![Shining Force (Genesis) Playthrough [1 of 2] - NintendoComplete](/images/yt/no/shining-force-genesis-playthrough-1-of-2-nintendocomplete-zxtvo.jpg)
Shining Force (Genesis) Playthrough [1 of 2] - NintendoComplete
309A playthrough of Sega's 1993 strategy-RPG for the Sega Genesis, Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention.
This video is the first part of a two-part playthrough. Part 2, showing Chapters 6-8, can be found here at https://youtu.be/JhPT2TXEieY
Time stamps:
Chapter 1, Runefaust Invasion 3:08
Chapter 2, Spirit of the Holy Spring 1:59:30
Chapter 3, The Secret Weapon of Runefaust 3:56:02
Chapter 4, The Great Fortress of Balbazak 5:42:39
Chapter 5, Gateway to the Hidden Shrine 7:51:12
Preceeded by Shining in the Darkness, this 1993 release was the second game in Sega's "Shining" series.
Shining Force was Sega's answer to Nintendo's wildly popular Fire Emblem series of strategy games. Before the first FE game (released in 1990 for the Famicom), most non-Koei console strategy games consisted of sets of self-contained, single-battle scenarios like we saw in Desert Commander, Conflict, and Shingen the Ruler.
Fire Emblem was one of the first successful bids to weld JRPG mechanics to the skeleton of a tabletop strategy game, and people lapped it up. The daunting complexity of a military war simulation was suddenly far more palatable once it provided an engaging plot to invest yourself in.
At its core, Shining Force is very similar to the series that inspired its creation. Had Shining Force been a lesser game, it would've been pegged as a clone and quickly forgotten about, but it wasn't - it was arguably better than any of Nintendo's own efforts to this point. It also got an official release in English, which was something that wouldn't happen with Fire Emblem until the 2003 release of FE7 on the Game Boy Advance. (Shining Force also got an amazing remake on the GBA!)
Shining Force tells the story of Max, a young knight from the kingdom of Guardiana, who finds himself in the unenviable position of having to build and lead a force against the might of the kingdom of Runefaust. The Runefaust commander, Kane, is trying to resurrect the dark dragon and conquer the world, and that clearly wouldn't be an ideal situation.
There's a lot of content: the game features a total of thirty battles split across eight chapters, in addition to the story-focused free-roaming parts where you talk to townspeople, buy supplies, and organize your party. There are a ton of unique characters here, too, so you get a lot of freedom to pick and choose the units best suited to your plan. They span a wide range of classes so there's plenty of room to experiment, and though they don't all get the same amount of attention as the stars do, everybody does get at least one moment in the spotlight.
The story is a cool mix of sci-fi and high fantasy (it is actually pretty funny watching a centaur being lasered by giant robot eyeballs), and the graphics and sound nail it. Everything is bright and cartoony, the battle scenes feature some killer sprite work, and the dramatic and noisy orchestral score suits it all to a T. (Gotta love those classic Genesis snares!)
And most importantly, the gameplay is excellent. The game is challenging without feeling impossible thanks to the fair difficulty curve, and the interface is great - especially for a game of this vintage. The fact that Camelot was still using the same UI ten years later for games like Golden Sun and Mario Golf Advance speaks to how well designed it was.
Overall, you couldn't ask for a better 16-bit strategy game than what was on offer here, enough so that I wonder if the game's subtitle was a pointed statement about the mindsets of the people that created the game. If you're a Genesis fan, this is a must have.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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