Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals – Greatest Cart Ever?

Known in Japan as Estpolis Denki II

Lufia 2

Released to America in Summer of 96 (Japan early 95, almost immediately before Chrono Trigger by Squaresoft).

This Neverland epic probably lost thousands of gamer hours because Chrono Trigger is on so many “Top (X)” lists around the globe.  The Lufia prequel (see Mother vs. Earthbound) is somewhere between 25-90 hours on a play through. There are many elements to the game, sidequests essentially, which can be completed without too much detouring or retracing (with one huge, deliberate exception).  Let’s break down this RPG and get the word out for why it is so awesome.  Classic games still stack up with releases a decade later because they pushed their limits and reached the boundaries within their simplicity.  Modern developers are constantly restricted by deadlines, technical requirements, and supporting the flash-media genre where every second of the game is interactive.

Long Distance

It recently came up as a difficult question, “What is your favorite song?”

I usually answer this question with my instinctive “Pepper: The Butthole Surfers” then I get lost in a tangent of what a terrific album Electricalarryland is.

There is an orchestrated Japanese video game song with lyrics sang by Risa Ohki entitled Long Distance which is quite possibly the most beautiful song I had ever heard.  She has a beautiful voice and there is just all that appeal of Final Fantasy and Nobuo Uematsu (one of my musical heroes).