Incredible…

Author’s Note: This review was originally published on January 15, 2003. Treasure Hunter G is a good game worth playing. This review on the other hand? Yikes. Readers, proceed with caution.

Oh man, this is probably the best RPG ever created for the Super Famicon! Why? Well, read and find out!

Story: 9/10
Red and Blue (who look like the characters of the same name from SaGa Frontier) are two brothers. Their dad is always busy getting into trouble while looking for treasure, so they live with their grandfather. They follow his ways of a Treasure Hunter, and set off to a cave. From their, they see a mysterious even occur that includes a large artifact and their father! What’s going on? Play through this whole game and find out! The story isn’t too new or original, but it’s still something fun that will keep you playing on.

Gameplay, Field: 7/10
You run fast in this game, making travel a breeze. Also, the traveling is like that of Wild Arms, in that you see the town and choose whether or not you wish to enter it when you come close to it. Your party follows you around instead of you seeing just the main character, and you have tons of treasure to find in the towns and dungeons. Red can punch things and open hidden treasures up! So cool! The major bad part, however is the Menu screen. The items are a real pain to pass around. Also, each character can only hold a certain amount of items, and item organization is no fun in any RPG. It gets really tedious at times…and you just won’t want to do it. I feel this really brings down the fun in the field.

Gameplay, Battles: 10/10
Oh my god!! These are so fun. First off, you see the enemies on screen (SaGa Frontier again) and when you touch them, you initiate combat. When you win, the monster is gone FOREVER until you leave the dungeon and come back. Combat is played like Arc the Lad with a twist. It’s a tactical RPG, and you walk around the battle plane when your turn comes. You have a certain amount of squares on a meter and that is the amount of things you can do. You move one space, it takes up one square. You attack, it takes up one. The same goes for magic and items. It really takes strategy to pull off victory sometimes because you will have to plan it so you can attack as much as possible, and heal when appropriate. The battles are tons of fun, making leveling up not a problem but a pleasure. You can move in 8 directions, and depending on your character, you can attack various enemies. After battles, you gain back HP and items. The battles are nothing short of perfection, but what did you expect from Squaresoft?

Gameplay, Character Development: 9/10
Red and Blue develop well over time, not only as fighters and heroes, but as brothers and companions. Your other party members, Rain and Ponga, develop well too. You will learn to love Rain, and Ponga will make you laugh. This game has some nice characters that are well worth remembering.

Graphics: 10/10
These graphics are 3D, and they resemble 64bit console quality! They are so perfect! The details applied to each of your party members is nice, and the spells are really dazzling. The characters even have facial expressions at times. This is one awesome point of the game.

Sound: 10/10
Oh how those slashes and thrusts sound painful! The sound is on the ball. The spell affects sound proper, the punch and slice attacks sound proper…it’s perfect!

Music: 10/10
There are so many tracks in this game! Each one is great! I love the town music, and the battle music is also really good! Hweel! I want the soundtrack!

Replay Value: 7/10
This is one loooong quest for an SNES game. You will definitely want to play it over again another time after you beat it.

Buy or Rent?
Well…if you can read Japanese, then buy it from somewhere. For those English people out there, however, I suggest you search the Internet for the new patch!! It’s wonderful!

Treasure Hunter G shows the world what RPGs are supposed to be. Squaresoft did it again! Go out and search for it and have fun!