Shining Force

Shining Force is a turn-based tactical RPG. Battles take place in square grids, and each unit occupies 1 square. Units can belong to one of two sides: allies (controlled by the player) or enemies (controlled…

20 March 1992

Role-playing (RPG) Strategy Turn-based strategy (TBS) Fantasy

Shining Force is a role-playing (rpg) developed by Camelot Software Planning, released 20 March 1992 on Wii, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, iOS and Linux. The main story takes about 26 hrs to finish.

Verified 27 Sep 2026 Sources: IGDB , Steam , Wikipedia

What Shining Force is

Shining Force is a role-playing (rpg) game developed by Camelot Software Planning and released in 1992. It was published by Sega. It is available on Wii, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, iOS, Linux, Mac and PC (Microsoft Windows).

The premise, in the publisher's words

The game opens in the Kingdom of Guardiana, in the land of Rune. The protagonist, Max, is sent on a mission to prevent Darksol, who commands the hordes of Runefaust, from opening the Shining Path and resurrecting Dark Dragon. Along the way, Max recruits a number of allies to join the Shining Force. Opposing the Shining Force are foes such as Kane and King Ramladu, who were both corrupted by Darksol. Eventually Max forges the legendary Chaos Breaker, and uses it to reach the Castle of the Ancients, where Darksol plans to resurrect Dark Dragon.

Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a bird view / isometric perspective. Its themes are fantasy. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component.

Where it sits in the Shining Force series

Shining Force is the second of 10 entries we hold in the Shining Force series. It arrived 12 months after Shining in the Darkness. The next entry was Shining Force II in 1993.

See all 10 Shining Force games in release order →

How long it takes, and what that costs

The main story runs about 26 hrs.

What you need to run it

The minimum specification calls for 32MB or greater graphics card. Both tiers are compared side by side on the requirements page, and you can check your own parts against them without installing anything.

Full requirements and PC checker →

Official trailer

Sourced from the publisher’s YouTube channel.

Screenshots

All media

Dlc

Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon

30 April 2004

Remakes

Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon

30 April 2004

Quick answers

Shining Force — frequently asked questions

When did Shining Force come out?

Shining Force was released on 20 March 1992 for Wii, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, iOS, Linux, Mac and PC (Microsoft Windows).

What are the minimum PC requirements for Shining Force?

At minimum, Shining Force needs 32MB or greater graphics card graphics, 50MB free disc space of storage.

How long does it take to beat Shining Force?

The main story of Shining Force takes around 26 hrs.

How many GB is Shining Force?

The PC version needs about 0 GB of storage, going by the storage line in the system requirements ("50MB free disc space"). Updates can add to that, and console versions have their own sizes, which are not listed here.

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