Treasure Hunter G

" "All of the world is an adventure." These were the words of the greatest treasure hunter, Gamrius VI."

The last game ever released for a Nintendo console by Squaresoft before merging with Enix (and developed by RED Entertainment, who would go on to create the similar-playing Sakura Taisen series), Treasure Hunter G is a Turn-Based Strategy that few people know because it was never released outside Japan. Despite its obscurity, the game had a surprisingly high budget with both an excellent soundtrack and early Mode 7 3D graphics which allowed for claymation-esque sprites that actually looked better than many early PS 1 games.

The story is simple: our heroes are two brothers (Red and Blue), a girl (Rain) and a monkey (Ponga), who have to stop the nefarious Dark Lord from resurrecting... Bone Dino because... something! The game's main appeal comes from its battle system, which combines turn-based combat with a certain level of strategy, and unique implementation of items and trap spells.

Incidentally, the game has also been made available for download on the Wii's Virtual Console service... but once again, only in Japan. That's right, No Download for You.


 * All in a Row
 * An Axe to Grind: Both Red and Blue can use axes; they knock back enemies a few spaces.
 * Badass Grandpa: Silver G. kicks far more ass than you at the beginning of the game.
 * Blade on a Stick: Blue's unique weapon, which comes in a couple of varieties. Most of them act like ranged weapons, but one hits both in front and behind, and the "curved" lance only hits enemies two spaces away.
 * Booby Trap: Blue's specialty. A few enemies use them as well.
 * Card-Carrying Villain: Dark Lord; his name is Dark Lord.
 * Colourful Theme Naming: Red and Blue's family also includes their father Brown G., and their grandfather Silver G.
 * Disappeared Dad: Brown is generally considered a deadbeat due to spending all of his time exploring the world while his kids are raised by their grandfather.
 * Doomed Hometown: Sort of: the town gets burnt down for no particular reason, but the villagers start repairing it later. Besides, they were already going to leave anyway, although the town-burning definitely clinched it for them.
 * Everything's Better with Monkeys: Ponga is a monkey who is also a black magician.
 * Friend to All Living Things: Rain, even going so far as to be able to speak with plants and animals.
 * Fun with Acronyms: OPART stands for, of all things, "Out of Place Artifact".
 * That's a real term, by the way.
 * Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: Not just the bosses, but quite a few random encounters as well. Where are all those enemies hiding?
 * Guide Dang It: Quite a few puzzles. For instance, one features a carving of a humanoid with instructions to "tickle" his feet and then tap him on the shoulder. What you actually have to do is examine the foot, then jump through a hole for no apparent reason, then touch his hand.
 * Insistent Terminology: The world's last mad scientist Dr. Hello!
 * Preexisting Encounters
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Guess.