Soul Blazer is one of the rare SNES games I hadn’t heard of before starting my journey to play as many JRPGs as I can and deciding to pick up Illusion of Gaia, a title I’d heard mentioned frequently over the years. Well, about an hour into that game, I did a little more research to discover it’s technically a sequel to a lesser-known game also developed by Quintet, so I abruptly changed gears and decided to check out Soul Blazer first.
Man, I’m glad I did, though I won’t pretend I have a ton to say about this little gem. It’s an action RPG that resembles Zelda slightly more than, say, Secret of Mana, in that it intersperses its primary focus on hack-and-slash action, with a dose of puzzling thrown in. While you’ll have to hit plenty of switches and navigate maze-like paths, Soul Blazer’s focuses on its action mechanics, like having to dodge projectiles while figuring out how to reach the obvious path ahead of you, or how how your sword does more damage at close range, letting you one-shot weaker enemies in exchange for more risk.
The combat’s fun, if a bit simplistic, so it’s a good thing the framing and story put the legwork in to keeping me engaged for this otherwise barebones adventure’s duration. Some time ago, the wealthy King Magridd of the Freil Empire enlists a genius inventor named Dr. Leo to help him summon the king of evil, Deathtoll. The name’s a bit on-the-nose, but that’s part of the charm of Japanese RPGs. Why call on him, though? Why, Magridd wants to make a pact to get even richer, of course! He’s a greedy king, first and foremost. His plan works, and he agrees to give the demon king every human soul in exchange for one gold piece for each. Talk about a shitty regent!
OK, back to the game. You play as … ehh, it’s unclear in the English translation, which, while readable, has plenty of the quirks I’ve come to expect from a 90s-era project like this — Soul Blazer came out in 1992 to be precise. The game calls your character the follower or servant of an entity called the Master, aka, God. I can only assume that makes you an angel or some rough equivalent, sent by the Master to save humanity. Yeah, you’re basically this world’s Messiah, on a mission to restore the soul of every human before confronting Deathtoll.
It’s a neat concept that plays out as you re-building a series of little towns, essentially, bringing not just people but plants, animals, and more back to life during your quest. The game’s structured simply: several miniature hub worlds with an overworld map connecting. Each hub world leads to several dungeons you must complete, wherein stepping on special tiles releases the soul of one living thing, usually a person along with a shop or new pathway through the hub town. Other times, you’ll unlock something mildly useful, such as the tulips that speak through the heavenly ether to offer you tips, or a basic a decoration, like a goat’s pen.
Either way, there’ll be something to new to interact with when you get back, which keeps up a nice sense of progression and that “just one more dungeon” itch I so enjoy. Indeed, this is one of those addictive games I flew through, finishing in about 3 play sessions totaling under 10 hours thanks to a bit of speedup. It helps that Soul Blazer is one easy game. Like most JRPGs, it’s more about the world, vibe, and character progression than pure execution, though a few of the bosses took a bunch of tries due to fast attack patterns that invite attrition strategies my old ass lacks the patience for. Helpfully, freeing a soul also restores 1 hit point, at least initially — that don’t sound like much, but it’s super useful in a game where you start with only 10 HP. Oh yeah, this is a SNES title alright. Yet this also let me add a self-imposed challenge of trying to reach the next soul-freeing floor tile while only losing 1 point of health max. That kept me having fun with otherwise rote combat.
Outside of battles, there’s not much story per se aside from the goal of saving souls, but plenty of Dragon Quest-style personal stories pop up as you work your way through, like how one village’s chief got swallowed into a painting drawn by Dr. Leo himself, hanging on the wall of an old house on the hill. It’s hinted you’ll need to find Leo’s brush and touch the painting with it to free the chief from the world within — wait, didn’t I do something similar in Oblivion? I kid, I know that’s a common trope in fantasy. When you’ve played a lot of RPGs, you realize there ain’t much new under the sun, so the fun is in pointing out the commonalities.
Other situations had me laughing, like how the soldiers of one town are forced to proclaim their tyrant king’s greatness … and are happy to let you know that’s the only reason they’re doing so. However, when their king has a change of heart after you save him, the guards all start praising him un-ironically — I freaking love when games follow up on seemingly insignificant dialogue like that, turning it into a touching moment. Speaking of which, later on in the game Dr. Leo makes an important sacrifice, redeeming him in the big picture, and while that’s cute and all, I’m more interested in why there’s so many JRPG characters named Leo or Leon. Usually it’s a knight or general or some other person in a position of power, and while a brilliant inventor is a slight deviation, Soul Blazer’s Leo still fits the mold. Still, no one’s as cool as the Leon from FF2, and I’ll die on that hill. And while I won’t spoil anything, the story’s conclusion is pretty satisfying compared to most SNES games I’ve played.
The man responsible for this early classic’s soundtrack, Yukihide Takekawa, is a bit of a mystery. He seems to not have worked on many games, and I’m not familiar with any of the others he’s done, which makes sense, ’cause Soul Blazer’s got one unique soundscape. Half of it sounds more medieval-slash-Renaissance-ish than anything I’ve heard in other Japanese games, with heavy use of pipe organs, brass sounds, and dirge-y synths that mimic plucked strings, all in the traditional, grand styling. The other half of the OST, however, fucking bops. Slap bass, upbeat drums, even Japanese hyoushigi, more properly known as wood clackers — a smorgasbord of aural treats with tons of variety, including a couple of intense, truly out-there tracks that sound like nothing else on the system. It’s one of the more special SNES soundtracks I’ve heard, so much so I’ve got a feeling it could blossom into a favorite of mine given enough time. It’s too early to judge for that, though — there’s so much great music from this era, and while not a knock by any means, Takekawa’s effort perhaps lacks the cohesion I look for in my all-timers.
Finally, though it’s a relatively basic experience that lacks a ton of fancy bells and whistles, Soul Blazers excels at pure style and presentation while executing on a clever core idea admirably. It’s simple, well-made fun, all without overstaying its welcome — the kind of game you mostly get from the indie scene today. Highly recommended for any fan of old school action fare.
Thanks for checking out this bonus entry in my 2024 JRPG Journey. Next up, I’m jumping ahead in time all the way to 2004’s Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga. See you then.
