I was going to add a Final Fantasy game to our Super Nintendo special this week, but – you know what? – Final Fantasy on the SNES is messy, because of all the US and Japanese title discrepancies, so… Instead I’m going to pick this: probably my favourite turn-based level-grinder on the Super Nintendo – Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals.

I’ve always liked Taito‘s Lufia series, but this Super Nintendo sequel is arguably the best game in the entire series. The presentation is just so precise and slick. The combat is brilliant and the boss battles are fantastic.

The player’s party supports up to four characters and one ‘Capsule Monster’ – basically a captured monster that fights for you and can evolve as you go. Combat is turn-based, as is movement when inside a dungeon (useful for avoiding unwanted combat).

And – as is usual in Lufia games – the Ancient Cave is a 99-level, randomly-generated side quest, that can be taken on as an additional challenge.

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals is actually a prequel to its predecessor, taking place 99 years before Lufia and the Fortress of Doom, but it improves upon it in many ways.

Both games, in my humble opinion, are among the very best RPGs on the SNES – and it had a lot of them!

More: Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals on Wikipedia