The 7th Saga, called Elnard (エルナード?) in Japan, is a role-playing video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The player chooses one of seven playable characters, all of whom separately embark on a quest to locate seven magical runes. As the player progresses through the game from one town to the next, they encounter the other six characters on multiple occasions. The player may partner with one of the other playable characters to fight as a team, and they may also fight against other playable characters for the runes.
Notable unique innovations include the use of a crystal ball "radar" that allows players to see enemies approaching their character in dungeons and in the overworld. This means that combat is not totally random, as players may theoretically avoid enemies (although enemies move extremely quickly and randomly, making combat difficult to avoid). The game also uses Mode 7 graphic effects to create the transition between exploration screen and battle screen.
The game is particularly known for its unforgiving difficulty due to balance changes made in its localization; enemies were given much higher stats, and the player character's stat increases were reduced (the other playable characters retain the original stat increases, so they will always surpass the player character's level).
