About
Shining Force
The Sword of Hajya

History

• Shining Force: Sword of Hajya (Game Gear)


US Box Front


US Box Back

Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya is a war strategy/RPG by Sega, released for the Sega Game Gear in 1994. This was the only Shining Force game released in NA for Game Gear. Japan was graced by (including this one) three Game Gear Shining Force games! Here's the list:

Part 1 - Shining Force Gaiden
Part 2 - Shining Force: Sword of Hajya (a.k.a. Shining Force Gaiden 2)
Part 3 - Shining Force: Final Conflict

Although Shining Force: Final Conflict wasn't released in the NA, it was translated to English by fans for fans. I have a shrine for this game in my site; right here.

Sword of Hajya's NA release was cursed with a faulty save battery. I was one of those unlucky individuals to have saving problems. The save battery would randomly erase my game. Other people I have spoken to who own the game have the same complaint, so it must be true. At least if you play this game through emulation, you will not have problems saving.

• Shining Force CD (Sega CD)

In 1995, NA was graced with the release of Shining Force CD for the Sega CD. It contains Shining Force Gaiden and Shining Force: Sword of Hajya remade to beautiful 16-bit quality with graphics similar to that of Shining Force 2. And since it's a Sega CD game, it has an excellent CD-quality soundtrack to boot. I have Shining Force CD covered in my subsite: Classic CD RPGs. The game can be downloaded from there as well.

• 3DS Virtual Console

In June 2013, NA was graced with a re-release of Sword of Hajya on the 3DS Virtual Console. Along with it they also re-released Defenders of Oasis, Shinobi, Dragon Crystal, and Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble. June 2013 was a happy month for Game Gear fans!

Prelude Story

An evil monster sacrifices a king to his demon God, Iom. Afterwards, he goes over his plans to his minions. He rambles on about destroying the Cypress and Gaurdiana armies. To complete his plan, all he needs is the Sword of Hajya. He summons a minion and commands him to go steal it. Meanwhile at the Cypress Kingdom, Prince Nick and his Cypress army depart on their journey to battle the forces of Iom. A mysterious boy is brought to the castle as the army leaves. The young fighters of Cypress stay behind to guard the castle. Some time later, the kingdom is under attack by monsters. During the attack the Sword of Hajya is stolen and the young fighters chase after the thief. This begins the 8-bit Game Gear adventure of Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya!

Battle System

The battles take place on a flat terrain. Most of the time you fight on land and other times you fight in temples or caves. Your job is to command your army to defeat the enemy army. You start out with 5 soldiers and by the end of the game you end up with 18. When a character fights an enemy, it's shown in a really cool looking cinematic sequence. Well, at least it's good for the little that Game Gear is capable of doing. The soldiers are made up of knights, wizards, warriors, and archers. Not all of them are human; there are centaurs, birdmen, and half-breeds. Each character has their strengths and weaknesses. And most of the characters are able to be promoted making them able to wield stronger weapons and have stronger attacks. Also when they are promoted, they look different and attack in different ways. It takes lots of strategy to guide your army successfully through battle without having any of them fall.

My Opinion

Once you get used to the game it gets quite addictive. The beginning may seem a bit boring, but it gets better after around the middle of the game. Several kick ass characters eventually join up with you. My memories of this game aren't too happy because my actual copy of it had a bad battery; it didn't hold my saved games for long. That REALLY sucked!! Yet I was persistent and played it over and over and over until one time I managed to actually make it to the last battle and experienced the ending. My overall opinion of this game is that it's GREAT. The battles are fun and full of excitement. As for the soundtrack, I think it's pretty good for what Game Gear is capable of.


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