It's incredible to think that ActRaiser, a title that effortlessly blends God sim sections with side-scrolling action, came so early in the lifespan of the SNES.
A genuinely groundbreaking title, ActRaiser is fondly remembered even today – and recently inspired a remake on modern-day platforms. However, Yuzo Koshiro – who contributed a fantastic soundtrack to Enix's title – has revealed that the initial plan for ActRaiser was very different.
"My sister told me that ActRaiser was originally planned as a straight-up JRPG, similar to Dragon Quest," Koshiro says on social media, referencing his sibling, Ayano.
"Later on, at the request of the programmer Hashimoto, the action sections were added. He was heavily into Rockman at the time, which had a strong influence on the game. From that point on, it took about six months to finish the game."
He explains that he's "only hearing this story for the first time now, since the action sections were already in place when I joined the team. At that time, I vaguely recall Hashimoto-san often praising Mega Man, and that the action parts were quite strongly influenced by it."
Unfortunately, Koshiro has also posted this rather terrifying AI-generated video to mark the game's 35th anniversary:
ActRaiser was followed by a SNES sequel, which sadly removed the God sim sections.