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Terranigma for Super Nintendo SNES
Terranigma for Super Nintendo SNES begins in Crysta, a village on the inside of the world. Ark opens a forbidden box and brings disaster upon its inhabitants. His quest to put things right grows into a journey in which continents, plants, animals and finally humans return. This action role-playing game lets you experience those changes yourself: you travel through dungeons, speak with all kinds of inhabitants and see an empty world slowly become populated again.
You fight directly with a spear, without a separate battle screen or turn-based menu. Running, jumping and attacking produce different moves, making distance and timing important. Defeated monsters provide money and experience; higher levels and better equipment let Ark face stronger opponents. You also move objects, investigate passages and use magical rings when the situation calls for them. The journey alternates these battles with conversations, puzzles and quests that affect places you revisit later.
You play the entire adventure alone with one standard SNES controller. As the world comes back to life, the focus shifts from nature and animals to trade, inventions and growing towns. Helping inhabitants can advance a place's development, but progress does not always have only pleasant consequences. You save your progress on the cartridge at notebooks, including those found in inns. You therefore continue the journey from a saved file without having to copy out a password.
Region and language
Our Super Nintendo SNES games are PAL editions, unless stated otherwise. This product contains a loose cartridge for the European market. A box is only included if explicitly stated in the product details. We note any different region in the product details. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
With Terranigma for Super Nintendo SNES, you receive a loose cartridge. A box and manual are not included unless we explicitly state otherwise in the product details. This is the standard way we supply this copy.
The history of Terranigma
Quintet developed Terranigma, which Enix released in Japan in 1995 under the name Tenchi Souzou. Nintendo then handled the European release in 1996. The studio had previously made Soul Blazer and Illusion of Time, also SNES adventures linking battles to the fate of people and their surroundings. However, Terranigma has its own protagonist and story. You do not need to know the earlier games to understand Ark's village, his mistake and the journey that follows.
Director Tomoyoshi Miyazaki stated in a 1995 developer interview that planning began shortly after Illusion of Time. He wanted to combine Soul Blazer's world-building with a larger journey. Scenario writer Reiko Takebayashi explained the importance of the connection between creation and destruction: a growing town can, for example, damage animals' habitat. That idea appears in the contrast between recovering nature and the human society that subsequently takes up more and more space.
Manga artist Kamui Fujiwara worked on character design and art direction. The scenes in which continents return also received considerable attention, using pre-rendered imagery and SNES effects. Despite that scale, the controls remain direct: you control Ark yourself during combat and exploration. Quintet thus linked a role-playing game's experience points and equipment with jumping and spear attacks. The original European cartridge contains that complete solo adventure with its own save system.
Similar games for Super Nintendo SNES
Soul Blazer for SNES, like Terranigma, connects defeating monsters with restoring a world. Freed souls bring people, animals and buildings back. Ark travels through a larger geographical story that also involves the emergence of civilisation. Their shared feature is the visible effect your battles have on the surroundings; Terranigma adds free jumping, different spear attacks and a longer process of town development.
Illusion of Time on SNES shares Quintet's combination of direct combat, ancient ruins and a story that changes tone along the way. Will uses different forms to overcome obstacles, whereas Ark sticks with his spear and grows stronger through experience points and equipment. Both tell of a journey around the world, but Terranigma first brings that world back to life and then changes it through human trade, inventions and expanding settlements.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for SNES likewise offers direct combat and overhead-view puzzles. Link opens routes mainly with new tools and collects Pieces of Heart rather than experience levels. Ark can jump freely, trains by defeating monsters and follows the reconstruction of a world. Zelda more often asks you to see the connection between two versions of the same surroundings; Terranigma puts more emphasis on changes over time.
Secret of Mana on SNES mixes action combat with experience points, equipment and a long fantasy journey, much like Terranigma. However, you follow three heroes, train weapons and magic, and can let other players control characters. Terranigma remains a solo story about Ark and his spear. His jumping and running attacks require different timing, while his quests can help towns grow rather than mainly advancing a travelling party.
Secret of Evermore for SNES also has direct combat, experience points and a journey through different civilisations. A boy and his dog end up in an artificial world with successive historical themes. Ark instead brings life back to Earth and watches towns develop. Evermore uses ingredients for alchemical spells; Terranigma gives you magical rings and also puts more emphasis on the different movements of a single spear fighter.
