Terranigma: humanity’s second chance

An interesting question that some games, particularly RPGs, occasional ask is whether or not the world you’re trying to save is actually worth saving — and perhaps by extension, if it’s even possible to save it after it reaches a certain point of decay.

Terranigma, the third entry (after Soul Blazer and Illusion of Time) in what is considered to be a loose trilogy of games by Quintet, explores this idea with an ambitious story that concerns the restoration of the world after a great disaster. It’s an interesting progression from Soul Blazer, which suggested that all life — even that which sins — is sacred, to Illusion of Time, which posits that everyone deserves a chance at redemption, all the way through to Terranigma, which offers probably the most complex look at the world and our relationship with it.

It’s a thoroughly fascinating game, and a real highlight of the Super NES’ library. So let’s take a closer look after the jump!

Terranigma begins with you, in the role of a boy named Ark, awakening in your village of Crysta and causing the same sort of mischief you do every day. Today is a bit different, though; after your friends egg you on into breaking open the door in your house that The Elder has said Must Never Be Opened, you quite literally open Pandora’s Box, discover a strange creature called Yomi within, and are promptly tasked with restoring the world.

Initially this takes the form of travelling through the underworld in which you live and making your way to the top of five towers. At the top of each tower is a guardian waiting to test you, and your reward for overcoming each guardian’s challenge is that a continent of the surface world gets restored. And interestingly, this time around, it is very much Earth that we are restoring.

Once all this is done, you are tasked with jumping down a big hole in the underworld, which naturally causes you to pop out on the surface, and travelling the globe in order to restore all life — beginning with the plants, then moving on to the birds, the four-legged animals, and finally, humans.

Finally, you are presented with the somewhat daunting task of helping human civilisation evolve to such a point that a “genius” could be born, and then your job is done. Except it isn’t, because of course something goes horribly wrong somewhere and you end up having to put it all right through a rather convoluted set of circumstances.

Terranigma’s gradual shifting of scale between its various chapters is one of the most interesting things about it. At the outset of proceedings, it feels like finding and clearing the five towers will be the main point of the entire game — and indeed the game’s English language manual seems to reinforce that — but in reality that is simply the first chapter. The second chapter, which primarily concerns restoring the natural world on the surface, is most thematically similar to Soul Blazer, as Ark has the ability to speak with plants and animals.

Once humanity enters the picture, however, Ark loses this latter ability — a reflection of how we, over time, have lost touch with nature — and we start to get more “shades of grey” in terms of whether or not we’re doing the right thing.

Up until this point, there has been absolutely no question: Ark has been doing good by bringing back the elements of the natural world. But as human society progresses over the course of the game’s third chapter, it becomes apparent that while some people thrive with this progress, others find themselves mourning for what ends up being lost — besides that feeling of contact with nature, there’s also the loss of local traditions, a sense of identity and a general feeling that you matter to the world at large.

By the time you inadvertently resurrect one of the game’s main antagonists — the supposed “genius” you were supposed to help be reborn into the world — it is very clear that something is not at all right. Why have you been doing all this? Have you really been doing the right thing? Should you have stopped after bringing back the animals, and just let humanity remain extinct?

It’s an interesting question, to be sure, emphasised by how quickly human civilisation seems to have covered the planet as soon as you get into the game’s third chapter — and how quickly things in many locations appear to have declined, too. Terranigma is somewhat coy about the specifics of the exact amount of time over which its entire narrative unfolds, but one can interpret the transition between the second and third chapters as having a fairly significant time skip, during which humanity has “advanced” far enough for it to produce people who are very much not working for The Greater Good; people who are only out for themselves, and causing the decline of broader society in the process.

One of the first examples you encounter is that of a despotic European king, who burned a Scandinavian village to the ground in search of something, then took the only survivor of the massacre to become his adoptive daughter against her will. She, in response, became mute, and it’s not until Ark comes along and uncovers the truth of the king’s actions that she finds herself able to speak again. It subsequently unfolds that she then murders the king, thereby freeing the people from under the yoke of his oppression — but, of course, she’s still a murderer.

Terranigma is full of situations like this, where you are technically making the world a bit better — for collective humanity, at least — but there is often a cost to progress. On numerous occasions, it is the natural world that pays this price; indeed, there are a couple of scenes throughout the game where you discover animals that you saved in the second chapter are now being held in captivity by humans, purely for their own entertainment. Only a few people — most commonly children — seem to recognise that this might not be the best way to treat our world.

One interesting aspect of Terranigma is that it displays some surprisingly forward-thinking and progressive attitudes for a game that came out in the 1990s. Some of these are subtle, such as the fact that there are plenty of positively represented dark-skinned people in the game (especially in the game’s take on America), which is an unusual but welcome sight in a SNES game. Elsewhere, the game gives critical commentary on modern society forcing people into feeling obligations to overwork, demonstrates someone who has hit rock bottom (including developing a drinking problem) being able to pick themselves up and better themselves under the correct circumstances, suggests that it is “better to cross borders in friendship” — and simply acknowledges how “progress” in societal and technological terms is not necessarily the same as being “progressive”.

Unfortunately the localisation does feature some… questionable depictions of the way Chinese characters speak in one part of the game — but given there are a few other bits of awkwardness elsewhere in the game’s English, a charitable interpretation would suggest this may have been a quirk of the translation process (and squeezing it into the game’s available ROM) as much as anything. Either way, it’s there, it’s noticeable and it is worth acknowledging. I don’t think there was any ill intent there, but it most certainly wouldn’t fly in a modern localisation.

Anyway…

A significant part of Terranigma’s third chapter, which is by far the most substantial, involves helping various settlements to progress towards economic prosperity and guaranteed growth. This is not handled in a particularly “strategic” way as in Quintet’s prior title, Actraiser, but rather through you helping various characters to do something noteworthy. At various points you will help, among others, Thomas “Eddy” Edison invent electricity, Alexander Graham Bell invent the telephone and Will Wright finish his prototype aeroplane, as well as helping to develop and spread wine around the world, use the new “camera” invention to introduce the concept of “tourism” and invent hamburgers. You will also, in one completely optional sidequest, ensure that Quintet comes into existence to make Terranigma in the first place.

Helping complete these various sidequests will “progress” the various towns, which at various milestones has a noticeable impact on their size and layout — and of the happiness of the people within. While many people do agree that progress is both inevitable and desirable, you will, on multiple occasions, encounter people who are less enthused about the way things are going — particularly in communities that were once quiet, rural areas steeped in tradition, comfortably living in peace without the rest of the world bothering them.

If you’ve been paying attention to Terranigma, the reason why you might have mixed feelings about the things you are doing in the game will “click” after a certain point. In the game’s introduction, we are told of the planet having a “Lightside” and a “Darkside”, with the former representing creation and the latter representing destruction — with the two sides coming to be known as “God” and “Devil” over time. (Interestingly, given that Terranigma never came out in North America, it wasn’t subject to the same censorship of religious concepts that both Soul Blazer and Illusion of Time suffered, since that prudishness was pretty much entirely down to Nintendo of America specifically.)

We learn in the introduction that Ark is from the underworld — the Darkside — and, when he steps out of the safety of his village of Crysta, he finds himself in a dark world filled with vast, mountainous peaks and fields of lava. Kind of Hell-ish, you might say. And, indeed, if you know your Shinto mythology, you will also be aware that Yomi, the name of your little companion character, is the same as that for the land of the dead — though it’s worth noting that in Shinto, this underworld is neither a paradise nor a Hell as such; it is simply a shadowy, gloomy place where the deceased go to live after their life on the surface has come to a close.

To cut a long story short, Ark is from the side of the planet regarded as “Devil”, which has long been associated with destruction rather than creation. But then why is he tasked with restoring the surface world? Simple: so that “Devil” can overcome “God” and rule the planet, rather than maintaining the eternal balance required for the world to run most effectively. And there’s no point ruling the other half of the world if there’s nothing there to rule, is there?

At several points, Ark is told that his duties are finished and left to die, but every time this happens, he is saved by someone on the light side of the planet. Consequently, and perfectly understandably, he finds himself not entirely willing to go along with the plans of the darkness at the heart of the world, instead preferring to let humanity make its own mistakes, learn its own lessons and take collective responsibility for the wellbeing of the Earth, rather than leaving it all up to an abstract concept like “God” or “Devil”.

Interestingly, in Terranigma, there is no sign of an explicitly God-like being such as The Master in Soul Blazer. There is a character who can perhaps be interpreted as God’s representative on Earth — or he could just be a very wise man — but God Himself is nowhere to be seen — other than in the hearts of those who believe in Him.

At the conclusion of Terranigma’s narrative, it is argued that Ark himself has been taking the role of a god in the way he has been shaping the development of the world — but part of the way things wrap up involves Ark reaching acceptance that in order for the world to find true balance, he must cease to exist in his current form; the world should be allowed to develop in its own way without external interference. It will probably make many mistakes along the way, and it may not end well, but that should be the collective responsibility of those on the planet, not some overseer from outside.

It’s a thought-provoking and ambitious tale, to be sure, and in many ways the somewhat ambiguous way in which it is told — notably with regard to the timeframe over which everything unfolds — helps the game’s narrative rather than hinders it. As you progress through Terranigma, there’s the real feeling that you are “living a legend”; you are, yourself, creating the mythology of this take on our world: how everything was created; how the plants, birds and animals came to be; how humanity appeared, how it grew and how it declined; and how one person attempting to take responsibility for an entire planet is inevitably recipe for disaster, no matter how much of a “genius” they might be.

So let’s talk a bit about how Terranigma plays! It’s very much an evolution of Illusion of Time’s mechanics, in many ways, though it swaps that game’s fixed progression out for a more conventional RPG experience-and-levels system.

Ark wields a spear or staff for the duration of the game, which is a distinctive choice that makes the game’s combat stand out from other action RPGs, which typically arm the hero with a sword. A simple press of the attack button causes him to poke the weapon out in front of him, with repeated taps causing him to unleash a flurry of strikes, similar to fighting game moves like Chun-Li’s Lightning Kicks or Honda’s Hundred-Hand Slap from the Street Fighter series. He can also jump and while jumping he can perform a flipping strike with the weapon that can hit enemies behind him.

Ark can run with a double-tap of a direction or by holding a button down, and while dashing he can perform either a lunge attack on the ground, or a diving attack by dashing, jumping then attacking. Different attacks are more or less effective against certain foes; some enemies cannot be damaged at all with certain strikes, for example, which means you’ll have to try the other moves in Ark’s arsenal to hit them.

Ark can also block, like in Illusion of Time, and this is primarily useful for negating damage from projectiles — though it’s also an essential move in the final boss fight as it almost completely nullifies the devastating damage from an otherwise unavoidable attack. For the most part, though, you’ll want to fight aggressively, with the dashing strike being probably the most consistently effective attack throughout most of the game.

There’s also a magic system that isn’t explained terribly well. As you explore the world of Terranigma, you’ll accumulate crystals known as Magistones, and at magic shops you can use these crystals to create rings and pins that contain various spells. Some spells are unlocked by beating important story bosses, while others will simply become available as you reach new locations.

What the game doesn’t make at all clear is that although the rings and pins you make to contain these spells are consumables, you don’t permanently lose the Magistones by creating them. In fact, after you’ve used up a ring or pin, you get the Magistones back, ready to be recharged with new spells the next time you visit a magic shop.

To be perfectly frank, I got through a good 80% of the game before realising this, and thus had been hoarding Magistones “just in case” I needed them. In fact, I reached the end of the game without casting a single spell, so one might argue that makes the entire magic system somewhat superfluous, but there are some useful abilities among them, such as removing debilitating status effects, healing and teleporting. There are, however, also items that cover most of these effects.

For the most part, Terranigma features a well-paced difficulty curve, whereby if you explore each area thoroughly, defeating rather than avoiding enemies as you go, your level progression will keep pace with the game’s challenges. There is one notable exception to this quite late in the game in the form of a boss known as Bloody Mary; some questionable balancing on this boss makes her almost impossible to damage below a certain level, and even with the progression curve I experienced on my playthrough, I found myself having to grind out an extra level in order to be able to beat her by the time I reached her.

Over the years, this encounter has proven to be quite a roadblock for many players, so I’ll save you some time and trouble: you will want to be at least level 25 by the time you complete the Sylvain Castle dungeon, otherwise you will have difficulty. If you have been thorough throughout the rest of the game, this won’t require much in the way of grinding, so simply make sure you’re killing everything you see rather than avoiding it and you should be just fine. And since combat in Terranigma is extremely satisfying — every defeated enemy explodes into a puff of smoke with an inordinately pleasing sound — this shouldn’t be an issue for all but the absolute laziest players.

Structurally, Terranigma’s progression is fairly linear, but less explicitly so than in Illusion of Time ,and more like what most people, by Terranigma’s 1995 release, would understand to be a “conventional RPG structure”. That is to say, the beginning of the game is very much on rails, but the further you get into the story, the more freedom you have, until by the end of the third chapter and the beginning of the fairly short final chapter, you can pretty much go anywhere in the world via various means.

Notably, though, there is no one means of transportation in Terranigma that allows you to go absolutely everywhere. Initially, you must proceed on foot, and rely on friendly gulls to fly you between preset locations if you, say, need to cross an ocean.

Partway through the third chapter, you have the opportunity to obtain a sailing ship, which can pick you up and drop you off at designated “port” locations on the world map. This allows you to escape the Eurasia and Africa region, where the opening of the third chapter unfolds, and get back to America, which you briefly visit while resurrecting the natural world in the second chapter.

Late in the game, you obtain access to an aircraft, but unlike many other RPGs, where the flying vehicle provides you with almost complete freedom to land pretty much anywhere, in Terranigma you can only land a plane on a designated landing strip — and there are only two of these in the game to begin with, with a third appearing if you successfully progress the town of “Suncoast” in Australia to become a popular tourist destination.

The upshot of this is that travel is never completely trivialised in Terranigma, and while this arguably doesn’t serve much from a mechanical perspective — as an action RPG, there are no random encounters on the world map — it helps to continually emphasise that the world is a large and complex place that can sometimes be difficult to get around, and even in the modern age, some places still remain (often deliberately) isolated from the bulk of humanity.

One thing Terranigma does do quite well is integrate subtle puzzles into simply getting around the world, and this concept is introduced to you from the earliest hours of the game. In one of the first towers you climb to restore the continents, you are presented with no apparent way forward; you need to continue higher, but there are no stairs, no ladders, no convenient hanging ropes. It’s not until you wander down to the southern end of the floor that you may notice one of the windows to the outside of the tower is broken, allowing you to slip through, climb up to the next floor out there, then re-enter the tower through another broken window.

This is something that is very easy to miss if you’re not prepared for this sort of thing, and I can imagine some players getting stuck at this point. Those who had the foresight to buy the game on its original release will actually find the solution to this problem in an FAQ section at the back of the manual — but given how rare and expensive original cartridges are today, chances are most people playing it now will likely be doing so without easy access to said manual, unless they had the foresight to check out a PDF beforehand.

There are a number of other environmental puzzles like this throughout the complete game, and they make exploring the various dungeons much more than simply hacking and slashing your way through all the enemies in your path. Unlike both Illusion of Time and Soul Blazer before it, Terranigma does actually provide a dungeon map feature, but honestly the maps are so vague — particularly with regard to where Ark is standing within the region of each map he’s currently in — that they are next to useless. Fortunately, for the most part the dungeons are designed intuitively enough to navigate without needing any extra guidance, offering a clear path forward plus some diversions to reward you with extra treasures along the way.

All in all, Terranigma is a great game, and its reputation as being one of the last great games for Super NES is well-deserved. If one had to pick fault, you might say that the latter hours of the narrative feel a little rushed compared to what had come before, but it’s not to such a degree that things become either incoherent or unsatisfying. Plus the whole thing wraps up in less than 20 hours, which felt like a good length for the story it wanted to tell. That might sound like an odd thing to say, given that said story effectively encompasses “the dawn of existence up to the potential twilight and subsequent new dawn of humanity”, but it’s true. Terranigma would not have been a significantly better game were it to be two or three times longer.

As it stands, this is an eminently worthwhile use of your time if you enjoy solid action RPG mechanics with a bit of depth to them, a satisfyingly ambitious narrative with incredible scope, and, of course, beautiful 16-bit pixel art and music. While it’s either near-impossible or ludicrously expensive to pick up an original copy of this today, I would firmly encourage any of you who enjoy this sort of thing to find a means of playing Terranigma. You won’t regret the time you spend with it; only, like me, the amount of time you let elapse before you finally played it through seriously.

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More about Terranigma

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Want more Pete? Check my personal blog I’m Not Doctor Who, and my YouTube channel ThisIsPete. If you enjoy what you read here, please consider buying me a coffee.

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