Actraiser Complete Series Retrospective - Xygor Gaming

when the snes was first released in north america no one could stop playing games like super mario world f-zero sim city or final fantasy iv however one game released within the same time frame that didn't get as much hype at the time was act razer as an action platforming and simulation hybrid the title turned a lot of heads nevertheless and proved that console games didn't have to be as formulaic in the 16-bit era as they had been before as far as story goes this one is definitely cut from a different cloth than most snes games that were localized in north america the tale centers upon god the protagonist who has recently lost an epic battle against satan and his six lieutenants and has retreated to his sky palace while he recovers satan divides the world into six portions one for each of his minions to regain his former glory god must visit and rebuild civilizations that have since lost faith in him in the north american version of the game god was renamed as the master and satan was renamed as tanzra this was done to remove the overt religious references which nintendo of america would have nothing to do with back then there are also more minor changes done to ensure this vision such as stars of david being removed from some of the level designs i think enix as a publisher was a little inconsistent about this as you can clearly tell there's some demonic imagery in some of the levels and bosses as well a lot of the edits seem arbitrary so perhaps the publisher just did whatever they could to keep in as much as nintendo would allow at the time actress gameplay alternates between full action platforming stages and complex city simulation stages in the former you'll find everything you'd expect from a 2d scrolling action game of this type there are platforms to jump across enemies to defeat and obstacles to move past your character has a life meter and there are also enemy health meters for the bosses these stages are actually pretty similar to what you'd find in a castlevania game i thought the designs of each of the levels were on point as well because they all have a different feel there are forests deserts caverns and fortresses and none of it felt monotonous the bosses for each of the side-scrolling stages were also well done who could forget the pharaoh who attempts to drop his giant head upon the main character i guarantee if you played this game back then you'd remember this i also remember minotaurus and his giant golden axe far from re-skins each of the bosses have unique attack patterns that you must adapt to furthermore all their animations and sprites were well crafted to fit the game's theme of good versus evil as far as the simulation mode goes the player must make a complex series of decisions that affect civilizations every action you take in this mode is designed to encourage the prosperity and growth of the civilization in question in a way it's a bit reminiscent of sim city while you make construction choices the angel protagonist is also used to defend each civilization from enemies by using ranged attacks landscape hurdles and natural disasters can keep civilizations from expanding so you have to use your own responses to negate them for instance you can use rainfall to grow crops and this is a good way to expand probably the best mechanic in actraiser is that your character in the action platforming modes progresses in strength based on advancement during the simulation sections for instance in the simulation mode you can gain levels that increase your health and magic ability in addition the more populous your civilization the more often you receive offerings from the happy inhabitants such as special items and spells this was just a great way to keep cohesion between the two game modes and didn't make the duality of the two feel awkward at all after you beat actraiser once you unlock professional mode which puts you through the action platforming stages with full health but grants all enemies double health as well on the bright side this provided an additional challenge beyond the standard difficulty but the best way to play through the game is really the normal mode where you do have the simulations they really do make the game when act raiser is brought up today it's very likely that you'll hear about the game's soundtrack and there's a pretty good reason for that it was the masterwork of yuzo koshiro now considered one of the most important innovators in video game history it offers a good combination of aggressive and soothing tunes all of which fit into their place in the game also i guarantee if you talk to someone who played the game back in the day they'll remember the title's main theme it really stands out if there was one way to describe actraiser at the time it came out it was unique and really it still is today there's just not much like it the title's combination of different gameplay types was unparalleled at the time and was executed with great success the launch of the 16-bit era was a time of risk and innovation and actraiser was a big part of that age the developers took quite a few risks with some of the game's mechanics but thankfully the title holds up much better than many snes games of its time unfortunately actresser was not included on the snes classic console that nintendo released in 2017 and this fact drew quite a few complaints from fans regardless the original cart isn't too expensive today and any retro game enthusiast can pop it into a console and get the same enjoyment now that they did back then developer quintet followed actraiser up with its sequel actraiser 2 in 1993. fans were surprised to learn that it was designed so differently from the original game by removing the simulation gameplay entirely and utilizing action platforming only this was a polarizing decision to say the least [Music] back in the early days of the snes enix published actraiser the game was filled with thematic flavor and combined the sort of action platforming you'd find in castlevania with simulation gameplay that was a bit similar to sim city even though it wasn't one of the most popular titles on the system at that time gamers loved it and the reason it gained such praise was simple it was unique and distinct so when it came time to create a sequel developer quintet was guaranteed to take advantage of the same formula that had worked so well for them in the first place right well in the case of actraiser 2 nope in act raiser 2 there aren't any of the simulation stages like in the first title they just don't exist here instead the game contains a series of action platforming stages like in the first game in this one though there are a bit more complexities because enemies often take many slashes to defeat also adversaries drop hp and mp orbs which refill lost resources there are seven different magic spells or miracles that can be found throughout the game as well there are also enemy health meters even for normal non-boss enemies which was very helpful story-wise you again take control of god named the master in north america who is again sent to earth after tanzra or satan has been resurrected by his evil followers he now commands 13 underlings that help him infest the world and the protagonist must fight against him once more it's nothing too different thematically from the first game and honestly if they would have gone in a radically different direction in this avenue it probably would have been for the worse like in the former game nintendo of america required the changing of names to remove overt religious themes i'd be a little remiss if i didn't discuss the difficulty of this game it's extremely hard and you have to be very paced and deliberate with your actions or you'll quickly die in that way it's a bit like super ghouls and ghosts because if you expect to speed your way through these levels like it's a sonic game or something you'll be frustrated with constant deaths there are three levels of difficulty that you can choose from easy normal and hard but even the easy mode is difficult i can't imagine beating this game on hard at all it's just crazy to imagine graphically speaking actors are two is an absolute spectacle and the dark theme is ever apparent in this way the title really does push forward what the original game did well the huge detailed bosses character animations and stages are all filled with evil flavor and i love it i also like how the background graphics added much to the depth of the visuals for instance in this area the black backgrounds give the perfect impression of a dungeon in another area there are icy caverns and in yet another mountainous cliffs there are also places with layers of spider webs and other things such as water waves that make the stages distinct there's even a level that makes you feel as if you're in outer space and this is just awesome the final boss of the game is also unworldly in terms of visual quality it really pushes the system to its limits in fact the graphics in act raiser 2 may be the best of any snes game that came out in 1993 they truly are that good the game features a great soundtrack and it's again composed by the legendary yuzo koshiro and the main theme is used in the intro in remixed form as a whole the songs are dark and foreboding and show off the talent that koshiro became so known for in addition i thought the sound effects stood out as well from enemy projectiles to falling boulders to sword slices you really gain a good impression of the world of the game very few titles on the snes used this level of detail and it was completely refreshing ultimately actresser 2 only replicated one part of the experience that made the first act razor game so memorable with this limitation in mind fans of the series are pretty polarized on the subject of whether it's truly a worthy sequel or not if you like games like demon's crest the snes castlevania games and super ghouls and ghosts chances are that you'll really like this one on the other hand if you expected an act razor game like the first with simulations intact you will be pretty disappointed either way if it wasn't named actraiser i guarantee this one would have been a standout game without the steep expectations the controls are smooth the bosses were fun to face and well designed it's fantastic visually and provides a true challenge it's worth playing but just don't consider it a continuation of the original actrazer after actraiser 2 was released in 1993 the snes still had a few years of life in it enix published plenty additional titles on the system but quintet never planned or developed a third entry in the actraiser series in a 1997 interview one developer revealed that it was enix of america that actually pressured quintet to design actraiser 2 in such a way as to drop the simulation mode as for the future it was anyone's guess where the series would go next after some time quintet decided to develop a full remake of both actraiser 1 and act raiser 2 for the sega saturn according to an interview in game fan magazine quintet was about halfway done with the remake when the company determined it felt outdated and was not up to the standards of console gaming of that time ultimately the company decided to leverage much of the content they had created for the remake transform it into a strategy game and retain the world building element they had in place the result was solo crisis which was released in japan only on the saturn in january of 1998. while many fans anticipated the actress remake package solo crisis provided a little world building fix that many fans of the series craved even still it wasn't an act razor game and basically the series was left by the wayside besides their foray into development for the saturn the company invested copious energy into three games that became known as the soulblazer trilogy soulblazer illusion of gaia and terranigma great games in their own right by the early 2000s quintet seemed to have gone defunct even though the company had a live forum system on its website for a time in 2008 that was shut down too and fans have only been left with questions since at one point the original actrazer game was available on the wii virtual console but it doesn't exist on nintendo's current online game store neither title was included on the snes classic either so playing it now requires that you get your hands on the original cartridges thankfully both are still reasonably cheap and they're still worth picking up today overall actraiser was a masterfully designed series with an awesome dark theme and incredibly fun gameplay i poured countless hours into it back in the day and my friends and i talked about it a lot in the end both games stuck out the first was ahead of its time for its unique hybrid gameplay while the second one blew almost every game at that point out of the water because of its stunning graphics thankfully a completely remade version of the original actraiser actraiser renaissance was revealed to the world in september of 2021 created by square enix it's now available on both steam and nintendo's eshop while the game has an updated look it still retains the original content and provides a great way to enjoy the game today it's still a bit disappointing that the series wasn't continued by way of sequels but actress or renaissance will be a huge breath of fresh air to fans that miss the franchise if you like this retrospective and remember actraiser leave a comment below about the most memorable aspect of the series to you if you like my videos please subscribe to my channel and click the bell below to be alerted upon the addition of new ones also please consider supporting my channel via youtube's join feature to receive member exclusives such as advanced videos and complete video transcripts you

Channel: Xygor Gaming

Views: 3,333

Rating: 4.9448276 out of 5

Keywords: Actraiser, Actraiser review, actraiser, actraiser review, Actraiser 2, Actraiser II, Actraiser 2 review, Actraiser II review, Actraiser 2 retrospective, Actraiser II retrospective, Actraiser 2 SNES, snes Actraiser 2, Actraiser II SNES, Actraiser 2 explained, Actraiser 2 story, Actraiser Xygor Gaming, actraiser snes, Super Actraiser, Actraiser remake, Actraiser Xygor, SNES Actraiser II, SNES Actraiser 2, Actraiser complete series, Actraiser series, Actraiser Renaissance

Id: Foa0xr70Wsc

Length: 14min 38sec (878 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 25 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/unicorn_hipster]

I just recently subbed to your channel! Love me some Actraiser. The remake....whelmed me. Keep up the good work!

[u/Dude-from-the-80s]

Great video, I really enjoyed it! In regard to the price of the game: the games you showed were repros. The original version of the game is much higher than those shown. Although a lot of folks don’t mind repros, I just wanted to mention it. But, it was a terrific video! I’ll be sure to check out some others of yours!