ActRaiser 2
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| ActRaiser 2 | |
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| Developer(s) | Quintet Co., Ltd. |
| Publisher(s) | Enix Corporation |
| Release date(s) | JPN October 29, 1993 NA November, 1993 |
| Genre(s) | Platform game |
| Mode(s) | Single Player |
| Platform(s) | Super Nintendo Entertainment System |
| Media | Cartridge |
ActRaiser 2, originally released in Japan as Actraiser 2: Chinmoku heno Seisen (アクトレイザー2 沈黙への聖戦 Akutoreizā 2 Chinmoku heno Seisen?, lit. Actraiser 2: The Holy War of Silence), is a side-scrolling platform game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console developed by Quintet Co., Ltd. and published by the Enix Corporation (now Square Enix Co., Ltd.) in 1993 and is the sequel to the popular game ActRaiser. The game tells a story that parallels the famous religious epics Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno.
The position of ActRaiser 2 in the series timeline is not explicitly revealed, however many plot details suggest that ActRaiser 2 may actually be a prequel to the original ActRaiser, or take place in another universe entirely.
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[edit] Story
The game begins with the universe over-run with evil, with The Master battling with Tanzra. Tanzra, once The Master's servant, lead a rebellion against The Master, but lost and was banished from Heaven.
Ripped and torn, the slain body of Tanzra fell to the underworld. Feeding on the intense hatred each held for The Master, Tanzra's seven deadly sins and their minions combined their power to raise the spirit of their mighty leader. Tanzra, now vowing revenge for his defeat by The Master, unleashed these demons upon the world. The player in this game assumes the role of The Master, aided by an angel associate known as Crystalis.
Some of the stages in the game are meant to be ironic regarding the blighting nature of Tanzra's demons. The townsmen in the city of Leon are sent to the underground prison of Gratis for not paying their taxes by a newly appointed king named Kolunikus who is afflicted by Greed. The final staged level of the game pits the player against a mechanically engineered god in the city of Humbleton, a battle of Pride (a satire on the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel).
After the player slays the first six deadly sins, the Tower of Babel appears in which you fight the final sin, Pride. You then descend into Hell where you again fight the seven sins again as well as Tanzra himself, a beast frozen waist-deep in a lake of ice (just as Satan was in Dante's Inferno).
During the game's credits it is declared that "The Master will live forever", followed by an image of the statue of The Master slowly eroding over time. The statue's sword and right wing fall off, suggesting the growth of civilization and the increase of mankind's self-sufficiency. This reflects the ending of the original ActRaiser, where the servant speculates that someday the world may be so independent that it will forget about the Master.
[edit] Gameplay
Whereas ActRaiser combined platforming with simulation, ActRaiser 2 is solely a side-scrolling platform game. This was disappointing to many gamers who felt that the varying styles of gameplay found in ActRaiser lent the game originality. As a side-scroller, the game was known to be very difficult, even if the game was set to the easy mode.
While the visuals were commended, the gameplay and controls were considered flawed. Many found the Master to be hard to control, especially when trying to glide or avoid attacks. The first level of the game was unusually difficult, with several challenging jumps. In addition, the level was lengthy considering that a death resulted in a return to the beginning. These factors made the game rather inaccessible for many mainstream gamers.
However, despite the steep learning curve, the play control and combat mechanics were much more sophisticated than in the action segments in the original game (for example, allowing you to swing your sword up, and thus hit enemies not directly in front of you), and some consider it to be on par with the original.
The European version is a much easier game, with the Normal setting being the equivalent of the Easy setting in the US version.
[edit] Religious references
Many elements of the religious epics Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno are referenced in this game. In the original Japanese version, The Master is known as God and Tanzra is called Satan. Nintendo of America changed the religious names, as they often did prior to the ESRB rating system.
The following demon names were changed in the North American version:
- Sloth (USA: Fatigue)
- Envy (USA: Jealousy)
- Gluttony (USA: Gluttony)
- Wrath (USA: Fury)
- Lust (USA: Deception)
- Greed (USA: Doom)
- Pride (USA: Destruction)
"Gluttony" is the only Demon that retains the same name as the Japanese version.
The first six deadly sins are manifested as Demons. The last sin, "Pride", does not actually have a demon representaton. Instead, it is represented by a newly-built "Tower of Souls" (similar to the Tower of Babel), built as an attempt by the people of Humbleton to reach Heaven and prove their technological superiority to the Master. It could be argued that the clockwork boss at the top of the tower is powered by the actual demon representing Pride.
