Though I haven’t played the game in quite some time, I absolutely love “Illusion of Gaia”, an absolutely fantastic game overlooked by many, a hidden gem in a sea of games, lovely to all who discover it. This game is an RPG (at least, it’s close to being an RPG) for the Super Nintendo from 1994 that combines fantasy with real locations of the world, along with fun gameplay and an interesting story. They didn’t skimp anywhere in this game, and that includes this game’s fantastic music, and so I had to write a post about my favorite songs from this game. It was quite hard narrowing it down to only 10, but somehow I did it.
10. “South Cape, Town by the Sea” is the theme for the first town where you start your adventure, South Cape, of course. This song is actually played in other towns, as well, but this version includes seagulls in the music. (Seagulls that inexplicably flew sideways.) It is a happy song, carefree at a time in the game where our hero, Will, doesn’t yet know of the trials that await him.
9. “Danger Abounds” is often played in dungeons, where danger truly does abound. It feels like danger’s busy abounding just by listening to it.
8. “The Guardian” is played during boss battles, and as soon as it starts playing, it feels like something horrible is coming. (Danger may currently be abounding here, as well.) This song is especially fitting for the first boss, Castoth, as this horrifying beast arises from the pit in the center of the room. My, what big hands he has. I think I’ll hack at them.
7. “Will’s Dream” is a simple, but sad song that plays during a rather sad scene. Every time I hear it, it depresses me so, but it’s also quite pretty.
6. “Clash of Light and Shadow” is played during the final boss battle against Dark Gaia, and it is quite epic, as a final boss battle in such a delightful game should be. I like the beginning the best.
5. The Great Wall of China is one real life location that makes an appearance in this game and has some good music, despite the area being actually quite a pain the tail feathers. (Stupid snakes would bite me and not let go. I should bite them back. See how they like it.)
4. “In the Earthen Womb” is played after you save and quit the game, if you don’t turn it off, and it’s such a good song, I often did just that so I could listen to it. It’s a peaceful, beautiful song. And I like it. I like it good.
3. The Sky Garden is a garden that floats over the giant Nazca Lines in the Nazca Desert (a real place, actually; the Nazca Lines, not the Sky Garden) and where this lovely music is played. I have trouble describing this song. It was just really good and epic for this garden high in the sky. So there.
2. Ankor Wat is yet another real location from this game (though I doubt the presence of zombies was accurate…), and the music here is quite awesome and interesting to listen to. Not easy to hum, though.
1. “Where the Wind Doesn’t Reach” is so crazy beautiful, it’s not even funny. You must listen to its beauty. It’s too great! This song plays in Larai Cliff, located around the Inca Ruins (another real place, but I’m sure you know that; the Inca Ruins, not sure about Larai Cliff). I love the flutes and the drums in the background.
Illusion of a Duck
The Duck of Indeed 
All of these songs were quite lovely. ‘Will’s Dream’ reminds me of ‘Okami’. (I might have to make a list of my favourite songs from that some day…)
‘Sky Garden’ and ‘Ankor Wat’ sound like songs from ‘Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask’.
What kind of game is ‘Illusions of Gaia’?
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“Illusion of Gaia” is kind of an RPG, but not quite. There is one playable character who sometimes can turn into two different warriors, and all the fighting is real-time rather than turn-based like a typical RPG, but you still level up your stats whenever you beat all the enemies in a room. The game is one of my favorites. It’s a lot of fun. The story is interesting (but sometimes rather dark), and I think the locations are quite interesting, as well. It’s strange that Nintendo never released it for download on the new consoles….
(“Okami” definitely has some excellent music, as well, and I plan on doing a music post for it eventually, too.)
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Well, here’s a game I’ve never heard of. These songs are great, I just might have to check this game out sometime. My favorite song on this list is “Will’s Dream”. It makes me wonder what happened…
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This is a great game, and I highly recommend it if you don’t mind a story that can be on the darker side at times. I very much hope that you can try it sometime. It’s one of my favorite games. Unfortunately, it currently can only be played on the Super Nintendo, so it’s rather hard to get. I sure wish Nintendo would let us download this game on their new consoles.
As for “Will’s Dream”, in one part of the game, Will has this dream where he talks to his mom, and it just makes me cry for some reason. It’s one of the few video game songs/sequences that make me cry pretty much every time without fail.
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Side note: I loved Gaia as a kid when it came out, but returning to the game recently left a bad taste in my mouth…have you tried the other Quintet games? Soul Blazer and Terranigma are really top notch games if.
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What did you not like about it the last time you played it?
And no, I haven’t played any other Quintet games, though I’ve heard good things about them.
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I dunno, it just seemed much more linear and the combat clunky to me than I remembered. It was and I guess still is one of my favorite SNES games, but I think it’s the worst of the three.
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A solid post about a fantastic game. I have so many memories of playing Illusion of Gaia with my brother, particularly the arduous task of collecting all of the red gems to unlock the hidden dungeon. This was one of those rare titles that Nintendo went all out with their marketing campaign. The game came with a mini-strategy guide and a t-shirt in a big box similar to Earthbound.
We received the game from a secondhand store, so we never owned the t-shirt. But one of our friends had the shirt, and he wore that thing until it was mere tatters.
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I did manage to actually get all the red gems, but I never was able to finish the hidden level. It was hard! I did reach the boss in that level, but I never could beat it. Perhaps someday.
I never knew the game came with a T-shirt. I believe I got it new, but I only got the guide, which was pretty cool, too. I don’t have any other games that came with mini-walkthroughs. It was thanks to that guide that I was able to get all the red gems.
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