Game

So, NES RPGs, huh? I’ve been playing a lot of them recently. There’s a lot of really popular ones out there, like Mother, Final Fantasy, the Dragon Quest series… but what about the more obscure ones? Like, ones that didn’t come out over here? So continuing my NES RPG dive, I decided to check out this game, Lagrange Point, a prety obscure late-era NES Konami RPG. Although, there MAY be some of you who HAVE heard of this game… It has one thing that really, really sets it apart from everything else. Let’s talk about the VRC7 to start.

So, most NES games use a 4-channel chiptune sound system, right? I don’t know EXACTLY how that works, I’m not a sound engineer, but I get the general idea. And also, most NES games use mappers, right? These are chips that go on the cart that change the specs of the system, giving more video ram and other such things. What if we put them together…? Well, we get some mappers that also change the music/sound capabilities of the NES, most notably in Konami’s own Castlevania 3. The Japanese version of the game used the VRC6 chip, which allowed things like bank switching and gave three additional sound channels. It really helps make a fuller sound. Gimmick also had something similar, again, only in Japan. Konami wasn’t done, however, and invented the VRC7 chip. In addition to its usual mapper capabilities, the VRC7 produces 6 channels of 2-operator FM Synthesis audio. Now, what does that mean? Well, it’ll make more sense if I say it’s basically a slightly cut up Yamaha YM2413, which was the sound chip used on the Master System and the MSX. Instead of the 9 channels of the normal chip, this one produces 6. Which is still more than the 4 the NES can usually produce. And on top of that, it’s SYNTH, not chip tune, so it produeces a COMPLETELY unique sound.

This game is the ONLY game that uses the VRC7 in this way. The chip was also in Tiny Toon Adventures 2, but was never used for music, just its usual Mapper stuff, so this is the only NES game with synthesis audio. This music has more in common with the Genesis than it does NES, or even SNES. It is EXTREMELy unique, and the music itself is really damn good, too. If this game is known for anything, it’s that. That’s its main claim to fame. And most people just listen to the OST and leave it at that, but I wanted to know what the game’s actual deal was. So I dove in.

Game

Lagrange Point is a pretty typical JRPG in a sci-fi setting. It’s quite similar in vibes to Phantasy Star. Taking place on a space station set up in the Lagrange Point, the point of gravitational equilibrium between the moon and the earth, you play as Gene, a young pilot who works for a rescue team who are sent to the station after things go silent. Turns out, a coup has taken place. Basically, there was a doctor who determined that human-caused climate change was going to make the planet entirely unlivable within the next several years. He decided that the only way to save the Human race was to use bio-engineering and mutagents to mutate them into a higher form of being. Okay, that makes sense so far. …aaand then he declares himself The Bio Kaiser and sets up a violent fascist regime, killing everyone who isn’t loyal to him and trying to rule space and the Earth. Okay, you lost me. I don’t really see why that second part needed to happen, doc, you could have just tried to help people instead. But what do I know?

You’re one of the only survivors of your squad, and now you join the resistance to stop the Bio Kaiser. Along the way you’ll do chores and help out the different cities and people on this station, until finally you confront the Kaiser himself and take him out, thus saving the day. Uh, I guess we’ll forget the “the world is ending” thing. That’s not important.

Game

The story isn’t super interesting, though it has some little moments that really stand out. It feels kind of like a step between NES and SNES RPGs, where the story doesn’t really matter and it’s about the big adventure and exploring, but we also get a few cutscenes and characters that really set the tone. There’s a guy who hounds you the entire time, that feels more SNES-y than NES-y. And most notably, there’s a scene where one of the Bio Kaiser’s head generals violently slices a child apart on screen and you see him bleed out and the light goes from his eyes. That is not a fucking joke. It’s EXTREMELY dark and it comes out of mother fucking nowhere. He’s like, 4 or 5, too. It’s kinda fucked.

While Lagrange Point is rather typical JRPG fare, it has some things that set it apart from the crowd, some really unique ideas. You’ve got typical JRPG combat and gating your progress by different vehicles that you get licenses for, but the game also has a crafting system! Basically, there’s six elements, and combining two elements together will produce a weapon of a certain element. There’s a table you need to follow. And if these weapons are of the same level, the resultign weapon will be one level higher. So combining two level 1 weapons will produce a level 2 one. This is fine at first, buuuut, no rank 3 and above weapons are for sale in the game. Which means, to get a rank 3, you need 2 rank 2s you can buy. But to get a rank 4, you buy 4. For a rank 5, 8, And for the rank 6 weapons, which you’ll NEED to deck your party out with, you need to buy 16 fucking weapons. With a limited inventory. And you need them for all your party.

Not every party member can use them, though. You have a rather large cast of character, none of whom are super interesting, but they all have their quirks. Unique super abilities, unique spells they can cast (called kits here), and notably, some are robots. Robots use a unique weapon and armor system, so they’re easier to maintain. But they ALSO fall off way faster, as their rank 6 weapons are nowhere near as effective as non-robots.

Another unique system is the hype system. If the battle is “going well”, a character can get hype, increasing their chance to hit and critical hits. If its going bad, they can get nervous, which does the opposite. Unfortunately, there’s also characters who can get scared instead, which means they CAN’T attack. And the “going well” vs “going bad” thing is completely arbitrary. I walk outside and get into one battle, and they’re scared. This makes them unusable. Which sucks, cause this game has two women, and one of them is this character. You meet her and she’s like “ah, I’m a sexy badass resistance soldier. Alright boys, I GUESS you can join me, if you don’t mind being carried by a girl~” and then you get into one fucking fight and she goes “AAGH, A SPIDER!” and throws her weapon to the god damn ground. I mostly found the mechanic annoying. It adds nothing and takes away too much.

Game

The combat is pretty typical, though the enemy sprites are absolutely nuts. Weird-ass mutant designs, I love it. Here’s the Child Murderer, by the way. You can attack, use your kit techs, or use a super, if the character has a super (some have none). Gene’s supers are absolutely busted, doing massive damage to all enemies, though it takes health to use them. This is still really fast and good for grinding, kinda trivializing a lot of combat. Also, the game has a BP system. The best way I can describe it is it’s your mana, and everything uses it, except supers. Tech kits to heal? Yep. Tech kits to hurt? Also yep. Just basic attacking? Yepperoonie. If you run out, you’ll punch instead of fire your gun/swing your sword, which does basically nothing. You can buy new upgrades at stores, but keeping BP refills on hand is a good idea.

And that’s basically Lagrange Point. It’s got some cool settings and vibes, but over all is just pretty okay. 7/10. It has just a few too many mechanics that I found kind of annoying, or found to be literal busywork to pad the time. But it’s at least interesting, and the music of course is utterly fantastic.