Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, known as Estpolis Denki II (エストポリス伝記II, officially translated Biography of Estpolis II) in Japan, and as simply Lufia in Europe and Australia, is a role-playing video game game with puzzle elements developed by Neverland and published in Japan in 1995 by Taito, and in North America and Europe in 1996 by Natsume and Nintendo respectively, for the Super Nintendo video game console.

The game is a prequel to Lufia & the Fortress of Doom. It follows the story of the first main character's ancestor, Maxim, and explains the origins of the war between mankind and a group of gods called the Sinistrals. Lufia II made a number of changes from the first game. Dungeons no longer have random encounters and there are hundreds of puzzles throughout the game, ranging from simple to extremely challenging. It also introduced new skills, such as a variety of weapons that could be used to stun monsters or solve puzzles, and IP attacks. In 2009, Square Enix announced a re-imagining of the original game titled Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals.

In Lufia II, characters walk around an over world map, enter dungeons, fight monsters, buy or find new equipment and spells, and set out on a quest to save the world. The player's party will support up to four characters at once, along with a Capsule Monster. There are various forms of transportation which the player may utilize in order to travel faster than walking, these include; warping, a spell learned early in the game; a boat, modified by Lexis into a submarine and later a blimp. Various casino games are accessible later in the game; these include Pachinco Slot, Black Jack, Slot Machine, Stud Poker, and Action Bingo.

The game features a number of new gameplay features, explained below:

Dungeons

All monsters appear on the dungeon map as well, and can be avoided if the player wishes. Motion in dungeons is also "turn-based," in that monsters do not move unless the player does. Maxim gains a number of tools and weapons for use in dungeons (similar to the The Legend of Zelda titles), such as a bow and arrow, bombs and a hookshot; these, along with his sword (swung using a face button), will stun monsters temporarily and interact with obstacles. Finally, dungeons place great emphasis on challenging puzzles.

IP Skills

Aside from the RPG standards of "Fight," "Use Item" and "Use Magic," characters also have access to IP Skills, which are attached to weapons, armor and accessories. Each character's IP bar fills when he or she takes damage, and can deplete it to invoke available IP skills at any time, assuming they have enough charge in the bar. IP Skills take varying amounts of charge to activate. Players can purposely wear weaker equipment and/or fight higher-level monsters to fill the gauge faster, but run the risk of having characters killed in battle. Also, IP Skills cannot be customized, sometimes forcing the player to choose between a newer and stronger piece of gear, or an older, weaker one that has a useful IP Skill.

Capsule Monsters

Capsule monsters are special creatures which the player may only find on specific locations of the world. Once a Capsule monster is found, the party acquires a fifth, computer controlled member. These monsters can be fed items and equipment, and once they are satiated they evolve to a different form, up to a fifth and definitive form, labeled M. Seven of them exist, and each Capsule monster belongs to a different element (Neutral, Light, Wind, Water, Dark, Fire and Soil), and has a different set of skills.

The Ancient Cave

One of the most notable features of Lufia II is the Ancient Cave, a randomly generated dungeon composed of 99 floors which is presented to the player as a side-quest in the town of Gruberik. Every time the player enters the cave, a new layout is generated. The Ancient Cave has a very similar execution to the roguelike genre.

Within the cave, the characters are downgraded to zero experience points and are stripped of nearly all equipment and items. The player must then proceed through the cave's floors, collecting equipment, finding magic spells and increasing levels, with the objective of reaching the Ancient Cave's final floor. There are three ways of exiting the cave: by dying, by reaching its bottom or by finding and using an item exclusive to the cave, named "providence".

Within the cave lie two kinds of chests — blue and red. A red chest contains items which can only be used inside the cave for the duration of the playing session. As soon as the player leaves the cave, all items from red chests disappear. On the other hand, the rare blue chests contains items that are for the most part unique to the Ancient Cave (though not completely — the Catfish Jewel, for instance, can also be won in the battle against the giant Catfish), which can be used outside the cave and can be brought back to the cave on subsequent journeys. The equipment found in the blue chests is often far superior than those found outside of it. Some items that can be found in blue chests can also be found by other means, such as monster drops. These can also be taken in and out of the Ancient Cave just as if you had found them in blue chests. Also found in the Ancient Cave are the "Iris Treasures," which are found in red chests. Unlike normal red chest items, the player is allowed to take them out of the cave. They cannot be equipped and serve only as collectibles. The bottom floor of the inn in Gruberik serves as a storage for these items.

Several very powerful monsters exist only in the Ancient Cave, most notably the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Dragons.

On the 99th floor, the player must fight the "Master" (a huge red jelly). It must be defeated in four turns (actually three, since it goes before the characters - unless you repeatedly use some speed lowering IP moves like Spiderweb), or else it will commit suicide and give no reward. Upon defeat, however, it gives the player the Ancient Key, unlocking the room in the lobby, as well as one of the Iris Treasures. It is very difficult to actually defeat the Master due to the time limit and its high HP value (which is always 9980 and not based on the party levels as some rumors say). Thus, a much easier and somewhat cheap way has been devised to kill it. It was found that it was not necessary to kill it-the battle only needed to end. So if the characters killed each other in the allotted time limit, the game would still consider it to be a victory. Equipping and using items which removed set fractions of enemy health (from 1/8 to 1/2 of all enemy health) was also very helpful in defeating the monster.