ActRaiser is a platforming/sim game released in 1990 for the SNES, developed by Quintet and published by Enix (now Square Enix). You are a Sealed Good in a Can god named The Master (apparently the Abrahamic God, but only in Japan), sent into a nice nap after Tanzra (also known as Satan, but again, only in Japan) and his minions beat you silly a very long time ago. While you were sleeping, Tanzra and pals divided your world amongst themselves, and your godlike powers found themselves drained, due to your worshippers abandoning ship.As the game begins, you awaken from your slumber, bent on thrashing monsters and regaining your followers, which is accomplished through side-scrolling platform action and SimCity-like overhead village construction, respectively.A sequel was made which dropped the city maintenance aspect of the game, which was one of the main things that made the original stand out amongst similar side-scrolling action games. It was not as well received, or remembered. However, this game did pave the way for what would become one of Enix's greatest, loosest trilogies — SoulBlazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma.
Barbie Doll Anatomy: The angel is naked. Justified, because the "angel" referred to (the one you build cities with) is a cherub (aka Putti), and cherubs are almost always depicted as being naked, even outside this game.
Bittersweet Ending: By the end of the game, the world is beautiful, everyone's happy... and they don't need you anymore, so your temples are empty, your statue forgotten.
Depending on your interpretation, it might not be so bittersweet after all; if the people don't need the Master anymore, then they are truly at peace and capable of solving their problems on their own, which was the Master's goal all along. If the Master is truly selfless and benevolent, he shouldn't care that he is no longer praised if the people are happier, anyway.
Cap: Each simulation area is limited to 128 structures, which puts a limit on the maximum population. If you build, say, too many bridges, you won't be able to gain enough population to reach your character's highest level and maximum HP since you can't destroy bridges even though you can destroy outdated houses.
Censorship Bureau: Nintendo's policies lead to the God/Master/Satan/Tanzra name changes.
Character Level: Based on the population attained in the simulations. Many a game gets stalled out at the second-highest level when all of the town populations show "max" and no further growth can take place. See here for more details.
Clown Car Base: The monster lairs in the simulations. Hundreds of beasts can be huddled away in a single lair, and they won't stop popping out until you destroy them all one by one or have your followers seal them all up at once.
Convection Schmonvection: Aitos Act II takes place inside a volcano. Justifiable since the PC is a statue possessed by a god, though the lava itself still hurts.
Crystal Dragon Jesus: Whether it's God or the Master, the game's set in a pure fantasy world.
Difficulty Levels: After beating the game normally, the "Professional" mode becomes available. See Nintendo Hard, below.
Disc One Nuke: Magical Stardust, obtained in the second area, Bloodpool. This little piece of magic here rains down a lot of stars to do A LOT of damage to everything on the screen, and can take out most bosses on its own by just a few charges. It's ineffective against two bosses, both of which have a small target area, and will most likely be depleted during the Boss Rush.
Eleventh Hour Superpower: The Master gets a free Sword Beam powerup in the final battle, an item normally found only once before in the game. It emits an energy wave with every swing of the sword, and doubles attack power to boot.
Fake Platform: Quite a few platforms fall when you step on them.
Fillmore - Greece (The bosses of both Acts are creatures from Greek mythology)
Bloodpool - Medieval Europe (The castle of Bloodpool appears distinctly European in style)
Kasandora - Ancient Egypt (Self-explanatory)
Aitos - Japan (Has bamboo, an Oriental Dragon as the boss of Act 1, and a monstrous Wanyudo as the boss of Act 2)
Marahna - India/Cambodia/Mesoamerica (Has Native American enemies, a Cambodian Temple, and a boss that resembles a Hindu god)
Northwall - Scandinavia (Takes place in the cold north and has a giant tree akin to the mythical trees of Norse legends)
Flash of Pain: The enemies and the player after getting hit. Even applies to enemies which take one hit to kill.
Green Aesop: Thoroughly averted. Areas start out with a variety of ecosystems, from swamps and jungles to deserts and artic tundra. All will be cleared out to make room for more houses and farms. The game has an almost Manifest Destiny attitude towards the spread of your worshipers.
Gods Need Prayer Badly: Your amount of loyal subjects translate directly into how beefy your avatar is during the side-scrolling portions.
God Is Good: The Master contains equal parts Conan, Rambo and Giuliani.
Good Is Not Nice: The Master can be very much the God of the Old Testament, and is perfectly capable of sending a Bolt of Divine Retribution down on his followers' heads if the offerings don't keep coming, or conduct urban renewal with an earthquake, which kills all worshippers not in the highest level of housing. This is, in fact, necessary to reach the highest level.
Guide Dang It: Reaching maximum level can feel like a Luck-Based Mission if you don't read a guide. Also, obtaining some of the offerings in simulation mode requires you to use rain or lightning at random points on the map, including on the temple itself in one area.
Headless Man: The headless natives in Marahna's Act I, which have faces on their chests and jab at you with long spears. They're based on the "anthropophagi" (man eaters) that Othello talks about meeting in his travels.
Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: The Blue Dragons in SIM mode - which fly around cutely and vaporize people with lightning bolts - and the considerably more intimidating Aquatic Dragon and Arctic Wyvern, bosses respectively of Aitos Act I and Northwall Act II.
The sequel adds the Greed Demon, Doom; a golden, jewelries wearing dragon, who had corrupted Leon's king, Kolunikus, into raising the tax so he can make a castle made and full of gold.
Jump Physics: Largely averted. Once you've committed to the direction of a jump, you can't change it, and you can't do other tricks like turning around in midair and swinging your sword at enemies behind you, either. At best you can slightly lenghten or shorten your leap by holding the respective direction.
Living Statue: The Master's humanoid form is, well... a statue of The Master, before he animates it. Kalia, the boss of Marahna Act II, is a floating statue of a demon with six arms and a serpent's head.
A Load of Bull: The second boss for the Fillmore area is named Minotaurus.
Made of Explodium: The enemies explode upon death for no specific reason.
Malevolent Architecture: Many areas, but most noticeably the pyramid in Kasandora Act II and Kalia's castle in Marahna Act II.
Mana: Magic Sources for magic use in the platforming sections, and Simulation Points to use miracles in the simulation areas.
Nintendo Hard: Ouch, that boss rush and multi-stage final boss STINGS! As does the "Professional" mode, due to lack of magic, enemies taking more hits to kill, bosses being faster, and the absence of a projectile power-up in Aitos Act I. Doubly so if you're playing the Japanese version's Special Mode, which includes instant-death spikes and only two lives.
The entire sequel is also quite challenging, even on Easy Mode, partly due to some difficult control issues.
Most of the later bosses can be this if you don't just spam Stardust till they croak.
No Arc in Archery: The arrows fired in the Pyramid stage and elsewhere, as well as your angel's arrows.
One-Winged Angel: Tanzra, at first a disembodied head, transforms into a skeletal monstrosity when his first life bar is depleted.
Our Dragons Are Different: Both Eastern and Western dragons are featured, as the bosses of Aitos Act I and Northwall Act II, respectively.
Our Werewolves Are Different: the boss of Bloodpool Act II is a magician that turns into a werewolf midway through the battle.
Physical God: The Master, after he animates his statue.
Precursors: Northeast of Marahna is a mysterious bird-shaped island covered with trees. Many miles west, on an inaccessible plateau in Kasandora, lies a symbol of identical size and shape inscribed in the earth... Lead your people to first one and then the other, and they'll uncover the best-hidden magic spell in the game.
Reincarnation: Implied of the leaders of Northwall. Also, any worshipper who is killed will reincarnate, and almost every soul must be released from a monstrous form first.
Satan: Tanzra, who was actually named Satan in the Japanese version.
Scoring Points: Surprisingly relevant to the course of the game — the points you score in the Acts affect your maximum population in the simulations, and thus affect the level your character can achieve.
Sloth: People of Diligence were used to be a hard-working naturalist famous for their forest, Industen, and river, Benefic. 'Fatigue' possessed the rain cloud of Industen and corrupted Diligence through their water and that water is slipped to their drinking water by the Benefic Demon Snail.
Envy: The queen of Altheria grew jealous with other lands, thinking that her land is too small. Tried to expand her kingdom by building the city of Devote on top of a giant tortoise near her kingdom's shore, not counting the possibility of the tortoise trying to dive or swim away. Seeing her beloved city gone, she became jealous of everything that she can't get and twisted into demon, while the Flame of Jealousy flamed alight even underwater.
Gluttony: People of Temponia always in overabundance of food, so when an army of demonic ants led by Hungry Scorpion started stealing food from the city, people went riot and died of starvation. The previously lush plain Modero became a desert, and those died in starvation became the Gules, demonic mouths still yearning for morsels.
Wrath: Justinia is a city famous for its army. Suddenly the King of Justinia attacked the neighboring kingdom Favorian for unknown reason. People of Favorian, who felt betrayed from the attack from their allying city, planned a retaliation. As the anger of Favorian grew, Almetha Volcano became active in a frightening intensity.
Lust: The demon of 'Deception' defeated the King of Lovaous, and put him to an eternal sleep. In his dream, the demon lulled the king with an illusion of beautiful woman of ice, which seduced the king into never waking up and froze Lovaous in beautiful sheets of ice.
Greed: Leon was not a rich place, but its people are honest and full of gratitude. But King Kolunikus put heavy tax on people and those who can't pay will be imprisoned and tortured in Gratis. Turned out, Kolunikus used the tax to make his castle and everything inside into gold from the corruption of golden bejeweled demon dragon 'Doom'.
Pride: People of Humbleton was very advanced, and not satisfied worshiping the Master, they sought to become Master themselves. Building the Tower of Soul to reach the Sky Palace, their most priced inventions possessed by demon to turn them away from their rightful Master.
Shifting Sand Land: Kasandora, complete with a buried pyramid to unearth.
Simulation Game: When you aren't platforming, you're Simming it up in order to regain the love of your followers. Or raining disasters upon them, depending upon your mood.
Super Drowning Skills: Water areas in Bloodpool Act I serve as Bottomless Pits. Possibly justified in that the lake is stated to be poisoned (and the player character is a walking statue).
Super Not Drowning Skills: Normally, being underwater doesn't affect you except by slowing you down a bit.
Suspiciously Similar Song: The music that plays over the credits has a knock-off of the 20th Century Fox fanfare and parts of the World Tree theme (AKA Northwall Act II) sound inspired by Star Wars.
Tower of Babel: The Tower of Soul in the sequel is practically the expy of it. People of Humbleton specifically build it so they can reach the Sky Palace and become Master themselves.
The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: In the Bloodpool simulation area, you get an item that's used to seal a Monster Lair that's inaccessible to the townspeople. If you try to use it on a different lair, the angel avatar won't let you.
Timed Mission: All Acts; simulation sections are untimed.
Video Game Cruelty Potential: Practically an Invoked Trope; maxing out your population requires you to kill your followers by destroying low-level structures, thus making use for higher-level, higher-capacity houses. Earthquakes are the best way to go about this, mostly because the highest-level structures aren't affected by them.
World Tree: The large tree in Northwall is a version of this, and also where the second Act of the area takes place.
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