, and is the primary catalyst for causing the deal with Deathtoll to occur. She is will do anything for power, even after she is betrayed by Deathtoll.

Connections to other games

Soul Blazer (along with Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma) is part of a loose trilogy referred to by fans as the Soul Blazer series. Certain aspects of the plot recur within the trilogy, although the main storylines and gameplay differ significantly. Illusion of Gaia ) is an action-RPG video game that was released on January 1, 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). ... Terranigma or Tenchi Souzou , Creation of Heaven and Earth) in Japan, is a 1995 action role-playing game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System developed by Quintet and published by Enix. ...

Soul Blazer also has the characteristics of being a spiritual sequel to ActRaiser, which was made by Enix as well. In fact, the "Master" in both games may be the same character. In both games, a holy being comes down to the land to fight monsters, and aid in rebuilding a civilization. Many sounds, including the grunts of the main character, are directly from ActRaiser. In contrast, ActRaiser's true sequel, ActRaiser 2 forgoes the town building aspects entirely and has a high difficulty level making it less accessible to mainstream gamers. A spiritual sequel or spiritual successor is a sequel or successor to a computer or video game, movie, comic or even a stage play. ... ActRaiser 2 is a side-scrolling platform game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System released by Enix in November 1993 and is the sequel to ActRaiser, although in storyline sequence it is actually its prequel. ...

Soul Blazer itself has a spiritual sequel in the Dark Cloud series of games for the PlayStation 2. Both are dungeon-crawl adventures that involve releasing parts of town as you explore. The similarities of Dark Cloud with Soul Blazer have been compared to the way that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time brought the Legend of Zelda series into 3-D. ^{[citation needed]} Dark Cloud is a series of console role-playing games by Level-5 with elements of action and simulation games. ... PS2 redirects here. ... The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was a video game released in 1998, and the first Zelda game for the Nintendo 64. ... Legend of Zelda may refer to: The Legend of Zelda, the 1987 Nintendo Entertainment System best seller, and the first game in a very popular, influential video game franchise. ...

Soul Blazer has more than a passing similarity to the aforementioned Legend of Zelda series, with a top-down perspective, multiple dungeons, and sword-swinging main character with a fairy-like companion. The game also has its version of popular Zelda characters, including Wizzrobes, Ropes, and Stalfos, all of which behave in much the same manner as their Zelda counterparts. It has been suggested that Iron Knuckle be merged into this article or section. ... It has been suggested that Iron Knuckle be merged into this article or section. ... Stalfos are classic enemies from The Legend of Zelda series of videogames. ...

External links

• GameFAQs entry for Soul Blazer
• RPGClassics' Soul Blazer Shrine

References

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