is a role-playing video game

Role-playing video game

Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...

 developed and published by Enix

Enix

The was a Japanese company that produced video games, anime and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as and renamed Enix in 1982...

 (currently Square Enix

Square Enix

is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...

) in 1985

1985 in video gaming

-Notable releases:* Brøderbund releases Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, the first game of the prolific Carmen Sandiego series* Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros. on September 13, 1985, which eventually sells 40 million copies making it the best-selling video game of all time until 2008.*...

 for the NEC PC-8801

NEC PC-8801

The NEC PC-8801 was an early Zilog Z80-based computer exclusively released in Japan, where it became very popular, by NEC Corporation in 1981. It was informally called the "PC-88"....

, FM-7

FM-7

FM-7 is a home computer released in 1982 in Japan.The Fujitsu FM-7 was Fujitsu's first entry into the Japanese home computer market, and for their debut computer, they chose to come out with a 6809-based personal computer very similar to Radio Shack's Color Computer.-Hardware:*Two MC 68B09 CPUs @...

, Sharp X1

Sharp X1

The X1 is a series of home computer released by Sharp Corporation from 1982 to 1988. It was based on a Z80 CPU.Despite the fact that the Computer Division of Sharp Corporation had released the MZ series, suddenly the Television Division released a new computer series called the X1...

, and MSX

MSX

MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...

 personal computer systems. The game was ported to the Family Computer in December, 1987

1987 in video gaming

-Notable releases:* January 14, Nintendo releases Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in January for the Famicom Disk System in Japan only. The game would go unreleased in America for nearly two years afterwards.* February 20, Konami releases Contra...

 by Nintendo

Nintendo

is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....

 under the title . Unlike most other role-playing video games of the period, the game takes place in a sci-fi

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 setting instead of a fantasy world. The game was never released outside of Japan.

The game's character designer was Go Nagai

Go Nagai

, better known by the penname , is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and erotica. He made his professional debut in 1967 with Meakashi Polikichi, but is best known for creating Cutie Honey, Devilman, and Mazinger Z in the 1970s. In 2005, he became a...

, who also drew the illustrations for the game's package. The game's background music was composed by Yukihiro Takahashi

Yukihiro Takahashi

Yukihiro Takahashi is a Japanese musician, who is best known as the drummer and lead vocalist of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, and as the former drummer of the Sadistic Mika Band.-Biography:...

, who was also the drummer for the Japanese electropop band Yellow Magic Orchestra

Yellow Magic Orchestra

Sakamoto first worked with Hosono as a member of his live band in 1976, while Takahashi recruited Sakamoto to produce his debut solo recording in 1977 following the split of the Sadistic Mika Band...

.

Plot

In the year 2300, the human race created an Earth federation government and spread out into space to begin colonizing the surrounding planets. However, an alien species from the far reaches of outer space began attacking the human forces, putting the very survival of the human race at stake. Though it was only a matter of time before Earth fell to the enormous power of the enemy forces, the Earth's army commander issued an order calling all of the units dispersed around the colonized planets to return to Earth. The player takes the role of a young soldier who was stationed with the Rayieza unit on the planet Mars

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

. The journey begins as he makes his way back to Earth along with the other members of his unit.

Characters

The main character's default name is Kenshiro. He was originally stationed in Mars, but lost most of his comrades in the battle against the aliens and makes his way back to Earth with the only other surviving member, Blue.

Blue is the only other surviving member of the Rayieza force, which was decimated by in a battle against the alien forces. He is an expert user of ESP

Extra-sensory perception

Extrasensory perception involves reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. The term was coined by Frederic Myers, and adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as telepathy, clairaudience, and...

, and he can sense dead souls remaining in the world. His appearance differs completely in the Family Computer version of the game.

Rimi is a girl discovered in a cold sleep state in a capsule recovered in the space station (the moon level in the Family Computer version). She decides to assist the Rayieza unit by communicating with them from Earth.

Mio is the computer program that manages the Rayieza unit's operations.

Ginga no Sannin (Family Computer version)

The Family Computer port of the game was released on December 15, 1987. Though the game is largely a faithful port of the PC version, some arrangements were made, such as the addition of a side-scrolling screen when the player lands on a planet's surface, or Rimi being able to use psychic powers. During the later parts of the game, enemies begin to appear very frequently, and new enemy special attacks were added which can lower the maximum hit-points of allied characters (lowered points return the next time the character's level increases).

External links

• Chikyuu Senshi Raīza, Legendra