Item
Lighter
An inventory item and tool used to light fires, solve puzzles, and trigger events in Wild Arms, MDK 2, and Shadow of Memories.
Role-playing (RPG)
About
In the 1997 RPG Wild Arms, the Lighter is one of Jack Van Burace's character tools used to light torches and trigger environmental mechanisms. In the action-adventure game Shadow of Memories, protagonist Eike Kusch uses a lighter to alter the past and escape his fated death. In MDK 2, Dr. Hawkins utilizes a lighter as a key item for combining with other objects to create makeshift inventions.
Within the broader Wild Arms franchise and its associated releases, the implementation of this recurring utility item reflects a transitional era in game design where adventure elements integrated into diverse genres. In the original 1997 Wild Arms on the PlayStation, the item represents the early "Tool" system, which granted individual party members unique field abilities to solve grid-based dungeon puzzles.
By the turn of the millennium, the concept expanded into different gameplay styles. The Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 releases of MDK 2 (and its MDK 2 Armageddon remaster) utilized the item within a quirky, physics-based inventory system that emphasized eccentric scientific experimentation. Concurrently, Konami's Shadow of Memories (known as Shadow of Destiny in North America) elevated the object to a central narrative device, where its presence or absence in specific time periods directly branched the game's multiple endings. Across these titles, the item serves as a design bridge between traditional inventory keys and active environmental manipulation, showcasing how a simple real-world object could be adapted to define character identity and player agency in late 1990s and early 2000s gaming.
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