Since we haven't had one of these in a while. :p
OF course, I'm actually going to put in my reasoning for doing so, and rather then that damned silly method of showing your favorite first, I'm going to go for the far superior count down from 10 to 1.
And because I have a lot of free time today, I'm also going to list a few odd games that didn't make my list, but I still feel like they deserve to be mentioned just for the sake of the oddity involving it.
I'll also list a few games that I feel deserve an explanation as to why they didn't make the cut. Feel free to do neither of these last two, as this is just a little add on for kicks. :p
10. Illusion of Gaia
Known to some as Soul Blazer 2, Illusion of Gaia was an Action RPG on the SNES. Following around a young boy named Will, who one day wishes to explore the world in search of his lost father. He is falsley charged for stealing the Royal Ring. These charges were set into prison. He escapes and sets off on his Journey, using his mysterious Pscyo Power to gather ancient statues from Ruins.
The gameplay is simple. Using your flute as a weapon, you can make basic attacks and a short range lunge at first, though your repituare of attacks grow. A sliding kick to both attack and pass through small openings, as well as the ability to charge up for a powerful dash to damage foes and break various walls and objects.
As well as Max, you can make use of the powerful souls of Freedan the Dark Knight, wielding a powerful sword capable of firing balls of energy, and Shadow the Ultimate Warrior, capable of liquefying his body.
Overy all, the Game offers a variety of abilities, and ever changing dungeons to keep game play interesting throughout, and a story interesting enough to keep you wanting to know more.
Overall, while the game has nothing amazing, it is above average in all regards, while having no noticeable faults.
9. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Ah yes, good old Mario. His first venture into the RPG realm was an exciting one. An amusing Cast of characters and a charmingly simple story line, where you can even team up with Bowser.
The gameplay is solid, with it's timed attack system. With some getting use to, however, you'll land virtually every time without much difficulty, but it's still enjoyable none the less.
The most charming thing about this game however it's it's humor and characters. Each character comes with a unique personality, and are given their moments to shine through, and give us all a laugh.
Throughout the game, the player is constantly amused and never board, with everything from amusing sprite animations, humourous dialogue, to the running gag of Mario not speaking. While not the most
8. Seiken Densetsu 3 (Secret of Mana 2)
It's a shame this title was never released in the states, for it truly was a beautiful game.
You are given the option of formign your own party. You may pick any three of the six characters, and depending on your leader alters the events of the game, giving it plenty of replay value.
Each Character also has 2 paths to pick. A light and dark oriented path, to further shape how your character will play. Now I may be thinking of another game, but I believe upon picking either path, you get another chance to choose a path. You may continue down the path you are on, or diverge into a more neutral state, giving each character 3 final classes to pick from in total.
As for gameplay, anyone familiar with the early Mana games knows of it. It's essentially a more polished version of Secret of Mana, so I won't go into the system to much.
In short, this game has solid gameplay, a variety of ways to play, and a decent and varying story. Definately a must play for any RPG fan who can stand going back to SNES graphics. :p
7. Secret of Evermore
Evermore is a prime example of the Action RPG Genre. Your character, traversing the multiple worlds of Evermore, has accsess to 3 different weapon types, and a massive library of Alchemy.
Accomponied by your dog, who can find hidden alchemy material for your spells as well as fight badies, you are trying to find your way out of Evermore and back to Podunk, your home town.
I would argue that the fighting in this game is even funner then Seiken Densetsu 3, due to the mass library of Alchemy and equally smooth game play, even though it lacks a variety in characters.
The Dog changes from world to world, from a wolf, to a mystic dog, to poodle, and finally, and I almost feel embarased to say this, a toaster with laser beams.... And I'm not even joking here.
The overall plot is basic, as well as the scenario to Scenario plots. Though the real joy in the story is the interaction between characters and the occasional inner monologue. Its another one of those games that keeps the player laughing through with it's comedic Dialogue. There are even numerous references to other Square games, such as seeing various FF VI Characters in the Arena stands, or running into Cecil, who runs a weapon shop in the second to last world. It's especially funny to hear Cecil talk about his epic journey if FF IV, only to have his greatness fall on deaf ears. XD
6. Earthbound
A massive cult hit amongst it's fans, this game was saddly released under what most would consider horrid advertising, and near the end of the SNES's lifespan, so it didn't get much attention until years after it's release, when it was hard to find a copy.
Rather than focus on an expansive overall story, the intrigue comes from each individual story along the way, from Quelling the Street Sharks uprising in Onnette, to thwarting the mighty Blue Blue Clan from turning the world Blue. Each arc is funny, and full of American Pop Culture referances, including the obscure referance to the old poem of Casey, the batter who struck out.
While the combat is overall typical, Earthbound uses a rolling HP gauge, meaning it rolls down after you take damage. The greater the damage, the faster the roll.
If one manages to heal mid roll however, the damage stops there and you heal up from that point. This game also makes use of putting the enemies in rows, a back and front, for purpose of some attacks attacking a single row.
Overall, a solid combat system and easilly the funniest game of the SNES era. While the graphics arn't great for it's time, its still appealign to look at, so it's not much of a downgrade.
It's also one of the few SNES RPG's to not utilize random encounters, and instead the enemies are seen on the map, and are capable of chasing you or fleeing. In addition, if your level is high enough, it gives you an auto win, as to avoid tedius week battles when traversing weaker areas.
5. Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen
Despite it's age, Ogre Battle is one of my favorite SRPG's ever, right up there with Makai Kingdom and Brigandine.
To begin, the system is extremely complex for an SNES game, though not to a point it's frustrating. To begin, you have a reputation meter, and just about everything effects it.
High Ali units liberating towns raises it, low Ali will lower it, beating up low level enemies with high level units lowers it, certain Tarot Cards when drawn lower or raise it, ect..
Your main units Ali and Charasima, special characters recruited, and special items obtained, and even if you fought certain bosses with certain people all change the outcome, giving you 13 possible endings.
The combat is handled as though you were a general giving orders. You create the units you use, determine where they go, and set their tactics. After that, the battles unfold auto-style, allowing you only to change tactics in between unit turns, and to use Tarrot cards in between turns as well. While that may turn some off, I do love the feel of being the General in charge as mentioned earlier, as opposed to omnipotence over all actions.
The game gives you surprisngly more control then it sounds though, it's one of those things you'd have to play to understand.
The story is solid, albeit basic, though the many different endings are all very well done. Such as Tristan, the True Heir to the land, challanging me after I took control and killing me....
Not all endings are happy.
PRobably the biggest problems are the repetive music and overall lackluster graphics, though it's perks more then make up for these downfalls.
4. Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinestrals
This is one of those unappreciated SNES games. It comes with a full cast of characters, allmost all of which are likeable.
The story is about Maxim the Monster Hunter. After getting a gate key from a Lizardman, a mysterious women tells MAxim that he is the only one who can fight against the red light that was seen in the sky, which has been causing the monsters to grow violent and more inteligent. Setting off on his quest, Maxim gathers togeter a group of friends to fight against the Sinestrals.
While some dungeons get repetetive, there is quite a bit of variety, so it's not really all that bad. And the inbattle monster sprites are very well done, especially the Sinestrals themselves, Gades and Amon having my favorite enemy sprites.
Solid turn based combat, spruced up with two unique features. First if the IP system. Whenever you take damage, you're IP gauge fills up, to a max of 100%. Your weapons and armour sometimes have abilities, which use up so much IP to activate, ranging from unique abilities, such as octo-strike, unleashing 8 attacks, to simply acting as normal spells, it offers a variety.
The other is your fifth member slot. You have four party members at a time that you never get to pick, such as in FF IV, but there is a fifth slot where you may select one of your capsule monsters for.
Capsule monsters run on auto, so you don't get to control them. They level up just like you're party, as well as evolving. You feed them items, and depending on what the item is and what they want, their evolution meter will grow. Once maxed, they evolve into the next stage and grow in power.
Now, to reach the max stage is a trick. You need to feed them a magical fruit of the opposite element their are, though you have to do it while they are in a certain stage of evolution.
The story is also top notch for SNES games, though since the company went under, and this was intended to unfold in a total of three games, there are a few plot points that will forever remain a mystery, such as the entity known as Arek the Absolute.
3. Breath of Fire II
Breath of Fire 2 is Traditional Turnbased at its finest. The inbattle sprites look great, you have a good variety of characters, all with unique abilities. While the combat itself seems very basic, it's traditional tuned to perfection.
Overworld graphics are decent, though it's the in battle animations and sprites that really shine compared to most SNES titles.
Another fun aspect is Fusing. By fusing Shamans to your characters, you can give them power boosts, and even change their appearance and base ability.
For example, there is Bow, a dog like creature with a bow. (Okay, so their names are a tad unoriginal. :p) His ability, Shot, either hits critical, or does one damage. When fused with a Holy and Wind Shaman, his stats go up, his sprite now has a massive suite of armor and a cannon on his hand, and Shot changes to Spray, which hit's all enemies for partial his normal damage.
There are also on the field activities, such as using Ryu to fish, Bow uses his bow to hunt. Hunting may also be done with Katt, but at close range instead of a distance.
Characters also have out of battle abilities to help you. Rand can break down walls, albeit only in one level, Sten can carry your party over certain gaps of space, Jean can swin you through lakes, ect.
The story is also very well executed, talking about the history of the lost Dragon Clan, the mysteries behind the Church of St. Eva, as well as problems exlusive to local areas.
Definately a must play for any traditional RPG fan.
2. Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VI almost took the number one spot. Even with an expanse of 13 playable characters, you manage to get a good backstory and character developement for them all. (Except Gogo, Umaro, and Mog that is.)
The story is basically the war between the Empire and the Rebel group The Returners. They are fighting for control over the frozen esper. Terra, a human capable of using magic, is the only hope of the Reterners to control the Frozen Esper to fight the Empire.
The story of FF VI is deep, with an amazing cast of Characters, and one of FF's greatest villians, the crazed lunatic Kefka. A lot of games have a villian whose crazy, and there just to be a villian. Well Kefka is what all of these type of villians should aspire to be, though I'll avoid going into the details.
The second half of the game is the exploration of the now ruined world to gather your party back together for the final showdown with Kefka, atop his tower, which is one of FF's greatest Final Dungeons as well.
The cast comes with a wide variety of skills. Sabin's Blitz'z, which are triggered by punching in the right combo of buttons, edges Tools and their variety of effects, the Slot Machines, and Even painting and blue magic ablities. All 13 characters have a unique ability, giving you a lot of different things to do in battle.
FF VI also includes one of Nobous greatest tracks of all times. Dancing Mad. Man is that song epic.
1. Chrono Trigger
I'm sure seeing Chrono Trigger at number 1 is no surprise to anyone, but I'll tell you why anyway.
To begin, it's graphics are beautiful This game is top notch when it comes to SNES graphics. The animations were beautiful, and the attacks were lovely.
While being turn based, certain attacks, enemy and ally, would change your position on the screen, and the enemies constantly move, effecting what attacks are more effective, keeping you on your toes.
Probably the greatest addition to battles was the Dual Tech and Tripple Tech, characters combining different techniuqes in order to preform stronger combo attacks. This gives you a large variety of fun new ways to kill your enemies, keeping gameplay varied throught the title.
An amazing story takes you throughout different epochs, from the Prehistoric ages, to the ruined world of the future, where you learn of Lavos, the creature that destroyed the world.
Your party decides to find away to stop Lavos to protect the future, even though it's years past your lifetime. Using the Gates to travel through time, your battle against Lavos begins.
Now, the reason this beat out FF VI. Gameplay wise, as awesome as the varied 13 characters of FF VI were, the Dual Techs simply offered more variety and fun wasy to kill, so gameplay point goes to Trigger. And while Gameplay is most important, I'll go into other reasons too.
Story wise, it's tough to call. The stories are vastly different, as while Trigger has a main villian, Lavos, it doesn't really show much personality. However there a large cast of supporting villians, such as Zeal and Azula. Overall, I'm calling a tie on story.
On the note of music, FF VI may have a few amazing tracks, like Dancing mad, overall it goes to trigger. While no track is as good as dancing mad, there are far more awesome songs on that soundtrack then FF VI.
It was hard to decide, but Chrono Trigger manages to come out number one.
And now for a few games that deserve mentioning, just because.
Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon - I mention this only because it's actually a decent game, and that fact shocked me greatly....
Tenchi Muyo RPG - This is possibly the Shortest RPG I've ever played. I believe it was like, 4-5 hours, but it's been so long I can't remember. It's kind of sad, because the system was actually really good, but it was so short, they really couldn't do much with it. Had it been a 20+ hour game, I"m sure it would have made my list.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest - Despite all the crap this game gets, and deserves, I still enjoyed every moment of it. I truly have no Idea why...
And now games that I feel deserve explaining why they didn't make my list.
Bahamut Lagoon - This was another SRPG that didn't make it to the states. While the system was fun, and using magic to interact with the enviroment, such as freezing and unfreezing lakes, was fun, it just can't compete with the depth and originality of Ogre Battle's system. Kudo's to a great game though.
Robotrek - I feel strange for needing to explain this one. It was a good game, but nothing special, and while a lot enjoyed it, it doesn't exactly have a cult following. While the robo customization was fun, you can only use one robot at a time, and the battles alwasy seemed slow, and even early on gaining levels is a slow process, which really bogs down the game. Still, it is another very fun title to pick up.
Terranigma - Also Soul Blazer 3. Basically, while a great game, the variety of weapons was fun, but inferior to Gaia's 3 different forms. Story holds up to Gaia, though I alwasy had more fun with the variety of Gaia's battles and gameplay. So while fun, Gaia did everything this game did, but better. Don't count it out though, it's still an amazing game.
Secret of Mana - Like Terranigma, Secret of Mana is fun, but other similar games, Evermore and Seiken Densetsu 3, just do everything Mana does, but better.
Dual Orb 2 - Another great Turn based RPG. However, thats really all it is, a classic turn based RPG. As fun as it is, it is no where near as fine tuned as Breath of Fire 2 was, and while it is sad that it's another game that hasn't gotten an official localization, it's still a fun gem to play if you can.
And I think I need a nap now....
