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Shining in the Darkness, called Shining and the Darkness (シャイニング＆ザ・ダクネス) in Japan, is a 1991 game by Sega and Climax Entertainment for the Sega Mega Drive. It is the first game in Sega's Shining series — but unlike most of the rest of the franchise, this one is a 3D dungeon-crawler RPG.
Development
Shining in the Darkness was a joint venture developed by Sega's Consumer Development Studio #4 division (renamed Sonic Co. before this game's release) and a team at Climax Entertainment, headded by Hiroyuki Takahashi, a rising stars in the world of RPG development (Takahashi had previously been involved in Enix's popular Dragon Quest series, so were seen as a good fit for the project). However, corporate reasoning gave Shining and the Darkness a minimal development budget, and a small four-man team, meaning Climax were responsible for the bulk of the game's development.
Nevertheless Shining in the Darkness was a success for the company, and led to other entries in the Shining franchise, most notably the next game, Shining Force.
Story
You are the son of Mortred, a warrior who was last seen near a dungeon known as the Labyrinth in the kingdom of Thornwood with the Princess Jessa. King Drake summons you to go find her, but just as that is about to happen, the evil Dark Sol appears and offers a ransom — Mortred and the Princess for the kingdom. It is now up to you to save the two and defeat Dark Sol before he destroys King Drake instead...
Gameplay
The game takes place in three areas — the castle (where you talk to the King and his servants), the town (where you can buy weapons, armor, and items, save your game and heal in the church, and talk to townsfolk), and the Labyrinth (the actual dungeon). In the castle, towns, and buildings, use 
and 
to navigate and 
to interact.
The Labyrinth is (appropriately) a 3D maze. 
moves forward, and turn, and 
moves backward. and 
open a menu at the bottom of the screen where you can do mundane things to the members of your party. Enemy encounters happen randomly throughout the Labyrinth — the same menu is used to attack. Should you die in battle, you will be taken back to the church in the town, losing half your collected gold in the process.
Production Credits
Written and Produced by: Hiroyuki Takahashi
Special Effects: Yasuhiro Taguchi
Assistant Director: Yoshinori Tagawa, Bob Timbello
Artwork and Design: Hidehiro Yoshida
Outline and Storyboards: Yoshitaka Tamaki
Music: Masahiko Yoshimura
Visual Support: Ryutaro Ishimatsu
Technical Support: Haruki Kodera
Director: Kan Naitoh
Special Thanks: Media Mixture, Mad Cap
Executive Producer: Sega Enterprises
Created by Climax
Physical Scans
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| Mega Drive, US
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| Mega Drive, EU
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| Mega Drive, JP
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External Links
