Auction Spoils: Soul Blazer for SNES

There’s no nicer noise than my mailbox opening and closing when I’m waiting for something I’ve ordered to show up in the mail.  A few posts ago I mentioned winning an eBay auction for the first time in a while.  The auction was for Soul Blazer, the first game in a SNES trilogy in which Illusion of Gaia (Illusion of Time in other areas) and Terranigma are the game’s successors.  Talk about a trio of pure awesomeness!

This trilogy first came to my attention when I was visiting with some family last summer.  My cousin owns most of the SNES RPG library (I’m honestly extremely jealous of him), and as I was talking about my quest to procure many of the great SNES RPGs and enjoy them for the first time, he mentioned that his favourite game on the system was Illusion of Gaia.  It wasn’t a game I’d ever heard of as this was back in my early days of researching all the SNES RPGs, so I started to do a little digging.  After reading many reviews and liking what I saw, I eventually ordered a copy from eBay.  Then, out of nowhere, I found a complete boxed copy of the game at the local thrift store and scooped that up.  I didn’t dive in right away though.  I didn’t want to start Illusion of Gaia until I could get my hands on the other two games.  I like to try to play a series of games close together if I can.

Terranigma was next on my list.  Knowing that it had never had a North American release made it a little more cost effective to buy since many report the game as one of the best RPGs of all time.  If that is truly the case, an authentic North American release of the cartridge would have probably been close in price to the likes of Chrono Trigger and Earthbound ($190-$300).  A reproduction cartridge with an English translation was available on the Game Reproductions website with the PAL version’s label art for about $60 CAD.  The game looks and plays wonderfully.  For Canadians reading, if you want to buy from this site, just be aware that shipping can get a bit complicated.  The person running the site is really great to work with, and we were able to find a solution.  It’s best to inquire before you buy!

The last of the lot to get was Soul Blazer.  The first time I looked up pricing for the game, I was honestly shocked.  It was almost $100, which was double or triple what I had paid for loose copies of the other two games in the bunch.  I didn’t feel ready to pay that kind of money when everyone was telling me that the latter two games in the trilogy were better and had cost me far less.  At the last swap, I had seen several copies of Soul Blazer priced at $100 and up and had felt a little discouraged.  Upon returning home and perusing eBay for a sliver of hope for a price drop, I fought to the death with an auction sniper (I’m assuming the other person died figuratively from the brilliance of my win, of course) and came away with the game for $86, a price that included ludicrous shipping costs to Canada.  This might not seem like a tremendous discount, but it’s the cheapest I’ve ever seen this game.  Who knows.  The price of games might plummet tomorrow, but I don’t like passing up on opportunities when they present themselves.  I invest in games to keep them forever so the cost never feels wasted.

After all that, here is a photo of the trilogy: Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma.

I’ve heard such great things about all these games.  Knowing that Illusion of Gaia is my cousin’s favourite will make it special for me to play through.  His opinion matters immensely since he is an extremely seasoned SNES RPG player and knows what is good and what isn’t so good.  I am also tickled by the fact that Quintet, the video game developing company that oversaw these three games, was also responsible for other notable SNES works like Actraiser 1 and 2 and Robotrek.  Those last three games have made it onto my list for the next swap, so hopefully I will find them.  I think there are only two more swaps left until next spring, so I’m hoping to make the most of them both!

Thanks for reading!

-GG