Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya

n/a

US JP
Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya
System(s): Sega Game Gear, Palm OS, Virtual Console
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic! Software Planning
Genre: RPG
Number of players: 1
Official in-game languages: 日本語 English
Release Date RRP Code JP 1993-06-25 ¥5,5005,500 G-3409 US 1994-10-18 2524 US 2003-04-14 $19.9519.95 JP ▼ 2013-11-06 ¥476 (500)476 (500) US ▼ 2013-06-13 $3.993.99 EU ▼ 2013-06-13 €3.993.99 DE ▼ 2013-06-13 €3.993.99 UK ▼ 2013-06-13 £3.593.59

Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya, known as Shining Force Gaiden II: Jashin no Mezame (シャイニング・フォース外伝ＩＩ ～邪神の覚醒～) in Japan, is a Sega Game Gear sequel to Shining Force Gaiden: Ensei Jashin no Kuni e. Unlike the original, this one was released in North America.

Story

Introduction

Two months after Shining Force Gaiden, the story revolves around Deanna and his companions, young soldiers in the army of Cypress. Nick, the Prince of Cypress, has left the castle in order to defeat Iom, an aggressor nation. He leaves, however, without the powerful Sword of Hajya due to his inability to wield it, as his arm has been turned to stone. Deanna and his friends are left behind to defend the castle and the Sword, with Prince Nick's friend Mayfair placed in charge of them. When forces from Iom attack and steal the sword, Mayfair directs the young soldiers to pursue them in order to regain possession of the sword.

The game's predecessor, Shining Force Gaiden, tells how the war between Cypress and Iom began, how Nick befriended Mayfair, how his arm was turned to stone, and several other major plot points. Gyan, Ruce, Woldol, Randolf, and others all originally appeared in Shining Force Gaiden. Shining Force CD, in turn, contains a scenario which takes place a few months after this game and features most of the major characters.

Gameplay

Battle map and scene

The game is a tactical role-playing game that uses gameplay mechanics identical to its predecessor. The player progresses through a series of turn-based tactical battles interspersed with short cutscenes. Between the cutscenes, the player is allowed to save the game, promote characters, resurrect fallen characters, and sometimes buy and sell weapons and healing items.

As with most strategy RPGs, each battlefield is divided up into a grid where player characters and enemies take turns moving, attacking, casting magic and using items. Player characters gain experience by battling enemies, and may choose, once they reach level 10, to upgrade their class into a more powerful one.

Characters

The spell level requirements include the level of the character at promotion. For example, if Deanna is promoted at level 10, he learns Bolt at level 6 after being promoted.

	Deanna
	Race: Human Initial class: Swordsman (SDMN) Promoted class: Hero (HERO)
	Leader of the Shining Force. Cypress soldiers find him wounded, and he is nursed back to strength in Cypress. He is a soldier of Iom but conceals this from the people of Cypress. He leads the party to recover the stolen Sword of Hajya. It is later revealed that he is the brother of Hindel. He is the romantic interest of Natasha. Magic spells Spell Level Acquired 1 2 3 4 Egress Initially learned — — — Bolt Level 16 Level 20 Level 25 Level 30
	Natasha
	Race: Human Initial class: Mage (MAGE) Promoted class: Wizard (WIZD)
	Leader of the Shining Force. A Cypress guard who helps lead the party to recover the stolen Sword of Hajya. She is the romantic interest of Deanna. Magic spells Spell Level Acquired 1 2 3 4 Egress Initially learned — — — Blaze Initially learned Level 8 Level 17 Level 30 Freeze Level 4 Level 13 Level 22 — Attack Level 26 — — —
	Jaha
	Race: Dwarf Initial class: Warrior (WARR) Promoted class: Gladiator (GLDR)
	A young Cypress guard who often tries to shirk his guard duty. He wears a pot as a helmet.
	Eric
	Race: Centaur Initial class: Knight (KNTE) Promoted class: Paladin (PLDN)
	A young Cypress guard who often tries to shirk his guard duty. He tries to impress Dawn.
	Dawn
	Race: Centaur Initial class: Knight (KNTE) Promoted class: Paladin (PLDN)
	A young Cypress guard who takes her duty more seriously than Jaha, Eric, and Luke.
	Luke
	Race: Human Initial class: Monk (MONK) Promoted class: Master Monk (MSMK)
	A young Cypress guard who often tries to shirk his guard duty.
	Slade
	Race: Human Initial class: Healer (HEAL) Promoted class: Vicar (SRBN)
	A priest from the Thames village. The Iom soldiers are holding the villagers hostage and claim that they will be released in exchange for the Sword of Hajya. He joins the party after Mayfair convinces him that they can save his people together. Magic spells Spell Level Acquired 1 2 3 4 Heal Initially learned Initially learned Level 18 Level 27 Muddle Level 7 Level 15 — — Quick Level 10 Level 21 — — Hell Blast Level 12 Level 24 Level 30 —
	Graham
	Race: Centaur Initial class: Ranger (RANG) Promoted class: Bow Knight (BWKN)
	Graham steals the Sword of Hajya for Iom. He ends up defecting and joining the Cypress army at Thames.
	Chester
	Race: Elf Initial class: Archer (ACHR) Promoted class: Sniper (SNIP)
	A castle guard of Emild. He leads the Force to King Emild to reclaim the Sword of Hajya. He joins the party after learning that the king has been assassinated by Iom forces.
	May
	Race: Foxling Initial class: Mage (MAGE) Promoted class: Wizard (WIZD)
	The royal sorceress of Emild. She rushes to the castle to save the king when she sees it crumbling. She joins the party after learning that the king has been assassinated. Magic spells Spell Level Acquired 1 2 3 4 Freeze Initially learned Initially learned Level 12 — Slow Initially learned Level 9 — — Bolt Level 15 Level 20 Level 25 Level 30 Desoul Level 18 Level 23 — —
	Sarah
	Race: Kyantol Promoted class: Vicar (SRBN)
	Fought with Prince Nick along with Randolf and Claude at the unsuccessful battle at Algam Fort. They find the Cypress army at the end of Chapter 2. She serves as the advisor to Natasha's party after the Shining Force is split and joins the party after it is reunited. Magic spells Spell Level Acquired 1 2 3 4 Heal Initially learned Initially learned Initially learned Level 12 Hell Blast Initially learned Initially learned Level 14 Level 18 Muddle Initially learned Level 8 — — Aura Level 6 Level 10 Level 16 Level 20
	Randolf
	Race: Centaur Promoted class: Paladin (PLDN)
	A returning character from Shining Force Gaiden. Fought with Prince Nick along with Sarah and Claude at the unsuccessful battle at Algam Fort. They find the Cypress army at the end of Chapter 2, and Randolf joins Natasha's party.
	Claude
	Race: Birdman Promoted class: Sky Warrior (SKYW)
	A returning character from Shining Force Gaiden. Fought with Prince Nick along with Sarah and Randolf at the unsuccessful battle at Algam Fort. They find the Cypress army at the end of Chapter 2, and Claude joins Deanna's party.
	Rohde
	Race: Dwarf Promoted class: Gladiator (GLDR)
	A worker who helped build Algam Fort and knows its weak point. He joins Natasha's party after they liberate his village.
	Rush
	Race: Human Promoted class: Samurai (SMRI)
	Called Musashi in Shining Force. He is a hidden character who joins the party if he is found in Battle 18.
	Higins
	Race: Human Promoted class: Ninja (NINJ)
	Called Hanzou in Shining Force. He is a hidden character who joins the party if he is found in Battle 21. Magic spells Spell Level Acquired 1 2 3 4 Katon Level 7 Level 17 — — Raijin Level 11 Level 15 Level 20 —
	Gyan
	Race: Beastman Promoted class: Berserker (BSKR)
	A returning character from Shining Force Gaiden. Prince Nick's personal bodyguard and advisor. He joins the party as they approach the shrine of Iom and shares with the group a shortcut to it.
	Nick
	Race: Human Promoted class: Prince (PRNC)
	The Prince of Cypress. He is captured by the Iom army. He joins the party in the last battle after the Force rescues him. Magic spells Spell Level Acquired 1 2 3 4 Egress Initially learned — — — Bolt Initially learned Initially learned Level 15 Level 20

Items

Camp

Main article: Shining Force CD#Items.

Equipment

Character status

Main article: Shining Force CD#Equipment.

Magic

Main article: Shining Force CD#Magic.

History

Legacy

The game was later re-released as one of the four games pre-installed on the yellow model Game Gear Micro.

Versions

The North American release of the game made drastic alterations to the spells Blaze level 3 and Freeze level 3, more than doubling the damage they inflict while increasing the radius of their effect from two to three squares. This results in mage characters being overpowered compared to other playable characters. Enemies with level 3 magic are also overpowered, as any one of them can kill several characters at full health in a single move.

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English (US)	Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya	Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya
Japanese	シャイニング・フォース外伝II ～邪神の覚醒～	Shining Force Gaiden II: Jashin no Mezame

Production credits

• Programmers: Haruki Kodera, Kenji Numaya, Yutaka Yamamoto, Akira Takasaki, Yasuhiro Taguchi
• Subscript: Shugo Takahashi, Hiroyuki Takahashi
• Map Design: Shuji Shimizu, Tatsuya Niikura
• Character Design: Hiroshi Kajiyama
• Graphics: Kensuke Suzuki, Masanori Kaneko, Miyuki Matsumoto
• Music Composer: Motoaki Takenouchi
• Sound Effects: Dogen Shibuya
• Manual: Naoko Okada, Akio Nakajima
• Directed by: Shugo Takahashi
• Produced by: Hiroyuki Takahashi
• Special thanks to: Masayuki Hashimoto, Kouki Tamai, R.I.S. Co. Ltd., Rit's
• Created by: Sonic Co., Ltd.

Source:

Shining Force CD Book 2 ending credits

• Producer: Jerry Markota
• Product Manager: Ami Blaire
• Text Translation: Aline Alexander
• Text Editors: Jerry Markota, Ami Blaire
• Lead Tester: Crissi Albertson
• Assistant Lead Testers: John Jansen, Jeff Loney
• Testers: Rachel Bristol, Tony Lynch, Mike Callahan, Mike Griffin, Dermot Lyons
• Manual: Mike Deininger, Carol Ann Hanshaw
• Special Thanks: Shinobu Shindo, Steve Patterson, Jill Alexander

Source:

US manual

• Japanese cover & manual artist: Hiroshi Kajiyama

Source:

Sega TV Game Genga Gallery

File:Sega TV Game Genga Gallery.pdf

Digital manuals

• 

  Palm OS manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1993-07: "July 1993" (1993-06-08)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1993-08: "August 1993" (1993-07-08)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1993-09: "September 1993" (1993-08-07)

Print advert in Blue Jean (TR) #12/96: "Aralik 1996" (1996-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Blue Jean (TR) #01/97: "Ocak 1997" (1997-xx-xx)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 83 Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) NTSC-U 67 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 68 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 63 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 91 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 75 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 89 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 70 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 85

	77
Based on 9 reviews

Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya

Game Gear, JP
Cover
Cart Manual List

Game Gear, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 a6ca6fa9 MD5 0a0fa9cbcc3db467191e907794c8c02b SHA-1 789734c4a837dffd2ad3e2c8de22cbd83836580d	512kB		Cartridge (US)	24kB Backup
✔	CRC32 30374681 MD5 8857422e565412a59c77cb29550715e4 SHA-1 2dd374db661315e51e9eedebf346a5a4ded0c3be	512kB		Cartridge (JP)	24kB Backup
✔	CRC32 1dc56beb MD5 e3c8fd81c70cdbfc4bc0b8684fcd8420 SHA-1 0d31c7dd2ff84f1a18ac5a71203bcd511534951d	512kB		3DS Virtual Console (US/EU)
✔	CRC32 65e5345c MD5 2fe46517968094357f1a80e3576df691 SHA-1 71ed14c75915d606e00481cc2fbbaa28b6d2ba4f	512kB	1994-04-27	CD-R disc				Page
✔	CRC32 e97ec011 MD5 182317a505cd9b2d01b3e218e9068329 SHA-1 bb7be9acb986a923c6c8ae41053c1b2f508885d1	512kB	1994-05-30	CD-R disc				Page
✔	CRC32 8bfc56c3 MD5 e60779faea55947a1a38380238a8269e SHA-1 900f8640af14dd6c413f20058a98da11a0fd07b1	512kB	1994-06-27	CD-R disc				Page
✔	CRC32 80dca91d MD5 a5055e20c3318713ce90b6f547571eaf SHA-1 a9dd1254577bff20ee33f7bce56e2c4361f911c4	512kB	1994-07-08	CD-R disc				Page
✔	CRC32 a6ca6fa9 MD5 0a0fa9cbcc3db467191e907794c8c02b SHA-1 789734c4a837dffd2ad3e2c8de22cbd83836580d	512kB	1994-07-20	CD-R disc				Page

External links

• Sega of America webpage: Game Gear
• Sega of Japan 3DS VC catalogue pages: Game Gear
• Nintendo catalogue pages: JP, US, UK