Shining Force Gaiden: Ensei Jashin no Kuni e

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Shining Force Gaiden: Ensei Jashin no Kuni e
System(s): Sega Game Gear
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic! Software Planning
Genre: RPG
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1992-12-25 ¥5,5005,500 G-3406 JP (Meisaku) 1993-07-23 G-3411 JP ▼ 2013-10-02 ¥476 (500)476 (500)

Shining Force Gaiden: Ensei Jashin no Kuni e (シャイニング・フォース外伝 ～遠征・邪神の国へ～) is a Sega Game Gear entry in the Shining series of games.

Story

Introduction

The player controls Nick, a visitor to Guardiana, who is chosen to be the new leader of the Guardiana Shining Force. The party must travel to the Kingdom of Cypress to rescue Guardiana's captive soldiers and find a way to cure Queen Anri, who was placed under a sleep spell by the ambassador of Cypress, Woldol.

The game takes place 20 years after the events of Shining Force. The story continues the history of Guardiana and centers on a new threat to the nation. Anri, Ken, Lug (called "Luke" in Shining Force), and Lowe, who were playable characters in Shining Force, are all major characters, and Lug briefly serves as a playable character. Domingo, another Shining Force playable character, appears as a hidden character in this game. The initial party members include the sons of Lug, Ken, and Hans, the sister of Tao, and the nephew of Gong.

Shining Force Gaiden is the beginning of the Cypress saga, which is continued in the Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya. Both games were remade as Shining Force CD, which includes an additional scenario involving the same characters.

Gameplay

Battle map and scene

The game is a tactical role-playing game that uses gameplay mechanics identical to Shining Force. Battles take place in square grids, and each unit occupies one square. Each unit can move up to a fixed amount of squares along the battlefield, determined by its Movement statistic. Depending on its location relative to enemies and to allies, a unit can also perform one action: attack, cast a spell, use an item, or search the area. Some commands, such as equipping or dropping items, do not count as actions. The order of turns is determined by the unit's Agility score and a random seed. Characters gain experience points from attacking, using magical abilities, and defeating foes, which allow them to gain levels that increase their statistics and sometimes grant them new abilities. Defeated enemies also drop gold, which can be used to buy weapons and other items. Units are defeated when they lose all of their hit points. They receive a defensive benefit from the Land Effect of the tile on which they are standing. Between cutscenes, the player is allowed to save the game, promote characters, resurrect fallen characters, and buy and sell weapons and other items at a store. The game features simplified, menu-driven camps that replicate the headquarters, priests, and shops of the Mega Drive games.

Each allied unit is represented by a character with his or her own background and personality. Each allied unit has a class, which defines a set of abilities for that unit and determines their spells that they can learn and the weapons that they can equip. A unit can be promoted to another class at any level between 10 or 20. Upon promotion, the character's level resets to 1 and statistics are reduced by a fixed amount, although they begin higher if the character is promoted at a higher level. Characters have the following statistics:

• HP: The number of hit points that the character has, which is the amount of damage the character can take from enemies before dying.
• MP: The number of magic points that the character has, which is used for casting spells.
• Attack: The amount of damage that the character deals to enemies.
• Defense: The amount of damage that a character can absorb without losing hit points.
• Agility: The priority in which a unit takes a turn in battle.
• Movement: The number of tiles that a character can move in battle, which is affected by the type of terrain (except for flying units).

Statistics can also be improved through the use of items. The character's race can also affect how he or she performs in battle. For example, elves are less affected by rough terrain but centaurs are more affected. The player's army can consist of as many as 12 members, and members can be swapped in and out of the active party in between battles, with the exception of the team's leader, who must be present in every battle.

The goal of each battle is to defeat all enemies or sometimes to defeat the leader of the enemy force. The Shining Force is defeated if the team's leader falls in battle. Defeated characters can be revived after each battle. The player can also choose to escape the battle by casting Egress with the leader of the Shining Force. Even if the player army is defeated, the player can recover allies and retry the battle. The Force keeps any experience that is obtained, regardless of the battle's outcome, but players lose half of their gold if the team leader is defeated.

Characters

The translated character and class names are taken from Shining Force CD.

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

	Nick
	Race: Human Initial class: Swordsman (SDMN) Promoted class: Hero (HERO)
	Leader of the Shining Force. A young man introduced by Ruce as the leader of the expeditionary force. Nick is the prince and heir to the throne of Cypress but conceals this fact to the other characters. Nick is the only character who can equip the Sword of Hajya. Magic spells Spell Level Acquired 1 2 3 4 Egress Initially learned — — — Bolt Level 16 Level 20 Level 25 Level 30
	Ruce
	Race: Dwarf Initial class: Warrior (WARR) Promoted class: Gladiator (GLDT)
	The son of Lug. He helps organize the Gardiana expedition to rescue the missing soldiers sent to Cypress.
	Shade
	Race: Elf Initial class: Archer (ACHR) Promoted class: Sniper (SNIP)
	The son of Hans.
	Sig
	Race: Half-Giant Initial class: Monk (MNK) Promoted class: Master Monk (MMNK)
	The nephew of Gong. Magic spells Spell Level Acquired 1 2 3 4 Heal Initially learned Level 3 Level 18 Level 26 Detox Level 6 Level 16 — — Dispel Level 10 — — — Hell Blast Level 14 Level 22 Level 30 —
	Wendy
	Race: Elf Initial class: Mage (MAGE) Promoted class: Wizard (WIZ)
	The younger sister of Tao and Diane. Magic spells Spell Level Acquired 1 2 3 4 Blaze Initially learned Level 8 Level 15 Level 30 Freeze Level 4 Level 15 Level 19 — Sleep Level 12 — — — Attack Level 27 — — —
	Apis
	Race: Centaur Initial class: Knight (KNTE) Promoted class: Paladin (PLDN)
	The son of Ken. He wears a red headband similar to Mae, which implies that she may be his mother.
	Cray
	Race: Human Initial class: Monk (MNK) Promoted class: Master Monk (MMNK)
	A monk who joins the party after the Gardiana expedition crashes its ship onto the shore of Miniyom and rescues him and his sister from the Cypress forces. Magic spells Spell Level Acquired 1 2 3 4 Heal Initially learned Initially learned Level 13 Level 27 Muddle Level 7 Level 22 — — Quick Level 10 Level 21 — — Hell Blast Level 13 Level 24 Level 30 —
	Claude
	Race: Birdman Initial class: Birdman (BDMN) Promoted class: Bird Battler (BDBT)
	A member of the Cypress resistance who travels to Miniyom to join the Gardiana expedition. He joins the party at the end of Chapter 1 and provides a ship to take the Force to Asreet Island.
	Stock
	Race: Centaur Initial class: Ranger (RNGR) Promoted class: Bow Knight (BWNT)
	A Cypress resistance member who tries to conceal the resistance base from the army of Woldol.
	Mayfair
	Race: Human Initial class: Priest (PRST) Promoted class: Vicar (VICR)
	The daughter of the archbishop of Cypress. Woldol killed her father and blinded her. She joins the Force along with Stock after they liberate the town they are in. Magic spells Spell Level Acquired 1 2 3 4 Heal Initially learned Initially learned Level 12 Level 21 Muddle Initially learned — — — Hell Blast Level 8 Level 14 Level 24 Level 28 Aura Level 16 Level 19 Level 26 Level 30
	Yeesha
	Race: Human Initial class: Mage (MAGE) Promoted class: Wizard (WIZ)
	A mage who is sealed inside a tower with a spell by Bazoo. She joins the party after the Force defeats Bazoo and frees her. Magic spells Spell Level Acquired 1 2 3 4 Blaze Initially learned Initially learned Level 13 — Slow Initially learned Initially learned — — Bolt Level 16 Level 22 Level 27 Level 30 Desoul Level 19 Level 25 — —
	Gyan
	Race: Beastman Initial class: Beast (BST) Promoted class: Berserker (BRSK)
	Prince Nick's personal bodyguard and advisor. He is unaffected by rough terrain. He joins the party after meeting them near the beginning of Chapter 3.
	Domingo
	Race: Magical Creature Promoted class: Magical Creature (MCRT)
	A magical, flying creature. He is a hidden character who joins the party if he is found in Battle 12. Magic spells Spell Level Acquired 1 2 3 4 Blaze Initially learned Initially learned Initially learned — Freeze Initially learned Initially learned Initially learned Level 20 Bolt Level 6 Level 12 Level 17 — Desoul Level 9 Level 15 — —
	Kashing
	Race: Centaur Initial class: Knight (KNTE) Promoted class: Paladin (PLDN)
	One of the surviving soldiers initially sent to Cypress from Gardiana. He joins the party after the Force finds him in the Death Tunnel on the way to Gundoll Fort.
	Gates
	Race: Dwarf Promoted class: Gladiator (GLDT)
	Another surviving member of the Cypress invasion force. He joins the party outside of Gundoll Fort.
	Shriek
	Race: Birdman Promoted class: Bird Battler (BDBT)
	Another surviving member of the Cypress invasion force. He is kept captive by Dantom inside Gundoll Fort and joins the party after the Force defeats Dantom.
	Randolf
	Race: Centaur Promoted class: Paladin (PLDN)
	A member of the Cypress army who joins the Force after they defeat King Edmond out of loyalty to Prince Nick.
	Amigo
	Race: Magical Creature Promoted class: Magical Creature (MCRT)
	A magical, flying creature. She is a hidden character who joins the party if she is found in Battle 19. She is the only healer in the series who can fly. Magic spells Spell Level Acquired 1 2 3 4 Aura Initially learned Initially learned Level 9 Level 17 Quick Initially learned Level 12 — — Hell Blast Initially learned Initially learned Level 15 Level 20 Dispel Initially learned — — —
	Lug
	Race: Dwarf Promoted class: Gladiator (GLDT)
	Called Luke in Shining Force. Member of the original Shining Force and father of Ruce. He joins the party in the last battle to help defeat Woldol, bringing with him the Sword of Hajya.

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

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
Japanese	シャイニング・フォース外伝 ～遠征・邪神の国へ～	Shining Force Gaiden: Ensei Jashin no Kuni e

Production credits

• Programmers: Haruki Kodera, Kenji Numaya, Yutaka Yamamoto, Yasuhiro Taguchi
• Subscript: Hiroyuki Takahashi
• Map Design: Shuji Shimizu, Tatsuya Niikura, Tatsuaki Ikeda
• Character Design: Hiroshi Kajiyama
• Graphics: Tomonori Shinjou, Kensuke Suzuki
• Music Composer: Motoaki Takenouchi
• Sound Effects: Dogen Shibuya
• Manual: Naoko Okada, Kiyotaka Hibino, Mitsunobu Sato
• Directed by: Shugo Takahashi
• Produced by: Hiroyuki Takahashi
• Special thanks to: Naoki Akahane, Kouki Tamai, Katsushi Fujii, Masayuki Hashimoto, R.I.S. Co.,Ltd., Rit's
• Created by: Sonic Co.,Ltd.

Source:

Shining Force CD Book 1 ending credits

• Cover & manual artist: Hiroshi Kajiyama

Source:

Sega TV Game Genga Gallery

File:Sega TV Game Genga Gallery.pdf

Magazine articles

Main article: Shining Force Gaiden: Ensei Jashin no Kuni e/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1993-01: "January 1993" (1992-12-08)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1993-02: "February 1993" (1993-01-08)

Artwork

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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 73 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 63 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 80 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 80

	74
Based on 4 reviews

Shining Force Gaiden: Ensei Jashin no Kuni e

Game Gear, JP
Cover
Cart List

Game Gear, JP (Meisaku Collection)
Cover
Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 4d1f4699 MD5 8eafd80d35251b5d3f07d5cae27241c1 SHA-1 bea1bea94ea745691ad944eaadc8a5576057ed53	512kB		Cartridge (JP)	16kB backup

External links

• Sega of Japan 3DS VC catalogue pages: Game Gear
• Nintendo catalogue pages: JP