Alcahest - Why Is This Squaresoft Game So Overlooked?!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- My review of Alcahest for the SNES New to the channel? Subscribe here: www.youtube.com...
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#Alcahest #SNES #XygorGaming
If you played Alcahest, what do you like best about it? If you haven’t, what makes you want to give it a try?
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2 months ago?
unlisted/private/supporter exclusive
The boss battles and the overall design.
Would be interesting to see a rebuild RPG Maker version of it.
Please don't make me go down this rabbit hole....I just found your channel!!!😂
You're gonna have to just do it now! Welcome!
Unavoidable because the channel is magical. And the voice narration is therapeutic.
You are in for a treat with this channel
@@DaveVoyles Damn all the responses. I was going to mention the intro is dope and what hooked me was the Soul Blazer triology video that brought me to this channel, which consumed at least an hour or two of my life last night.🤣
Great channel. Some of my favorite videos to fall asleep to
This game was amazing. A modern rendition with more RPG elements would be amazing. That first floating island theme is still on repeat for me.
Agree, it's really fun!
The music of Ishikawa is amazing. Alcahest has one of the best Soundtracks on Snes. Like a melancholic and dark version of Kirby soundtrack. Love it!!!
Agreed, it’s really good!
I really loved this game! I remember this because my dad was in the Air Force and brought home a machine that copies SNES games to floppy disks. Alcahest was among those games he brought back with him, but unfortunately Alcahest wouldn't load up. I didn't get to play it until a few years later thanks to emulation. I still enjoyed it though!
Wasn't it great? Short but so good.
@@Xygor Absolutely! Made all the better by the fact it came from the makers of Kirby.
How many disks did it take to hold this game?
@@warlockpaladin2261 Two of them IIRC.
I love the work you do on this channel to keep exposing us to gems like this we would have otherwise been unaware of. Love this channel.
Much appreciated! Thanks so much, this makes my day!
The comparison with it being arcade like is an interesting perspective I didn't think to put with Alchahest. This game was one of the most fun experiences I had in blind playing a SNES game, and I feel like if I was to go off the genre description alone, I would of passed on it initially. I feel it would of made waves if it ever got brought over state side as well back in the 1990s.
Great, glad you liked it so much like I did!
I slapped this onto my sd2snes after seeing this video and this is quite a fun game! Thank you for truly bringing these ELUSIVE gems to light!
Thanks for watching, and glad you like it!
It looks like more of an action-rpg take on Magic Sword; so glad that many of these Super Famicom exclusive games get an unofficial English translation for retro gamers to enjoy.
True, it is! And yes, so glad for all the volunteers that put so much time into translating these.
Glad this showed up in my TH-cam list. Will add this game to my steam deck emulation.
Give it a try!
LOOOOOOVE this game. This video is making me probably go play it again
Great, it's so overlooked!
It really reminds me soul blazer. Thanks for the discovery Sir. I ll definitely give a try to this game
True, that's a good comparison. Hope you have fun with it!
Wow this game looks awesome! How did I miss this one back in the day?
Thank God for channels like yours that reveal hidden gems I never knew about!
Thanks for the props!
Looks like an isometric version of Magic Sword, I'll definitely try it out.
I think you’ll like it!
Well there you go you answered your question in the first 50 seconds. “Never released outside Japan for super famicom”
True!
Back then, it was really about games for kids, so if it didn't have more chibi characters it wouldn't do as well.
That's a fair point!
I never heard of this game growing up. Not even once. To be fair, it looks incredibly generic. Everything described in this review is something I've seen done elsewhere. Nothing about this stands out. But it doesn't look like a bad game either, just one that my eyes would roll right over in the video rental store. I'll give it a try.
because it never released in the west, japanese exclusives will always be bound to obscirity i.e brightis and tenerezza.
True!
First time I see this game, didn't even know it existed! Gonna try it
It's well worth it!
Cool, it reminds me of an arcade game called Dark Seal, I think it was from Data East. It's truly a shame it wasn't localized back then.
I reviewed it! It was called Gate of Doom in the US.
@@Xygor awesome, I'm gonna watch that review, thanks!
oh it is a 1993 game. well...that already answers the question the title asks.
I love learning about games I'd never heard of before on your channel!
Thanks, glad you like that aspect! Happy to show them off.
The soundtrack is excellent… same composer who did Kirby’s Super Star
Didn’t realize this! Thanks for letting me know.
@@XygorHis name is Jun Ishikawa, if you compare both OSTs you can hear a lot of similarities. Nice video btw!
I enjoyed Alcahest both times I played it (once in early/mid 2010's, again late last year).
In some ways it's a bit of a disappointment, mostly due to going in with wrong expectations. You see Square, EXP, and a general fantasy setting and expect an RPG. But in reality it's just a top-down arcade action game. Feels like a bit of a bait-and-switch, but once you get over that it is a decent game for what it is.
Hit detection was also frustrating for me, but in a slightly different way. I had no trouble with the enemies, but I found it very difficulty to avoid traps and environmental damage. In particular those moving spike walls at 4:45 were very frustrating.
I can see people really enjoying this game, but for me it was very much an "It's good, but not really what I wanted" sort of experience if that makes sense.
Thanks for your thoughts, that does make sense!
I'm brazilian and played this game on console at the time. I didn't understand nothing japanese, but I loved this game.
Excellent!
Just a guess, but they may have avoided an NA release to avoid competing with themselves on Secret of Mana which was released at around the same time.
As a huge fan of early Squaresoft titles I definitely get the "why didn't we get this?!" question as I would have been happily playing it in even the early 2000s. 😁
That's a good point, didn't think about that when it comes to Secret of Mana!
Just found you now binging your videos keep it up. I noticed a few titles you may have played. I didn't see a video yet 😢 Radiata stories, Osage Shadow King , and the Arc the Lad game's if you haven't played please consider.
Welcome aboard!
Kinda like a top down magic sword. Another superb review bro thx and keep up the good work. Oh and another thing is....I don't think I'll ever grow tired of ur video ending ff6 theme(best music/song on the planet) so if u ever decide to never change that, you've got an A ok from me.
That's a good description of it! And glad you like them!
This might be a good game as a first contact with the genre, but for veterans it's very uninteresting. It's generic and repetitive and gets boring very fast. If this was one of my first overhead action adventures, I'd probably loved it and held it dearly in my heart, but upon discovering it late in life, I was like "Meh, nah."
Thanks for your thoughts on it! I liked it more than you for sure.
Sorry about the metrics, but I stopped watching about a third of the way through. I'm going to go play this game now, and I want to avoid spoilers!! (Still smashed that like button tho!)
Thanks, hope you enjoy it!
I didn't know this existed before, looks really cool, kinda has Soulblazer vibes.
Yeah, that's a pretty good comparison, if you like that one I think you'll like this!
Looks fun! Also kinda looks like a cross between soulblazer and golden axe.
True! Give it a try!
Square enix really need to consider remaster old games like treasure of rudra or make 2d hd games as some of their high budget game just dont sell very well
The Snes and Ps1 is where they willing to take risk and make new ip
Can’t express how much I agree! Treasurs of the Rudras and Bahamut Lagoon would be perfect games to remaster in HD-2D.
A top down Magic Sword!
How did you not mention this!
But neat!
Edit: Ah! There, you just mentioned it!
Good call!
Wow!! Had never heard of this! I'll definitely be looking for it next time I'm in 秋葉原.
Excellent!
i got this on my steam deck and its a good game to kill time but there are better RPGs on the snes like Terranigma which plays like a Zelda game or Bahamut Lagoon if you want a rpg / strataegy game
True, but I think it's solid
I've listened to all songs from almost all video game sountracks from the 16 bit era and among great competition this is one that stood out to me.
Same composer as the Kirby series.
Yes, very good music!
What game is that at the 30second mark?
Treasure Hunter G.
I'm 3 minutes in and yelling at my screen right now. How the hell am I just hearing about this?!
Haha, I know. Such an under-appreciated game.
Xygor Gaming is also such an overlooked channel.
Thank you!
@@Xygor You are welcome.
This game always reminded me of soul Blazer mixed with Magic Sword. I'm going to have to get a physical cart of this.
That's a great description of it!
@@Xygor Great review, man!
Alcahest was my first snes game. I still need to play it transalated but I loved it even not understanding anything.
Great! Glad you have it as your first SNES memory.
Because it was never officially translated and released. That's sad, the game is good!
So true!
Looks like a hyper version of the action parts of Soul Blazer or Illusion of Gaia.
Yeah, I can see that comparison!
Reminds me of beyond oasis for sega genesis
I just reviewed that one!
@@Xygor I’ll have to check it out, I love that game lol
This reminds me of an evolution of Gauntlet?
Yeah, I can see the similarities!
I too thought this.
Never before see this game have the stetic I love, of course gonna play It!
Great, glad to hear that!
This review made me want to check this game out. Thanks for making it.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Just purchased an English Translation cart. Thanks!
Hope you enjoy!
It's Diablo before Diablo.
I can see the comparison!
I mean, it's alright. Certainly, not a top-tier 16-bit game. A little monotonous after a while, as far as pure action games go. As for RPG elements, this game could have used a lot more of them. Because it doesn't have any, and isn't an RPG at all. It's not bad. I'd rank it as better than Lagoon, but not any of the other SNES overhead action games. It's Big Sky Trooper adjacent.
I remember playing this on the DOS version of SNES9x before there was an english patch.. pretty sure I ended up getting stuck and losing interest because of the language barrier. It was fun and visually appealing, but apparently didn't make a lasting enough impression for me to seek it out throughout the years. I should probably give it a go one of these days but I feel a bit grown out of experiencing "new old" games. The fire of my formative years has been pretty well extinguished.
My favourite single-player game of all time!
Isn't it fun?
Always loved that first encounter with the wizard char. Just some really nice atmosphere in general.
Agreed!
I'd always hoped HAL labs would go back to making games besides Smash and Kirby, not that there is anything wrong with that, but a little more creative freedom would be nice.
I saw it in a 100 games in 10 minutes compilation and managed somehow to play it shortly afterwards. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but somehow didn't finish it. Wasn't bad though.
When I tried Alcahest,
I have this feel of Gameboy game Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden also known as Final Fantasy Adventure.
I gots two many games to work on.. This one looks good though
Put it on the list at least!
One of my favorite games on the SFC, better now that I can play it translated in emulation
Great, that's true!
@@Xygor Plus it kinda felt like Soul Blazer. I can see why Square Soft merged with Enix, they were making some of the best games then and very similar for the SNES and SFC
I wonder why all translated games has better fonts.
I agree, many look better than official localizations!
The name of the game is so bad that nobody wanted to play.
Maybe so!
This kinda reminds me of an arcade game I've only seen once as a kid. Don't remember where or when. My cousin and I didn't have many tokens to spend, but we had a blast trying to take on any game we could partner up, so it stuck out but we didn't get try a whole lot.
Lore of Alcahest - Why Is This Squaresoft Game So Overlooked?! Momentum 100
When are you going to review Secret of Evermore?
It's already available for viewing to my Patreon patrons and TH-cam members!
Looks like an overhead Magic Sword.
True, that's a great comparison! And I love Magic Sword too!
it's really just a first ever action rpg game, like what saga frontier tried to do
If it were somehow given a new HD-2D treatment, HAL better get on board for that!
With gameplay like Quintet's Soul Blazer and music that reminds me of Kirby Super Star (also composed by Jun Ishikawa), this certainly seems like a game I need to bump up on my backlog's priority.
Yeah, I can see the Soul Blazer comparison. You should definitely give it a try!
Alcahest has great graphics. it is probably the best fo SNES.... BUt the sprites are a bit too tall.
This game reminds me of Magic Sword
There are some similarities for sure!
This one is addicting, I just wish it had a save function!
True, good point!
Great content and video mate, subbed !
Much appreciated!
I love the visual aesthetic of it but really, unless it had multiplayer and I had a friend over, I never really got into any of the arcade-style "rpgs"
I agree, looks really nice. But yeah I don't like the lack of multiplayer.
I beat this back when I first got into translation patches when I was younger, great game. Didn’t know it was a Squaresoft game.
I guess to be fair, they were the publisher and not the developer.
Reminds me of Golden Axe and Gauntlet
I can see the comparison!
How's the soundtrack?
I think it’s fantastic!
Other than the name being familiar, I totally missed this game. It looks pretty cool though, so I gotta give it a spin. Thanks Xygor!
Same, I assume the name is familiar as it was one of the forbidden fruits of Japanese only releases.
Hope you enjoy it!
true!
Never heard of the game before. I'm gonna look for it. Thanks for the review
Hope you enjoy it!
Played through this on a Super Wildcard back in the day. Loved it.
Excellent! I still find time to replay this one sometimes, I like it that much!
This is an awesome game! I played this on my Odin recently. I had to use save state to comeplete but what a great game. Shame it's relatively short, but shame it never came EU side officially.
Great review as always, pal 👍🏻
Excellent, thanks! I have an Odin too, great handheld.
@@Xygor oh awesome! Yeah, fantastic bit of kit and my go to console now. Currently playing metroid fusion for the first time.
Keep up the good work, love the channel and always looking forward to the next video 👍🏻
I learned about this game after hearing a port of the castle theme in some more popular kaizo mario rom hacks and I loved that tune so much I had to look up where it's from. After finding out it's from this game and thinking it to look promising I gave it a go and loved it. It had some really creative and interesting mechanics like the floor tiles that did specific things etc. all in all cool concepts throughout the game. Never finishid tho for whatever reason, I should give it another try some time.
Glad you liked it!
05:30 love this part of the soundtrack
It has a great soundtrack overall, doesn't it?
@@Xygor For sure!
Anyone know what that 5 second intro song is from?
Magus’ Theme from Chrono Trigger
Whatt about the ending track? (I can't quite place it even though I have heard it before.)
What is the song playing @0:15?
Nice video !
Thank you!
Need a remake on HD 2D
I hope so!
@@Xygor Iwata and his legacy deserves it!
Alcahest lol
What's up Alen :)
Who's that?
@@Xygor idk according to you it's the protagonist of Alcahest lol
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