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Illusion of Gaia (1993)

Quintet

Super Famicom · Super Nintendo Entertainment System

3.85 from 351 ratings

913 members have it in their collection · 13 playing now · 291 backlogged · 197 wish listed

How long? Main story 15h · with extras 10h · 100% 15h (from 8 logged playthroughs)

Journey into the dark side of an ancient civilization. Radiating an ominous light in its path, the Chaos Comet threatens the existence of the planet. Battles erupt and a tentative peace is returned to the lands. Danger lurks as the Chaos Comet orbits and dreadful beasts lie awaiting. In the Age of Exploration a boy named Will is born. Tragedy … Read more
Journey into the dark side of an ancient civilization. Radiating an ominous light in its path, the Chaos Comet threatens the existence of the planet. Battles erupt and a tentative peace is returned to the lands. Danger lurks as the Chaos Comet orbits and dreadful beasts lie awaiting. In the Age of Exploration a boy named Will is born. Tragedy strikes during an expedition to the Tower of Babel separating Will from his father. Telekinetic forces awaken as Will returns to South Cape. Armed with his transformation abilities of two great warriors, Will must save the planet. Gaia, Will's guiding spirit bestows magical powers and advice along his journey. With the help of his friends Will must battle relentless enemies and solve the puzzles of the ancient ruins. Patience and knowledge are essential to reunite this father and son. Read less
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Details

Developers
Quintet
Publishers
Enix, Nintendo
Genres
Role-playing (RPG)
Themes
Action, Fantasy

Release dates

  • Nov 27, 1993 (Japan) Super Famicom
  • Sep 01, 1994 (North_America) Super Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Apr 27, 1995 (Europe) Super Nintendo Entertainment System
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Featured in lists

The 20 JRPGs You Must Play | Kotaku (Jason Schreier) by peter · 20 games · 5
Games That Made Me Cry by WerqKween · 20 games · 3
BMO's memorable games: teen years by BMO · 50 games · 3
1990's Games by Roach · 140 games · 2
The Best Video Game Soundtracks by WerqKween · 41 games · 2
Finalizados o jugados suficiente para convalidar by gorka182 · 138 games · 1

Rating distribution

5 stars
80
4 stars
156
3 stars
98
2 stars
15
1 star
2
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Community All Reviews Statuses

danksocks

Status danksocks May 25, 2026

This has been a breath of fresh air during the weekend. The moment I fell in love with it was when I realized in the save room if you hit no to the prompt "Do you want to continue your journey?" you'll be told to rest awhile and a lovely lullaby-like song will just play infinitely. Now every time I …

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This has been a breath of fresh air during the weekend. The moment I fell in love with it was when I realized in the save room if you hit no to the prompt "Do you want to continue your journey?" you'll be told to rest awhile and a lovely lullaby-like song will just play infinitely. Now every time I finish up a session I just sit listening to that theme for a few minutes.

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0 Comment Permalink
TheBeautifulEric

Status TheBeautifulEric Feb 18, 2021 Completed

Really solid game. This, along with Soul Blazer, touch on more mature topics than I ever expected them to, and they handled them better than I expected them to for being 90s RPGS. Off the top of my head they handle themes like privilege, slavery, and cultural differences better than I've seen in other games. Tempted to try out Terranigma …

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Really solid game. This, along with Soul Blazer, touch on more mature topics than I ever expected them to, and they handled them better than I expected them to for being 90s RPGS. Off the top of my head they handle themes like privilege, slavery, and cultural differences better than I've seen in other games. Tempted to try out Terranigma as well.

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2 Comment Permalink
TheBeautifulEric

Status TheBeautifulEric Feb 16, 2021 Completed

This game really does a good job emphasizing the passage of time and getting across the feeling that you are on a long journey, which is something I have not really seen a lot of other games do well at all. I will say that I prefer the more simplistic style of Soul Blazer, but this game is still enjoyable …

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This game really does a good job emphasizing the passage of time and getting across the feeling that you are on a long journey, which is something I have not really seen a lot of other games do well at all. I will say that I prefer the more simplistic style of Soul Blazer, but this game is still enjoyable so far.

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2 Comment Permalink
Chovus

Status Chovus Apr 1, 2020

I rented this as a kid and it has stuck with me as one of the better and more memorable SNES games. I cannot remember if I beat the game back then. Around 20 years later I played it again and beat it, including getting all of the red gems. I did have trouble with the final boss and checked …

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I rented this as a kid and it has stuck with me as one of the better and more memorable SNES games. I cannot remember if I beat the game back then. Around 20 years later I played it again and beat it, including getting all of the red gems. I did have trouble with the final boss and checked a walkthrough to find out the gimmick I was missing.

A great classic.

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0 Comment Permalink
WerqKween

Status WerqKween Aug 3, 2019

Finished the game tonight. This was a really enjoyable play through, the only negative being that the translation obscured the story at times and made things confusing, particularly the Evangelion-light-esque ending.

Appropriately enough, the two most difficult parts came in the end, between the last boss, and the “secret” dungeon. They were giving me trouble so I broke down and …

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Finished the game tonight. This was a really enjoyable play through, the only negative being that the translation obscured the story at times and made things confusing, particularly the Evangelion-light-esque ending.

Appropriately enough, the two most difficult parts came in the end, between the last boss, and the “secret” dungeon. They were giving me trouble so I broke down and watched people beat them on YouTube for hints. That obviously made it much easier, although it still took me a few tries to take down Solid Arm.

Otherwise, the dungeons are just the right size and difficulty as you progress, the music is great, puzzles, battle, and adventuring are all fun and rarely tedious, and the story is good for what it is. I give it a strong recommendation to those that haven’t played it.

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3 Comment Permalink
WerqKween

Status WerqKween Jul 31, 2019

Great Wall down, drinking game is next.

I never paid attention to the scope of the game's presentation, but I like how the trip is framed by actual amounts of time passing. Weeks of drifting at sea, days of traveling, a month in the undersea tunnel, deaths, birthdays. I dunno, it's a nice touch that sets the game apart.

1 Comment Permalink
WerqKween

Status WerqKween Jul 30, 2019

Jerk head vampires down! Man, Mu is a long dungeon. My team traveled for a month through an underwater tunnel, subsisting entirely on bland mushrooms, apparently, and I’m now at the Angel Village. Which always seemed a bit sad.

I’ve been paying more attention to the translation as well. It’s fascinating because a lot of it seems great, then out …

Read more

Jerk head vampires down! Man, Mu is a long dungeon. My team traveled for a month through an underwater tunnel, subsisting entirely on bland mushrooms, apparently, and I’m now at the Angel Village. Which always seemed a bit sad.

I’ve been paying more attention to the translation as well. It’s fascinating because a lot of it seems great, then out of nowhere it gets rough. One of the funny ones is the mistranslation of Leviathan to Riverson. Or when you rescue Erik from the vampires and he says some weird bit about Will being in disguise? I don’t even know what that was about.

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2 Comment Permalink
WerqKween

Status WerqKween Jul 29, 2019

Started this one over the weekend and am currently in the Sky Garden. I'm glad I get a chance to replay these games, since I glazed over most of the story when I was young. One thing that surprised since playing this as a kid - the supporting characters make you think the princess is a snobby jerk, which is …

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Started this one over the weekend and am currently in the Sky Garden. I'm glad I get a chance to replay these games, since I glazed over most of the story when I was young. One thing that surprised since playing this as a kid - the supporting characters make you think the princess is a snobby jerk, which is how I remembered it. Truthfully, all of the interactions with her show her to be kind and conscientious so that's kind of a weird take. Looking forward to getting further into the guts of this game.

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3 Comment Permalink