A “HD remake” at the time of the Shining Force Gaiden series for the SEGA Game Gear. The original Gaiden series comprised of 2 games, which follow as a sequel to Shining Force 1 on the SEGA Genesis/MegaDrive. Both of these games were remade for a SEGA Mega CD port in 1994, and included (unique to the CD port), one follow on story and one bonus story IF you could find the secret to open it after completing all three main stories.
For those of you unaware to the Shining-Series Saga set of games for the Genesis/MegaDrive, the games consisted of a top-down turn-based tactical battles, which were interspersed with story-driven cutscenes. Unlike those of it's Genesis/MegaDrive kin, you had no freedom to actually explore outside of combat, and were limited to the combat zone and small bases inbetween battles where you could promote, cure and various other actions to your party, and also sporadically the ability to buy and upgrade armour and weapons. While this removed some of the puzzle elements that are generally available in the cartridge versions of Shining Force, it also reduced gameplay time in comparison due to not having to travel to specific destinations.
As a port and upgrade of the Game Gear Gaiden games though it really excels. Making full use of the ability to have all of the original music recomposed and saved as mp3 files on the actual disc, which you can use, like most SEGA CD games as audio cd's. It also has upgraded the character models and battle system to be similar to that of it's cartridge brethren.
Again, though, I must mention of one particular issue, that has bugged me over the years while playing SF CD, and that is the save functionality. Due to the lack of a large memory space, you can only save one playthrough at a time, even though it will record that a particular “book” on the game is complete, without the addition of a back up RAM cart, it will not track your party progress and you will have a set team of levels and points for books 3 and 4. Which is sadly disappointing.
All in all, you can find yourself with a good time if turn-based strategy games are your thing. Shining Force CD will always hold a particular place in my heart for a couple of reasons. One being one of three games I owned for the Mega CD, the second being that this very game is the reason I got into the Shining Series as a whole, and RPG's in a more wide scale.
If you're looking to get into old school RPG's, I do recommend something from the SF series as a good starting platform, more due to having more depth and difficulty then some other beginner strategy RPG's available.
Pros:
Fantastic upgrade of basic elements including graphics and enhanced visuals.
Constant battle's allow the story to keep flowing.
Unique content available to the re-release.
Cons:
Lack of over-world wondering removes a fair amount of immersion and gameplay.
Lack of available save data, although more of a console issue, removes a fair chunk of customisation for unique content available.
Score: 3/5
Retro Review: Shining Force CD
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