Shining Soul

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Shining Soul is an action role-playing game for the Game Boy Advance and a reboot of the Shining series. It was made by Nextech and Grasshopper Manufacture, and published by Sega in Europe and Atlus USA in North America. It released in Japan on March 28, 2002; in Europe on March 7, 2003; and in North America on September 16, 2003.

The story takes place in the land of Rune, where a dark force led by the Dark Dragon has gathered an army to destroy the world. The Shining Fleet has trapped Dark Dragon and his five generals in Runefaust and is preparing for a final attack.

Gameplay centers on four classes—Warrior, Archer, Dragonute, and Wizard. Players explore dungeons, fight with a mix of weapons and magic, and level up to improve stats like strength and dexterity. They also earn skill points to raise weapon and magic abilities and unlock class-specific powers such as defense or critical hits. The game supports single-player and multiplayer modes.

A sequel, Shining Soul II, came out in 2003. In Japan, the game was re-released in 2006 as part of the Value Selection lineup. The reception was mixed: some praised the visuals, while others felt it didn’t live up to traditional RPGs and found the action repetitive. Famitsu in Japan gave it 32 out of 40.