The Drifter merely does what we all seek to do: survive. Ultimately, he seeks only to save himself, and it is not a result of cruelty or arrogance. But the Drifter will help them only as a matter of circumstance. There is horror at the boundaries of the land – people being slaughtered in the mountains, enslavement and devouring in a picturesque kingdom – and it’s suggested that these atrocities are even known. The people of this post-apocalyptic world seem, for the most part, happy and idyllic. There’s an existential game of cat and mouse happening: the fight that we see on the screen benefits the Drifter and the Drifter alone. Something eats away inside you, carving out your energy and replacing it with decay and you struggle against it, even as you actively fight to destroy it. You wield an energy sword, can move like a beam of light, and carry technology from a time long since eroded by tragedy. You are the Drifter, a nameless, voiceless entity with the ability to traverse land and space in the blink of an eye.
Still, it’s a gold standard for gaming, and it’s certainly a great hero to emulate in modern-day affairs. We can do our best to look past all those things when we remember the power and success of titles from every genre imaginable, though I’ll always be a bit saddened Princess Maker and Wonder Project J never got officially localized. Nevermind the fact that titles were damn expensive for the era, the closed ecosystem and Nintendo’s draconian control made it a nightmare for indies, and the fact that, compared to subsequent systems, it did shockingly little to innovate. When you look back at the massive catalog of memorable and excellent games, not to mention the number of titles that end up on “Best Game Ever” lists, it’s hard not to overlook some of the system’s shortcomings. The SNES is constantly, unrelentingly put up on this pedestal as the pinnacle of gaming for folks in their 30s or older, and for exceptionally good reason.
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