Shining Force

The Good
A unique RPG that kept me playing for hours, possibly days. Shining Force dared to be different from its contemporary RPGs (Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, etc) by adding tactical movement to the battles. Unlike Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior where a battle takes place between two to five characters the battles in with set character placement, Shining Force battles span a whole map. The battles are almost chess like. You must be smart in moving your heavy hitters, long range attackers, mages, healers, and mostly the leader of you party (the main character) which the death of results in the automatic loss of the battle. The movement of the members of your party is as important as how strong your characters are. Also your party grows to about 60 people of which you can only have about twelve active at a time (numbers may be incorrect). Therefore you must choose the best of your men/women/its to fight. The cartoon graphics are spectacular for that time as well.

The Bad
Not much. My only complaint is that the save ability on my cartridge doesn't work anymore. Also, you can only name the main character. It would've been more fun to be able to name all of your party as you recruit them.

The Bottom Line
Probably one of my top ten favorite games of all time. If your looking for a fun loving RPG that gives you a pretty good challenge, I'd recommend it.