Where the story of most traditional JRPGs is presented through a single lens, often the eyes of a lone heroic sword-wielding evil-slaying protagonist, Live A Live decides instead to take this role and split it into seven parts. With the retro revival of the 16-bit era thanks to Square Enix‘s very own HD-2D series, Live A Live lives another life on Nintendo Switch! So is this lively cult classic worthy of the wait? Read ahead and explore the seven stories that await you in… Story

Thus Live A Live was born – a cult classic that would elude a Western audience for close to 3 decades. Rather than limiting themselves to a single story, the team instead sought to combine the plights of seven heroic protagonists from across time and space through a series of creative short stories. This would be the directorial debut of Takashi Tokita (director of Chrono Trigger, Parasite Eve), whose influence on the genre cannot be understated. This was sadly the case with Square’s Live A Live (ライブ・ア・ライブ), released only in Japan exclusively for the Super Famicom in 1994. Though with the J in JRPG standing for “Japanese”, it was inevitable that some superb software would never make its way to Western shores.

And it’s easy to see why – influential titles like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IV & VI, Phantasy Star, and EarthBound just to name a few, all set the standard for any games that would follow in their legacy.Ĭhrono Trigger (1995) is the quintessential 16-bit JRPG, still considered by many as the finest ever made. Beginning in 1987 and spanning into the mid-90’s, dominated by the Super Nintendo and SEGA’s Mega Drive/Genesis, many consider this decade to be the golden years for RPGs. If you grew up playing JRPGs (that’s Japanese Role-Playing Games for the uninitiated), chances are you have an immense fondness for the 16-bit era. Discover Square’s cult-classic SNES title in its Western debut in our LIVE A LIVE review.

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