Collection essentials #199: Illusion of Gaia (SNES)

One of my favorite games from childhood, one that I got for Christmas of 1994, the very cartridge shown in the photo, complete with the "Sam" sticker on it (though the rest of the materials in the photo were reacquired as an adult).

Illusion of Gaia is classified as an action RPG, though it’s very light on the RPG elements, and in practice it plays more like an action adventure game like Zelda. You do have statistics, but rather than gaining experience points and leveling up, you grow stronger by defeating all enemies in a given room, which grants a permanent stat increase. There’s no money or equippable weapons and armor as you would normally see in an RPG or even Zelda.

The setting of this game is a fantasy version of Earth around the middle of the previous millennium, with many real-life locations that are visited such as the Great Wall of China and Angkor Wat. But it’s clear early on that this game is not anything close to realistic, as the main character (a boy named Will) gets warped to some other dimension called “Dark Space” where the mysterious Gaia tells him he has special powers. He is given a mission to travel the world collecting mystic statues, and eventually he must thwart an evil comet approaching the earth. Will is accompanied on his travels by his friends who he meets at the beginning of the game, though they serve no gameplay purpose and do not accompany Will into dungeons. I think the story is pretty good (albeit strange at times) and has some memorable moments, though the game probably could have received a better translation. It’s not the worst of this era and at least there aren’t obviously grammatical errors, but the game probably could benefit from a more well-written script.

What’s most important is that this game is really fun to play. In most of the game’s dungeons, you’re able to transform into this really cool knight named Freedan, who’s an adult, has a big sword and deals more damage than Will. There’s a third character you can play as in the last two dungeons of the game, too. Most of the time you’ll want to be Freedan, but all three characters have their own unique abilities that you’ll need or want at various times. These abilities can be used for navigation, puzzle solving, combat, or some combination. While the dungeons do have puzzles, they’re not quite as puzzle-centric as Zelda games, and combat is more Illusion of Gaia’s specialty. It’s not as much of an exploration-centered game as Zelda either, as early-game areas can’t be revisited after a certain point, and there’s only one real sidequest that involves collecting 50 red jewels scattered throughout the game to unlock a bonus dungeon.

The developers did an excellent job designing all the different areas in this game. Every location you visit (particularly dungeons) is very unique and distinct, making everything more memorable. While I wouldn’t call the soundtrack among the very best in the SNES library, it still does an effective job at setting the mood in each locale and situation. Enemies and bosses are well varied and can be quite challenging. 

I also own the Japanese version, seen in the photo, and though I don’t quite consider it essential, there are some interesting differences including a boss whose appearance was changed. There’s a third version of the game I would really like to have. Some countries in Europe received a large-box release that came with a strategy guide included. I would LOVE to have the Spanish release, as it looks really beautiful. It’s really expensive, though, and not practical to import, so I’m not sure if I’m actually going to get it.

How good is Illusion of Gaia on the whole? It’s honestly hard for me to evaluate this game objectively because it’s one of the video games that I have the very most nostalgia for, being one of the first I ever beat. I’d say it’s probably not one of the absolute top games on the console due to there being so much competition, but it is well above average and definitely worth playing. For me, definitely one of the very top essentials in the entire collection.