#Actraiser

[@arcticbanana66]

I had paused watching this video to shovel snow out of our driveway (we got a blizzard yesterday), and at one point I said out loud "Hey, 'The Master', can we get some sun here to help clean this snow out?" Seconds after I said that, the clouds parted, and the day's been bright and sunny since.

[@PhilInTheBlanks]

Thank you for playing through ActRaiser, it's one of my fav games for the SNES. My late grandfather gave me this game when I was very young and it holds a very special place in my heart

[@Starcat5]

9:22 I break this game out every few years, and I had been wondering why on some playthroughs I couldn't quite squeeze out enough population to max out my health. Thanks for finally explaining that. It was annoying me to no end.

[@Dorelaxen]

This was a staple of the early SNES days. The music alone could keep me coming back again and again. I normally hate the "world building" types of games, but here, it just flowed so well with the action sequences that it was actually fun for me.

[@EnjoySackLunch]

Games like this, along with Sim City, Utopia etc really helped teach me patience as a kid.

[@JazGalaxy]

This game is emblematic of the SNES launch for me. The greatest console launch in history. Actraiser, Sim City, Populous, Final Fight, f-Zero , Super Mario World, Pilotwings, it was insane…

[@Anaklusmos42]

That Fillmore music is just sooooo good.

[@Krunkwizard]

Fond memories of this and Sim City on those early SNES days. Thanks UCBVG!

[@damian6631]

@@Krunkwizard I heard that the music was so good, Nobuo Uematsu went back and re-tuned his progress on FF4 which was not quite complete at the time Actraiser was released.

[@stevenhuxley2866]

And the Lord said unto Moses, "It's not a big deal that the monsters run amok and carry away your people. They don't affect your potential population."

[@SageofStars]

Is that before or after Moses uses a beyblade to part the Red Sea?

[@ja3482]

Lore Accurate Old Testament God

[@jcochra3]

Oh we're doing SNES games now! Can't wait for some of my favourites to show up here!

[@Vasher1]

He also did Super Star Wars last year but that was the only SNES game until today

[@EnjoySackLunch]

The possibilities give me a giddy euphoria

[@jcochra3]

@@Vasher1 oh man, yes I remember that now! My memory isn't what it used to be haha

[@Link-channel]

We all know this means Chrono Trigger

[@EnjoySackLunch]

@@Link-channel that would make for like 10 hours of material. Sign me up for all of it.

[@paladinlv1]

I played this game a ton back in the early/mid-90's and beat it many times. I had no idea about the sim building strategy and max population. Thanks!

[@Zeomantic]

I played the game a number of times over the years and I never realized that your performance in the platforming sections influenced your cities' populations! You learn something new every day. Actraiser was truly a fantastic game! All the Quintet games were excellent! Excellent job!

[@PiEiNtHeFaCe22]

That makes two of us that didn’t know.

[@AmaranthOriginal]

@@PiEiNtHeFaCe22 I also didn't know, though in multiple playthroughs, I never once has trouble reaching max strength

[@ESLTeacherTom]

You do a lot of work with these classics! Thank you!

[@metalfenix]

That glitch of the bridges is totally arbitrary and stupid, I never understood why I was stuck on 908 population instead of the 914. And no, getting and coming back later didn't solve it. Turns out, I always built two bridges, and here you show how to do one. Geez, without a guide that was almost impossible. Yeah, I know, 6 people doesn't matter in the long run, but I was always bothered by this. I'm happy to finally understand where I went wrong. Outstanding video, my friend.

[@MS-tl6hc]

This was a great game. I had it as a kid. Still hear the music in my head. Excellent choice for your coverage. Takes me to another time of life when you didn't have to give af and your parents had it all covered. God.... we're getting old.

[@cherokeefit4248]

I have this game in the collection and planned on playing it this weekend. This game is one of those games you could easily spend three hours playing it and wanna play more.

[@xxHUNGRY4THETRUTHxx]

If the Filmore Action Theme were placed in any Castlevania game, it would never feel out of place.

[@Hikari_Asuka]

Actually you can find here on youtube a 8 bit cover of that theme, and yes, it remind a lot of Castlevania

[@cherokeefit4248]

The intro theme on this game sounds like it had a very similar sound chip or audio system to that of Samus’ theme from super Metroid.

[@xxHUNGRY4THETRUTHxx]

@@cherokeefit4248 You're right. That does sound oddly familiar. I'm very keen on finding similarities video games have with each other and even with other media. I never knew about that one. Thanks for sharing the thought.👍

[@greyfox37]

Fillmore is still one of the best SNES tracks to this date

[@AndrewEvenstar]

Very true! It totally does sound like a castlevania track

[@gamerboy6787]

Always appreciate your videos. Thank you for the historical context and background you always include for every game you cover. I have the utmost amount of respect for how much time and effort it must take for you to capture footage, record the voiceover, and edit the vid together. And your vids are 2-plus hours! There are content creators bellyaching about the "grind" of making 10-minute vids, and you're out here absolutely killing it!

[@kirin347]

I love dual games like Actraiser. Another awesome dual game you should do a video on is The Guardian Legend. It's really, really good!

[@ruko9876]

I laugh out loud when you mention those people's food source are now Soylent Green near the end of the video haha. I like the way you commentate the game and adding some comedic humor to it.

[@D0wnshift]

Your videos are like a walkthrough of my childhood. Love it.

[@sithlord1051]

I LOVE this game! One of my favourite titles on the SNES. I run through it every once in a while; this game is "nostalgia comfort". Thank you for an awesome video!

[@atomicforcegaming2867]

The amount of research you put into this is unmatched ! Thank you so much for this.

[@cueball981]

I absolutely love this game! My brother brought it home when he worked for Nintendo to play and beat so he could do the walk through as a Game Play Counselor. The music at the time was just unreal! Graphics... next level!

[@Jamie-nx2cg]

Glad you're doing SNES now. Amazing game. Its my fave SNES game. I beat this game every few years. Super fun.

[@Zarathustra-rj4yz]

One of my favorite SNES games. Third SNES game I purchased back in 92. Still a perennial favorite. I went through the remake 3 times already on Switch. It's fantastic.

[@lobsterwars2009]

I rented this game as a kid for my Super Nintendo and it board me out of my mind, I never understood the game nor did I give it a chance. Here we are 30+ years later and as a 42-year-old adult I just beat the game for the first time. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without your help, I wasn’t even looking for your video it was a complete accident I stumbling upon this video while stumbling down the KZbin rabbit hole. A few years back I bought the Nintendo Classic Mini which was modded to include every game and it was one of the best purchases I’ve ever made because I’ve been able to go back and play and complete games I never gave a chance as a kid. I am a fan and a new follower of this page; thank you for making these videos!

[@AutobotJazz91]

Enix made some amazing SNES games. Actraiser and Soul Blazer are two of my all time favourites. I didn’t know the population number during the simulation stages was impacted by total points in the action stages. Great video. It’s inspired me to go play through it again and try out some of the things I learned.

[@blackpow3r]

This is one of the most underrated SNES games ever! The two styles of gameplay flowed very well together and didn't overdo each other at any point. The concept of being God and rebuilding the world is already good, but to add that how well you nurture the world is directly tied to how powerful you become in the action parts is phenomenal! The pace that you do this is just right too. Also that music score!!! I have this as a top 10 SNES game and the critics wasn't too far off at 19.

[@DaleStrife]

Mystical Ninja and Illusion of Gaia are in the collection! Can't wait to see those on this channel! Edit: I think the reason the two modes go so well together is because in a traditional RPG, you have the aspect of planning and preparing your characters for a dungeon or fight, then there's the execution phase. The town phase is like getting the proper levels, spells, weapons etc... and the action scenes are executing the battles and dungeons. You get money from the battles and can then go back to town to get more items. It's a back-and-forth. Edit: Kasandora has a bird in the ground in the top left. It looks the same as the one in Illusion of Gaia. Also, the statue looks very similar to Freedan. Hmmm... Edit: Harmonious music = Wild Stallions? Bill and Ted??

[@jaxxh6529]

ending credits its the begining of some movies

[@tylermills79]

Great play through as usual. I wore the cartridge out for this game as a kid. This channel has me playing through all my old systems and games especially the NES. Still holding out hope for a Hudson’s adventure island play through that game was the bane of my existence back in the day lol.

[@Silenced23]

Your channel is growing! I remember when it was not that big yet. No matter how big your channel gets, please please don't ever ever change your style of reviewing. Its perfect the way it is. Keep up the great work.

[@Alakazzam09]

A vivid memory here. When I got this one I was frustrated for hours until I got the hang of the controls. The ease of use and comfort of the dogbone SNES controller helped so much. After that I'd master this game in about 2 months then play it every now again it was so much fun. Thx so much for this one UCBVG! Love ya bro.

[@Skysmeller1]

You’re gonna get to 100k soon, not only is your content entertaining but very few people can beat and master games the way you do.

[@Hiphop4life7083]

This is 1 of my favorite games of all time. I used to rent this all the time at my local Jumbo Video!!! Thank you!

[@ansahs]

Needless to say you always do a GREAT JOB on this channel. one of my favorite old school snes titles

[@jpbell82]

Great SNES game, almost a hidden-gem. Amazing music, fantastic gameplay! Good choice!

[@jasonbinkley4309]

I did it. 30 years later I finally beat it. Now all I have left to beat is Act Raiser 2 and Robotrek. Then no more Quintet SNES games left to beat. Thank you for this awesome guide.

[@gregoryryan44]

Oh the nostalgia. I loved this game. My brother and I played it all the time together

[@dan-dan-da-treeman]

The ultimate deep dive!!!!no matter what game. The history of the games is what brings me here. Love the run downs.

[@mikekomarinski]

That was adoracute when Kylo booped his nose on the Actraiser cartridge.😅😂🤣

[@rcblazer]

A great choice for your first SNES game to cover! I played this one all the time as a kid until I could beat it without losing any lives!

[@alkristopher]

He covered Super Star Wars awhile back.

[@rcblazer]

@@alkristopher Ah, that's right! I forgot about that; I thought he covered only the NES Star Wars games.

[@MdeGreat]

Christmas 1992, i was 13 years old and had a lot of fun with it. Those were the Days...Greetings from Germany

[@willardfasto4494]

one of the best snes games in the top 10 at least. I have so many fond memories of this game.

[@brentonmoxsom4120]

I just played through Renaissance recently, although it was a great play through nothing beats the original! Your explanation's are so well crafted - I've played through this game plenty of times and I'm still learning new things! Love it.

[@HotTeaWithCookies]

Oh I am so happy you are doing SNES games now. Keep producing content of this caliber and quality and you've got a subscriber for life.

[@redspec01]

I love Saturdays, because U Can Beat Video Games releases a new video! It’s better than Saturday morning cartoons!

[@swordofdanu]

Very original

[@mmblsa]

Love this channel! We got our UCBVG shirts last week and love them! Thank you for being a channel where my whole family can watch together and I can tell my boys about the good old days ☺️

[@youtubeis...]

The zoom in is still cool

[@leqesai]

I had absolutely no idea that score influences anything in Actraiser... I'm sitting here with my mind blown. Thanks for sharing this video with everyone.

[@D-Fens_1632]

Hell yeah, man! Maybe a month or two ago I pulled this out for the first time in like a decade. Kinda stopped after a while, never finished it. I'll watch this instead. You're better than me.

[@therealseanw.stewart2071]

Ah, ActRaiser, one of my favorite SNES games. Good times as a kid! I beat this masterpiece so many times. I still love it to bits. I should play the remake some time.

[@Waytigo]

This brings me back! Thanks so much for the nostalgia! That music in build mode is cemented into my head. I never knew about the bridges.

[@InkWarrior]

Thanks to this video I bought Actraiser Renaissance. So many memories and new ones.

[@jer8279]

I don't remember who bought me this game, but I'm so thankful I got to play and finish it many times. I really enjoyed your insightful playthrough. Thank you!

[@thecunninlynguist]

An amazing game, with fantastic music. The sequel played it a little too safe and just became an action game, but it wasn't bad. The recent remake had good intentions but fell a little flat. I hope it did well enough to actually get a new game in the series..

[@JazGalaxy]

I think that part of the success of Actraiser is the ILLUSION of a more complicated game. I think a lot of the remakes and successors want to try to actually make that more complicated game and there is nothing there. It’s a ghost note. You can’t actually make Actraiser better.

[@lpsmash]

Yessss saturday morning, coffee and u can beat video games video

[@bryanx0317]

Damn it. So much for working... 😖

[@LordSephleon]

The third SNES game I owned back in the day, and one of my favorite non-JRPGs of the console to this day. :) Good to see you taking on the SNES a lot sooner than expected, UCBVG!

[@PaleHorseShabuShabu]

One of my old friends, probably my best friend in high school, loved this game. He had played through it several times before we met, but the first time I went to his house was when he had bought ActRaiser 2 sight unseen. Unfortunately, the sequel, while having some good points, wasn't half the game that the original is. My friend was so disappointed that he tried to return the game, but the game shop wouldn't take it back and would only give him a little bit of store credit if he sold the game to them. He kept AR2 but rarely played it and eventually just gave it to me. My friend passed away roughly twelve years ago now, and the game is one of two things he gave me that I still have. The other is an AD&D Player's Handbook my friend has signed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson at some con in the mid-to-late 90s. I got that after my friend passed and his dad was going to trash it, but I was able to rescue it.

[@cocodojo]

This game's a classic! The new version... I'd take the city building mode over tower defense. There's just something oddly satisfying about taking almost nothing and building it up to something to build up your power base since the more people believe in you, the stronger you grow as the deity figure of the world.

[@blackpow3r]

Yes! The God concept is executed perfectly in this gem of a game by starting from scratch and your power is directly tied to how well you nurtured the world. Then at the end, you cannot beat the game if you failed miserably building the world as you are not powerful enough. Love it, it flows seamlessly and you care about your world you built.

[@jessemilligan]

Love this game! It was nice reliving some nostalgia watching this. Thank you 😊

[@BehemothFan123]

This channel is the PRIMA guides of the new era! Keep it up!

[@buzby6712]

I spent hours on this game...I loved the combination of sim and action. Thank you for doing this playthrough. You and I must have had similar childhoods haha.

[@jonmcfarland1209]

Thanks for the guide! I always hated how hard that game was when I was kid. I was finally able to beat it after all these years.

[@glassvial]

One of my all-time favorites. To this day I still listen to the Actraiser symphonic suite on a regular basis. I haven't played the remaster yet but I've seen the playthroughs and the music in that is incredible, I'm just not sure about the tower defense mode addition, they should have left that out.

[@greyfox37]

Agreed, it's a bit annoying, but the remade tracks and the action scenes are great. They overdo the plot and the Sim mode isn't as fun anymore either

[@fweqfeqwa]

I know it was never officially released in the west, but seeing you run through Terranigma would be incredible! Regardless of that, seeing this game from you made my day! Thank you for all your work!

[@questionablebackyardmeows]

this yes

[@Riptides99]

This game was my jam during my last year in HS. I used to see how many times I could beat the game in a single weekend and such. I got to where I would build like you show and burn down the early houses for larger ones to max my pop. Oddly I don't think I knew about the max pop being tied to score gained during the acts. I remember always wondering why it often varied each time I played as I definitely would speed through the acts for that sweet town building aspect.

[@adamorly2971]

LOVE this game!!!! One of my childhood favourites. Glad to see some SNES here.

[@bmbougie]

This is such an awesome game, and the remake is great as well. Love these videos. I'd love to see E.V.O. covered in a future video.

[@dansmith1661]

That game needs a speed run guide just to be tolerable with the grind.

[@BenBlackEquinoxEngelhard]

ActRaiser for me is a GOAT. May be just nostalgia glasses but I play this a few times every year and it never gets old.

[@SirGriefALot]

This game looked great in Nintendo Power, but when I rented it, there was no instruction book and I was confused about what I should even be doing in the city part. But after watching this video, I'm real tempted to give it another shot after 25 years.

[@freddyvidz]

Same thing happened to me

[@Jaundice__]

Yeah, me too.

[@drhumupower8570]

I loved playing this game. I really wish that this franchise would have been much bigger.

[@linkiibabe]

Thank you so much for posting this! I played this game when it was released and have started enjoying it again thanks to emulation. As previously mentioned by others, I had no idea that your scores in the Acts affected your population total. I scoured the game's manual recently, and it gives the slightest hint that a higher score will make the game easier but that's it. I was also not aware of the structure limit in the game. In fact the game's manual stresses the importance of developing roads in every possible direction to increase the town's population. Thanks to your tips, I gained just over 200 more in population overall... THANKS!

[@RyanRead]

Awesome going to SNES. Never played this game, but it looked awesome.

[@AO968]

Nice walkthrough. it didn't add much that I didn't already know, as I found all the secrets on my own, but knowing how many points I need per area definitely helps. I will add a few points of my own: 46:45 Removing the bushes is NOT necessary to destroy the monster lair. I can remove the lair without having to use lightning, 1:23:16 The PAL version has the blue part of the boss moving in and out of the plant, making it even harder to hit. You will need to use a slightly different strategy here by walking back and forth, destroying the projectiles and avoiding the tentacles along the way. It makes the boss much more challenging (and by far the hardest one in the game) 2:16:20 Magical Light is not completely useless here. I stand underneath the boss when it stops to shoot ice and activate the magic as soon as it comes on screen, dealing up to 8 points of damage. When it swoops down towards you, just walk to the edge of the tree top and duck, and the boss will fly over you. 2:24:51 There's a sweet spot around there, where, if you duck and swing your sword right as he is about to fire those two sparks, you can destroy them both at once, saving you from having to avoid them and possibly getting hit by the fireballs later. The timing is very precise, though: if you're a millisecond too late, you'll miss the bottom spark. it's not a huge deal breaker, but good if you like a bit of a challenge (or if you're speedrunner).

[@HerculesCoronaBorealis]

Absolutely beautiful channel, as always! Thank you for the great game play content. Your commentary is legendary!

[@corazzinatanner498]

I remember as a kid, renting Act Raiser 2, popping it in and then being horribly disappointed when it didn't have the city building. That and it being ridiculously hard.

[@MrPandarilla]

found this game on the wii virtual consol and fell in love with the city builder, I managed to 100% the game after doing 2 or 3 playthroughs and figuring out the mechanics independantly.

[@ChaoticHoly]

I always considered each of these Quintet games to be sequels to each other. Makes it really interesting trying to connect them all together.

[@CaptainWwowW]

This channel was such a good find

[@2ellas2]

This is clearly a labor of love for you. Thank you for this, it's well appreciated

[@SaitoXD]

Such an amazing job! Thanks for all your effort, Act Raiser is a great game, too bad the sequel doesn't kept the simulation part, keep up the good work!

[@mikec5994]

This was one of the first games i got when i was a kid when the snes first came out, and i still love it to this day. I never knew that the score you got in the action sequences determined the overall population, so that was a cool piece of info. And i really laughed when you accidentally walked off the ledge in Kasandora, if there is one thing i am an expert at in video games, its accidentally walking off ledges, lol. Good stuff!!!

[@MoonMagicks]

Great pick YCBVG! What an amazing game. I loved both simulation and platform sections. The music is incredible too!

[@betterthanyesterday3912]

I've had a KZbin account for nearly 15 years, and only subscribe to a precious few accounts. You are one of 11 accounts I have subscribed to. Well done, love your stuff.

[@LanEXHikari]

Ah, the good city-sim music! Congratulations on making the jump to the 16-bit era, YCBVG! Keep it up! ✌🏼

[@himuradrew]

Actraiser!!! The music for Fillmore still gives me goosebumps. Great game, incredible music.

[@robertcatania1120]

One of my favorite SNES games and wish they made more games like this unique hybrid. The final gauntlet is one of the craziest finishes to a game during my childhood, especially since I was able to beat the game.

[@anthonymichael3029]

This is a game I’ve always wanted to play as a kid but never had a chance to. This was great, thanks!

[@SoulBlazer08]

Wow, I've played this game for YEARS and never knew about the point/population relation! I knew that the bigger the town the more levels and HP you got, but not that points in the action stage determined town size. Huh. Great video. Also the re-boot of the game is very good. It's a nice modern take on Actraiser.

[@mattschiavone3435]

Dude, another almost 3 hour video? I love it!

[@jonboftwt]

The second SNES game I've ever played, and still in my Top 10. ...I never really liked the sequel because the simulation mode was not present. When I played Soul Blazer for the first time though, I always felt it was the true spiritual successor to ActRaiser, as it recycled similar audio effects and graphics and required killing mobs and spawners to rebuild towns. ...Even with all times I played, I never knew population was tied in to the act scores and the number of (or lack thereof) bridges built. I was freaking out when I watched you let the town get ravaged by the monsters. An old SNES gamer learned a new trick. ...Don't think you mentioned it in your walkthrough, but as an alternative, you can also give the compass to Marahna if you want another MP instead of Life. May seem like a...Marahnic thing to do...but I feel like the extra 1000 points lost per act can easily be made up by smacking a few more monsters. Having that 8th MP gives you another shot at taking out Tanzra's projectiles too. ...Think you could do an amended walkthrough that shows a boss guide for the Aquatic Dragon in Aitos Act 1 without the projectile upgrade? In Professional Mode, this upgrade is removed to make the battle more difficult.

[@BigBearHgX]

Amazing to see you doing snes!

[@charlesriston8972]

Bro. I remember this being the only game that would be at my local video rental store EVERYTIME I went.......... I remember this being too crazy for a young me.....

[@Sam1787]

One of the first games I got and also one of my favorites. One of the best Snes games ever.

[@aaronkraus7649]

Just played Actraiser through for the first time only a few weeks ago!

[@gozucritic4546]

Oh yeah,you're freakin awesome plus thanks for reviewing and talking about Actraiser!

[@LongplayMuseum]

Great guide! Had this game as a kid but never got too far because we never understood the sim parts.

[@Benmahalf]

I was wondering if you were going to move on to SNES games eventually and this answers that question. I'm a little surprised though with all the NES games left to go.

[@JazGalaxy]

I hope you don’t abandon the NES. There are a lot of great NES games still left to cover.

[@marbles8641]

Actraiser, and many other Enix games on the SNES were nothing short of masterpieces of game design. This is the only game my dad loved to watch me play, and would even ask if I still played it, referring to it as the game with the angel and the rain clouds. I absolutely love the game, and know it like the back of my hand now a days. So much so, I played through the remake and am trying to finish off the final achieve of being the game on it's highest difficulty. Much harder than I thought it would be.

[@joshuadillhunt8707]

This was one of my favorite launch games for the SNES. Thank you for the video. Always happy to see what game you do next.

[@PabstOban]

Ya know… it’s funny. I’ve beaten this game no less than a dozen times over the course of 30 some years and I didn’t know half of the mechanics of the simulation mode you described. This was fascinating. Another one I gotta beat this year… but I’m doing Wizards & Warriors now.

[@maz031]

YES! I loved this game! And then completely forgot it existed until just now! Thank you for this!