(written on 12/1/23) By Depths

^ thats me!

So! Actraiser! absolute snes classic

Releasing originally in japan on december 16th 1990, and later releasing as a snes launch title for north america in november 1991.
This game has a lot to prove, mainly just how much can the snes handle? and it sureee goes for it!
But before we get into the game itself its worth noting i am playing the north american release of the game,
This version of the game removes a lot of the religious subtext, and messes with the game difficulty.
But yeah! lets get into it!

^ overworld map

So, The plot, your "the master" (god in the other versions of the game) and monsters have taken over the land, please save humanity, it works, its nice!,
its interesting to see a game where your god on a nintendo console (context in the 80s and early 90s nintendo of america
was against any sort of religion in there games out of fear of backlash)

then the game actually starts with this really cool overworld map, It uses the SNES's Mode 7 feature,
basically it allows them to scale/rotate in all directions the background layer, and its *cool*
its also worth noting that you can see the towns you make on the overworld map?? like you can see every house you make?? it keeps track of it all??
its really fucking cool!!!
In terms of the actual gameplay though while yes your able to move all around in this overworld for the most part this game is really linear?
while yes you can go back to levels you've already unlocked to grow the town some more (the bigger your towns are the more health you get)
the order in which you do each area is linear, and i wish i had more freedom in selecting what area to do.

^ The final action platform level in the game

So you've selected a area, this will start up a action platformer level!, it controls about how you'd expect, decent mid air control, can duck, shortish attack range,
pretty typical stuff, whats less typical is the level design? so they give you *a lot* of health, way too much in my opinion
(like i had 21? hit points by the end of the game) and well, how do you add difficulty to a game where the player has to get hit 22 times to die?
you add in multiple moves/enemies that are unavoidable!
overall this isnt that big of a deal, this games pretty easy, but if your used to stuff like castlevania
where you really gotta figure out each room and play perfect, your not gonna get that here, perfect doesnt exist here. its fine! just not as satisfiying as it could be.

^ the final levels boss (though not the final boss, more on that later)

so now you've made it to the end of a action platforming section, its time for a Boss fight!, I really like the boss art in this game!
they all look really nice!, though overall i was really disappointed in these boss fights
its the same sort of problems as the levels, like for example
the ice dragon thing (pictured above) has a swoop attack that takes up nearly the full screen and does 2? hitpoints of damage to you,
though during this move its possible & easy to deal 4 hitpoints of damage to the boss. you do the math.
its easier to just keep swinging your sword and take every hit than to actually learn the boss fight, its one of those things that isnt *bad*
it just could of been done a lot better. its also worth noting not every boss is like this!, just most lol..

^ city building

alright, the action platforming sections might be a bit disappointing, but you beat the boss, and onto the next part of the area! the city builder!
yeah! actraiser is a weird one! going from the fast paced action platforming genre to the slower paced chilled out city builder genre.
on top of that we also have loose shoot'em up mechanics during these city building sections.

so your goal, theres multiple enemy spawners, build your town to those enemy spawners so the people can destroy them
you'll do this by using the weather to clear a path (like lightning on trees to clear them) and simply telling the towns people what way to build.
while your doing all of that though enemy's will try and kill your towns people & destroy there buildings, you can shoot at them to kill them.
you can also take damage yourself but if you "die" all that happens is you wont be able to shoot for a minute or so.
last mechanic to talk about is the more people who live in your towns the higher your level will be, the higher your level the more health you have.

^ pew pew

yeah! as you might of been able to catch onto these city building sections are *really* simple, you dont get to pick what gets built, just where.
this does help these sections feel shockingly fast paced for being a city builder,
but overall its still a really chill time of just waiting for your people to build lol,

I do wish these sections had more depth to them though, like, maybe you could pick to focus on farming and that would give you health items for the action sections,
or have the town grow around blacksmithing and unlock better weapons, yknow just, a bit more depth,
but with how it is, your only decision is how much time do you want to spend watching your town grow, the bigger it grows the more health you get
and with the action levels forcing you to take hits it barely feels like a *choice* to get more health, its something you have to do.

So! you've cleared all the enemy spawners! after that you'll do another action platformer level & boss,
then your done with that area! repeat this process six times and onto the final boss we go!

Thats Right! its a boss rush! of half the bosses in the game PLUS a new,, final boss!...
so uh, they made the bosses attacks faster/harder to avoid,, i tried doing this boss rush legit,, didnt work,, then resorted to just standing still and spamming the attack,,,
and it worked a lot better lmao, yeah having to do all these bosses back to back really just exposed how flawed they all feel, lol, then uh,
i did the same thing to the final boss, on my first attempt getting to him and won lmao.

^ final boss

Thats ActRaiser! it sure is a video game! I'd give it a solid 7.5/10, Its a pretty fast paced game
its pretty easy, and pretty short (about 6 hours), while yeah, it has its problems, and could of been a lot better, it still has a lot of charm.
*also just how unique it is* I'd recommend this game really to anyone who wants a nice fast paced, but chill time.

(Click to go back to the SNES reviews page)

(psst) as you'd guess the music playing is all from the actraiser ost