Shining in the Darkness
First Shining series dungeon crawler with icon-based menus.
Shining in the Darkness is a 1991 role-playing video game developed by Climax Entertainment and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. It is the first game in the Shining series and is considered by many gaming historians to be a pioneer of Japanese console RPGs, especially in Europe. The game introduced an icon-based menu system and established gameplay and stylistic elements that would influence later entries in the series.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Shining in the Darkness
- Developer
- Climax Entertainment
- Publisher
- Sega
- Director
- Kan Naito
- Producer
- Hiroyuki Takahashi
- Composer
- Masahiko Yoshimura
- Series
- Shining
- Platforms
- Sega Genesis
- Released
- JP · March 29, 1991 · NA · October 1991 · PAL · November 11, 1991
- Genre
- Role-playing
- Modes
- Single-player
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Shining in the Darkness is set in the Kingdom of Thornwood, where the king's daughter and the main character's father have vanished. The evil sorcerer Dark Sol (also known as Darksol in other localizations) threatens the kingdom. The main character is charged to find the Arms of Light, rescue the princess and his own father, and stop Dark Sol. The game consists of storyline interaction, dungeon exploration, random monster fights, and predetermined boss fights. The dungeon contains three optional characters in need of rescue, and the story changes depending on whether the player locates and returns each of them to safety.
Reader's Guide
Shining in the Darkness is significant as the first game in the Shining series, a franchise that would expand into multiple genres and sequels. Its icon-based menu system was a key innovation, possibly inspired by fellow Sega RPG Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom (1990). The game's combat operates similarly to role-playing video games of the era such as Dragon Quest or Wizardry. By late 1991, over 300,000 copies had sold, paving the way for the new game project Shining Force. The game was re-released on the Wii Virtual Console in 2007 and appears in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection and Sega Mega Drive and Genesis Classics on PC. Its legacy includes influencing later Shining series games, which share story continuity and stylistic elements such as music, art, the menu system, priests for saving and resurrecting, and magic spells. A similar gameplay successor, Shining the Holy Ark, was released for the Sega Saturn in 1996.
Did You Know?
- Shining in the Darkness was developed on the bare minimum budget Sega offered to out-of-house developers.
- The game's producer Hiroyuki Takahashi did nearly all the work except programming and graphics due to the tight budget.
- Dark Sol and Darksol are the same character in different localizations, not father and son.
- Sales data for the game is unverifiable, with no reliable figures to support claims of over 300,000 copies by late 1991.
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