ActRaiser 2
Encyclopedia
ActRaiser 2, released in Japan as , is a side-scrolling platform game
for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
video game console
developed by Quintet
and published by Enix
(now Square Enix
) in 1993 and is the sequel to the popular game ActRaiser
. The game tells a story that draws concepts from the famous religious epics Paradise Lost
and Divine Comedy.
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.
Unlike the original game, which alternately combined platform game sequences and god game
sequences, ActRaiser 2 is only a platform game.
, with heightened challenge and peril.
The side-scrolling action for ActRaiser 2 is far more advanced than its predecessor. Controlling the Master, who now has a full set of functional wings, the player must navigate through dungeons and avoid certain peril by jumping, flying, falling, and floating to platforms. Armed only with a sword, and a shield which can deflect some attacks, the Master becomes heavily dependent upon magic. Magic is executed by holding down the designated button to "charge up" and is then released, consuming a magic scroll which are limited when the Master enters an area. When released, the magic may take various form depending on which position the Master is in. This is different from the first ActRaiser in which the player had to select a particular magic before descending down to the world to fight monsters and was limited to only that magic for the duration of battle. In ActRaiser 2, each magic is designed for particular situations and some magic is more powerful than others. By increasing the difficulty level at the options screen, the time it takes to "charge up" magic is increased, adding more difficulty to the game. The game's difficulty is also increased in that monsters require much more damage to be destroyed. On the hardest difficulty the game can prove to be quite challenging and has increased replay value.
overrun with evil
, with the Master battling with Tanzra. Tanzra, once the Master's servant, led a rebellion against him, 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 (meaning 'free without charge' or referring to nadie entra gratis: 'no one enters for free') 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 reference to the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel).
After the player slays the first six deadly sins, the Tower of Babel
appears in which he fights the final sin, Pride
. The player then descends into Hell
where he again fights the seven sins as well as Tanzra himself, a beast frozen waist-deep in a lake of ice (just as Satan was in the Inferno in The Divine Comedy).
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.
In May 2008, Fumiaki Shiraishi, the lead programmer for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
, noted in an interview that he would like to make an ActRaiser sequel.
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
developed by Quintet
Quintet (game developer)
is a Japanese video game developer, founded in 1987 or 1989. The company name is derived from musical terminology, as well as 5 elements of game design - planning, graphics, sound, programmers, and producers...
and published by Enix
Enix
The was a Japanese company that produced video games, anime and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as and renamed Enix in 1982...
(now Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
) in 1993 and is the sequel to the popular game ActRaiser
ActRaiser
is a 1990 Super Nintendo Entertainment System action and city-building simulation game developed by Quintet and published by Enix that combines traditional side-scrolling platforming with urban planning god game sections. A sequel, ActRaiser 2, was released for the Super Nintendo in 1993...
. The game tells a story that draws concepts from the famous religious epics Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
and Divine Comedy.
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
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
to the original ActRaiser, or take place in another universe entirely.
Unlike the original game, which alternately combined platform game sequences and god game
God game
A god game is an artificial life game that casts the player in the position of controlling the game on a large scale, as an entity with divine/supernatural powers, as a great leader, or with no specified character , and places them in charge of a game setting containing autonomous characters to...
sequences, ActRaiser 2 is only a platform game.
Gameplay
Gameplay for ActRaiser 2 consists primarily with side-scrolling platform action. The player, assuming the role of "the Master", controls a floating palace to inspect the people of the world below. After hearing their plight the Master descends to the world below to fight the monsters and rid the land of evil. Each area contains two "acts". The first act of an area consists of monsters spawned from a lesser demon named after an unfavorable condition. The second act consists of monsters spawned from the primary evil, named after one of the seven deadly sinsSeven deadly sins
The 7 Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of objectionable vices that have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin...
, with heightened challenge and peril.
The side-scrolling action for ActRaiser 2 is far more advanced than its predecessor. Controlling the Master, who now has a full set of functional wings, the player must navigate through dungeons and avoid certain peril by jumping, flying, falling, and floating to platforms. Armed only with a sword, and a shield which can deflect some attacks, the Master becomes heavily dependent upon magic. Magic is executed by holding down the designated button to "charge up" and is then released, consuming a magic scroll which are limited when the Master enters an area. When released, the magic may take various form depending on which position the Master is in. This is different from the first ActRaiser in which the player had to select a particular magic before descending down to the world to fight monsters and was limited to only that magic for the duration of battle. In ActRaiser 2, each magic is designed for particular situations and some magic is more powerful than others. By increasing the difficulty level at the options screen, the time it takes to "charge up" magic is increased, adding more difficulty to the game. The game's difficulty is also increased in that monsters require much more damage to be destroyed. On the hardest difficulty the game can prove to be quite challenging and has increased replay value.
Plot
The game begins with the universeUniverse
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
overrun with evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
, with the Master battling with Tanzra. Tanzra, once the Master's servant, led a rebellion against him, but lost and was banished
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
from Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
.
Ripped and torn, the slain body of Tanzra fell to the underworld
Underworld
The Underworld is a region which is thought to be under the surface of the earth in some religions and in mythologies. It could be a place where the souls of the recently departed go, and in some traditions it is identified with Hell or the realm of death...
. 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
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
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 (meaning 'free without charge' or referring to nadie entra gratis: 'no one enters for free') 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
Pride
Pride is an inwardly directed emotion that carries two common meanings. With a negative connotation, pride refers to an inflated sense of one's personal status or accomplishments, often used synonymously with hubris...
(a reference to the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel).
After the player slays the first six deadly sins, the Tower of Babel
Tower of Babel
The Tower of Babel , according to the Book of Genesis, was an enormous tower built in the plain of Shinar .According to the biblical account, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar, where...
appears in which he fights the final sin, Pride
Pride
Pride is an inwardly directed emotion that carries two common meanings. With a negative connotation, pride refers to an inflated sense of one's personal status or accomplishments, often used synonymously with hubris...
. The player then descends into Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
where he again fights the seven sins as well as Tanzra himself, a beast frozen waist-deep in a lake of ice (just as Satan was in the Inferno in The Divine Comedy).
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.
Reception and legacy
The game sold about 180,000 copies worldwide, with 40,000 copies sold in Japan and Europe respectively and 100,000 sold in the USA.In May 2008, Fumiaki Shiraishi, the lead programmer for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King is a video game developed for the WiiWare service of the Nintendo Wii console by Square Enix...
, noted in an interview that he would like to make an ActRaiser sequel.