The History of Soul Blazer

Every monster you kill gives someone their life back.

Soul Blazer (Super Nintendo, 1992) is where Quintet's creation theme becomes a system. A king has sold every soul in his kingdom to a demon, one gold piece each. You are the Master's servant, sent down to empty dungeons lair by lair, and every lair you destroy frees a soul and rebuilds a piece of the town above it, a house, a person, a dolphin, a talking tulip at a time. In Japan it is Soul Blader.

THE BOXES

Two heroes, two compositions: Japan fronts the boy, America fronts the sword

Soul Blader Japanese Super Famicom box photographed at an angle — **Japan · 1992 · As Soul Blader**The Super Famicom box photographed whole: the hero in red with his sword held point down, Deathtoll's shadow looming blue behind him, ACTION RPG printed on the spine edge.

Soul Blazer North American package, box cartridge and manual — **North America · 1992**Shown as the complete package, box, cartridge, and manual: a sword driven into dark mountains under a low sun, and the box copy that says it plainly, Free the Freilians, Make Deathtoll Pay.

The American file is a smaller photograph than the Library's working standard and is flagged as a swap in upgrade in this build's notes. The Japanese box was never the same picture: different hero pose, different mood, same demon.

THE MAKING

The Ys pair, second time out

Masaya Hashimoto directed and programmed; Yasuyuki Sone produced; Tomoyoshi Miyazaki wrote the scenario, assisted by Tatsuo Hashimoto. The score is by Yukihide Takekawa, released on album by Apollon in Japan on February 21, 1992, three weeks after the game. The story machinery is pure Quintet duality: The Master who creates against Deathtoll who buys destruction wholesale.

The bargain at the plot's center is unusually specific. King Magridd imprisoned the inventor Dr. Leo and forced him to build a machine to summon Deathtoll, who offered one gold piece for every soul in the kingdom. The king, advised by his queen, accepted, and was imprisoned himself. Leo's daughter Lisa is the hero's human anchor, and Leo, once freed, gives his life to stop the queen, who is still trying to bargain.

THE DESIGN

Resurrection as a progress bar

Progress alternates between two states of the same place. Below, a dungeon of monster lairs; above, an empty field. Destroy a lair and a soul is liberated and reincarnated, and the town reconstructs around the returnees, who repay you with advice, items, and small human scenes the genre rarely stopped for. Clear the boss holding each town head's soul and the region is done. Six regions yield six colored stones that open the World of Evil, and three sacred artifacts summon the phoenix for the final fight.

The ending mirrors ActRaiser's, softer. Returned to heaven, the hero misses being human, and the Master sends him back on one condition: no memory of any of it. He wakes in Grass Valley, Lisa recognizes him, and they walk off to become friends again from the beginning.

THE EDITIONS

Three releases, then silence

Japan · Jan 31, 1992

Soul Blader for the Super Famicom, published by Enix. The title's one letter difference from the Western name is the first thing a Japanese box teaches an American collector.

North America · Nov 27, 1992

Soul Blazer, published by Enix America in the same autumn as A Link to the Past's long shadow, the comparison every reviewer reached for.

Europe · Jan 27, 1994

The PAL release arrived two full years after Japan. The game was not released in the United Kingdom at all, a gap printed on the record rather than smoothed over.

Re-releases · None

Soul Blazer has never been re-released in any form: no Virtual Console, no compilation, no remake. The 1992 to 1994 cartridges are the whole supply, which is the collector fact of this page.

THE RECEPTION

Acclaim, with the dissent kept

GameRankings · 85.58%

The highest aggregate on this Quintet shelf, across six reviews: the quiet game was the best reviewed one.

EGM · Editor's Choice Gold

Scores of 8, 9, 8, and 8, a Gold award, and a favorable comparison to A Link to the Past, with one reviewer calling it equally challenging and fun.

Super Play · 89%

The British import review matched the American warmth; GameFan's two scores were 95 and 92 percent.

Dragon · 3 / 5

The dissent: Sandy Petersen in Dragon magazine gave it three stars of five, and one Famitsu reviewer scored it 6 of 10 inside a 32 of 40 panel total.

Quintet reported 295,000 copies worldwide: 200,000 in Japan, 70,000 in North America, and 25,000 in Europe. Acclaim and sales pointed in opposite directions, the pattern that defines this studio's whole catalogue.

THE LEGACY

First of a trilogy that officially is not one

Fans and journalists group Soul Blazer with Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma under rotating names: the Quintet Trilogy, the Gaia Trilogy, the Heaven and Earth Trilogy, the Soul Blazer Trilogy. All of those names are fan names. The documented counterweight, printed here at its proper weight: former Enix USA producer Robert Jerauld said there is no connection between Soul Blazer and Gaia, and that Soul Blazer is instead related to ActRaiser, a sort of prequel to it. IGN still ranked the game 76th on its Top 100 SNES Games list, calling it bold and memorable, trilogy or no trilogy.

The Quintet Gallery