I know there's a few other big Terranigma fans on the site... better get this done before they can get one out :P

One of the advantages of emulation is the opportunity to play games that weren't released in your territory. Thankfully roms don't have constraints such as hardware region lockouts or television/power incompatibilities.

Of course if you're insane enough to want to acquire the physical game you have to figure out how to deal with these issues. A daunting task to be sure, but one I gladly took on with Terranigma. A game that was released in pretty much every territory except North America, acquiring this game in a playable format was quite the journey.



First step, finding a cartridge! For some imports this is really the only step. Really not hard right? Well, only if you know Japanese. Thankfully it was released in Europe so there's your...



... damn ...

Wow, PAL Terranigma carts are pretty expensive as it turns out! The Japanese carts go for $20-$50, but the PAL ones easily go for $150+. No biggie though, I managed to get one for a reasonable price ($100-ish, complete with box and instructions), which is far easier than learning moonspeak. Now to plug it into my SNES and enjoy the good times...



... uh oh ...

This is where the big problem came in. If you've ever read up playing imports on an American SNES you no doubt know about the plastic pins, and for Super Famicom games that's all you need to do. Unfortunately with PAL imports you run into two other issues: the region lockout chip and the PAL display format. After some digging I found out both of these can be solved... however even with practice I can not seem to learn how to solder.

Thankfully having more money than sense at the time I found a website that solved my issues. A Super Nintendo modded to not only bypass both of those issues, and can even do so without too badly mangling the case! Sign me up!



... erm ...

Right, UK power switches would require an adapter... christ this is getting kind of silly at this point. Quick check shows that I need to buy a modded UK SNES, get it shipped to me, and find a US to UK step up converter/adapter. After a bit more back and forth with the site they let me know that they have a modded Japanese Super Famicom, which thankfully won't need any kind of adapter, for about $200.

Now, why would I go through all this for a game I can easily, and already have, play on an emulator? Partly for the challenge of seeing if I could (as I did have disposable income at the time), and partly because... I really like that game. Imagine the gameplay of both Secret of Mana and Legend of Zelda melded together, a perfect overhead blend of 2D overhead action and RPG mechanics, with music I would put up against anything else out there. And without giving too much away you not only rebuild the world and bring back all manner of life, but you guide humanity throughout it's evolution until the story reaches an ending that'll tug at the toughest heartstrings.



It was quite a journey, very expensive but very informative and worth every moment and penny... now if only it wasn't 5000 kms away in storage due to my move to the west coast.