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My goal this year is to play all the main, early Shining games. I finished Shining in the Darkness, now it’s time for the Shining Force games! Though for some reason I started with this one.

This is Shining Force Gaiden, the side story game for the Sega Game Gear, Sega’s handheld console of the time. It’s made by the same team as the Genesis one, and came out exclusively in Japan about 8 months after Shining Force did. And it is an EXTREMELY impressive attempt, to me, to translate Shining Force to a Game Gear.

This is also the only Shining game I can think of that’s NEVER been translated. Kind of. This game, and Shining Force Gaiden 2, it’s sequel, would later be repackaged on the Sega CD, which DID come out over here. And Gaiden 2 came out over here, but Gaiden 1? Well, fan translators decided it didn’t need to be translated, I guess, cause we already have Shining Force CD.

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SFG is a sequel to Shining Force, very directly. Taking place about 20 years after the first game, you play as the forces of Guardiana, many of which are the children of the heroes from the first game. Queen Anri is attacked by an evil wizard claiming dark powers over some evil God, and you all need to go defeat him so she wakes from her magical slumber. Or something. Look, it’s in Japanese, and it’s been a long time since I played SFCD. I didn’t follow the plot very well.

This game translated nearly everything from SF1 perfectly. Well, in terms of the main game bones. All the exploration of towns, hidden secrets you can find exploring maps after defeating them, and conversing with people? That’s pretty much stripped out. It’s a LOT more Fire Emblem now, with you going from one battle to another, strung together by cutscenes. And that’s perfectly fine! I didn’t dislike the exploration in SF1, of course, but it’s still a fun strategy RPG without it, IMO.

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One thing I need to compliment Gaiden for is its fantastic graphics. This game looks amazing. It’s a very, VERY solid recreation of what the Genesis had for Shining Force 1, on an 8-bit handheld.

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I think a lot of it is just that I really, really love the early Shining Force art style? It looks fantastic, and is translated amazingly here. Take the Narrator Girl for this game. Look at her! She’s so cute! And that usual Shining Force Character Design is here all the way through. Yes, your character of Prince Nick is pretty generic SF hero energy, but you’ve got all the centaurs, bird people, and of course Gyan/Teddy, who’s like a big tiger bear with a badass eyepatch.

Anyways yes, all this boiled down, it’s more Shining Force. It’s actually quite easy, though, IMO. I had some troubles with Shining Force 1 when I played it years ago, and Shining Force Gaiden 2 legitimately kicked my ass, I’ll get to that, but Gaiden 1 was easy. I didn’t use any stat boosting items or rings I found, cause it’s entirely in Japanese, and even WITH that I had absolutely no trouble whatsoever with this game, your characters are just in general very strong.

Even with all this, I’d prolly just recommend Shining Force CD, though note that SFCD is TWO games in one, and it feels like it. It’s long. It’s a trek. SFG is a bit more short and pleasant. It’d be great for car rides, tbh.