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ActRaiser (1990)

Quintet

Arcade · Satellaview · Super Famicom · Super Nintendo Entertainment System · Wii · Wii U

3.81 from 325 ratings

737 members have it in their collection · 8 playing now · 176 backlogged · 102 wish listed

How long? Main story 9h · with extras 5h (from 6 logged playthroughs)

ActRaiser is a 1990 platform and city-building simulation game for the Super Nintendo, combining traditional side-scrolling platforming with urban planning god game sections. In 2007, ActRaiser became available on the Wii's Virtual Console download service. A version of the game was also released for European mobile phones in 2004.
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Details

Developers
Quintet
Publishers
Enix America Corporation, Enix Corporation, Nintendo, Square Enix, St. GIGA
Genres
Platform, Simulator, Strategy
Themes
Action, Fantasy
Series
ActRaiser
Event
Dai-2-kai Shoshinkai Soft Tenshikai / Super Famicom - Family Computer - Game Boy Soft Tenshikai

Release dates

  • Dec 16, 1990 (Japan) Super Famicom
  • Nov 01, 1991 (North_America) Super Nintendo Entertainment System
  • 1991 (Full Release) (North_America) Arcade
  • Mar 18, 1993 (Europe) Super Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Mar 20, 2007 (Japan) Wii
  • Apr 13, 2007 (Europe) Wii
  • Apr 13, 2007 (Australia) Wii
  • May 28, 2007 (North_America) Wii
  • Nov 18, 2012 (Worldwide) Wii U
  • TBD (Japan) Satellaview

Also available on

Related

Remakes

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Featured in lists

Games Everyone Should Play At Least Once by Roach · 155 games · 5
1990's Games by Roach · 140 games · 2
The Best Video Game Soundtracks by WerqKween · 41 games · 2

Rating distribution

5 stars
69
4 stars
151
3 stars
84
2 stars
16
1 star
5
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Community All Reviews Statuses

danksocks

Status danksocks May 31, 2026

I am going through the Quintet SNES catalog and this game kinda came out of nowhere for me. Good side-scrolling action platformer with a fun, if barebones, city simulator. Totally took over my whole weekend. Also the boss fights are really good! If you take the time to learn how to beat them w/o magic spam the final boss gauntlet …

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I am going through the Quintet SNES catalog and this game kinda came out of nowhere for me. Good side-scrolling action platformer with a fun, if barebones, city simulator. Totally took over my whole weekend. Also the boss fights are really good! If you take the time to learn how to beat them w/o magic spam the final boss gauntlet becomes a lot easier. Really great game!

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2 Comment Permalink
Atag

Status Atag May 22, 2024

@Roachs SNES post inspired me to check out a bunch of snes games I'd never touched before, mainly to see if my love for the console is more than just rose tinted nostalgia.

I'm so glad I chose this game to start with because 10 minutes in and it's easy to see this is pretty unique. I love overworlds and …

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@Roachs SNES post inspired me to check out a bunch of snes games I'd never touched before, mainly to see if my love for the console is more than just rose tinted nostalgia.

I'm so glad I chose this game to start with because 10 minutes in and it's easy to see this is pretty unique. I love overworlds and not only does this let you fly around the map as a god in a sky palace, but you can also zoom in and out of the map, and fly down from the palace to manage areas in more detail. Really neat!

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It also blends my other favourite genre which is platforming! To make areas inhabitable by regular folk you have to vanquish monsters via a cool platforming section. Really love the music too - the whole game just has a lot of different things going for it.

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3 Comment Permalink
thegameistobesold

Status thegameistobesold Jul 24, 2020

Some of the best music from the SNES era ever! A little clunky with the sword slashing and cheap boss fights prevent this from being a masterpiece. Very original and worth playing! Classic!

3 Comment Permalink
Chovus

Status Chovus Dec 31, 2019

I recall renting this back in the 90s and while the details of the game did not stick with me, the fact that it was an enjoyable experience did. I beat the game again in 2016 or 17 and enjoyed the game. The action portion of the game is nothing special while the simulation God game portion is what I …

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I recall renting this back in the 90s and while the details of the game did not stick with me, the fact that it was an enjoyable experience did. I beat the game again in 2016 or 17 and enjoyed the game. The action portion of the game is nothing special while the simulation God game portion is what I liked most. It reminds me of games like Populus, Dungeon Keeper and Majesty. There is just something special about a game where you do not have direct control over your minions and instead must try to influence them to complete strategic objectives for you. Though the God sim aspect of this game is very simplistic I believe this was the very 1st God game I ever played and it sparked my love of the genre.

Despite the game's simplicity and shortcomings, it is a great game that should be on any SNES must play list.

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2 Comment Permalink
Reset_Tears

Status Reset_Tears Aug 15, 2019

♪ Oh it's tough to be a god, but if you get the people's nod -- Count your blessings, keep 'em sweet, that's our advice

ActRaiser is a game that's actually two games in one. For probably about 2/3rds of the game you play a city-building sim, and for the other 1/3rd it's a side-scroller (you go back and forth …

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♪ Oh it's tough to be a god, but if you get the people's nod -- Count your blessings, keep 'em sweet, that's our advice

ActRaiser is a game that's actually two games in one. For probably about 2/3rds of the game you play a city-building sim, and for the other 1/3rd it's a side-scroller (you go back and forth between the two styles of gameplay). Very unique, and overall it's quite fun. But here's the thing -- this is definitely a case where I'd say the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The city-building sim is honestly just okay. And the action platformer levels? They're probably just mediocre at best. But damn, if there isn't something magical about the game as a whole. I love this game to bits, and I think it all boils down to the game's presentation. ActRaiser is god-tier (wink) in terms of its presentation. It oozes charm with its cute overworld graphics, its quaint dialogue, its contrasting dark and dramatic action stages, and its memorable monster designs.

The music in ActRaiser is among the best the 16-bit era has to offer. And perhaps that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone -- this was composed by Yuzu Koshiro, who would go on to handle Streets of Rage 2 and Beyond Oasis. In ActRaiser, the city-building tune "Birth of the People" is one of the most memorable video game tunes I can think of. The various platformer level songs though are also great, really getting across an epic and intense atmosphere fitting for an adventurous god vanquishing all the monsters in the land.

The ending for this is also one that sticks with me. It left a surprisingly strong impression, and is another influence for making me a fan of this game. I recommend any fan of the SNES to give ActRaiser a full playthrough for a unique 16-bit era experience.

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3 Comment Permalink