It is a surprisingly good game. The combat is a tad easy, and the game overall is very straightforward. The music tends to either be rather good or very poor, but it was always catchy. The game design overall was well-done. In particular, I like how the items are handled. You don't need to "use" the items. You just select them in your inventory, and the game uses them as needed. 

One disappointing thing is, what I assume to be, a change made by the Nintendo censors. A mildly emotional moment near the end when a major character dies, he actually blurts out "I am not dying, I am just going to sleep". Thanks for ruining the moment with some ridiculous shit that even a 10 year old would find laughable.

LOL. Yeah, damn censors.

It's a solid solid game. However, I prefer Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma by a considerable margin. IMHO the series got better as it went along.

Great great great game! While both of the later entries in the "series" tend to overshadow this first one, it's undeniably a classic...and fun as hell!

And I agree that the music is super catchy.

I love the themes from the underwater stage with the mermaids, the mountain stage + the factory with the models. A very underrated soundtrack!

One of my favorites, and I think it's the best out of the Gaia trilogy. It was ahead of its time, and I think if it came out later in the SNES's lifespan, they could've done so much more with it. Epic game for its time, and still holds up today IMO.

I have started this up a few times over the years, and for one reason or another haven't completed it. It's a great game that I want to finish some day. Would love a Super NES continuation of Crystalis... but this is as close as I will get I guess.

Yeah that'd be sick... an SNES Crystalis!

Maybe one day someone will make a homebrew... we can hope.

I used to love to grind in RPGs back in the day and I remember when my friend let me borrow his copy of SoulBlazer (I bought my own copy shortly thereafter) I spent literally hours just killing those mirrors for level-ups. I think I got my HP meter in the white before finally calling it quits. Definitely a great game and, like someone else above, I actually prefer it to Illusion of Gaia. The music is great, too.

Loved this game.. One of those games i have to go back to and replay.

I never thought about this...would be most awesome!

Soul Blazer is where it's at, however.

A fun game. I had it back in the day and then got another copy a year ago, lucked into the map/poster and manual in new like shape too some months later which was fun to find. I agree that it's a much better game than Gaia as something about that one just lacks the design and motivation to keep pushing like Soul Blazer does. Maybe it's a mix of the slightly more simple design or the fun tension of seeing what will be brought back from the dead as you unlock pieces of each area, but it's just a cool premise all around.

If you want a sort of pseudo-updated version of this, go give the Playstation 2 Dark Cloud games a shot. The premise is literally ripped right from Soul Blazer.

I loved the Dark Cloud games. Looks like I need to add this to my incredibly long list of games I want to play. Thank god for powerpaks!

I did own and play Dark Cloud when I first got a PS2 in 2004, but I didn't really enjoy it at the time. My tastes have changed a bit since then, but I don't play PS2 anymore.

On a related note, I tried Illusion of Gaia for several hours last night. I didn't enjoy any of it. I'm not going into a long rant, but the dialog is uninteresting and poorly translated, the story is all over the place, and the fact that the d-pad dismisses dialog boxes made me miss about a third of the text in the first town. There was no explanation for anything that was happening. For example, within the first minute of the game, the schoolboy finds a portal to outer space on top of his school, enters it without hesitation, finds talking statues that tell him he is the chosen one, and he doesn't say a single word.

I added Gaia to my trade box for next weeks swap meet. Soul Blazer is a classic with an impeccable translation, awesome and lengthy end sequence, and easy but fun game design. It's like Gaia was made by an entirely different set of people.

Well, (and to not rant too badly one way or the other as I like both Gaia and Blazer), Gaia is an entirely different sort of game then Soul Blazer. Gaia is much more of a sweeping sort of story arc, with a cast of characters that go along for the ride with Will the main character. Blazer, to me, felt more related to Actraiser then it ever did Gaia or Terranigma, (both of which are clearly sister games). As such, it felt more "compressed" and action-adventurey then "epic world saving storyline" based.

Soul Blazer is one of those games that I have gone back to over the years several times to playthough I will admit, though... while Gaia isn't typically a game I crave playing again.

I like all 3 "Soulblazer trilogy" games. Including Granstream Saga which is a spiritual 4th.

Faltain is right though. Blazer is good and epic at times, but Gaia I really enjoy. Haunting music at times, and creepy locations. I like the creepy Moon Tribe and morality issues that play themselves out. Terranigma is even better, and combined the first 2 games and added its own spice.

My preference for the trilogy is the following order:

1. Soul Blazer
2. Terranigma
2. The Illusion of Gaia

I agree that Gaia can seem somewhat disjointed and "wtf" at times, but it's a decent game. I always get stuck right around the middle, too.