GBAtemp Recommends Revival # 024

[Another World]

Welcome to the 24th issue of the GBAtemp Recommends Revival Project! This project is a weekly feature where we share our favorite games and applications with you. The things we recommend may be "old school" titles, a Homebrew, a ROM hack, sleeper hits, an application, etc, but one thing's for certain, we think they are fantastic and deserve your attention!

This issue has been written by GBAtemp community member Rydian

GBAtemp Recommends!

Live A Live​

Live A Live is an RPG by Square for the SNES. Unlike most traditional RPGs that follow the exploits of a single main party, Live A Live takes you through multiple scenarios with disconnected parties. Initially you're presented with 7 scenarios, which you can run through in any order; these all have different main characters and take place in different time periods. From wild west cowboys and space robots to chinese monks and cavemen, there's a wide variety of things to experience.

The disconnected storylines aren't very deep since each one is short compared to normal games, but the stories are unique to each other and each one has it's own goal and additional mechanics to set it apart from the others. Anything from attempting to solve a murder, to reading minds, to staying stealthy in an enemy castle, each scenario has it's own unique mechanic and goal.

One main mechanic that is shared between all the scenarios, however, is the combat system. It's a grid-based active battle system with various techniques that attack differently and should be used according to positioning on the grid. While this is not nearly as in-depth as battle systems we see in newer games, it's definitely a change from the turn-based systems shown in many traditional RPGs and requires some additional thought and adds difficulty to the battles.

While the game was only officially released in Japan, it has been translated to english. The current translation is 2.0 by Aeon Genesis, the same group that's been behind many other popular translations, such as Cave Story, Clock Tower, Star Fox 2, and over 70 completed total, so I don't need to try to convince you it's a quality translation job!

Genre: RPG
Developer: Square
Release Date: September 2, 1994
System: SNES
Type: Translation Patch
Translation by: Aeon Genesis

If you enjoyed this weeks edition of GBAtemp Recommends! please leave a comment in the thread. This helps us monitor feedback and ensures we keep posting these articles in the future.

English Translation Patch

Author's Homepage

Official GBAtemp Recommends! Mini-Page & History

 

[Cyan]

Good game, good music
I played only two scenarios (western and futuristic robots) but it's another game I would like to complete... one day (give me time! )

 

[Bladexdsl]

i've never heard of this game b4!

 

[Just Another Gamer]

Never heard of it but seems good.

 

[shakirmoledina]

i do remember seeing this game on a snes emulator package (emulator king) but i think it was not loading or bcz of the language, i didnt play. may see it again sometime.

 

[ZAFDeltaForce]

Sounds awesome, I'll be trying it tonight

 

[Rydian]

Good game, good music
I played only two scenarios (western and futuristic robots) but it's another game I would like to complete... one day (give me time! )

The future scenario is one of my favorites. Pretty atmospheric, character-wise (if that makes sense).

I played through on the first translation a while back, and I think I beat all of them except for the present-day one... I just got stuck on some part and the walkthrough available at that time didn't lead me past it. Started playing through it again on the current translation patch, got the Wrestler and Martial Arts/Monk scenarios finished. So I haven't even seen the final scenarios.

Anyways it really does strike me as different than many other RPGs. The main point is to tell a story and really put you into the role of the character for each short chapter. So many RPGs don't take this approach and instead let the player live through the character, not the other way around. This approach has it's ups and downs...

 

[servant]

I haven't seen this before but it looks like something I would enjoy

 

[431unknown]

Gonna have to check this one out as I've never heard or this one before thanks for the heads up Rydian.

 

[MarkDarkness]

Here's one I can stand behind. Great game, truly worth the time of anybody who enjoys RPGs.