What snes rpg should i play

While a basic game that shows its age, Lagoon was a solid release for its era. As the release of Nintendo's bit console approached, publishers grew less interested in localizing games, particularly a niche genre like JRPGs.

Developed and published by Square, Bahamut Lagoon wears its Final Fantasy influence on its sleeve, especially when it comes to its story.

Narratively, the game is surprisingly complex and engaging, with strong characters who develop well throughout the campaign. The combat system combines turn-based and tactical elements, with the latter largely taking the form of trainable dragons that have to be carefully evolved.

Released towards the end of the SNES's lifespan, the original Star Ocean shares similarities with Tales of Phantasia , although the former has more than enough distinct features to stand on its own. Beyond its refreshing sci-fi theme, Star Ocean boasts a combat system that bridges the gap between action and turn-based battles. With a large roster of recruitable characters, great visuals, and a stellar soundtrack, Star Ocean is a fantastic game that launched a frequently awesome franchise.

Developed by Wolf Team, Tales of Phantasia launched a series that is still going strong today, with Tales of Arise expected to drop in Tales of Phantasia gets a lot of things right: The story is epic, the soundtrack is fantastic, and the visuals are quite gorgeous.

It also does not hold back on additional content like side quests. Unfortunately, this entry can be somewhat difficult to revisit in this day and age due to its brain-dead partner AI, which is a problem when the combat system requires three party members to pull their own weight in battle.

While the plot is nothing to write home about, the gameplay is very solid, mostly because it sticks close to the formula defined by Secret of Mana. Secret of Evermore also introduces Alchemy, a magic system that involves blending ingredients rather than using MP.

A difficult game that loves to periodically throw out an overwhelming boss fight, Secret of Evermore might not reach the same heights as the Mana games, but it comes very close. The game follows Will, a boy tasked by Gaia to visit various ruins to collect ancient dolls. In return, the deity grants Will the power to occasionally transform into Freedan or Shadow, who each come with their own strengths and weaknesses. Developer: HAL Laboratory.

Developer: Sting Entertainment. Developer: Culture Brain. Developer: Asmik Ace Entertainment. Developer: Square Enix, Square. Developer: Westwood Studios.

Developer: Origin Systems. Developer: Max Entertainment. Developer: Sir-Tech. Developer: Banpresto. Final Fantasy VI. Developer: Sqaure. Final Fantasy IV. Seiken Densetsu 3. Developer: Square. Secret of Mana. Breath of Fire II. Developer: Capcom. Illusion of Gaia. Another great part of the game is the world and the many ways to travel through it. The music was good, not great, but the sound effects were subtle enough that the musical presentation is still above average.

Overall, this game is very interesting and it somehow manages to be funnier and more cheerful than other SNES RPGs despite the chaos happening in the story! Final Fantasy V never got an official U. Deal with it. Weird, I know. Anyway, the gameplay is cool in that you can recruit monsters to help your cause, engage in turn-based combat, and use weapons and magic to aid you.

That being said, the other elements of the game are very good. The story sees you through childhood, slavery, questing, and then marriage. Like too many on this list, Dragon Quest V never had a U. Some people swear that this game is absolutely incredible, possibly better than Chrono Trigger , even.

Personally, I find it terribly overrated. We all have our favorites. Earthbound does have a lot of really cool features. Your party members are your friends, and the game invokes the zeitgeist of the late s and s in a way that Stranger Things only wishes it could do.

I will say that the graphics, while not the best, felt right for the story. It was more down to Earth. I did think the color scheme was an assault on my senses.

Still, the game made up for it with a fantastic soundtrack and really interesting game mechanics. If you want a genuine copy of Earthbound prepare your wallet to take a pounding. Just have a look on eBay. The game starts out by making you answer questions for what is essentially your character creation. The best parts of the title are the gameplay, story, and combat. Also, the replay value due to the tarot reading outcomes at the beginning of the game is high, too.

The combat is tactical, so you have to guide your units against others on a battlefield, from battle to battle until you reach and defeat the boss. If this sounds familiar like Fire Emblem , it should. I loved the wide variety of characters that you could recruit to your cause, too. Witches, knights, griffins, and a lot more were available to the player. You could also use the towns to shop and the world screen to organize your party, and then you had the chance to talk to people to gain more information.

Great gameplay, solid music, nice graphics, and high entertainment value — this game was great. Get Ogre Battle on eBay. I hated the idea of this game when I first played it. Then, my brother finally convinced me to play it and I was kinda blown away. The game had some very decent graphics that gave a little more depth than I was expecting. The characters were fun to play and learned some familiar skills as the game went on. The story was nothing special, but the developers gave us a reason to team up with Bowser and fight a common enemy, and that was good enough for me.

Instead, it focused on comedy and just having a good time. Nothing but heavy hitters from here on out. Well, at least in the ways that matter to me. The first thing I noticed when picking this game up for the first time was the combat. Not only does this game make you think on your feet, but you can count on fun boss battles.

The graphics are nice, too , and the game does a lot to create an atmosphere for the players wherever they go. I enjoyed the music a lot, too. The sounds in the game as well as the actual music. The only part where the game falls a little flat is in the story. It definitely builds up, but the story is very focused on the second half of the game. Pick up Secret of Mana on eBay. It did not innovate much but had witty dialogue, decent graphics, and lots more to enjoy.

However, Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals kept the best parts of the original and improved some of the areas that needed work. So, this game is a prequel that lines up with the first game at the very end.

The graphics are probably the biggest change that I noticed between the first and second games. The overworld map, enemies, and skills all looked very good for the time. The story was also very good as your characters try to make sense of the Sinistrals and stop them before they wreck the world.

It was a refreshing mix that cut down on the amount of combat and grinding from the first title. I am still surprised that even knowing how a story ends by going into it can lead to such a great game.

Get Lufia II on eBay. Or try, anyway. Long before the Star Ocean series went off the rails, it started off with a bang. The story in this game is awesome. You start out trying to find a cure for a disease that is turning townspeople to stone.

As the town watchman, Ratix Roddick , you go on a journey to the top of a local mountain trying to find a cure. Then, everything changes. You find out that your planet is some little backwater and your species, humans with tails, basically, are the latest victims in an interstellar war. The game pulls a reverse Star Trek. The story only picks up from there, and let me tell you it rocks.

As such, how you choose to proceed can make the final bosses of each dungeon significantly easier or much more difficult. While the basic gameplay of Secret of Evermore is obviously inspired by the superior Secret of Mana , Evermore mixes things up by restricting combat to just you and your trusty dog. For better or worse, Evermore is also graphically a much darker game than other Square titles of the era. It all mostly works here, but Square was ultimately not interested in pursuing Americanized versions of its games and Evermore is now more of a curiosity than anything else.

You will spend a lot of time managing units, some of which include ninjas, griffins, and witches. It also features one of the denser stories of any bit game. Many of the best plot beats may even remind you more of Game of Thrones than Lord of the Rings. This is actually considered the fifth episode of the Ogre Battle saga, and while several sequels were produced over the years, the first four games that would have presumably featured the rise of Endora were never made.

Of course, the graphics and sound were better with the move to more powerful hardware, but what really set it apart was the distinction of being one of the first RPGs to actually feature a fully fleshed-out plot complete with a complicated love triangle and a sympathetic villain in Golbez.

The Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi games are good, but none have surpassed this classic. It introduced many gamers to faster, varied combat, three-player multiplayer, and an absolutely massive game world. While this game has been ported and remade perhaps more than any other game on this list, none of those versions quite match the first release.

The original version of Secret of Mana still looks and feels timeless. They rarely sold well, but at least did well critically.