CGA-2026-07 🕹️🔥⚔️ INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
COLOSSAL GAME ADVENTURES PRESENTS: 🕹️🔥⚔️ Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
Hi everyone, zod000 here! Unlike many of our previous CGA hosts, I'm not much of a writer so this "insert cartridge" will likely feel a bit brief. Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals is hands down one of my favorite SNES games, and in fact possibly my favorite RPGs of all time. I'll do my best to prevent spoiling anything in the game, but I'll give you a quick rundown of the game itself, what to expect, and what to look out for to (hopefully) enjoy. This game is a proper 90s turn based jRPG, so I realize this game has a longer official runtime than we are used to, but I still feel that it is more than doable in a month of casual play as this was before the days of role playing games inflating their play times (I mostly blame Final Fantasy 7 on the PS1 for that trend).
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
Now despite the name, Lufia II is a prequel and is canonically the first game as far as the story goes, so don't worry about thinking that you should play Lufia 1 first. If anything, that would spoil some of it, ironically. As I said, I don't want to spoil any story, but will say that the story starts as trope-y as it gets, but soon gets far more interesting so please don't drop off after an hour or so.
So what sets Lufia II apart from the many other fantastic jRPGs of its time? Well, I'll give you some highlights:
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Monster sidekicks! You get pet-like monster companions that fight with your party during battles referred to as "capsule monsters". They all start as essentially babies and they "grow" by you feeding them items. They are NPC sidekicks that you do not directly control, but they are always beneficial in some ways. Some are better than others, and there are ways to game the cryptic items they prefer and want to be fed, but unless you feel like going down that rabbit hole you can just passively feed them items you don't want/need and build up your little buddy. I don't feel like this is spoiler territory, but if anyone disagrees let me know and I'll hide away.
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Puzzles! Lufia II has a strong leaning towards puzzles, I don't know that any dungeons in the game lack a puzzle. Some feel inspired by games like Zelda, but some of the later puzzles can be fairly challenging. There are also some optional later puzzles which stumped me as a kid. You'll know which they are if you stumble upon then; feel free to skip those or use some sort of guide online.
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Optional Content! I know you're thinking "hey, stop using exclamation points, optional content isn't that exciting". And while you are probably right, the optional dungeon known as the Ancient Cave does get me excited. While not technically the only optional content (there are the puzzles and such I previously mentioned as well as a casino area that could be worth your time for some prizes), the Ancient Cave is almost a game in itself.
The Ancient Cave - maybe spoilery
It is essentially a rogue-like dungeon in the game. When you enter, your characters, and capsule monsters, are reset to level one and none of your items are with you with some *some exceptions*. The cave has 100 randomized floors and it gets progressively harder until you are facing enemies harder than the final dungeon of the game. You also find random treasure chests through out the dungeon, and they are VERY random. They could be anything from potions, to spells, to end game equipment, even on the first floor. There are also two different types of chests: red and blue. The red are just random as I said, but the blue chests are fairly high end equipment with an important distinction: you keep them when you leave and can bring them back in with you should you reenter the cave (you should!)Anyway, I think that is enough, please enjoy Lufia II with me for this months Colossal Game Adventure!
Mods
There aren't any mods that I am aware of; however, there are some special modes that unlock after beating the game a few times and there are save game files around that have them enabled. One of the modes is called "Gift Mode" and starts you directly on an island with the Ancient Cave with the option to switch your party to any combination of characters you ever play with in the game. It is fun to either build an "all star team" or a "no star team" and either give you a better chance at it if you had a hard time normally or to give you a challenge if you're just that awesome.
As always, mark your spoilers as such with the following text block:
<details>
<summary>Spoilers</summary>
Spoiler text goes here.
</details>
Game Setup
Here is the rough news, to my knowledge Lufia II was never included in any sort of "virtual console" or retro console release. Pretty much the only way to legally play this game is to have a working Super Nintendo and the game cart (humble brag, I do). That being said, the game works perfectly in emulation and a simple search in basically any search engine of "play lufia 2" will let you play it directly online, though I am not sure how saves are handled, if they are handled, with these online emulators. I am sure any enterprising tilderino (did we ever actually decide on what to call ourselves?) should be able to run a rom file to play as well.
The main purpose of this topic is to get people up and running with the game. As such, it's recommended that you:
- Share which version of the game you're playing
- Share what hardware you're playing it on
- Share if there are any tools/mods that you recommend
- Share anything you think is important for people to know before they start the game
- Ask questions if you need help
Another purpose of this topic is to revisit the game and its time period:
Do you have any memories or associations with this game itself?
What about its system or era?
What aspects of retro gaming were common at the time?
What other games from the same time period are you familiar with?
What are you expecting from this game in particular?
Which Castlevania game has the best Death fight?
FAQ
What is CGA?
Colossal Game Adventure (CGA) is Tildes' retro video game club.
Each month we will play a different retro game/games, discuss our thoughts, and bask in the glorious digital experiences of yesteryear!
Colossal Game Adventure is a reference to Colossal Cave Adventure. It's one of the most influential games of all time, one of the first text-based interactive games, and one of the first games to be shared online.
What do we want to do with this group? Play influential games; interact with each other through text; and share the love for retro games online!
It also abbreviates to CGA (because we love chunky pixel art), and its name communicates the Colossal amount of fun and excitement that we have with retro video Games in our shared Adventure of playing them together.
Do I have to sign up?
No. Participation is open to all.
There is a Notification List that will get pinged each time a new topic goes up. If you would like to join that list, please PM u/kfwyre.
Are there restrictions on what/how to play?
Each month will have a focus game or games that will guide our discussions. Beyond that, there are no restrictions. The philosophy of CGA is to play in a way that works for you!
This means:
- Choose whichever version of the game you want.
- You can use cheats, save states, mods, etc.
- You can watch a streamer or longplay instead of playing it.
If you have already played a game and want a different experience:
- Play a different version of it.
- Play a related game (sequel, spiritual successor, something inspired by it, etc.). I do NOT recommend the NDS action RPG remake of this game, but hey knock yourself out.
There is no wrong way to participate in CGA, and every different way someone participates will make for more interesting discussions.
What is the schedule?
Each month the Insert Cartidge topic will be posted on the 1st, while the Remove Cartridge topic will be posted on the 28th.
Nomination and voting topics will happen in March and September (every 6 months).
Schedules are also posted then.
All CGA topics are available using the colossal game adventure tag.
What do Insert and Remove Cartridge mean?
Inserting and removing cartridges are our retro metaphor for starting and stopping a given game or games.
The Insert Cartridge topic happens at the beginning of the month and is primarily about getting the game up and running.
The Remove Cartridge topic happens toward the end of the month and is primarily about people reflecting on the game now that they've played it.
There are no hard restrictions on what has to go in either topic, and each can be used to discuss the game, post updates, ask questions, etc.
CGA Announcement: We have officially inserted the cartridge for Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals. Use this topic to get set up for the month, help other people get set up for the month, and start playing!
If you would like to be added or removed from the Notification List, please PM u/kfwyre.
Notification List
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@zod000
I've been following along with CGA but almost never post because I never seem to finish the games. This one is one I have been looking forward to enough to post.
Back in the 90s, I rented this game from Blockbuster. I played it for a weekend, loved it, then returned it. I got busy with life, and when I went back to rent it again, it was gone! And the worst part was that I couldn't remember the title, just what the cover looked like and that it was on the shelf for the middle of the alphabet. It really bothered me that I couldn't find this game again, and it wasn't until several years ago that I finally did some searching, watched some videos, and realized that Lufia 2 was this game that got away from me. So I'm psyched.
I'm playing it emulated, since as discussed above I never got the cartridge for my SNES. I was hoping to move saves between PC and android so I can play some on my lunch break, but the emulator isn't playing well with that, so PC it is. I've started it already, and even though I'm only level 6, I'm enjoying it thoroughly.
I had this experience with many games at the time, and that was weirdly why I ended up buying Lufia II near launch at the eye watering price of $75. I had gone to the store to buy a different game at the same price (Chrono Trigger that I had previously rented) and it was sold out, but Lufia II was sitting in the spot next to the empty space for the game I had been after. I enjoyed the first game so I figured I'd take the gamble.
I love this game, and have played it half a dozen times since I first acquired it in the early 2000s. I'll be playing it emulated on my Steam Deck. Its combination of serious puzzle solving, monster movement mechanics, and Ancient Cave makes it stand out as so much more thoughtful in playstyle than many of its contemporaries. I'm definitely looking forward to another playthrough, as I haven't touched it in maybe 6 years? It'll be nice to see how it holds up.
That's awesome to hear, that's basically where I am as well. I haven't played it in about a year or so, so I'm due for a proper Lufia II playthrough.
The exclamation points and the repeated use of the word "puzzles" —sometimes combined together — very much sold this for me. I look forward to diving in!
Great! The puzzles definitely made the game stand out amongst it's peers at the time. I hope you enjoy it!
I've been looking for to this. I remember playing it on emulator 20 years ago or so and getting decently far but never finishing it. (Avoiding walk-through spoilers by asking Google's LLM based on what I remember of how far I got, it sounds like I had made it perhaps 65% of the way through the game.)
But definitely I do remember enjoying it at the time (especially things like the music theme for the titular Sinistrals), and I've thought of revisiting it. CGA seems like a good opportunity to do so. And this time around, instead of being tied to my desk for the emulator like I was then, I've got my Steam Deck all set up for emulation, along with the dock and a wireless controller. So I can enjoy it both in portable form and from the catch. Should be fun!
Edit to add: Okay, fired it up on my Steam Deck the other night after writing the above. Looking at my old saves carried over from probably the early 00's, I'd gotten about 20ish hrs. in on that first play through attempt, with my party leveled to around 50ish. Starting with a fresh game, I made it to Jelze in one sitting. Some of this is definitely coming back to me! Especially the overworld and the battle music. I'd also forgotten how elegantly efficient the cross-shaped d-pad UI is for battles. I'm hoping I can finish the game this time.
FWIW, I'm playing using the official Steam RetroArch on a docked Steam Deck with an 8BitDo controller, using the bsnes emulation core, and the ntsc-256px-gauss-scanline shader preset. This is my go-to for SNES emulation.
Really enjoy this game and its unique elements that make it stand on its own. The puzzles, the companions, the puzzle-like enemy movements, the ancient cave (which i enjoy watching speedruns of and playing runs of myself casually). I enjoy all of the art too. Just has its own solid vibe.
I'm not a frequent poster, so please let me know if you see any formatting mistakes or typos. Also, if you have any questions about the game itself I'll do my best to answer. Thanks!
This is a game I’ve actually been looking for an excuse to play for quite some time.
For some reason the US version isn’t playing on my MiSTer and I’m too lazy to try to find out why, so I’m playing the European version.
The European version is perfectly fine, and if I recall it actually fixes a couple of minor text glitches in US version (nothing for anyone with the US version to worry about though).
I'm excited for this one! Because it's a JRPG again! I'm pretty sure I played Lufia II as a kid. Not a lot, because it was just like a 3-day Blockbuster rental. I don't remember much, but I do remember being impressed with it. But I also vaguely remember just messing around on other renters' save files. I sometimes did that with rentals; especially when I was really young. I wouldn't start my own save file; I'd just use others'. That's how I "beat" Chrono Trigger for the first time back in the day.
While I have an SNES (sorta...I think it's at my parents' house across the country), I don't have a cart. So I'll be using an emulator on my Windows computer. Maybe even my Steam Deck.
I tried using SNES9X, which is what I've used in the past. However, I couldn't get it to recognize my PS4 controller (never really used controller with emulators before). The Input Config was recognizing button presses, but the game itself never responded to controller inputs. So tried Super ZSNES instead, and my PS4 controller worked right out the box with the game. Only change to the layout I made was swapping A/B and X/Y positions. I'm a Playstation fanboi, after all.
As for the ROM, I'm using the US version.
I've been playing for about 45min now. And yeah...I don't really remember any of this, lol. I don't remember the "Zelda-esque" dungeon movement, nor puzzles. I just did a little bit of grinding in the first dungeon and kinda poking around in there to map it out. Doing a blind playthrough, ideally with no guides.
Two old-school annoyances right off the bat: random battles on the overworld map, and inability to save wherever, whenever. Luckily, I can use the emulator's out-of-game save states. And I can put up with some random battles. Got a 5-day holiday weekend, so I'll try to play a bunch.
I use a DS4 gamepad on PC as well, though I do have a USB adapter for my SNES gamepad.
On the first 45 min thing. as I said in my write, but the beginning feels very trope-y and IMO isn't all that memorable. You might find it to job your memory later. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. I didn't explain any other the other mechanics because I figured it would be more enjoyable for people to figure them out for themselves, but if you or anyone else has any questions feel free to post here for directly send me a message.
It took a few weeks to get around to starting, but boy I'm sure glad I did! It's a SNES game I never got to play as a kid, we got ours second-hand at a market and for ages we only ever had the game it was bundled with (Super Mario All-Stars). Big lover of SNES RPGs though- I'm enjoying my no-spoilers and no-puzzle cheating playthrough, I've only looked up how to manage a certain gameplay mechanic:
possible spoilers
Capsule monsters! Once I saw you could feed them I knew that there's a good chance I'd stuff it up and waste a lot of time/items, so I looked up what to feed the first one. Question to anyone who knows- would it be fun to do the others spoiler-free or just a waste of time?In response to your spoiler section question, I'd do the rest spoiler free. I had actually written up a small paragraph on how to best handle that mechanic, but it definitely takes "the magic" out of it and is min-maxing. I don't think anything else other than maybe the Ancient Cave have that level of depth (no pun intended).
Thanks, I appreciate the advice! I'll steer clear of looking anything else about them up.
Sure, you bet. I don't want to be the Game Police or anything though, if you really want to look it up go right ahead. I just want you guys to have fun. The capsule monsters aren't integral to succeeding IMO, but they can get useful if you grow them and I've had them save me from losing hard battles in rare instances.