Shining Force II, Ancient Sealing and a 3 MB Spanish Rebuild
The first Shining Force had done well enough to earn a sequel, which from Sonic! Software Planning arrived in Japan on 1 October 1993, then in North America in 1994 and Europe in September 1994, and pushed the idea much further. This Spanish edition is a fan project that, according to the product notes, had to expand the translation to 3 MB and rebuild the save system to run on a real cartridge.
At a glance
- Based on: original game (Shining Force II: Ancient Sealing)
- Created by: Sonic! Software Planning, published by Sega
- Released: October 1993, Japan
- Genre: tactical RPG
- What sets it apart: a longer, freer sequel with two ways to promote some characters
What is different from the first game
- The game is much longer than its predecessor.
- There is no chapter system, so you can revisit earlier areas.
- Units promote at level 20, and some characters have two possible promotions.
- Battles are still turn-based on a square grid.
The plot
The thief Slade breaks a seal and frees the demon king Zeon. Possessed kings and Gizmo demons drive the early conflict, the people of Granseal relocate to Parmecia, and Bowie and his allies have to gather companions, find the Force Sword and seal Zeon away again.
A translation story of its own
Even the official English version has a quirk. Its names for the Devil King conflict with other games in the series, and fan translations have since identified them as Darksol, Lucifer and Zeon. Most of the original development team left before production, and the budget matched the first Shining game, yet the game became a best-seller in Japan. IGN placed it 48th in its 2007 top 100.