With the exception of one scenario, the player character navigates themed environments, ranging from the overworld area to dungeon environments. While each narrative has the same basic mechanics, individual stories have unique gimmicks these include the use of stealth, a lack of standard battles, or using telepathy to learn new facts to progress the narrative. Live A Live is a role-playing video game in which the player takes on the role of eight different protagonists through nine scenarios. The battle system as seen in the Super Famicom original (top) and the HD-2D remake (bottom).

Tokita's work on Live A Live influenced his later projects. Selling 270,000 units, the original release was considered a failure, while the remake sold 500,000 copies worldwide. The remake was praised by Western reviewers, particularly its overall design and redone graphics and music, though several noted gameplay elements that had aged poorly.

Reception of the game has been positive, with praise going to its unique gameplay and narrative mechanics, though its short length was faulted. The music was composed by Yoko Shimomura as her first large-scale project after joining Square. Character designs for the seven main scenarios were handled by different manga artists. Tokita wanted to tell multiple stories within a single game, with each section drawing inspiration from different sources. Production began in late 1993, and was the directorial debut of Takashi Tokita.

Gameplay is split between exploration with story-specific twists, and turn-based combat played out on a grid. The game follows seven distinct scenarios scattered across different time periods, with two more unlockable scenarios linking the narratives together through the recurring antagonist Odio. A remake was published by Square Enix in Japan and Nintendo worldwide, releasing first for Nintendo Switch in 2022, and the following year for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Windows. Live A Live is a 1994 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom.

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