Developed by Team Sonic (now Camelot Software Planning), Shining Force's battles eschewed any real-time elements in favour of a map divided into squares. Characters and enemies took turns to move, use items, attack or use magic, and this physical system gave the battles a much more tactical slant, with players having to consider whether characters were within enemy range, or if the priest could reach the hero in time for a life-saving Heal spell.

Shining Force was very successful at the time and grew into a much-loved series. Shining Force II was released on the Mega Drive a few years later, and in 1998 the trilogy was completed with the masterpiece Shining Force III. There have also been other, non-Force Shining games, including the Mega Drive dungeon-crawler Shining in the Darkness, which actually predates Shining Force.

The game was re-imagined for the GameBoy Advance in 2004, called "Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon".

• Shining Force Central
• The Shining Source - devoted to Shining fangames!
• Great Shining Force review from Mean Machines Archive!