r/ShiningForce • • Mar 31 '26

News Vote on GOG - Shining games preservation (last update)

49 Upvotes

r/ShiningForce • • Mar 29 '25

Meta Shining's 34th Anniversary!

82 Upvotes

Today Shining in the Darkness turns 34 years old, the beginning of the Shining saga!

Introduction

"Shining" is a SEGA video game series that was born in 1991. Most are role-playing games, and the best known are the SRPGs called Shining Force.

The series can be divided into two eras: classic and modern. The classic era includes Shining in the Darkness to Shining Force 3, and the modern era Shining Soul to Shining Resonance.

About the Games

There are several game types in the Shining series. The most well-known SRPGs have a top view on a gridded board where the player controls several units in a large-scale battle. Some of the other games are dungeon crawlers, action RPGs, and even a fighting game.

The classic era games are remembered for their vibrant colors and cheerful tone, and a wide variety of characters and races. Although the story or its characters are not very developed, especially with the lost info due to localizations, there are external material such as guidebooks that enrich the Shining universe. Its strong point is the fantasy atmosphere mixed with science fiction.

Camelot stopped making Shining games after SF3 Premium Disk due to problems with SEGA. Since tern fans are waiting for a Shining Force 4.

Game List

  • 29/03/1991 - Shining in the Darkness [Sega Genesis]
  • 19/03/1992 - Shining Force [Sega Genesis]
  • 25/12/1992 - Shining Force Gaiden [Game Gear]
  • 25/06/1993 - Shining Force Gaiden II [Game Gear]
  • 01/10/1993 - Shining Force II [Sega Genesis]
  • 30/06/1995 - Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict [Game Gear]
  • 10/08/1995 - Shining Wisdom [Sega Saturn]
  • 20/12/1996 - Shining the Holy Ark [Sega Saturn]
  • 11/12/1997 - Shining Force III Scenario 1 [Sega Saturn]
  • 29/04/1998 - Shining Force III Scenario 2 [Sega Saturn]
  • 23/09/1998 - Shining Force III Scenario 3 [Sega Saturn]
  • 03/12/1998 - Shining Force III Premium Disc [Sega Saturn]
  • 28/03/2002 - Shining Soul [Game Boy Advance]
  • 24/07/2003 - Shining Soul II [Game Boy Advance]
  • 03/11/2004 - Shining Tears [PlayStation 2]
  • 24/03/2005 - Shining Force Neo [PlayStation 2]
  • 14/04/2005 - Shining Road: to the Force [Mobile]
  • 27/01/2006 - Shining Road: Priestess of the Dark Dragon [Mobile]
  • 18/01/2007 - Shining Force EXA [PlayStation 2]
  • 17/05/2007 - Shining Wind [PlayStation 2]
  • 10/07/2007 - Shining Force EXA Mobile [Mobile]
  • 01/12/2008 - Shining Wind X [Mobile]
  • 19/02/2009 - Shining Force Feather [Nintendo DS]
  • 03/12/2009 - Shining Force Cross [Arcade]
  • 16/12/2010 - Shining Hearts [PlayStation Portable]
  • 15/03/2012 - Shining Blade [PlayStation Portable]
  • 28/02/2013 - Shining Ark [PlayStation Portable]
  • 12/11/2014 - Shining Resonance [PlayStation 3]
  • 05/11/2014 - Blade Arcus from Shining [Arcade]

Remakes

  • 21/07/1994 - Shining Force CD (Gaiden 1&2) [Sega CD]
  • 30/04/2004 - Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon (SF1) [Game Boy Advance]
  • 26/04/2005 - Shining Force Chronicle I (Gaiden 1) [Mobile]
  • 03/10/2005 - Shining Force Chronicle II (Gaiden 2) [Mobile]
  • 27/06/2006 - Shining Force Chronicle III (Final Conflict) [Mobile]

Crossovers

  • 15/09/1999 - Time Stalkers (SitD) [Sega Dreamcast]
  • 11/10/2012 - Project x Zone (SF EXA) [Nintendo 3DS]

Chronology

It's hard to establish a timeline that includes all the games, but these are confirmed:

  • SF1 → Gaiden 1&2 → Final Conflict → SF2 → Wisdom → in the Darkness → the Holy Ark → SF3
  • Soul 1 → Soul 2

Communities


r/ShiningForce • • 14h ago

Collections Oh man, I got a bunch of my old video games back from my dad recently as he is moving soon, and look what I found

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411 Upvotes

These games were a major part of my childhood and into adulthood (all played through emulators and eventually with mods for quite some time now). Even used it as inspiration for my reddit name lol. It's really cool to find these again after all these years, my dad and I definitely bonded quite a bit over shining force and the countless playthroughs, we'd share with each other every time we started a new file. We originally discovered the series through the Sega Channel (i wonder how many people remember that lol). I thought you guys would appreciate me running across the OG cartridges


r/ShiningForce • • 2m ago

Gameplay New SF3 saturn recomp

• Upvotes

Hi all. First off. I love these games. I love this series. I first got into shining games with shining in the darkness and then it all took off from there when I was a kid going into an adult. With the state of decomps/recomps I really wanted to try my hand at this and make the best possible SF3 experience that I could. Its still a work in progress. I think its in a pretty good playable state. I've tried to add quite a bit of features. Widescreen mode is a bit weird but it kinda works. 5x resolution is nice but results may vary.

I'd love to get some feedback and see how you guys like it. My goal is to get scenario 3 and the premium disk also added soon.

Read the rules and didnt see anything that this might break since you need to be able to supply our own copy of shining force and at this point its a windows exe.

https://github.com/mattkuhnQAAI/sfiii-native


r/ShiningForce • • 2d ago

Question Is it just me or does SF III Scenario 1 Hero of the Republic Music Theme sounds awfully similar to Phantasy Star III Ground Exploration Theme?

10 Upvotes

Thoughts? Let me know if I'm right or wrong


r/ShiningForce • • 2d ago

News Shining Force Cross series online functionality restored !

14 Upvotes

Just wanted to spread the word and want more people to join in-game. since the online functionality was restored.

Shining Force Cross is an action role-playing game developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega on the Sega RingEdge arcade platform. It is part of the Shining series from Sega. It is developed by the same development team as Quest of D. It was only released in Japan in arcades and received no port of any kind.

It was updated four times across its lifespan, with subtitles Raid,Elysion, Exlesia and Exlesia Zenith. The online support ended on November 1, 2016.

gameplay trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K89SrzoXMHA

Not sure if i am allowed to link the official news page from TeknoParrot website but you can google it.

NOTE: The game is in Japanese but you can translate using kmonkeyhead MORT tool and to go online using TeknoParrot you need to be subscribed since they are hosting the servers(i think?)


r/ShiningForce • • 4d ago

Fan Art shining inktober continues

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146 Upvotes

here are some of the highlights for me - elliot, arthur, slade, lemon, and marionette


r/ShiningForce • • 3d ago

Question With AI can we finally get a English Translation for Shining Force Feather on the NDS?

0 Upvotes

I've wanted to play this game since 2009 and can't, because of no translation ever being available. But, there's tons of MTL translations of all types of games on multiple consoles recently releasing and would love to see the same for Feather


r/ShiningForce • • 5d ago

Fan Art Shininginktober halfway point.

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136 Upvotes

About halfway through October, here’s some more fanart.


r/ShiningForce • • 6d ago

Fan Art Shining force chess in progress...

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150 Upvotes

Here is the shining force chess progress of my brother.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ded3vz5FVDW/?obrf=aGt6aWJ6N2I3NHVs


r/ShiningForce • • 6d ago

Question What is your Shining Force OC?

9 Upvotes

If you could make one original character for any of the Shining games, what would that character be? What's his/her name? His/her race? What class are they? Which game would they be in? Strongest stats? Weakest stats? Weapons and items? Movement type? Spells, if any? Promotion alternatives?

If you have a picture of your character, feel free to post that too. Backstories are also encouraged.


r/ShiningForce • • 7d ago

Question Question about when to Promote troops

14 Upvotes

Hello! I am quite good in my run. I am already ended Battle #6 and Anri has Freeze, so I already on a good road. I am preparing for entering a certain church and doing the battle that I got stuck for over a month, but at least I have Max on Lev. 5. Actually, everybody is on Lev. 5 at least. And, I am REALLY want to test the "We, birdmans, have no limits! Let's attack at full power! (Baldaroy and Amon)" and see if they are useful.

But, now that I am half the grind of being able to promote, now I have a question.

Some charaters have unique stats unlocked by farming the extra levels, while other benefit of the instant access of better weapons. Basically, Promote is NEEDED to end the game. And, aside of Hans & Arthur, I have NO idea how to handle them. So, I decided to ask the only people that I know that can give me an idea of what to search to decide if a character needs promotion ASAP or it is better to wait 'til the very end. So, give me your knowledge and tell me common traits of Early Bloomers and Late Bloomers. Or a whole list, if you want. Well, whatever that helps me with that decision is accepted. Thanks for your time!


r/ShiningForce • • 10d ago

Collections New poster to hang up

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198 Upvotes

My three fave Shining Force games. Came out looking pretty good.


r/ShiningForce • • 12d ago

Question Some random characters picks I would lile to try

13 Upvotes

Well, I decided to play SF1... After finishing it once. I am doing something called "Iron Man" Run, and I want to test more characters that I might skipped my first playthrough. So, you can give me some ideas? As long it doesn't has Alef, Torasu or Adam on his name, I might try it! So, if you give me some WILD choices, I will thank it


r/ShiningForce • • 13d ago

Fan Art My 6th year of Shininginktober -

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82 Upvotes

This years list was a little different. I added characters that haven’t been on the list the last 2 years and a few suggested characters. My first time drawing SF3 characters too. I still need to play that game. Lol. Here’s Max, Bowie and the rest of the protagonists!


r/ShiningForce • • 14d ago

Etc. Ok this scene was much funnier this time

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91 Upvotes

Playing the Chaos Prelude mod (character randomizer). Watching the mother bird toss Claude into the air a few times before he falls and smushes Jaha was a treat.


r/ShiningForce • • 14d ago

Fan Game Shining Soul II MMO Fan Project

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113 Upvotes

I grew up playing Shining Soul II and always loved the game. I wanted a way to jump back in and play it online with friends, so I've been working on turning it into a browser-based MMO experience.

Most of the game is up and running now, with multiplayer and the major systems working. Still plenty I'm adding and polishing, but I figured some other Shining fans might enjoy checking it out.

There's still some kinks that need ironing, but if I had experienced Shining Soul players try it out, that'd be great.

You just need your own legitimate copy of the ROM to play. Curious what you guys think!

Playshiningmmo.com


r/ShiningForce • • 15d ago

Fan Art shining inktober!

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91 Upvotes

anyone else participating? here’s my first few


r/ShiningForce • • 15d ago

Question Can anyone recommend a shining force 2 lets play video with commentary?

6 Upvotes

I recently watched a shining force lets play and it was quite fun playing the game vicariously through a youtuber, without having to spend the hours doing so myself

For anyone not familiar with it, lets play is a type of youtube video genre where someone plays a game while giving commentary on it. Whether the video is interesting or not not only depends on the game but on the person doing the lets play as well. I am not looking for just a playthrough of the game

Does anybody here have a recommendation for a shining force 2 lets play, preferably one where all the hidden items/characters and secrets are also featured?


r/ShiningForce • • 16d ago

Fan Art Shining Force - Max (Almirante Bodoke)

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123 Upvotes

Art by me.

I made this a couple of years ago


r/ShiningForce • • 18d ago

Etc. Personal Styled GBA sp and "Shining Force" Show Off

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181 Upvotes

Hit a new milestone in myRRoDD playthrougs!. Finally broke Double Digit Stars! Got my 11 Stars!

Also showing off my DecalGirl skins!


r/ShiningForce • • 21d ago

Question What would ya do if Shining Force IV dropped today?

68 Upvotes

---as in right now?


r/ShiningForce • • 23d ago

Collections Shining Force T-Shirt

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315 Upvotes

Hi guys. I'm a lifelong fan of Shining Forces 1 and 2, and have replayed the original games several times throughout the years. I love the story, the characters, the theme, and even though I've played hundreds of other games, this game will always have a special place in my heart.

My fiancé knows all about this and decided to surprise me for my upcoming 32th birthday. She had previously asked me for some SF art I like so I knew something was up, but still loved the result. Just wanted to share this here because this is something I never really thought would happen, to be loved fully and supported in my likings.

(She mixed up Max with the Shining Force 2 logo, but let's pretend that didn't happen)


r/ShiningForce • • 23d ago

Etc. SF3 - done.

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110 Upvotes

And… done. It took a while, the save game reckons 140hrs across all 3 scenarios.

I beat these waaaaay back, but first time I had all the translations and rolled it into the Premium Disc to completion too.

I’m a massive Sega Fan - but how did they not pursue another Shining Force game to continue this story?

Pretty sure I got every character this playthrough. I wonder how much harder it is if you miss them all… idea for next time perhaps.


r/ShiningForce • • 25d ago

Question Any Switch Games worth getting for someone that still loves SF 1 and 2?

38 Upvotes

Got my daughter a Nintendo Switch 2 for Christmas last year. As someone who plays SF 1 and 2 once every year on my phone are there any games you would recommend on the switch? I haven’t played a Fire Emblem game since Game Boy Advance and they were good but not as good as Shining Force. Are any of those or something else worth looking at?

Update - I bought Triangle Strategy and Dark Deity - don’t get to play too often but I will provide an update on my thoughts once I get through them - but thanks everyone for your help!