Back in high school my friend gave me a spare Genesis and a copy of Shining Force 2 just to have me play through the game.. Damn, that was a good friend. And great game

My favorite Genesis game of all time. Spent hours playing this as a teen.

I never even played this game. I was my little brothers "Battle Advisor" and never touched the controller, but somehow this is still one of my fav games of all time.

I have literally beaten this game about 15 times and still do it once in about 2 years. Never gets old grinding your way to the end.

Ive had 3 serious life destroying addictions to this game all like 8 years apart, im currently in one now. The Sega mega drive is awesome.

Nice! You gotta play the first one dude. Its a bit smaller in scale but lots of great characters. I would also love if you reviewed the 3rd game too since I never played that one.

When I was 6 or so, my half-brother once dropped by from out of state to visit. When he did, he dropped off some 'sucky games' that he hated. Those 4 games were Shining Force, Shining Force II, Sword of Vermillion, and Crue Ball (one of them definitely sucked.) And that was a wrap! I adored the Shining Force games. They were my first RPG's and I learned how to read just so that I could understand the story. I got sucked in by the battle graphics and was just in awe of the whole concept of swords and sorcery fantasy. Funnily enough, when I started getting into other Fantasy series, I was always confused as to why they didn't have any Centaurs in them.

Great review. I bought this game when it was originally released and more than 20 years later it remains one of my all-time favorites. Glad to see it's still being played and appreciated.

I had a Genesis before an SNES, and my first RPG I ever played was Shining Force II. I've played it so many times, but if you can believe it, I've only beaten it once. As a kid, the final few battles were just too hard, and I didn't realize you could repeat battles to level up. Years later did I learn of my folley, and of course I went and beat it over a weekend!

In my top 3 Genesis games. I love the battle system so much and the variety of characters is insane. I'd really enjoy trying different group combinations so there is replay value. With special codes you can name all the characters or it allowed you to play as the enemies (vs. mode) if you wanted to. The original Shining Force is also a fantastic game for many of the same reasons but I feel SF2 is a bit more polished.

The same composer also did Landstalker if you want more in the same style, and Jewel Master which is like a more funky and jazzy Castlevania soundtrack.

Shining Force 2 is and will probably always be my favorite game. I was super lucky to find this as a kid when it came out I've never seen it in the wild since. my second and third favorite games are the GBA remake of the original Shining Force and Ogre Battle march of the black queen

SF is my favorite game of all time!

1:42 "You never feel in over your head." Someone knew to fight those other two battles before the Kraken I see.

The one thing about this game that I find incredibly frustrating is that if everyone in your party dies, but Bowie is still alive, you can carry on as usual. However, if everyone else is still alive when Bowie gets his ass killed, it’s game over.

The art style of this game looks fantastic. I wish more *new* games looked similar to this today.

I'd suggest playing through Shining Force 1 before 2. Shining Force 1 is really similar. Some of the refinements that are seen in 2 aren't in the 1 (for obvious reasons), but it's still a great game. The AI is a little more dumb in Shining Force 1, yet you can still lose battles if you're not careful. I haven't beat 2 yet, but so far the battles in 1 are longer. You may or may not like this, but personally I found it added an extra layer to the game because if you lose a fight that takes an hour, it's that much more frustrating (but in a good way). Also, due partly to nostalgia, I'd say the music in Shining Force 1 is better, but I'm biased and haven't beaten SF2 yet. All in all, both are phenomenal and everyone should give them a shot.

The first one is fantastic as well. The third one is in three parts on the sega Saturn the first of which is the only one that was translated to English, however a quick search will reveal a translation patch for the rom of the second and third part. Overall it's another excellent game...

I bought a sega as a kid for this game alone and played it again and again. One of my favorite games of all time

My favorite game on the Genesis

This is one of my favorite games of all time , I absolutely love this game. The music is fan fucking tastic , God I wish sega would give us another one. I can dream

Shining Force 1 and 2, as well as Shining in the Darkness, are games I have played many times, and keep going back to. In my opinion, very much worth the time.

I have always loved shining force and shining force 2. Both are great games. I wish that the series had become as popular as the fire emblem series. You can find Shining force on Nintendo Wii e-shop, or at least you used to be able to. Both are ported to the Xbox 360 on Sonics Mega collection of 40 games.

Damn I am sold. I love the Strategy RPG's and this looks like my glass of beer. I am gonna have to keep my eyes opened for it. Looks to be a pricey game but worth it.

The SNES technically had Fire Emblem though which was pretty much similar to Shining Force, although they were never localized.

man how did I miss this one! so many great games on the Genesis that aren't talked about, keep up God's work snesdrunk

one of my most beloved rpgs. "snes were too expensive" said my parents, so they got us a Sega instead. after discovering Shining Force we were so glad it happened that way and is a staple of my brother and I childhood. my brother and I are quite different but one thing we had in common was our love of this game (1st one too). we found out about SF3 but didn't have a Saturn nor did we know anyone that had one. years later I got a Saturn just so we could play it so I plowed through scenario 1 and lent it to him so he could experience it. Shining Force was the first rpg I ever latched on to because random encounter battles didn't appeal to me yet, so basically SF is what me an rpg lover, especially srpgs. Thank you Sega!

love these games.

Shining Force II is such a great game to replay. I have such a great fondness for the Camelot/Shining look and sound

Just so you know, the first Shining Force was THE reason I wanted to get a Sega, even though I was a Nintendo kid through and through. The first Shining Force was THAT good to me as a kid. Also, failing battles on purpose is the best way to get extra exp in both games. Never played the 3rd.

Happy 30th anniversary to the best Mega Drive game! I still link to this concise but excellent review whenever anyone asks me about the game.

SF1 was one of the first games I really remember beating. We had a CD-ROM compilation of Sega Genesis games ported to PC (the Sega Smash Pack…2? maybe?) and SF1 was in it. My siblings and I would crowd around the computer screen and try to figure out where to put people and when to attack. It’s great. One of our favorites for sure.

I just finished shining force 1 and started to play Shining force 2 and I gotta say the Sonic! (Camelot) Software Planing Team improved many areas of the game, specially the fast paced battles, the music and some previous tedious aspects like using instead of using the TALK COMMAND option to talk to people you now just approach and press a button. So far I'm really digging Shining Force 2.

loved shining force 1 and 2 .Game 2 gave you the option when you level into a new class with more than 1 option (sometimes required a hidden item) for the evolution.

Great video as always! (Just watched this one again) Hope you get around to reviewing Shining Force 1 and Shining Force 3 (the US single game vs Japan's 3 scenarios) at some point.

Absolutely loved this game, played through so many times. Fantastic OST.

Still my favorite game of all time and love your channel bud!

I started off with Shining Force as a rental from the local video store. Instantly hooked. I can’t tell you how frustrating it was to bug my parents to rent it for me every weekend, hoping against hope some other kid didn’t overwrite my save file... FML. That being said, Shining Force 2 was the very first game 12 year old me ever bought with my own money. Amazing game! But fuck that chest in that floating island level that you can’t get to. (Japanese version can). Cost me an ass whooping and $73 for calling the pro tip line only to have them not know how to get that impossible chest. Sigh

I played the first one in a Sega Smash Pack for PC as a kid but i couldn´t remember the name of the series. Seeing this video with the graphics and combat system just reminded me it existed! And there are two sequels to the one i played?! Those are some great news!!

Alright you got me...just ordered one! Thanks for the review.

wow. As soon as I heard the music I felt pumped up. This game was so much fun.

I love the town theme 😌

Shining Force introduced me to RPG's. One of the greatest series in the genre for sure. If you STILL haven't played SFIII though you're doing yourself a disservice to say the least. It's the best one, and that's coming from someone who only got to try it a year ago and grew up on 1 and 2. It takes everything from 2 and just makes it better. Plus, the characters have the same art style as the characters in Golden Sun (as I'm sure you know, they went on to become Camelot.) They're adorable.

You've sold me. It's now in my official bucket list.

One of my favorite games, loved the review m8

My favorite game. I'm glad someone is covering it.I am doing a playthrough of the shining force remake if you are interested in joining me on the journey.

Shining Force 2 is wonderful. Shining Force 1 is great too, but SF2 really helps patch up some of the flaws in SF1. SF3, from what I played (only the American version) was also really really good, and transferred into 3d fairly well. I would love to be able to play the full version of SH3

I've just beaten this game less than 30 mins ago. My God, what a game. Absolutely loved it, with my force averaging LV25 at the end with LV65 Karna(boost is just broken for leveling up) and LV 44 Sheele(again, boost). Loved SF1 as well, so nice. Will look SF3 up after finishing this comment.

My favorite battle was the cannon on the bridge which pins your whole party on the one side of the bridge. Honoroable mention to the Iom statue in "Sword of Hajiya."

One of my fav games! If you haven’t played the first yet, you should. I started playing it last week and it’s almost as good as Shining Force 2.

Phantasy star was good too. And shining in the darkness. I'm trying to collect them again!

Thank you for this - this game was an underappreciated masterpiece

I finally stopped avoiding it and subscribed. So now I'm a subscriber.

I LOVED this game! Even when I was sick, I found myself playing this!

Bought a used cooy of this game from blockbuster as a kid for $3.. Easily turned inti one of my favorite games of all time

Had to laugh when you mentioned Romance of the Three Kingdoms as that’s my other main video game addiction along with SF 2!! Have played both over 50-60 times!! Thanks for this review!!

This was the game man, i remember it came in a cardboard red box, nothing like the traditional black sega cases back then

I "Any Way You Can™"ed the 1st one and it was pretty good, 2 was much more polished though IIRC.

If I know correctly most Mega Drive/Genesis RPGs tried to use the CD peripheral when it was possible, did not happen most of the time and was back to the cartridge format. That or have released their games as semi compilations on the format. The devs for the series later did the Golden sun games. BTW Shining Force III released as a 3 parter and the west only got part 1 mainly due to the decline of the Saturn.

If you like SF2, play SF3. The way each Scenario builds off the last and how you import characters is just amazing. SF3 might be my favourite tactics game. Specifically scenarios 1&3.

Loved discovering Shining Force 1 and 2 as kid at the Video Rental Store. Luckily they were smart enough to make these titles weekly rentals rather than overnight which they did with a lot of new releases. Still need to play Shining Force CD.

please make a video on the first game! i love shining force 1, it is one of my favorite games of all time.

1-3 are free on mobile now if you guys want to check them out. As much as i hate touch screen controls personally

Also, having centaurs as playable main characters was a "novelty". Actually I can't find any other game where it's possible, even today. Maybe Motaro in Mortal Kombat ? He isn't even four-legged in all the games.

1 of my all time favorites

the battle on the chess board was memorable

The original Shining Force was also fantastic!

Omg I wish more people knew how amazing this game was and maybe we could get a amazing ps4 remake like others that switched from old style to new! Lol only in a perfect world!

It gets even better with Shining Force III.

Shining Force 3 part 1(part 2&3 nvr got a European release which was a M’F’er)on the SATURN is one of my favourite RPGs I’ve ever played & one of my favourite SEGA SATURN games,I’m still pissed off 20years later that I nvr got to experience parts 2&3 in English & there’s zero point playing a Japanese copy for obvious reasons,I wish I could read Japanese just to experience SF3 parts 2&3!

1st is ok but the last battle set up back to back battle with no resurrection with the hardest boss is nearly impossible only beat it once. Force 2 is a classic still play it ever couple years to this day probably 27 plus years since I beat it for the first time.

Great review. You nailed it. Shining Force II was one of the best games ever made. The original Shining Force is equally as good.

There was a shining force clone game on snes called feda: the emblem of Justice. Looks and plays just like it. A remake on Saturn and sequel on psx also exist

Best game I've ever played. SF2 and Phantasy Star II are the games of my childhood.

I watch your videos all goddam day

Mr. Drunk, the 1st is just as good as the second. Great game. Love what you do. Keep up the great work.

God I loved these games! I had it on my game gear

My fave Shining Force and Genesis RPG!!

Have you had a chance to evaluate the first Shining Force game? How does it compare to the second one?

What difficulty would you recommend?

i could not agree more. this was the first game i purchased when i got a genesis back in my life. and gunstar heroes of course

Looks great,i played strategy game like tactics ogre and the battle really take some time to finish(not to mentioned training your army which take another long time to do),this game look like fast pased strategy game,i am sure gonna try it, thanks SNESDrunk ;)

As a Nintendo kid I never got the chance to own and play these games until recently and they feel like a breath of fresh air compared to other srpg franchises. So user friendly and upbeat with some of the most colorful graphics on the Genesis and so much detail in all the character portraits. I've heard some snes fans give this series flak because Fire Emblem supposedly did everything this franchise does first, but they're totally missing the point. The artstyle, music and beginner friendliness are what sets these games apart from fire emblem and the stories are good enough to enjoy in their own right whether you're a Fire Emblem fan or not.

I recently started playing shining force 1 and just got hooked! I guess Zelda BOTW can wait till another day jeje.

Okay, Am I going crazy? I've never seen those palletes on Bowie, Sarah and Chester before - A blue cape? A white tunic (that's not a Vicar), a green and yellow cowl? Is this some sort of mod or regional variant??

DUDE YOU'VE NEVER PLAYED THE FIRST!!?!? It's sooooo good! On par with this one, a little less that you can do, but I think it flows better. I highly highly recommend.

Yup it was pretty ahead of its time

This is one of the best games of all time. Up there with Street Fighter 2, Metroid Prime, the Wind Waker, Parodious , FF7 and Super Mario Bros. It's timeless and perfect:)

Shining Force 1 & 2 are my favorite games ever made. As I’m happy there are sequels, it’s disappointing that they are all limited to just fighting. No exploration through towns, chests, & dressers. That’s half the fun.

my first shining force was 3. i cant remember if i beat it

I played and finished Shining Force 1 when it first came out. I played the 2nd game throughout the I never finished it as a kid or young adult. I just made it through to the end about a year ago. Honestly, I like Shining Force 1 better in almost every way. Better graphics, better music. If you haven't played the first game yet, I can't recommend it enough.

"You never feel in over your head." Yeah, tell that to all of us that fought the Kraken a little too early....

I played Shining Force 1 as a kid, and I love that game, but playing it again as an adult was underwhelming. The style and charm of the game was as great as ever, but I had the experience to fully realize how limited the actual gameplay was. There just wasn't a lot of depth to any aspect of the game. I still love the game tho. Learning that II adds complexity and depth to the gameplay is the incentive I needed to pick it up. Thank you SNESDrunk!

I have been playing the original. It looks like every aspect got improved in the sequel.

My favorite title on the Genesis.

Shining Force 1 is definitely inferior to II. However, III is one of my all-time favorites! You really ought to play all three scenarios though.

I love shining force so much

Thank you for not bitching about grinding in this game like every other reviewers. I never had to grind in it as a kid, I didn't even know what that was, this game totally doesn't have a grinding problem. Thanks for giving it an appropriate review.

I've been wanting to get my hands on games in this series for so many years now.

My one complaint on this game is the weird turn system. Especially in boss battles when it is not uncommon to take out all of the boss' minions before taking them on. When the boss somehow gets 2, 3 or 4 turns before the same character in your army gets a second turn it can be very frustrating especially if one bad placement of your hero means the boss gets to b-line it to them and hammer them three times in a row, and instantly defeating you.