Terranigma - A Retrospective

Written 26th July 2006

Well, this year marks 10 years since the release of Terranigma, back in '96. I don't think I actually saw it on the shelves of the department store and purchased it until some time in early '97 but in any case, this masterpiece from the guys at Quintet, Japan has been in existance for close to a decade now.

Which makes me wonder: Where are all the Quintet people nowadays, the very ones who developed it? Are they still in the games industry? Throughout the past year, in 2005, I remember thinking from time to time, "This time, ten years ago, somewhere in a building in Japan, a group of people were perfecting the lands, the levels, the artwork, the story and the music that would become Terranigma." Yeah, this game kind of had an impact on me. Not only was it the first and favourite console RPG I'd ever played, but easily sits within my favourite 5 games of all time.

So here's how I recall my first experience of the game, right from the day I got it: back in early '97, I was given some money from my Mum to go and buy a new game for our family's Super NES at the local department store. That is when I noticed a new, interesting-looking box on the shelf, 'Terranigma'. When I picked up that box and looked at the back and read the blurb, and checked out the screenshots, I thought "Hmm this doesn't sound too bad", little did I know what an awesome game I had just scored.

My initial opinion of the game, when you start off in the village of Crysta, was "I don't know what to do. This game is kind of boring." Funnily, it was my Mum who figured out what to do next that causes the chain of events that begins the adventure.

I remember it clearly: The Elder showed me the revealed gate from the village to the outside world and I could feel mild anticipation building up, of what may lie beyond. The moment I stepped outside into the inverse-curved, inner earth landscape of Icy, crystalline mountain ranges, flat ashen grey plains and glowing seas of molten lava, I was blown away with excitement at this sudden, strange new world that was opened up for me to explore. And the epic, bell-tolling orchestration only further created the feeling something massive was just beginning. At this stage I had to stop playing for the day and turn it off, needless to say I couldn't wait until next time I played.

Then there was the ancient, creature-infested towers, that truly had a sense of mystique about them, indeed the whole game did, especially being greeted by that enchanting magirock theme every time you go to select your saved game when you turn it on. Knowing that there was 5 towers, thinking number 5 was the end of the whole game, I rember being disappointed, that it was a compelling, albeit fairly short game.

Of course, as soon as I found out I still had yet to venture to the surface side of the Earth and 'begin' my journey there, that was when the scope of the game blew me away. Plus I was relieved I wasn't almost finished just yet, after all.

Then, once you've carried out your epic quest of resurrecting life, humankind and civilization on the Earth, making numerous friends (and some enemies) along the way, when you go off alone to face the final battle, it is a strange, disconcerting, lonely confrontation, though epic all the same.

With the bittersweet ending after the battle, leading into the game credits, this was the one and only time where a game had ever made me all teary-eyed. I'm sure the awesome soundtrack was a large part of it, plus the whole sentiment of spending months, adventuring through this game and it had finally come to an ending that was both happy and quite sad.

And because of all this, I have felt compelled to replay the game all the way through again numerous times since, at least once every year or two. I guess it comes down to you, playing the game and judging for yourself. In my opinion it is definitely a case of it gets better, and far more involving, as you progress along.

It's one of those games I have always fancied the idea of Enix (or 'Squeenix') could and perhaps should remake. In 3D, but in the same top-down kind of view of the original and keeping the classic big-head, big-eyed manga-styled characters, and of course the same music.

But would it really be the same? The fact that Terranigma as we know and played it was in the traditional, now dated looking 2D graphics, proves that the appeal to the game, as with any classic, goes far beyond the graphics or the power of the system it was made for. Would updated graphics enhance the experience? Would we feel the same nostalgia as playing the original, but at the same time feeling the new graphics being the icing on the cake? Or would we have the unavoidable feeling of "Yeah, this is good, but it's just not the same as playing the original." Maybe those dated graphics and music synthesis is part of what we hold to our memories of playing it originally.

On the other hand, a remake could introduce the game to be enjoyed and appreciated by a whole new audience. But, unfortunately, since a remake of Chrono-Trigger (a far wider released and therefore better known game) is unlikely enough, the odds of Terranigma being officially remade is near zero.

Plus, ten years down the track, it is unlikely many (if any) of the original Quintet team members would be involved, having moved on to other things both in and out of the videogame industry. This would suggest the 'feel' of the game would somehow be different, straying from the original directors, writers and artists vision.

Also consider that people have tried to remake a 3D version of 'Chrono Trigger' on at least two separate occasions over the years, only to be politely forced to stop by Square-Enix before they were even close to completion, but there is no evidence that they are going to officially remake it anyway, so with a Terra remake, it looks like we'll probably never know for sure.

I contacted someone in from Square-Enix regarding the possibility of a Terranigma remake back in 2003 and got the typical, vague response along the lines of "We have no plans to remake this title, but thankyou for your concern."