Live A Live is a bold Square JRPG split into seven radically different genre chapters. Inventive, striking, a hidden SFC peak.
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Category
RPG1 player12+
Description
Square anthology RPG featuring seven independent scenarios across distinct eras and genres. Published by Square, released in Japan in 1994. Prehistory, Antiquity, Wild West, present, near future and two fantasy scenarios, each era with unique gameplay and characters and a final revelation connecting the stories. An unlocalized Square masterpiece.
Live A Live review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
MAX
Story
★★★★★
"Masterful"
Square handed each chapter to a different manga artist, and the game reads like an illustrated anthology: the rounded line of prehistory, the elongated figures of the Bakumatsu, the weathered faces of the western, the machinery of the near future. The sprites follow those styles down to their proportions, and every era imposes its own palette and staging.
From the pen of Yoko Shimomura, the anthology deploys a score of stunning variety, each scenario having its own musical identity. From the western to the future, all the way to the flamboyant "MEGALOMANIA", each theme surprises with its daring. This exceptional sonic richness is now celebrated as an underrated masterpiece.
Seven eras, seven heroes, seven tales that nothing seems to connect: from prehistory to the far future, the adventure dares a bold anthology. Each chapter adopts its own tone and rules before converging on a striking revelation. This experimental structure, ahead of its time, made it a cult object long unreleased abroad.
Complete: box, manual and disc/cart very clean. Lightly handled.
Q1 damagedQ6 completeQ10 new
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Collector interest
A 1994 Square Super Famicom RPG, Japan-exclusive on original cartridge until the 2022 Switch HD-2D release. The cart is culturally important because it offers seven distinct scenarios penned by seven different mangaka, a structure unprecedented at the time. Intact boxed CIB with cardboard sleeve and illustrated Square manual has become a structuring target for Square SFC collectors, and the cote climbs hard, sustained by physical scarcity and by the modern HD-2D release that revived foreign interest.
An underrated gem
Seven independent tales, from the Wild West to feudal Japan to a science-fiction future, each with its own rules: this Square anthology dared a structure still unheard of. Long confined to Japan before a late remake, it stayed unknown to players of the era. Its narrative boldness makes it a milestone to (re)discover for any JRPG fan.
Is Live A Live still worth playing in 2026?
Live A Live, long unavailable outside Japan before its recent remake, is a strikingly bold Square JRPG. The cartridge offers seven standalone chapters across radically different genres, namely a western, a kung fu film, a cyberpunk tale, a ninja infiltration, an SF chamber piece and more, before an eighth chapter that binds them together. Every episode shifts its mechanics, themes and pacing. A fan translation exists for the original cartridge. Recommended to any fan of auteur driven JRPGs.
