Energy Breaker

Energy Breaker

Cover art
Developer(s) Neverland Co.
Publisher(s) Taito (JP)
Designer(s) Osamu Watanabe
Akihiro Suzuki
Composer(s) Yukio Nakajima[1]
Yasunori Shiono
Yuusei Yamamoto
Platform(s) Super Famicom
Release date(s)
  • JP July 26, 1996
Genre(s) Tactical RPG with isometric graphics
Mode(s) Single-player
Distribution SNES cartridge

Energy Breaker (エナジーブレイカー Enajī Bureikā) is a Japanese tactical role-playing game developer by Neverland Co. for the Super Famicom video game console and published in Japan by Taito Corporation in 1996. It was awarded 30 out of 40 points in a review by Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu.[2] The game was not released outside of Japan officially, although a complete translation patch was released by fans on 23 September 2012.[3]

Setting and plot

Energy Breaker is set on a small, fictitious island called Zamlia. There are a few hints that Zamlia exists on the world that the Lufia series takes place in; namely, the presence of Priphea flowers, some terminology and conventions, an obtainable sword named after the Dual Blade, and a cameo by Lufia and Roman in the ending.

The story begins with Myra, a 21-year-old girl who has lost her memory. She keeps having dreams warning that she must hurry to avert a catastrophe. After visiting Selphia, a fortune-teller who has just come to the town Myra lives in, Myra gets a lead on her identity when she is told to seek out a man called Leon, the "Whirlwind General" in a nearby forest cave known as the Eltois Forest. She is then gifted a jewel called the Emerald of Light. While looking for Leon, she runs into a local scientist and inventor, Lenardo, and his robot assistant Gulliver. She then comes to join him on his adventure to find a flower called the Reincarnation that can bring the dead back to life.

After their adventures in Eltois, Selphia gives Lenardo another jewel: the Sapphire of Light. As Myra and Lenardo travel on, they cross paths with foes such as Parasite, the General of Hellfire and Limitz, the Twilight General, who are on a mission to capture the jewels given to them by Selphia.

Characters

Main characters

Non-Player Characters

Gameplay

The game is something of a hybrid of tactical RPGs and standard role-playing video games, in that between battles the player can explore towns and cities freely. Exploration is rewarded by the many items hidden around the island.

Battles take place on the same screen they are initiated, and are played out across a grid. The majority of battles are scripted, but returning to the site of a previous battle may cause it to start again as a random battle.

The distance a character can travel and the actions they can take in battle are determined by Balance (Bal), which recharges every turn. However, if the character has taken damage, their Bal will not recharge fully, limiting what they can do in the following turn. At first characters can only use a basic physical attack, but come to learn new attacks and magic through items scattered throughout the game and by accumulating Energy. On levelling up, the player is prompted to assign a point to one of eight Energy columns, being those for light and dark water, wind, fire, and earth. The moves available to a character at any time are determined by their Energy distribution.

When talking to NPCs, the player can choose which attitude to approach with and which questions to ask. However, the system is very basic and the attitude used rarely makes a difference to the conversation.

Art

References

  1. ↑ "Soundtrack Information". SNESmusic.org.
  2. ↑ 名作ソフト/1996年
  3. ↑ "Energy Breaker Translation Project". 23 September 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2012.

External links

Reviews