| Monstania | |
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Cover art image of Monstania |
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| Developer(s) | Bits Laboratory |
| Publisher(s) | Pack-In-Video |
| Platform(s) | SNES |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Tactical RPG |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Media/distribution | Cartridge |
Monstania is a tactical role-playing video game released for the SNES in 1996 by Pack-In-Video.[1] This game was never released in North America, although fans have translated its ROM.[2][3] The game is relatively short compared to other games in the genre.[3]
Contents |
Monstania is a simple tactical RPG. The player can control two characters in battle, switching between them.[3] Characters can attack, defend, use items, heal, or use special techniques unique to each character. Recovering and techniques costs Ability Points (AP), which can be restored with items, standing still for a turn, or having the other character take an action. Every battle is story related and typically ends when either all the monsters are defeated or the characters reach a certain spot on the stage. Some stages require puzzles to be solved and do not have enemies, such as switch pressing or floor cleaning stages.
Monstania takes place on the fictional continent Monstania. This continent features several different types of topography, including deserts, mountains, and forests. There are islands around Monstania, as well as the Mainland, although the characters never visit the Mainland.
Monstania used to be a home to the fairies, as had the Mainland, but the humans who lived there unknowingly drove them out. Currently, this is happening in Monstania, which is now sinking, a process sped up by Barambat.
The story follows Fron and his childhood girlfriend Tia as they journey through their homeland of Monstania. Fron, in search of fairies, meets Chitta, a fairy, while she is being pursued by Tania and Barambat, the game's primary antagonists. While exploring some nearby ruins, the group finds a mysterious blue stone, which seems to be related to Chitta and Tania and Barambat seem to be after it.
Chitta disappears after a few encounters with Tania and Barambat and Fron and Tia visit her grandfather on Pascal Island for clues about the stone, but he does not have any information for them. upon returning, the two meet Marx, Tania's brother. He helps fron and Tia defeat his sister, but is injured. Tia stays behind with him while Fron searches for Chitta.
Fron makes his way to Snowt, a large city on Monstania that always has snow. The town is overrun by berserk spirits and Fron has to fight his way to the castle, where he asks for permission to travel to Diamond Mountain, a sacred place that Chitta has gone to. Tia, worried, reunites with Fron and together they climb Diamond Mountain without permission. At the top, they find Chitta and Barambat, who is revealed to have once been a fairy who turned human to become more powerful and now wishes to cause the sinking of Monstania. Frustrated, Barambat admits that he would rather watch his old home sink than let the humans live there. Chitta and Fron defeat Barambat, who transforms into a grotesque ceature before being sealed in another world. The fairies approach Fron and Tia and inform them that they can no longer live on Monstania because the stone had been broken.