UNDERTALE (1993 Sega Genesis release)

UNDERTALE is a role-playing game released for the Sega CD add-on for Sega Genesis in 1993. The game follows Frisk falling into the underground, where they must choose whether or not to spare or kill every monster.

It has an enhancement remake called UNDERTALE ReVamped on the Nintendo Switch that released on December 3rd, 2020. It features a jukebox, a gallery, and newer 3D animation.

It released November 29th, 1993 in Japan, and February 20th, 1994 in the United States. It's soundtrack has been made officially publicly available through music streaming software like Spotify and YouTube the day UNDERTALE ReVamped came out, along with UNDERTALE ReVamped's redone versions of the songs and the deltarune 1 and 2 soundtracks.

Gameplay
(Following info is from UNDERTALE wiki)

Undertale is a role-playing game that utilizes many of the traditional mechanics normally seen in role-playing games but with a number of differences.

The battle system in Undertale is turn-based and seems to be heavily inspired by bullet-hell games – in particular, the Touhou series – where the protagonist's SOUL, represented by a red heart, must avoid attacks unleashed by the opponent. As the game progresses, new elements are introduced, such as colored obstacles which require the soul to stay still or move through them, and some battles (including some of the Bosses) which change the way the heart is controlled. During the player's turn, they have the opportunity to fight the opponent (involving quick-time input), perform actions that can change the opponent's mood, use ACT, and show mercy by sparing the enemy, which ends the combat if the correct actions have been used. Killing an enemy will reward EXP and LV, but neither are given if they are successfully spared. GOLD is earned in both cases. The game has a large emphasis on the morality of killing and sparing the monsters encountered, as the player's actions determine what ending they will receive. Unlike traditional RPGs, it is possible to complete the game without ever killing a single monster. The overworld mostly consists of puzzles that the player must solve to progress. Monster battles can also be seen as puzzles, requiring the right set of actions to resolve the fight peacefully. However, should the player decide to commit to murdering every monster they can find, almost all the puzzles are disabled, and the player is required to grind to progress the game. Unlike traditional RPGs, grinding (under a neutral setting) and backtracking are not mandatory, and almost no side quests exist within the game.

The game is also known for its dialogue that is witty and humorous as well as having drastic alterations based on the player's actions, and occasional breaking of the fourth wall. While killing/sparing results in notable dialogue changes, the most prominent alteration involves the manipulation of the game's SAVE feature, particularly quitting or resetting the game: almost every major character possesses meta-knowledge, remembering actions the player had performed in previous playthroughs.

Plot
Long ago, two races ruled over the Earth: Humans and Monsters. One day, a war broke out between the two races and after a long series of battle, the humans were victorious. The greatest of their magicians confined the monsters to the barrier. However, this barrier is not perfect.

Many years after the war, in 201X, a child climbs Mt. Ebott for their own mysterious reason. It is said that those who climb the mountain never return. The child discovers an enormous hole in the mountain and falls in. After that, the story begins.

The protagonist starts off their adventure in the ruins and soon meets Flowey, a sadistic flower who attempts to kill the protagonist for his own amusement. He is thwarted by a motherly monster named Toriel, who teaches the child how to solve puzzles and resolve conflicts in the Underground. After a boss fight with her, she allows the child to exit the Ruins. You can then go into Snowdin and more, and the rest is the rest.

(Information from UNDERTALE wiki ends here)

Reception
The game gained positive reviews, though there were several flaws and glitches. Some attempts of fan made remakes were made.

UNDERTALE got enough positive reviews to eventually get a spiritual successor on the Dreamcast, deltarune. After SEGA's transfer from hardware to software, the sequel got released on the Nintendo Gamecube, with a third game and more planning to be released on future Nintendo consoles, and likely also SONY, XBOX, and computers.

The game was praised not only for it's story, but for it's composition. It contained 101 well-made songs, with tons of different emotions. It had chill songs like sans., intense and cool songs like SAVE the World, and even unused songs like Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans. The most popular songs are ASGORE, Your Best Nightmare, Hopes and Dreams, and MEGALOVANIA.

UNDERTALE got a remake on the Nintendo Switch, called UNDERTALE ReVamped, that fixes all of the bugs and adds new features like a jukebox which lets you listen to the OST, and the gallery, which lets you see art, sketches, and other things for UNDERTALE and even some deltarune things. ReVamped is planned to be released to more consoles of the gen, such as the PlayStation 5, Mac OS X, XBOX Series X|S, and Windows 11, along with Windows 10, 7, and XP, and the PlayStation 4.

Glitches
UNDERTALE was notorious for it's glitches and bugs.

The most infamous of the glitches were the Gaster related glitches. Gaster is a mysterious scientist that fell into the CORE and split into pieces. The Sound Test glitch was a glitch that randomly came up out of nowhere sometimes. The Gaster Followers sometimes randomly showed up. Certain calls from Sans and Alphys that were meant to be unused were glitches. The Wrong Number Song was a scrapped joke that was a glitch that played, and when it finished, the game froze, and you had to take the CD out and back in to replay.

The biggest glitch, however, was the Mystery Room glitch. People thought this was intentional. The Mystery Room glitch was a glitch in Waterfall where you can accidentally spawn into a hallway with a gray door. Going in, there was a mysterious character unnamed, who is believed to be either Gaster, the mystery man when you go back from a Genocide path, the mysterious man during ANOTHER HIM in deltarune, Mike from deltarune 2, or something else, or maybe even all of those. When interacted, he smiles and disappears.

The Konami code secret, which turns on a meter of what path you're going on, can glitch and ruin your SAVE file, and can sometimes corrupt the game.

OST:

 * Once Upon a Time, plays during the story at the beginning.
 * Start Menu, plays during the menu.
 * Your Best Friend, plays when encountering Flowey.
 * Fallen Down, plays when first encountering Toriel.
 * Ruins, plays in the Ruins.
 * Uwa!! So Temperate♫, plays in the joystick config while you're in the Ruins in the game.
 * Anticipation, plays when fighting the Dummy and sometimes in the Genocide path.
 * Unnecessary Tension, plays when walking down to test your independence.
 * Enemy Approaching, the monsters' fight theme.
 * Ghost Fight, Napstablook's fight theme.
 * Determination, game over theme.
 * Home, plays in Toriel's house. Also present in both deltarune and deltarune 2.
 * Home (Music Box), plays when sleeping in Toriel's house.
 * Heartache, Toriel's fight theme.
 * sans., Sans' theme.
 * Nyeh Heh Heh!, Papyrus' theme.
 * Snowy, plays in the Snowdin Forest.
 * Uwa!! So Holiday♫, plays in the joystick config while you're in Snowdin in the game.
 * Dogbass, plays when encountering Dogamy and Dogaressa.
 * Mysterious Place, plays when at the Mysterious Door.
 * Dogsong, plays when fighting Greater Dog.
 * Snowdin Town, plays in Snowdin Town.
 * Shop, plays in shops.
 * Bonetrousle, Papyrus' fight theme.
 * Dating Start!, plays in the beginning of befriend events with Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys, and at Bratty and Catty's shop.
 * Dating Tense!, plays in tense parts of the Papyrus and Alphys dates.
 * Dating Fight!, plays at the end of Papyrus' date.
 * Premonition, plays when Sans is talking about talking flowers.
 * Danger Mystery, plays when Papyrus talks to Undyne on the first encounter with her.
 * Undyne, plays when encountering Undyne.
 * Waterfall, plays in Waterfall.
 * Run!, plays when Undyne is trying to kill you.
 * Quiet Water, plays in populated areas of Waterfall.
 * Memory, plays when shielding the statue in Waterfall with the umbrella.
 * Bird That Carries You Over A Disproportionately Small Gap, plays when the bird flies you to the other side of Waterfall.
 * Dummy!, Mad Dummy's fight theme.
 * Pathetic House, plays in Napstablook's house.
 * Spooktune, the first CD in Napstablook's house. It's box art resembles Sonic CD.
 * Spookwave, the second CD in Napstablook's house. It's box art resembles Dark Wizard.
 * Ghouliday, the third CD in Napstablook's house. It's box art resembles Earthworm Jim: Special Edition.
 * Chill, plays when lying on the floor with Napstablook after eating a Ghost Sandwich.
 * Thundersnail, plays during the snail race.
 * Temmie Village, plays in Temmie Village.
 * Tem Shop, plays in Tem Shop.
 * NGAHH!!, plays before fighting Undyne.
 * Spear of Justice, Undyne's fight theme.
 * Ooo, plays in places in Hotland before and after the Lab, and in the True Lab's fifth tape.
 * Alphys, Alphys' theme.
 * It's Showtime!, Mettaton's theme.
 * Metal Crusher, Mettaton's fight theme.
 * Another Medium, plays in Hotland.
 * Uwa!! So HEATS!!♫, plays in the joystick config while you're in Hotland or CORE in the game.
 * Stronger Monsters, the monsters in COREs' fight theme.
 * Hotel, plays in Mettaton's cooking show.
 * Can You Really Call This A Hotel, I Didn't Receive A Mint On My Pillow Or Anything, plays when using the phone jetpack.
 * Confession, plays at the end of the Royal Guards battle and the Undyne and Alphys date.
 * Live Report, plays when you have to find something for Mettaton's news report.
 * Death Report, plays when defusing bombs.
 * Spider Dance, Muffet's fight theme.
 * Wrong Enemy ?!, So Sorry's fight theme.
 * Oh! One True Love, plays during the mock opera scene with Mettaton.
 * Oh! Dungeon, plays during the Multicolor Tile Puzzle in the dungeon.
 * It's Raining Somewhere Else, plays while dining with Sans at MTT Resort, and in Sans' workshop.
 * CORE Approach, plays when in the area between MTT Resort and CORE.
 * CORE, plays in the CORE.
 * Last Episode! plays before the Mettaton EX battle.
 * Oh My..., plays after you flip the switch on Mettaton.
 * Death by Glamour, Mettaton EX's fight theme.
 * For The Fans, plays when Mettaton EX takes phone calls.
 * Long Elevator, plays in the elevator.
 * Undertale, plays in New Home.
 * Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans, unused song only in the OST and the jukebox in UNDERTALE ReVamped.
 * The Choice, plays when Sans judges your LV and EXP.
 * Small Shock, plays when encountering Asgore.
 * Barrier, plays at the Barrier before Asgore's fight.
 * Bergentrückung, plays right before Asgore's fight.
 * ASGORE, Asgore's fight theme.
 * You Idiot, plays before Photoshop Flowey's battle.
 * Your Best Nightmate, Photoshop Flowey's fight theme.
 * Finale, plays when the human SOULs help you beat Photoshop Flowey.
 * An Ending, plays in Sans' phone call at the end of a Neutral path, and at the end of Undyne's fight in a Neutral path.
 * She's Playing Piano, plays when you are outside Undyne's house before the hangout.
 * Here We Are, plays when in the True Lab.
 * Amalgam, plays when fighting the Amalgamates.
 * Fallen Down (Reprise), plays when Toriel, Papyrus, Sans, Alphys, and Undyne intervene the second Asgore fight.
 * Don't Give Up, when the people who intervened, along with Asgore, a Royal Guard, Muffet, Froggit, Greater Dog, Shyren, Monster Kid, Vulkin, and potentially more try to save everyone from Flowey.
 * Hopes and Dreams, God of Hyperdeath Asriel's fight theme.
 * Burn in Despair!, Final Asriel's first fight theme.
 * SAVE the World, Final Asriel's second fight theme.
 * His Theme, Asriel's theme during the story of Chara and Asriel.
 * Final Power, plays when Asriel breaks the barrier. Reversed version of Hopes and Dreams.
 * Reunited, plays in the underground after you wake up.
 * Menu (Full), plays on the menu when you finish the Asriel fight.
 * Respite, plays when on the surface.
 * Bring It In, Guys!, plays during the monster credits.
 * Last Goodbye, plays on the Kickstarter credits.
 * But the Earth Refused to Die, plays when Undyne refuses to die on the Genocide path. First Genocide exclusive song in the OST.
 * Battle Against a True Hero, Undyne the Undying's fight theme.
 * Power of "NEO," Mettaton NEO's fight theme.
 * MEGALOVANIA, Sans' fight theme.
 * Good Night, unused in the final game and is only in the OST and jukebox in UNDERTALE ReVamped.

Songs that aren't part of the OST:


 * Wrong Number Song, while meant to be cut from the game, it can glitch into the game if you keep going back and forth from the room with pathways and the fishing place.
 * Happy Town, one of the songs in the Sound Test glitch.
 * Meat Factory, one of the songs in the Sound Test glitch.
 * Trouble Dingle, one of the songs in the Sound Test glitch.
 * Gaster's Theme, one of the songs in the Sound Test glitch.
 * Smile, plays when in the glitched 17th entry of the True Lab.
 * Grandpa Semi, plays when refusing to give Temmie the Temmie Flakes.
 * King Description, a song in the files that is the unused Game Over theme when fighting Asgore.
 * Dance of Dog, plays when the game is messed up after tinkering with files.
 * Sigh of Dog, plays when the game is messed up after tinkering with files.
 * Star, a random song in the files.
 * A piece of Your Best Nightmare, it went unused to make the battle shorter, but it is still present in files, as the rest of the pieces are.
 * Finale Piece, it went unused to make Finale shorter, but is still in files.
 * Alphys Lab Prequel, it went unused because it sounded like another game.
 * Spear of the Prequel, it went unused because it didn't sound cool enough for Undyne.
 * Dog Hole, a random song in the files, likely for the Mysterious Door.
 * Dogtroid, an unused song if you beat the game fast enough. Annoying Dog would appear in a bikini, like Samus Aran does in Metroid.
 * Undertale Prequel Piece, an unused version of Undertale. No apparent reason for the cut.
 * Patient, an unused version of Another Medium made for a now scrapped idea called Homestuck.
 * Trailer #1, the theme for the first trailer made for UNDERTALE.
 * Mysterious Shrine, a secret in the game where you meet a painting of Annoying Dog and a shrine.
 * Overly-Familiar Shrine, plays when you go back to the area with the painting and the shrine.
 * Before the Story, a scrapped song likely for the menu.
 * Trailer #2, the theme for the second trailer for UNDERTALE.
 * Mad Mew-Mew, Mad Mew Mew's secret boss theme when you beat UNDERTALE and go to Sans and Papyrus' house.
 * Trailer #3, the theme for the third trailer for UNDERTALE.
 * Slot Machine Win and Casino, a scrapped song for a removed room of a casino, likely to make UNDERTALE's ESRB ratings lower to an E10+.

ReVamped differences

 * RV has a gallery of both concept art for the original and RV, finished art, and pictures of the creators making UNDERTALE. It also includes some deltarune related things.
 * RV has a jukebox, which lets you listen to both the OST and non-OST songs.
 * RV still has the Konami Code secret (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Plus), but this time it shows the Soulless Pacifist, Normal Genocide, and Normal Pacifist paths on the meter.
 * There is a switch to turn intentional glitches on. Thankfully, glitches like the Wrong Number Song do not crash your game.
 * There is now a Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, and Russian localization available.
 * The game is in the 3D style of deltarune, most closely to deltarune 2.
 * The game is now sorted in Nintendo Switch cartridges instead of 2 CDs.
 * ReVamped, like deltarune 1 and 2, and unlike the original UNDERTALE, got released the same day worldwide.
 * You can choose to have recomposed OST for the game or the same OST as the original UNDERTALE.

Trivia

 * UNDERTALE was a lock-on game, like Sonic 3 & Knuckles. You had to connect two CDs (UNDERTALE 1's CD was thicker and had a hole to connect) of UNDERTALE 1, which went from Ruins to the first half of Waterfall, and UNDERTALE 2, which went from the other half of Waterfall to the end.
 * UNDERTALE went from the NES, which was cancelled because of the SNES, to the SNES, which was cancelled because it had no lock-on feature, to the Genesis. Similarly, deltarune went from the Saturn to the Dreamcast.
 * A dialogue referencing Sonic the Hedgehog was originally a reference to Mario, but because it went from SNES to Genesis, the line was cut. There are still Mario references that reference the rivalry of Mario and Sonic, but those are very subtle, not even mentioning names, only mentioning hedgehogs and plumbers.
 * UNDERTALE, along with deltarune, are one of the few '90s game to feature LGBTQ+ characters. Undyne and Alphys date and eventually kiss, and they are both female, proving they're either lesbian or a sexuality that allows them to date girls. The Royal Guards in Hotland are gay for each other and start dating, and confess. Other LGBTQ+ related things are scattered throughout.
 * UNDERTALE was prominent in SEGA Power. An entire guidebook was made to beat the game, though it is heavily flawed, mentioning Glad Dummy during the True Pacifist path's section, even though Glad Dummy appears in True Genocide and Mad Dummy in True Pacifist.
 * There are paths in UNDERTALE, Neutral, Pacifist, True Pacifist, Genocide, and True Genocide. It was only very recently discovered a secret path called Soulless Pacifist exists, where you do a True Genocide and a True Pacifist afterwards, and it replaces Frisk at the end with Chara. It isn't on the Konami Code secret.