You’re definitely in the minority in terms of preferring ActRaiser 2 over the original, but as you always say, to each their own.

But to start off so I get it off right away: the whole Actraiser v ActRaiser thing, which I brought up in your ActRaiser 2 review. Did Enix of America not think the original Japanese title design looked good so they decided to capitalize the first “r” instead of leaving it lowercase? They should’ve left the title alone, really.

Anyway, I heard of it and its praises during my teens, and I was curious about it. When the game hit the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console downloadable service back in 2007, and this was before one of my cousins loaned me his SNES console, I thought it was a cool update: it was a perfect opportunity for me to catch up with it, and I liked it for what it was. Like a lot of people, however, I was under the impression that since ActRaiser had been digitally rereleased then the remaining quintet of Quintet’s 16-bit catalogue would follow suit. I mean, it would be a logical conclusion to arrive to, right? Unfortunately, it did not end up being the case, and it wasn’t until several years after the fact that I found out that Quintet became defunct in 2008. So where does the complicated part of my feelings come into play? I’ll get to that.

After I got my SNES console from one of my cousins and I started ordering games from eBay one of the physical carts I contemplated catching up with was SoulBlazer, and upon playing it I ended up adoring it for it’s got a special place in my heart (I love it more than Actraiser/ActRaiser, to be honest), and in the following years I would catch up with other Quintet fare Illusion of Gaia, ActRaiser 2, and Robotrek, then once I started importing Super Famicarts after getting a Retro Duo in 2012 (I use a Super Famicom now since I got it a few years ago) I fulfilled my dream of playing Terranigma albeit as Tenchi Sōzō (which was quite the experience, and my favorite game by Quintet), then a couple years later I imported Actraiser, SoulBlader, and Gaia Gensōki, and in 2015 I got an SNES repro cart of Terranigma. What a time to be alive, to play both versions of the entire Gaia trilogy! =D

It was great to play all these games that I had been curious about playing for a long time, but I could not help but feel that Actraiser/ActRaiser *may* have been a bit too overexposed… maybe a little bit. What I mean is that I’ve seen many lists and countdowns that either have it at the top spot while the other Quintet games are in a lower spot or it was the *only* game on the list while the other games are absent, to which I’m thinking “Are these games not worth acknowledging as well?” or “Have they not played the other Quintet games?”, and I’ve seen the game mentioned endlessly in comments sections as the greatest thing to come out since sliced bread without acknowledging the other games which kind of adversely affected my attitude towards it which I realize isn’t fair but it’s how I felt. I always thought of this game, and this might sound childish, as the spoiled child in Quintet’s sextet of games in that it gets all the special attention while the rest don’t get as much treatment; since it came out Actraiser/ActRaiser has gotten a rerelease and two modified versions of it (a Nintendo Super System arcade version and a version on a mobile phone of all formats) while all the other games were relegated to being SFC/SNES-exclusives. Not enough demand, I suppose; that’s a shame, ’cause it feels like they’ve been neglected by their license holders (I’ve softened over the years ’cause I don’t want to feel like I’m being bitter, as that feeling’s unbecoming, for I know not everyone can afford the luxury to own a Nintendo 16-bit console, but because Actraiser/ActRaiser was the only game that was rereleased of them all the only people who would play it who don’t have an SFC/SNES console are those who own a Nintendo Wii).

It might sound like I don’t like Actraiser/ActRaiser, but that would be far from the truth. I have a fondness for it as my first Quintet game, I like it still (moreso the harder Japanese original) and I appreciate it, it’s just that I’m less receptive of its popularity and that’s why I don’t feel 100% highly about it–more like in the 80’s% range let’s just say.

What I like the most about the game are the microtransaction elements as you’re helping the people evolve and grow as a population whilst fending off against the monsters who are trying to sabotage your efforts in one form or another, and I like the themes that it explores during the proceedings; the action acts are fine (one caveat I have here is that anytime you’re trying to do a consecutive sword swing in midair or while crouching is that the reaction time is not as quick as when you’re doing it while standing, which I’m glad Quintet fixed for ActRaiser 2), but it’s the town-building acts that make for a more involving experience. This game also inhabits one of the best scores by Yuzo Koshiro, whose music I really enjoy in Ys Book I & II and The Revenge of Shinobi and the first two Streets of Rage games for there’s a high operatic feel to its locations, and for a game that was made in 1990 it largely holds up really well visually speaking (that sizzling effect inside the volcano of Aitos is very impressive, the outer regions of Northwall are incredible, and let’s not forget the Anubis statues looming in the distance inside the pyramid of Casandra/Kasandora).

Where it falters in the American version is the difficulty, or lack thereof as Enix tried to “fix” it (a publisher “fixing” a game for a localized release a developer worked so hard to make is rarely a good sign; I’m looking at you, Sony Imagesoft for what you did to System Sacom’s Jerry Boy when it turned into story- and town-free Smart Ball) by reducing the difficulty from the Japanese version, but they may have gone too far in that regard (interestingly, the simulation acts in the Japanese versions are easier as two of its enemies require one less hit point to take out than in the localized version and you don’t have to wait as long if you took damage to heal up; and the pyramid has got an eyeball that was removed in the American version); I can sympathize in certain areas (the first boss in Marana/Marahna was changed dramatically difficulty-wise, going from waiting until its weak spot is unprotected to take action to having its weak spot out in the open the whole time) but a difficulty option to choose from to accurately reflect the earlier version would’ve been appreciated (Professional Mode tries to bring back some of what was in Actraiser in terms of how much damage enemies sustain before biting it but the area designs are still attuned to the American version compared to how they were in the Japanese original so it’s still ActRaiser, only slightly harder and with admittedly better enemy designs than how they appeared during the initial 1990 debut). It is also on the short side which too bad, but is not so bad when I’m in the mood for something short and sweet (the one and only save spot in the game–a distinction shared by fellow Nintendo 16-bit games Lagoon, Obitus, and Brandish 2: The Planet Buster–is a non-issue because of this).

I like this game and it is good fun but I admit to liking ActRaiser 2 (not Quintet’s nadir, in my opinion, that goes to Robotrek but I still like that game enough) more for taking a lot risks in terms of tone, themes, and symbolism and offering more difficulty and challenge, even if it is one of those in-name only sequels and I acknowledge that it’s neither perfect nor for everyone (taking out the sim acts I’ll agree was not a good idea as that formed up the very core of Actraiser/ActRaiser’s being, and what do you get when you take it out? A straight-up action platformer but without any town-building in-between acts); it’s also a glorious-looking game that has H.R. Giger-esque ant enemies (my favorite enemy from that game). But given that ActRaiser 2 has got a password that lets you fight Tanzra as he appeared in the prior game, I’m not sure that was a sound choice given the differing structure of both games, but it IS interesting nonetheless.

To each their own