Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya (Game Gear) Playthrough
167A playthrough of Sega's 1994 strategy role-playing game for the Sega Game Gear, Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya.
The video shows the entire game, including the secret characters and the "mime theater" cutscene. Here are a few timestamps:
Chapter 1 8:10
Chapter 2 1:34:07
Chapter 3 3:48:11
Chapter 4 7:49:10
Hidden Bonus Scene 11:56:50
Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya was the second portable entry in the Shining series, and it was the first to see an official English release. It is part of the Shining Force Gaiden subseries that takes place twenty years after the events in Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention for the Sega Genesis (https://youtu.be/NoczxtVoFY4), and it's the direct sequel to the 1992 Japanese-exclusive Shining Force Gaiden (遠征邪神の国へ / Journey to the Country of the Evil Gods). Both Shining Force Gaiden games were also given upgraded remakes in the form of 1995's Shining Force CD.
The Sword of Hajya will instantly feel familiar to anyone who has played the mainline Shining Force console games. The story kicks off with Prince Nick of Cypress and his soldiers leaving for Iom, a hostile neighboring kingdom. Shortly after they depart, a contingent of Iom forces attacks Nick's castle and steals the legendary Sword of Hajya, a relic that has the power to revive the dark lord.
The player assumes the role Deanna, a foreigner who leads Cypress's remaining forces in a campaign to retrieve the sword and bring peace back to the land, and the game plays out over a series of twenty-four increasingly tough scenario battles that culminate in a showdown with the ultimate evil.
Battles play out in classic SRPG fashion: you move your characters around a gridded battlefield like chess pieces, strategically maneuvering to picking off opponents one-by-one and clearing a path to the enemy commander. As they gain experience, your forces will level up and learn new abilities, and like in the Genesis games, each character can eventually be promoted to a more powerful class.
Despite being a spin-off game for an 8-bit handheld, The Sword of Hajya comes surprisingly close to delivering a console-class experience. It caters to the portable nature of the platform by shrinking the scale of battles and eliminating the interactive town sequences, but its gameplay is virtually identical to its Genesis counterparts. The same goes for the graphics: the game comes close to replicating the look of the 16-bit Shining Force titles, especially in the battle scenes.
Shining Force CD is probably the best way to experience The Sword of Hajya, but the original Game Gear game is an excellent game in its own right and an impressive showing for Sega's competitor to the Game Boy. Sonic! Software Planning knocked it out of the park once again.
*Recorded with a Retroarch shader to mimic the look of the original hardware.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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