Game

ActRaiser

1990 · Arcade · Satellaview · Super Nintendo Entertainment System · Wii · Wii U · Super Famicom · Platform · Simulator · Strategy

79IGDB player score
70 ratings

Previously Take

A respectable 79 average that never found its audience. Slow-burn strategy: fantasy, tough calls, and the sweet pain of one more turn. Solo only, and better for it — this is a one-player experience through and through.

About this game

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.

The plot follows a godlike being known only as "The Master" (God in the Japanese version) in his fight against Tanzra (Satan in the Japanese version), also referred to as "The Evil One." According to the instruction booklet, The Master was defeated in a battle with Tanzra and his six lieutenants. The Master retreated to his sky palace to tend to his wounds and fell into a deep sleep. In the Master's absence, Tanzra divided the world into six lands, one for each of his lieutenants; they later turned the people to evil. After several hundred years, the Master awakens fully recovered to discover that he has lost his powers due to the lack of belief in him. As the game progresses, the Master defeats Tanzra's lieutenants and recovers his powers by rebuilding the civilizations of his people and communicating with them through prayer. After all lieutenants have been slain, the Master commences an assault on Tanzra's stronghold, Death Heim, eventually defeating him. After the defeat of Tanzra, The Master and his servant revisit the many civilizations that they had helped to build and observe the people. During their observations, they note that nobody is at the temple worshiping the Master. The servant observes that, although the people once prayed to the Master in times of trouble, they no longer feel a need to because they are not in danger. The Master and his servant then enter the sky palace and depart into the heavens to await a time when they may be needed.