Retro Shining Game Collection
11 total gamesThe Shining series primarily features role-playing games, often blending turn-based tactical combat with character progression and exploration, though some entries lean into action RPG elements.
About the Shining Series
Shining is a long-running role-playing game series, originally developed by Climax Entertainment and later by Camelot Software Planning, with Sega serving as the primary publisher. Debuting in the early 1990s on platforms like the Sega Master System, the Shining franchise has explored various RPG subgenres across multiple Sega consoles, including the Genesis/Mega Drive, Saturn, and Dreamcast, before appearing on later systems like the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo 3DS.
Many entries in the Shining series place players in the role of a hero leading a group of companions through a fantasy world, engaging in both dungeon crawling and strategic battles. In tactical RPG installments like Shining Force, combat unfolds on a grid where players position their units, considering movement range and attack arcs to outmaneuver enemy forces. You might direct a knight to charge forward, a mage to cast area-of-effect spells, or an archer to target distant foes, all while managing your limited action points for each character. The progression involves leveling up characters, equipping them with better gear found or purchased in towns, and recruiting new allies, often with unique skills, to bolster your army.
Other Shining games, such as Shining Tears or Shining Blade, shift towards a more action-oriented combat system. Here, players directly control a character in real-time, performing combos, dodging attacks, and utilizing special abilities. These titles often feature a strong emphasis on character relationships and narrative, with players interacting with a diverse cast of individuals who join their quest. Gathering resources, crafting items, and exploring detailed environments are common activities across many Shining titles, as players uncover plots and confront formidable bosses.
The journey through the Shining universe typically involves unraveling ancient mysteries, confronting dark lords, and making choices that affect the unfolding story and the fates of the characters involved. Each new adventure in the Shining series presents a distinct world and cast, yet often revisits familiar themes of heroism, friendship, and the struggle against overwhelming odds.
All Shining Retro Games
11 games available
Shining Soul
In Shining Soul, you take on the role of a hero, battling hordes of monsters with weapon combos and magic, collecting loot, and customizing your character's growth to overcome increasingly dangerous dungeons.
Shining Soul II
In Shining Soul II, you guide a party of adventurers through dungeons, engaging in real-time combat using a variety of weapons and spells, while managing your characters' growth and equipping new gear to overcome challenges.
Shining Force II: The Sword of Hajya
As a hero destined to stop a rising darkness, you command a growing army in turn-based tactical battles, moving your units on a grid and selecting their actions to defeat enemies and explore a world threatened by an ancient evil.
Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict
In Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict, you command a small band of heroes on a grid-based battlefield, moving your units one by one to outmaneuver and defeat enemy forces, while also exploring towns and recruiting allies to uncover a looming threat to the land.
Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention
You lead the Shining Force, commanding a growing army of unique characters across grid-based battlefields to defeat the Granseal Empire and the demon Darksol, recruiting new allies and promoting them as you adventure between towns.
Shining Force II
You lead a band of heroes across the land, engaging in turn-based tactical combat on a grid to defeat encroaching darkness and prevent the world's destruction, recruiting diverse allies who can later be promoted to new classes.
Shining in the Darkness
In Shining in the Darkness, you guide a young warrior through monster-filled dungeons, battling enemies with melee attacks and spells while collecting loot to grow stronger and uncover the secrets of the dark forces threatening the land.
Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon
In Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon, you command a growing force of heroes in turn-based tactical combat across grid maps, recruiting new allies and using their unique skills to push back an encroaching darkness.
Shining Force Feather
In Shining Force Feather, you strategically command a customizable army of warriors in turn-based battles on a grid, aiming to complete story missions and explore a fantasy world by using character abilities and positioning them carefully.
Shining Force III
In Shining Force III, you lead a band of heroes through turn-based tactical combat on a grid, managing unit positioning and abilities to thwart a brewing war and unravel political intrigue across multiple intertwined storylines.