Play Aretha II - Ariel no Fushigi na Tabi (Japan) (Beta1) Online

Game Overview

Aretha II - Ariel no Fushigi na Tabi (Japan) (Beta1) is one of those SNES RPGs that slipped under the radar—probably because it never got a proper release outside Japan, and this version’s an early beta. But if you dig old-school JRPGs with that cozy '90s anime vibe, it’s a neat little time capsule.

You play as Ariel, a girl with a sword and a whole lot of curiosity, wandering through colorful towns and fighting turn-based battles against monsters that look like they escaped from a Saturday morning cartoon. The dialogue’s quirky (if a bit rough in this beta), and the world feels alive in that way only pixel-art SNES games can.

It’s got that same warm, slightly goofy energy as Secret of Mana, but with its own weird little twists—like how some NPCs say bizarre things that never got polished, or how certain skills just… don’t work right. That’s part of the charm, though. You’re basically poking around an unfinished RPG from another timeline.

If you collect obscure JRPGs or just love seeing what could’ve been, this beta’s a fun rabbit hole. Just don’t expect a perfectly smooth ride.