I first heard about Illusion of Gaia from a Nintendo video kiosk in Wal-Mart. Does anyone still remember those? While my parents shopped I would press the buttons to watch all of the available videos. I had already been a fan of role playing games for a few years by the time clips of Illusion of Gaia were available to watch on these. I was immediately impressed with what I was seeing, and because my little brother’s birthday was sooner than mine this was one of those moments where I dedicated every waking minute into talking him into asking for it. I didn’t even realize at the time that this was a spiritual successor to Soul Blazer which to this day is still one of my most favorite video games of all time. We both loved Illusion of Gaia, and recently I found that very cartridge I so strategically talked my brother into asking for. I popped it in, and what do you know? I was a kid again loving every minute of this classic action based RPG.
The story here takes place in an alternate fantasy world that shares features with our own. Sure, you’ll find ruins and structures that exist in reality (such as the Great Wall of China, Egyptian Pyramids, Angkor Wat and more) but they aren’t exactly the same. The story takes place in an age of exploration with limited technology. The protagonist is a young boy named Will who traveled with his father to mysterious ruins known as the tower of Babel a few years before this story starts. Unfortunately he can’t remember exactly what happened there, and is the only one from the expedition who returned home to the town of South Cape. Oh and did I mention that he now has the inexplicable ability of telekinesis because that’s important. Well, not to the story so much, but I’ll get to that later. Will is now for the most part an ordinary youth being raised by his grandparents, attending school, and hanging out with his friends. A chance encounter with a portal leading him to a being called Gaia changes the course of his life one day as does the appearance of a princess from the nearby castle. Will learns that a comet that will cause mass destruction is approaching the planet, and the only way to stop it is by gathering six mystic statues hidden throughout the world. With that information Will and friends (as well as the aforementioned princess) set out to save the planet.
I must admit this right away; the story takes some inexplicably weird twists. It starts off innocently enough but there are several moments that still strike me as odd. In addition this game is far more dark than its colorful aesthetic would lead you to believe. The themes touched upon here include child slavery, evolution, the afterlife, and more. As a child I remember being creeped out a little at some of the areas you explore and the dialogue that is exchanged, and to this day I’m still shocked it ever passed through Nintendo’s strict censorship tendencies at the time. With that out of the way let’s get to the gameplay. Illusion of Gaia is an overhead two dimensional action RPG that is often compared to Zelda. I can’t completely disagree with this, but Gaia has enough elements that ensure it isn’t a mere copycat. Will features a life bar at the top of the screen, and his main weapon is a flute. It can’t be directly upgraded, but the game has a unique workaround that I’ll get to later. There’s no experience point system, and instead one of your main attributes (health, strength, and defense) is chosen at random to be upgraded each time you clear a room of all enemies. This is a unique approach to the established formula, and I really like how it rewards the more thorough players. What’s also interesting is that you gain lives by collecting gems dropped by defeated enemies. As long as you have a spare life you will continue from where you left off should Will be drained of health. When you’re out you must start the current dungeon over from the very beginning.
The dungeon designs are truly spectacular, and the game does a fantastic job of easing players into the more difficult sections. In the beginning you’re generally tasked with defeating all enemies, or merely hitting a switch to open up the way forward. Immediately however you’re introduced to Will’s ability to transform while in the dark gates distributed through various towns and at key points in dungeons. The first form he can change into is Freedan a blonde haired knight that has a more powerful attack that can reach farther. The last character Will can turn into is Shadow who can shapeshift, but he isn’t unlocked until the final stretch of the story. What’s particularly interesting is the fact that within the dungeons specific gates will teach one of the three forms a new move. Will can spin into a tornado, slide under holes etc. whereas Freedan can eventually use a projectile attack, and even cause small earthquakes. Like I said earlier you don’t gain use of Shadow until the story is almost over, but he can morph into an ooze and travel through cracks in the ground, and even fire high powered projectiles at foes. These various skills are often required to progress through specific places in dungeons, and you’ll constantly need to switch your character. It may sound tedious, and sometimes it can be, but I really do like the transformation dynamic.
Illusion of Gaia is immediately misleading. Because the aesthetics are extremely colorful you expect kid friendly fare, but that’s certainly not the case. The environments are vibrant and highly detailed by Super Nintendo standards. Often you’re looking for a mere visual clue, and it’s nice that the developers took the time to really make the graphics pop. The animations are also very well done. Most of Will’s different attacks feature different drawings which shows a nice attention to detail. The enemy designs are my favorite part of this game’s graphics though. Each area features new creatures that are hardly recycled here. What’s more is the fact that there’s very little to no slowdown even when the screen is cluttered with enemies. The soundtrack is even more impressive. The composer, Yasuhiro Kawasaki, did an incredible job with the instrumentation. It’s hard to believe that the entire soundtrack is limited to mere chip tunes because I can almost swear I hear real flute notes in many of the melodies. The music is simply incredible.
For some reason Illusion of Gaia isn’t referenced as much as Soul Blazer or Terranigma. The story writers definitely tried something a little different here, and I absolutely love the tale they weave with it. It also doesn’t hurt that you have one of the greatest video game soundtracks to accompany the action as well as some of the best designed dungeons you’ll find even today. Illusion of Gaia deserves better status than just being ‘the other one’ of the trilogy. Had it just been released a few years later it would be more acclaimed.
