Fire Emblem Quite possibly one of the earliest and most famous tactical role-playing games, though there will be more than a decade between the Japanese and international releases of the series.However, for those of us in the West who like to do aerial wargaming in fantasy settings, you can do worse than checking the equally good (and slightly overlooked) shining power.
The series debuted on Mega Drive/Genesis and was created by first-party studio Sonic! Software Planning (often called Team Sonic – not to confuse Sonic Team at all), the company was later spun off from Sega and renamed Camelot. Yep, that’s right; the same studio behind the Golden Sun series.
Shining Force is essentially my introduction to the RPG genre — and my thoughts on games when my knowledge of role-playing games is extremely limited and I’m only playing games for their appeal to elves, centaurs, and other fantasy tropes The form is much longer than the fast arcade thrills of Sonic or Streets of Rage I’m used to. It’s safe to say, though, that it impressed me quickly after renting it from a local video store.
In this game, you start as a humble swordsman and become the leader of a growing army of warriors. You’re not particularly powerful compared to an adventure game like Zelda, but you can command your companions across different battle grids, taking turns surrounding enemies and attacking like a chessboard. I remember, initially, leave my leader (canonically named Max) behind and let the others go on, as his attacks are weak and you lose the fight if he dies.
But then I realized I could make my stronger character weaken the enemy so he could swoop over to finish them and get the most XP and end up being a stronger character. Yes, level up characters, level up their classes, level up their gear; it all sounds basic right now, but this kind of strategic gameplay is eye-opening for me as I’m slowly learning more about the game .
While Shining Force is pretty much Sega’s answer to Fire Emblem, the two series are also very different in some key areas. That said, Shining Force doesn’t have the merciless perma death of its Nintendo rival. That way, combat is also more like a typical role-playing game, where the characters’ turns are determined by their speed. Unlike Fire Emblem, you can’t move all of your characters at once until you wait for the enemy to take their turn – so opponent counter-attacks are the exception rather than the norm.
Shining Force also performed better than Fire Emblem — at least initially. The action can transition from a top-down mesh with fairly simple pixel sprites to more cinematic combat illustrations where characters attack, which looks more dramatic. Shining Force isn’t just limited to combat either: you can also engage in other RPG activities, such as exploring towns on foot, talking to NPCs, and shopping for new gear and supplies. For a fairly rudimentary role-playing game, it has a lot of depth.
It wasn’t until the sequel – predictably called Shining Force 2 – that I saw this kind of game system again. The follow-up is just a bigger, better sequel, with its protagonist bearing the cooler official name Bowie (sorry, Max).
If you’ve played Shining Force when it was added to the Mega Drive/Genesis library as part of the Switch Online expansion pack (which included the original game portion at launch), you’ll notice that its 16-bit pixel art still compares favorably to its outdated predecessor. The performance is very good, and also has a larger world where you can freely roam between battles.
However – as much as I love the outdated vibe of Shining Force and Shining Force 2 – the true crowning achievement of the series is Shining Force 3. This isn’t just one game, it’s an epic intertwined trilogy. Completely different from anything else at the time. In, honestly, because. I imagine it’s comparable to the different paths you can take in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, except it’s a cohesive overarching story rather than splitting into hypotheses.
Set during the threat of war between the Republic of Aspinia and the Empire of Destonia (both are actually manipulated by the religious cult Bulzome Sect), the first scene puts you in the role of Synbios; from Aspinia Young lord. In the second scene, you play as Medion, the prince of Destonia. You’ll see the same plot from a different angle, or get a hint of a fight that takes place in another scene, or you might save a character that can then be recruited in the next scene. It’s smart, it knows it’s smart.In both scenes, you’ll also meet a mysterious red-haired swordsman named Julian, who is actually the real protagonist in the third scene – and it’s this fiery-haired fire bran who unites the other Two forces to fight real Big bad. Not bad for a game from 1998, right?
Then there’s the fight itself, which sees the series transition to 3D but still use character sprites in an isometric perspective with a rotatable camera. His action sequences will utilize full-fledged polygons and effects to show off attacks and spells. While combat is essentially about defeating enemies or defeating bosses, the map itself is full of drama. Whether you’re battling between oncoming trains on rails or fighting another army on a crumbling bridge, there’s always something dangerous to keep you on your toes. You can even discover secret relics and send out several units to defeat the thieves and loot the loot inside!
If you’ve never heard of this epic trilogy before, it shouldn’t be surprising, as the West has never really experienced Force 3 as envisioned. Released in the summer of 1998, it was the last version of the sick Sega Saturn in Europe and the US (the second scene was already released in Japan at the time, and the third was released later that year), so we only got the first part, Last-minute editors try to sort out the suspense at the end of Synbios’ campaign.
For years, wondering what happened afterward has been a holy grail. Fortunately, a few years ago I also discovered the existence of a fan translation, which is still being modified and improved by the folks in the Shining Force Central community to this day. If you’re ready for a simulation, you can actually experience the entire trilogy translated in English. It’s a tricky endeavor, but definitely worth your time.
Of course, I’d rather Sega just listen and give us an official localization and remaster of the entire Shining Force 3 trilogy, and I’d be happy to shell out big bucks for that. It’s hard to see that happening, though, as The Shining franchise has moved to more action-oriented anime RPGs like The Shining Resonance Chorus. The original developer, Camelot, also hadn’t dabbled in RPGs for years, and is now best known for its Mario sports games.
Nonetheless, I believe the Shining Force line still has a soft spot. After all, the recently released Mega Drive Mini 2 has confirmed that one of the games will be the Shining Force CD, a critically acclaimed remake of the two Shining Force games in Game Gear.
We know that resurrecting and remastering dormant IP is part of Sega’s business plan, and if you see Fire Emblem and Square Enix’s excellent triangular strategy succeed, it’s clear there’s still a good appetite for tactical RPGs. Meanwhile, playing a Mega Drive/Genesis Shining Force game on the Switch isn’t a bad place to start if you want to get Sega’s attention.
