Actraiser Renaissance Review

First unveiled in a September Nintendo Direct, Actraiser Renaissance for Nintendo Switch is a remake of the 1990s hidden gem ActRaiser on the 16-bit Super Nintendo (SNES).

The Basics, Much Like Before

Just as in the SNES original, you play as a god that looks over six lands. There are two distinct types of gameplay: Hack-and-slash style action stages and a town-building simulation mode. In the action stages, you take human form as you use your sword (and magic attacks) to fight through a variety of enemies…including a large boss at the end of each level.

An action stage in Actraiser Renaissance.
A tree gives a helpful hand in Fillmore’s first action stage.

In the simulation mode, you direct your people (who worship you at a shrine) to make new roads, houses, fields, and more. You can use miracles to fulfill the people’s requests. For example, you may use lightning to clear out overgrown trees, use the sun to melt ice or dry out swampland, or make the wind blow to allow people to use their stagnant windmills.

The simulation mode initially has monsters (you fight them off by controlling an angel equipped with a bow and arrows), and the object is to lead your people to seal each monster lair. But this mode is generally more peaceful and relaxing, and it provides a nice change of pace from the action stages.

The town-building simulation mode.
The town-building simulation mode.

What’s New

The action levels have been redesigned, boss enemies don’t follow the same patterns as on SNES, and new mini-stages have been added for each time you seal a monster’s lair. Your player also has several new moves, including a rising strike, a backstep, an overhead slam, and a thrust attack.

Actraiser Renaissance has more emphasis on plot…and lots of dialogue. Some original storylines have returned, but they are fleshed out and go into much more detail. I was happy to see that the runaway boy Teddy from Bloodpool has returned, and he still gets homesick when you deliver him some of his mother’s fresh baked bread.

Teddy: Aye, there's no mistaking it! Mother's bread, fresh from the oven! And just when my hunger was beginning to grow unbearable. As if my stomach summoned it out of thin air!

Also, each town now has a “hero,” although some of them don’t seem like heroes initially. But many of the new storylines in each town revolve around them.

Philotas: ...I swore, then and there, never to allow such a tragedy to be repeated.

But the biggest change in Renaissance is the addition of settlement sieges, in which hordes of enemies come to attack your town (for no apparent reason). You can place forts at strategic locations, deploy palisades, command your heroes to guard certain spots, and use miracles (lightning, etc.) to help the fight. But curiously, the angel can not shoot arrows to help out during sieges.

A settlement siege in Kasandora in Actraiser Renaissance.

The sieges provide a strategic challenge to the game. Unfortunately, they occur a bit too frequently for my tastes. They break up the the semi-peaceful simulation mode with more tense battles. While I don’t necessarily dislike the sieges, they are my least-favorite aspect of the game.

There is also some other new content at the end of the game, although I won’t spoil it in this review. But I was pleasantly surprised by the addition.

Graphics, Sound, Controls

The graphics have obviously been updated quite a bit from the SNES version, but they’re mediocre (at best) by modern standards. The pre-rendered characters look awkward and stand out (and not in a good way)…particularly against darker backgrounds. If you’re in a dark cave, why should bright lights be reflecting off your helmet? 😂

The music in the game is incredible. Heavenly, even. There are remastered versions of the great SNES tunes, along with some new songs as well. In addition, there’s even an option to switch to the SNES version of the songs, which is a really cool feature.

The controls are simple, straightforward, and solid. The new moves are easy to pull off, and I have no complaints about the controls.

Preparing to fight a monster in Bloodpool's action stage.

A Class Act

ActRaiser Renaissance may have a bit of filler that extends the game (it took me about 25 hours to complete the game), but it’s enjoyable from start to finish. Even the sieges grew on me as I progressed through the game. I still prefer the original ActRaiser overall, but this remake gets a big thumbs-up from me. 8/10

Buy Actraiser Renaissance digital code at Amazon

If I Could Add One Feature to Each Animal Crossing Game

I’ve been a big fan of the Animal Crossing series for many years. Each of the main five games in the series has something to offer, but each one also has ways it could be improved. So I’m going to discuss a few of them, and then select one feature I’d add to each game if I could.

Animal Crossing (GameCube)

This is one of the easiest decisions on this list: The GameCube game desperately needs more storage! Unlike later games, GameCube doesn’t provide a central storage unit. You can use as many dressers as you can fit in your house, but each one only holds three items (and you can’t put furniture inside them).

My basement in Animal Crossing for Nintendo GameCube.

There are some other options for storage, but they are either very limited (storing four items in your outdoor gyroid) or very inconvenient (island bungalow or attaching them to letters at the post office). So more storage is the clear choice for this game.

Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)

This is the toughest decision for me. Wild World has the smallest, simplest town layouts, the fewest villagers, the lowest-resolution graphics, worst frame rate…and it’s the only game in the series lacking analog controls.

But after some thought, my choice would be to add more holidays and events. This is the only Animal Crossing game without events for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve. While it does have some other events, most of them are very simple and not all that fun.

Cornimer: Allow me to introduce myself! I am the mysterious Cornimer!
The Acorn Festival was the only one that felt like a full-fledged Animal Crossing event.

Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii)

If I answered this question years ago, I would probably choose to fix the deteriorating grass that can leave your town looking like a desert. That’s clearly one of the biggest flaws with the game, and it’s a huge annoyance.

But now, I think there’s something else that could add more long-term value to the game. It’s something that most of the other games already have: villager photos. Obtaining a photo for each villager would regularly give you new goals to work towards, even after you’ve completed the big goals like paying off your house, filling up the museum, and collecting all golden tools.

Two of Tabby's pics in ACNL.
My first two villager pics in New Leaf.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)

I always wished you could enact more than one town ordinance at a time. I mostly play at night, so I really need the night owl ordinance so that the stores would be open when I play. But having to water flowers became such a big chore that I ultimately had no choice but to switch ordinances…and often miss out on shopping opportunities.

But there are other things that may be more important. During online play, it’s a huge pain trying to communicate with the other players. With no USB keyboard or voice chat options, the touch-screen keyboard is the only option. And that’s not the worst part: Chat bubbles only stay on-screen for five seconds, which isn’t even long enough to go through a doorway. New Leaf desperately needs a chat log, or at least longer-lasting speech bubbles.

Still, that’s not my final choice either. Instead, I went with a feature from New Horizons that would be so helpful: outdoor furniture. It would be a decorator’s dream, adding a huge way to customize our town the way we want. It can also be a convenience, allowing you to quickly look at an item a villager gives you. So you can decide whether or not to keep it without making an extra trip home.

A street light, flower clock, and yellow bench in Animal Crossing: New Leaf.
New Leaf had public work projects you could install, but there was a limited selection available. Also, most had a hefty price tag, only one could be installed per day, and your town was limited to 30 PWPs.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

There are lots of special characters and features from previous games that are absent in New Horizons…including series staples like gyroids and “The Roost” cafe. But in my mind, nothing is as glaring as the absence of multiplayer mini-games, like Tortimer Island in New Leaf.

Tortimer: Whoa there, Speedy McGreenthumb! You've earned a Gold Tortimer award and 8 medals!
A gardening tour in Animal Crossing: New Leaf.

New Horizons allows eight players to play at once, which is twice as many as in any previous game. And yet, there’s less for those players to actually do. Sure, we can make our own games, races, and obstacle courses. And I do. But the lack of organized, built-in mini-games really holds back the fun factor of online play.

There is a glimmer of hope, though: New Horizons is the only game on this list still receiving updates. So it’s at least possible this could be added in the future. In the meantime, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed.

What Do You Think?

Well, that’s my list of features I’d add to each game. Do you agree? Disagree? Feel free to share your list in the comments!

BOTW #28

I recently realized that I went through all of 2020 without playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I was determined not to let that happen again in 2021, so I’ve played the game several times throughout January and February.

After some aimless wandering initially, I decided to return to the previous shrines that still had treasure chests waiting to be found. So I teleported around, knocking out about half a dozen such shrines. In almost all cases, the treasure was a weapon or a gem, neither of which I had a particular need for.

In Kakariko Village, I spotted a woman running in the evening. I followed her home, where she (her name is Lasli) was talking about bugs. She wanted to see some fireflies, but she was afraid to go out at night. This opened up a new side quest! I released some fireflies into the room, and that completed the quest!

By Firefly's Light: Complete

That was my 74th side quest completed. What makes some of these quests so difficult isn’t the tasks themselves, it’s being in the right place at the right time to trigger the quests in the first place. I still have three more side quests to go, somewhere out there in the world…

Once I tracked down all of my remaining shrine treasure chests, I began a more thorough search of villages, ranches, and areas around towers. As I glided down from Hebra Tower, I actually discovered two new named areas I hadn’t visited before: Tabantha Village Ruins and Pondo’s Lodge! It’s amazing to me that I’m still finding areas I haven’t been before, despite spending hundreds of hours in this world.

At Pondo’s Lodge, I played a few rounds of snowball bowling (or snowling). It took me several tries before I got a strike. And when I did, the only prize was a disappointing blizzard rod.

Snow bowling, aka snowling, in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
All that work for just a simple weapon? Spare me.

A bit later, I ran onto the Tabantha Bridge, followed by a fox and a wolf. The fox did some weird, glitchy-looking movement and it almost fell off. And then the wolf did fall off. Surprisingly, it was unharmed by the drop.

Just outside of Gerudo Town, I ran into Bozai again. Even though I may not have mentioned it in the blog before (long ago), I previously got the sand boots from him. But now he had another side quest for me, for snow boots. He needed to see a(nother) picture of the eighth heroine’s sword. So I headed up to the Gerudo Highlands and (eventually) found the large sword (again). When I showed him the pic, he finally gave me the snow boots…completing my 75th side quest.

The One I’ve Been Waiting For

For a long time now, there is a shrine that I’ve known about but haven’t been able to access. I never specifically mentioned it in the blog, because I didn’t want anyone to comment and spoil it for me. 😛 It’s the 2nd one near Kakariko Village. Up on the hill, the altar is clearly visible, and I’ve long figured that I needed the orb in Impa’s house. But Impa’s granddaughter Paya was always guarding it, and I could never find a way to take it.

But that changed when I dropped into Impa’s house the other night. Seemingly out of nowhere, Paya had a red exclamation mark next to her name, indicating a new quest!

Paya: This is awful... (!)

I didn’t realize at the time, but apparently the firefly quest above was a prerequisite for unlocking this quest. Anyway, she told me that the Sheikah heirloom (the orb) had been stolen! My task was to investigate by asking about rumors and questioning a couple of local villagers.

Both of the villagers in question denied knowing anything about it. But as I walked around at night, I spotted a guy with a very suspicious speech bubble that said “I wonder if anyone knows.” So I sneakily followed him, and he went up to the altar!

I won’t completely spoil the exchange that I witnessed, but I ultimately won a fight that gave me access to the orb. So I was finally able to enter the shrine I’ve been wondering about for years. It was one of those shrines where it says you’ve already proven your worth, so there’s no real task inside. Just walk up and complete it. I have now completed all 42 shrine quests!

Of course, one shrine still remains. And since there’s apparently not a quest associated with it, it sounds like I may not get much (if any) help in finding the thing. It could be anywhere, and it will probably take some luck (and lots of exploring) just to track it down.

Here’s an updated look at my stats as of February 2021:

  • Completion percentage: 55.88%
  • Shrines: 119/120
  • Korok Seeds: 369/900
  • Shrine quests: 42/42
  • Side quests: 75/77
  • Hyrule Compendium: 362/385

Almost four years in, and I’m still enjoying Breath of the Wild. Amazing game.