Fans of obscure SNES RPGs may be very interested in a recent trademark filing. Square Enix, primarily known for the Final Fantasy series, has filed new trademarks in Australia, Europe, and Canada for its Super Famicom RPG Live A Live.
Released in September 1994, back when Square Enix was called Square and collaborated with Nintendo to create one of Mario’s more unique adventures, Live A Live is an RPG that had plenty of ambitious concepts at the time and was the directorial debut of Chrono Trigger director Takashi Tokita. One of the most notable of these concepts is that the game has players play through seven seemingly unrelated stories before having them play through two final scenarios that tie the stories together. It’s a concept players today may be more familiar with through games like Octopath Traveler. The various stories all take place in different time periods, such as a chapter in prehistoric times where everyone speaks in pictures and pantomime, a Bakumatsu-era (1850’s Japan) chapter which encourages players to be stealthy and avoid killing humans, and a more story-focused chapter in the distant future where 2001: A Space Oddysey meets Alien.
Despite all of its unique ideas, Live A Live never officially made it outside of Japan. The only way players can play the game in English is by using a ROM with an unofficial English translation patch. While trademark renewals and filings don’t always mean a game is coming back, seeing Live a Live reach a larger audience would be great to see. Square Enix has quite a few works in their past that deserve to see a wider release.
Live A Live is available now for the Super Famicom.
