Every once and a while, I receive emails from people looking for a certain game, electronic toy, or computer from their distant past. This time, a friendly fellow named Daniel has sent me a puzzling inquiry regarding an action-adventure game from the early 1990s. As usual, I’m not an oracle of infinite knowledge, so I need your help to crack the case.

The Clues

Daniel wrote me a few days ago regarding a game from his childhood:

Hey, guys – new Fuzzy Memory for you. When I was very young, my brothers had an SNES and even at a young age (I was born in 1988) I was playing video games – I beat Super Mario World, Earthbound, and Chrono Trigger before I turned nine in 1997.

Anyway, this game was for SNES (I think) and was likely an RPG similar to Secret Of Evermore and Illusion Of Gaia – although I also had an NES and Genesis so don’t quote me on the system aspect.

The only part I recall (which may or may not have been the beginning) started with a waterfall where you could collect some “rainbow” potion. You then crossed a bridge and at one point face off with a giant tree which blocked the way to a special item.

There was a mine near the waterfall (built into the cliff where the waterfall was, if I’m not mistaken). Inside there was a mine cart which had a wheel or two missing and you had to find them — after you fixed the minecart, you could travel on the rails and get to a new area by jumping some gaps.

I think I played it once or twice but I also remember seeing it in either Nintendo Power or EGM or…some game magazine (I remember the magazine had a rainbow symbol in front of the waterfall).

Now, I already tried to find this game myself – one person told me to get a list of the SNES RPGs from GameFAQs and do an image search on Google…about 1/4 or 1/3 of the way through I got a massive headache and had to stop.

The game I recall isn’t Secret Of Mana, I’m afraid. I already had the ROM files and double-checked…I even searched in several “complete”-status walkthroughs on GameFAQs. It could have been for NES or Genesis – even N64 or PS1 – but nothing earlier than NES, I assure you (mainly since we didn’t have any computers until 1999 or so) – but I can’t recall the specific system…

Again, any help would be appreciated. Thanks much!

– Daniel

The Search Begins

Based on Daniel’s description, my best guess would have been Secret of Mana, but he’s ruled that out. It’s up to you now to find the object of his fuzzy memory. Post any thoughts or suggestions in the comments section below. Good luck!

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Have a memory of a computer, video game, computer software, or electronic toy you need help identifying? Send me an email describing your memories in detail. Hopefully, the collective genius of the VC&G readership can help solve your mystery.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at 4:06 pm and is filed under Fuzzy Memory, Gaming History, Regular Features, Retrogaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.