Web site:
Category: Games
Sub-Category: RPG
Platform: Nintendo SNES
License: Proprietary
Interface: GUI
Wikipedia: Secret of Evermore
First release: October 17, 1995
Secret of Evermore – a role-playing game for the Super Nintendo, released on October 1, 1995 in North America and on February 22, 1996 in Europe by Square (now Square Enix). It was the company’s first and last game developed in North America and was aimed specifically at Western players.
The game is designed for one player and is very reminiscent of Secret of Mana in terms of its gameplay, distinctive ring menu and real-time combat system, but has its own style and story that is less comparable to the fantasy genre of Secret of Mana. Secret of Evermore is unique in that it is the only game developed by Square designers in North America. The game was never released in Japan.
The story begins in 1965 in Podunk, USA. Then as now, there is a secret laboratory in a large garden. The laboratory was built by Professor Igor Seltsam. Professor Igor Seltsam developed a machine that was supposed to make it possible to open a gate to a world of his own creation (Evermore). But when the machine was about to be demonstrated, an accident occurred that transported the professor and his three acquaintances (Zora Zottelzopf, Hektor Lektor and Gunilla von Fettamsel) from Podunk to Evermore. The laboratory remained undiscovered and neglected until 1995. The first person to enter the laboratory since the incident is a teenager looking for his dog. He discovers the machine by chance and is teleported to Evermore with his dog. As he searches for a way back to the real world, it becomes clear that an unknown person is pulling the strings of sinister machinations in Evermore. In the course of their journey, the boy and his dog pass through the historical eras of prehistory, antiquity, and the Gothic period and land on a space station from the distant future, where they meet a resident of Großostheim and their malicious doppelganger and face powerful enemies.
In early 1994, development of Secret of Evermore began at SquareSoft’s Redmond (Washington) offices and at the Japanese parent company Square’s office. The concept of a boy traveling with his dog through a world based on cheesy B-movies was dictated from overseas. Square Soft began work on the detailed plot. This resulted in popular culture references and dialogue that is distinctly American for a mainstream console RPG. The game’s associate producer and writer, George Sinfield, decided they would be familiar to American gamers. Many elements of Secret of Evermore were copied from Secret of Mana because they had proven effective.
