Most people I know don’t automatically think of RPGs when they think of their Genesis.  But there is actually a large number of titles available on the console.  Add in the Sega CD, which I outlined earlier, and you’ve got a hefty selection available, spread across a variety of different types of RPGs.  Just take a look at your options.   (This is a rather lengthy post and we had to divide it up to two pages until we can figure out how to get the server to let us post more — see page two here.

Phantasy Star Series

Phantasy Star (NTSC-J / 1994),  Phantasy Star II (NTSC-J, NTSC-U/1989), Phantasy Star III (NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL/1990), Phantasy Star IV (NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL/1993)

The Phantasy Star series has the prestige of being one of the first RPG series to appear on North American consoles, and the first title’s Japanese release for the Master System was a mere two days after Final Fantasy. All four games are JRPGs that take place in the same continuous universe in the Algol Solar System.  All four games are connected, though Phantasy Star III would serve as a large departure from the others.  It is the only one of the four to feature a medieval fantasy setting, while the others are all science fiction types.

The entire series is composed of solid titles, and they’re worth tracking down, though for those of us who can’t read Japanese, it might be better to go for the Master System version of Phantasy Star, since the Megadrive version never made the leap across the ocean.  Finding it for the Megadrive may be even harder since it only saw release as a limited edition with a low print run.

It should also be noted that there was one other Phantasy Star title for the console, available via the Sega Meganet in Japan, Phantasy Star II Text Adventures.  This is a series of 8 text-based adventures, later released in compilation for the Mega-CD.
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Shining Series

Shining in the Darkness (NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL/1991), Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention (NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL/1993), Shining Force II (NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL/1994)

In the Shining Series, the timeline begins with the return of the Dark Dragon, and after his defeat at the hands of the Shining Force, the rise of the Devil Kings.  While all three titles are in the Shining series, Shining in the Darkness is a very different animal from its Shining Force brethren.  First, it’s a dungeon crawler, not a strategy RPG like the two Shining Force.  The art and musical styles are similar, but the series includes a variety of different RPG styles.

Second, it’s out of order.  While the plots are all linked, Shining in the Darkness takes place after Shining Force II, and the events of Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict on the Sega Game Gear takes place between Shining Force and Shining Force II.  For access to both Shining Force Gaiden’s, as well as a third previously unseen chapter, Shining Force CD is available on the Sega CD to round out the collection.
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Dragon Slayer Series

Sorcerian (NTSC-J/1990), Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes (NTSC-J/1994), Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II (NTSC-J/1995), Lord Monarch (NTSC-J/1994)

Ok, so this series is a mess of different RPG sub-genres, originally spreading across the 1980s and then being continuously updated for the next decade.  It also incorporates the first two parts of a second entire series, known as the Legend of Heroes series.  So why is it a group of cross-genre RPGs with no real connection via storyline or style can be considered connected?  Because they all had the same producer, Yoshio Kiya, one of the first Japanese minds behind RPGs.  It is debated that his first game, Dragon Slayer, released 1984, is the first Japanese action RPG.  In 1985, a fledgling startup named Squaresoft would port it to the MSX as one of their first published titles.  Without his initial work, series like The Legend of Zelda might not ever have existed.  And thankfully the Megadrive releases of his work are actually considered pretty good.

First, Sorcerian features an open party which is created from scratch at the start of the game which then grow stronger as they are pitted against various scenarios for gold and glory.  The game changes gameplay styles, though at its heart, it’s a side-scrolling action RPG.  Lord Monarch is radically different, more of a strategy game with heavy RTS elements than an RPG at all.  The purpose of the game is to use your peasants to slaughter every other kingdom.  And yes, I mean EVERY kingdom, as once allied players smash an opposed enemy, they must then work to smash each other, since the game only allows one winner.

The Legend of Heroes games are both similar, though again, different from the other Dragon Slayer games.  They’re both JRPGs with a connecting storyline.  Only the first two in the series kept their association to the original Dragon Slayer series, and the next set of games feature a new plot, known as the Gagharv Trilogy.  Unfortunately neither of the Megadrive versions would make it out of Japan.

Uncharted Waters Series

Uncharted Waters (NTSC-J, NTSC-U/1992), Uncharted Waters: New Horizons (NTSC-J, NTSC-U/1994)

Finally, the piracy RPG you know you’ve always wanted to play…if you like.  That’s the beauty of the Uncharted Waters series, they’re very open-ended high seas adventures with loose plots that allow you to pick and choose generally what you would like to do.  This includes leading trade expeditions, investing in locales, hunting for treasure, hunting for pirates, or engaging in a bit of piracy yourself.

The first game in the series focuses on Leon Franco,  son of a noble family that has fallen into disrepute.  So Leon sets out to restore it by doing tasks for the king, investing into foreign lands in the name of Portugal, or taking out Spanish or Ottoman ships, in hopes that the king will give you titles and raise the status of your family.  The sequel makes it all bigger, with more countries, the same open-ended gameplay, and the ability to choose one of six different characters to follow at the start of the game.  Seriously, if you’ve got a thing for pirates, check this series out.
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Langrisser Series

Warsong (Langrisser) (NTSC-J, NTSC-U/1991), Langrisser 2 (NTSC-J/1994)

The Langrisser series is composed of multiple strategy RPGs on a truly epic scale.  And I mean epic, as in up to thirty controllable units on just your side epic. All the games of the series are connected, though they span many years in the game world.  The games all focus on two swords, the Langrisser and the Alhazard.  The cast of each game is enormous too, and large amounts of story exposition is conducted during combat, so once a fight starts, expect to be there a long time.  On the upside, the music is quite good throughout, so at least you’ll have something pleasant to listen to.

There are two Langrisser titles on the Genesis, though only one made it out of Japan.  The first Langrisser, known in the west as Warsong, is the roughest in terms of design and unfortunately isn’t as graphically attractive as the rest of the series.  In an effort to localize the series, character names were changed and character portraits were “Westernized.”  Which is a real shame, as one of the perks of the series is that the character designs and portraits were absolutely stellar.  Still, at least it saw release outside of Japan, unlike its sequel.  Langrisser 2 was more of the same, but with improved graphics, a larger cast, and multiple branching storylines for added replayability.
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Vixen 357

(NTSC-J / 1992)
In the 25th century, there will be war between humans and aliens.  We will win, thanks to specially built mechs known as Vectors, as we take the fight to the Four Heavenly Emperors and their leader, Zithor Weimer, who pilots Golgyas, a mech equipped with the ultimate weapon, Vixen 357.  Yes, that’s the plot.  As far as gameplay, it’s a strategy RPG with mechs.  Yes, it’s practically Sega’s answer to Front Mission, only it predates Front Mission by nearly three years.  And while it’s nowhere near as pretty(battlefields are actually quite bland), it lets me watch massive robots beat the snot out of each other with a variety of close-range and long-range weaponry.  Just keep in mind that character death is permanent, so losing certain characters will result in a game over.
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Gauntlet IV

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL / 1993)
Not only is this considered a faithful port of its arcade predecessor, it’s considered a better game overall, and for good reason: it stays true to the visuals, audio, and gameplay of the action RPG arcade hit Gauntlet(yeah, don’t ask where the IV came from), but it brings in multiple game modes not found in the arcade to boot.  This includes the arcade, a Quest Mode that includes RPG elements and a fleshed out storyline, a multiplayer free-for-all mode, and a mode that records you as you race through a dungeon.  Plus, it was the first game built for the Genesis multitap, so you know what that means.  That’s right: 4-player multiplayer, baby!
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Pirates! Gold

(NTSC-U / 1993)
This was a remake of 1987’s Sid Meier’s Pirates!, though with improved graphics, more colors, and more features.  It’s an open-ended title, allowing the player to create a new character from a list of options at the beginning and then setting them loose on the Spanish Main to plunder from Florida to South America as they age from a young man to an old man.  Along the way, towns can be sacked, ships can be captured, treasure can be found, quests can be accepted, and armadas can be sunk, all done in varying styles of gameplay.  Seriously, between this and the two Uncharted Waters games, there’s more than enough pirate goodness to keep players happy.
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Shadowrun

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U / 1994)
We need more cyberpunk RPGs.  The Genesis version of Shadowrun follows Joshua, a new Shadowrunner who is out for revenge after his brother’s murder.  To do this, he’s gonna need money and skills as well as a little help, so he’ll have to start doing jobs for the “Mr. Johnsons,” though if he screws up, he’ll likely wake up in the chop shop.  The game world is Seattle, giving the player the freedom to move around it openly, with all kinds of random events occurring on the way.  If Joshua gets a datajack, he can then do some Matrix running for missions or simply to steal computer files for some quick cash.  It’s definitely a game worth checking out.
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Beggar Prince

(Universal / 2006)
Originally a Taiwan-only game known as Xin Qigai Wangzi, it was edited, localized, and updated for a release on all versions of the Genesis/Megadrive by the Super Fighter Team nearly a decade later.  In the game, the Prince of Shatt is a snot-nosed brat who wants to leave his life behind, so he switches places with a beggar with the help of the nefarious Cat Minister.  Once out, he quickly learns that life outside the castle kinda sucks, but isn’t allowed to return to his old life since he is now a beggar.  So now he must go on an epic quest to reclaim his kingdom.  Unfortunately the first two print runs of the games were a bit buggy, though thankfully Super Fighter Team has managed to fix the vast majority of them from the Taiwan original.  It makes for an excellent RPG, and it proves the capability of the Super Fighter Team.  And who knew those Taiwanese RPGs were worth playing?
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Legend of Wukong

(Universal / 2008)
And once again, this is another Taiwan-only RPG by Super Fighter Team, extensively reprogrammed for all versions of the Genesis/Megadrive like its predecessor, Beggar Prince.  And this time, there were no issues with the first print run.  In this title, a young boy named Wukong visits his neighbor, Dr. Tang, scientist and inventor extraodinaire.  Dr. Tang takes a few moments to talk about his latest creation, the first time machine, which Wukong accidentally turns on and is sent back to the days of the Tang Dynasty in China(618-907 AD), with the time machine lost.  With a little help from a friendly monk, Wukong must set off across China and India to find the time machine and return home, battling monsters and making friends along the way.  This is definitely worth checking out.
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Landstalker

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL / 1993)
This is an action RPG that follows Nigel, a young wood elf hunting for the treasure of King Nole, who disappeared one night many years ago after an angry horde of subjects rushed his castle.  Ok, so he wasn’t the most well-liked of kings, but his lost treasure is apparently worth tons, and Nigel’s set his sights on it.  It’s pretty, the plot’s not the typical contrived “teenager-must-save-the-world” drivel we keep seeing over and over again, and the music is top notch stuff.  Unfortunately, perhaps the most unique feature of the game is its biggest downfall: an isometric viewpoint and a lot of jump puzzles.  In some cases, a single messed up jump can mean a lot of backtracking too.  It unfortunately makes some sections of the game a bit more tedious than they should be, though beyond this, the isometric view isn’t a problem at all.
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Surging Aura

(NTSC-J / 1995)
This is a Japanese-heavy JRPG that never made it off its home island.  It’s also extremely pretty, with some very well-designed character sprites and portraits.  Combat’s a bit static, but with some absolutely beautiful effects.  The plot centers on Prince Muu who’s castle is suddenly attacked by monsters.  The royal family and closest aids and advisors run down to the royal treasure(a book trapping an evil sorcerer) to protect it and themselves, but the king and queen die fending off monsters, and then one of the aides turns into said evil sorcerer, Rufeed, who then slaughters everyone, including Muu. With the castle destroyed, a six-armed white rabbit known as the Time Expert appears and sends Muu back in time to stop Rufeed.  It’s a real shame we never got this, as its considered to be one of the best for the console.
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Beyond Oasis

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL / 1994)
Beyond Oasis is another top-down action RPG, featuring all the usual trappings of an RPG(hit points, equipment, experience), but also features realtime combat.  The plot follows a young man named Ali who finds the Gold Armlet.  The spirit of said armlet informs him of the evil Silver Armlet bent on destroying the land Oasis, and to save it Ali must first find the four spirits of the Gold Armlet.  A little odd coming from a glove, but it makes for a fun adventure, and the pretty visuals and music help the journey along.  The controls do present a few problems, as different attacks are executed based on how long the attack button is pressed, and there’s a limited number of enemies expanded via palette swaps, but don’t let that stop you from tracking down this little gem.
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Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

(NTSC-J / 1991)
Also known as Nadia no Fushigi no Umi or Fushigi no Umi no Nadia, depending on who is asked, this is a video game adaptation of the anime of the same name, which in turn was loosely based on the works of Jules Verne.  In the year 1889, a scientist named Jean meets a circus performer from Africa named Nadia.  A criminal organization is after Nadia and her blue pendant, and Jean decides to help her out.  The game is mostly based around using necessary items at necessary times, and combat is nonexistent.  Party members join up and leave as time goes by, and the game is presented as a JRPG.  It’s apparently quite good, starting in Paris and eventually ending in Atlantis.  It shouldn’t be confused with the other Nadia games on Famicom and Turbo CD.
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Yu Yu Hakusho Gaiden

(NTSC-J / 1994)
The Yu Yu Hakusho fighting game for the Megadrive is considered one of the console’s better fighters, but it wasn’t the only quality Yu Yu Hakusho game of the era.  Yu Yu Hakusho Gaiden is a JRPG with some of the best anime-styled sequences on the console.  The story is pulled from the anime, and players are asked to pick from a choice of Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara, or Hiei.  The story is then presented from their perspective, operating in a similar fashion to a text adventure.  Combat is a strange mixture of a fighting game and RPG, allowing the player to move around to avoid enemy attacks and jump forward to beat the snot out of whatever presents itself.  Overall, it’s…a little odd in terms of appearance, but check it out if you’re a fan or just want to try something different.
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Ys III: Wanderers from Ys

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U/ 1992)
This is the bastard child of the Ys series, mainly because it entirely dropped the top-down perspective in favor of a side-scrolling camera.  While it managed to keep some of the Ys feeling, the large dungeons are gone in favor of practically straight lines, and the side-scroller bit takes some getting used to.  Plus, you will have to spend a lot of time leveling, or don’t even bother trying, because it’s likely the first enemy will kill you in two hits, and the bosses are even worse.  The plot follows red-headed Adol as he follows his friend Dogi to his hometown, Redmont.  There, they meet Elena and Chester.  Chester is attempting to become an evil overlord of the world, so Adol’s got to save the day again.  There’s also a system of rings to collect now to provide various effects or power up the player.  Oh, and I really like the music.
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Arcus Odyssey

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U / 1991)
On its release, this title was written off as a Gauntlet clone, and it’s easy to see why someone would come to that conclusion.  It’s an action RPG with four selectable characters with various similarities to the four selectable in Gauntlet.  Story exposition is generally nil, and it features a generic fantasy plot about an evil sorceress who’s attempting to take over the world again after being defeated so many hundreds of years ago.  With it’s 1991 release date, the title’s also not the most attractive game out there, and its music could use some work.  That said, those four characters feature different styles of play(including different means of attacking), there’s a magic system to deepen gameplay, and levels are huge and filled with respawning enemies, so you will have to stay on your toes to make it through the level.  Overall it’s entertaining, but a little bit grueling as well.  While there is multiplayer, it’s crippled by bouts of slow-down.
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Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday

(NTSC-U, PAL / 1991)
So it’s a strategy RPG set in the world of Flash Gordon, from the 1940s science fiction serials shown in movie theaters.  And this game is complex too, to the point the instruction manual’s a book.  Let me just state something now: this game is ugly and the music hurts.  The sound effects are pretty atrocious too.  That said, there’s a lot more to this game than you think.  At the beginning of the game, the player must create a party out of various choices to join the New Earth Organization and fight to protect Earth from the Russian-American Mercantile built up around Mercury.  To do this, you’ll have to fight across various planets or from ship to ship in outer space.  It’s a shame the Genesis version is a watered-down port of this title, missing several selectable races and classes as well as multiple skills.  Still, if you want that far future science fiction strategy RPG, this might well be worth checking out.  Now if only we’d gotten something like a Star Trek RPG…
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Star Trek: The Next Generation – Echoes from the Past

(NTSC-U / 1994)
Score!  Star Trek fans have an interesting little title on their hands here.  The plot sounds like the typical episode, with the Enterprise called to the Neutral Zone to help investigate a report by the Romulans that one of their research ships has gone missing in Federation Space.  Before the game is over, the Enterprise crew will be racing to save their lives and the rest of the universe.  As for how it plays, well…don’t think of this as your typical RPG.  There are no levels, HP, or equipment.  Ah, but there are quests, and lots of open-ended gameplay.  Want to check out a planet?  Send an away team of your choosing!  Romulans attempting to pick a fight?  Choose to escape or to throw full power to your shields.  And yes, the full cast from the show is available.  For Trekkies, there’s also a lot of series-related information to be found.  Still, the game suffers from a lack of variation in the crew, and almost too much emphasis on combat.  If you’re a fan of the series, it’s worth looking into, but non-fans may be turned off by the problems.
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Chiki Chiki Boys

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL / 1992)
It’s a shame this Capcom game has been lost to time, as this is a direct port of a great side-scrolling action RPG.  King Chiki Chiki, ruler of Alurea, is happy to discover his wife has given birth to twins.  Unfortunately just a short while later, his kingdom his crushed by the invading army of the evil clown Riepohtman.  The king takes his family and hides away for several years, allowing his boys to grow old so that they can take back Alurea and take the clown down.  The game allows the player to pick which of the two boys to play, and with both are similar, one’s better with swords while the other enjoys magic.  The game is obscenely cute, with extremely bright visuals as well as sound effects and music to match.
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Wonder Boy in Monster World

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL / 1991)
Similar to Chiki Chiki Boys, this is a side-scrolling action RPG, with little plot beyond “save world from monsters,” little animation, and poor sound effects.  Yet the visual images are wonderful, and the soundtrack does a good job of matching up each locale.  There’s also a handful of items to help you fight, including a shield you actually have to pull out to use, and the game’s apparently quite fun.  It’s also pretty short, so don’t expect a major time sink, which is nice for all of us who have other things we should be doing.
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King Colossus

(NTSC-J / 1992)
And another action RPG, though one that was sadly left in Japan.  King Colossus holds many similarities to the Ys series, including a red-headed hero fighting in the top-down perspective.  And that’s a good thing, by the way.  You play a boy who is supposed to guard a magic sword, but doesn’t do his job particularly well.  The sword gets stolen, and your old master makes you go after it, completing all manner of jobs along the way.  There are a few problems with hit detection, and enemies hurt a lot, but the game’s nice enough to allow you to save just about anywhere.  The dungeon design is a bit simplistic, but puzzles aren’t overly complicated, and the game can make for an enjoyable romp.
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Record of Bahamut War

(NTSC-J / 1991)
Sometimes known as Bahamut Senki or Bahant Senki, this strategy RPG bears little relation to Bahamut Lagoon on the Super Famicom.  Instead, it offers the chance to play one of 8 different leaders as they vie for power against each other.  Choices range from typical fantasy fair, such as Imperial humans, Elves, Giants, Barbarians, Demons, and Undead.  While this title leans much heavier towards the strategy side of its genre, options can be adjusted to change battle styles.  So you can play it as a nearly straight strategy game, or closer to the normal strategy RPG, depending on how you like it.  As for visuals, it’s not the prettiest, but for a 1991 release date, it doesn’t look that bad.  Multiplayer also isn’t very well defined, since the game is turn-based.  You merely pass the controller between players when their turn comes up.
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Rent-A-Hero

(NTSC-J / 1991)
Taro Yamada has recently moved with his family to Corja, Japan, so his father can start work at a new job.  While having a house-warming party, he orders a pizza from Sensational Cafeteria(SECA) and instead is given a suit of combat armor that gives him super strength and the ability to shoot energy blasts.  Unfortunately, he’s also given a bill for said armor, so he hires his services out as a hero for the people of Corja.  If that’s not an original premise, I don’t know what is.  Visually the game’s quite good for it’s year, the music sticks to the theme quite well, and the game understands that humor is what it’s going for.  It’s a shame neither it nor it’s remake for the DC and Xbox, never made it out of Japan.
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Exile

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U / 1991)
Exile is the sequel to XZR on the MSX, and is sometimes known as XZR II.  The game continues the story of Sadler, Syrian assassin living during the time of the crusades, somewhere around 1120 A.D. or so.  It is Sadler’s goal to bring about peace by stamping out rebellions and forcing nations to get along, even if he’s got to kill everybody in his path to do it.  There’s drug use, swearing, religious discussion, and even a notable case of censorship where an entire town was removed because it depicted citizens being crucified.  On an even weirder note, it was removed from the Japanese version, not the American version.  Beyond that, the game’s not terribly difficult.  Traversing the world is done in a style similar to a JRPG, but combat is done in a side-scrolling action RPG style.
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Traysia

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U / 1992)
A young man named Roy has always wanted to see the world, but has been stuck in his hometown of Johanna all his life.  But he gets his chance when his uncle, a traveling merchant, decides to pull-up shop and head somewhere else.  Roy’s girlfriend, Traysia, gives him a pendant so he’ll remember her.  It’s a simple idea for a plot, but with beautiful artwork and music, it’s sure to be a memorable journey.  The game plays like a JRPG, though combat is more like a strategy RPG, taking place on a large battlefield that must be maneuvered by Roy and his allies.
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Light Crusader

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL / 1995)
Here’s a title from Treasure (of Gunstar Heroes and Ikaruga fame) that’s generally forgotten.  That’s too bad, because the game isn’t a terrible action RPG, it’s just not all that groundbreaking and comes off as the most western game they’ve ever released.  Light Crusader goes for the isometric view, incorporates an interesting magic system based around combining elements, and goes heavy on the puzzles, though it does a decent job of keeping them diverse.  While some of its animations are a little strange, it’s an attractive game with decent music.  But it just wasn’t as impressive as the vast majority of Treasure’s games, and it came late in the life of the console as Sega was trying to balance a ton of consoles, and it managed to get forgotten along the way.  The game follows a knight known as Sir David who returns to his home of Green Row to find people disappearing one by one.  He’s sent by the king to find the cause, hidden deep beneath the town.
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Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun

(NTSC-U, PAL / 1992)
Duke Barrik’s entire kingdom is accidentally sucked into some kind of magic vortex along with an invading army of goblins bent on wiping out the humans.  When his people wake up from the trip, they find themselves trapped in a valley under a red sun and surrounded by cliffs.  So Duke Barrik takes his four best men and sends them out to find allies before the goblins can again mount the attack.  That’s where you come in.  First you must pick a party of varying race/jobs and genders, then venture out into the world. The game’s a combination of JRPG(when walking around), tun-based strategy RPG combat a la Traysia, and a dungeon crawler view when inside dungeons.  While the actual world reminds me a lot of Ultima, some of the graphics are reused from the DOS version of Eye of the Beholder, and the view window in dungeons is pitifully small.  Still, the game’s short and not overly complicated, so if you’ve finished the major RPGs on the console, give this one a spin.
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Madou Monogatari

(NTSC-J / 1996)
A bizarre little dungeon crawler that would star the lead of the Puyo Puyo games, Madou Monogatari is more than a little odd in terms of presentation.  While originally part of a series of three games, the Megadrive port is merely the first title, with updated visuals and a slightly altered combat system.  You play as five-year-old Arle Nadja, who must go down into a dungeon and defeat a cockatrice if she wishes to pass her magician test.  There’s no numbers to track stats of any kind, no weapons or armor, and no hit points.  Health is tracked based on the expression on Arle’s face, and experience is tracked by an arrangement of gems on the lower half of the screen.  Combat is also viewed from the side, and fought via spells.  All you do is hold down the ‘A’ button and input a command, and Arle will cast a spell.  Strange, yes, but it’s certainly refreshing.
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Immortal

(NTSC-U, PAL / 1991)
Players take control of an unnamed wizard who must venture into an underground labyrinth to find his master, the wizard Mordamir.  It’s a simple enough starting idea for this groundbreaking action RPG, which first brought the isometric view to the genre, and would influence such later titles as the Diablo series.  Along the way you’ll have to navigate traps, fight goblins and trolls as well as giant spiders, avoid some absolutely nasty critters, and make it to the very bottom.  And if you screw any of it up, you’re treated to an absolutely horrific death sequence, of which there are many.  If you kill something, it gets an equally horrific death sequence.  In fact, extra ways to die and kill were added when the game was ported to the Genesis.  It’s not an easy game at all, but that adds to the fun, and the sparing use of music adds to the mood.
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Cadash

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL / 1992)
This is a port of the arcade side-scrolling action RPG of the same name.  In Cadash, a balrog bent on taking over the world captures a princess to use in a ritual to grant him immortality.  King Dilsarl offers his entire kingdom to any warrior who can go down to Castle Cadash and bring the princess back.  You play as one of those nameless heroes.  Unfortunately, this game didn’t make the jump to Genesis completely intact, as two character classes were dropped, the colors are considerably darker, one boss was removed from the game, and numerous aspects, such as enemy AI, were changed.  While the dark colors add a bit of atmosphere and tension to the title, the music doesn’t really add anything.  There’s also multiplayer for 2 players at the same time, which lowers the difficulty a great deal, so if you’re not so great by yourself, you can always bring a friend.
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King’s Bounty

(NTSC-U, PAL / 1991)
This is a port of the computer game of the same name with some notable changes, and a precursor to the Heroes of Might & Magic series.  It’s a strategy RPG, though the console version notable gave up its turn-based roots, so everything moves in real time.  So if you sit too long in one place, a wandering horde of monsters will find you.  The plot follows a nameless hero(picked from one of four classes) who must find the Scepter of Order before King Maximus dies.  To do this, he must collect map pieces, either by hunting down a particular enemy to slay(which also pays, via the king’s bounty), or finding treasure.  Various armies may be recruited, though the player must earn enough gold to keep paying them and must have enough leadership to control them.  Morale also effects creatures’ fighting capabilities.  It’s not all that pretty of a game, and the music is iffy, but if you’re a fan of Heroes of Might & Magic, this one’s worth a look.
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Continue With Page 2

TechnoClash

(NTSC-U, PAL / 1993)
This title is also sometimes written as Techno Clash.  In a world full of magic, a mysterious portal opens, and forbidden machines start pouring through.  To stop the ensuing war between magic and mechanics, the wizard Ronann, along with apprentice Chaz and mercenary Farrg, must venture through the portal into the machine world to find the “Machine Man,” who apparently lives somewhere near Las Vegas.  This action RPG is similar to Chaos Engine in perspective as well as gameplay, where players must pick a bodyguard and have a limited number of spells similar to ammunition.  After each boss fight, health will be upgraded.  It’s got some pretty graphics, and some difficult gameplay, partly due to the large levels.  The sound effects get their point across, though the canned screams do get old after a while.  If you want an action RPG that’s way more on the action side, look into it.
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The Faery Tale Adventure

(NTSC-U, PAL / 1991)
Three brothers lose their father to a necromancer that has stolen a talisman protecting their town.  The father’s dying wish is for his sons to seek revenge, and they do so gladly.  The Faery Tale Adventure is an interesting game, ported from the Amiga originally.  It keeps many of the traditional concepts of RPGs, but twists them.  Instead of experience, you gain bravery.  A high luck will bring a fairy to resurrect you upon death.  A high kindness stat lets you talk to animals.  To play each brother, all you have to do is let the current brother die and the next takes his place, though all three have different stats and focuses.  The gameworld is huge, claiming to be 300 computer screens both wide and deep.  On the downsides, the music is limited, I find the game pretty ugly, and there’s no save feature, just passwords.  Also, due to its size, you may want to track down the instruction manual, since it offered a mini-walkthrough.
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Rings of Power

(NTSC-U, PAL / 1991)
You must find the twelve Rings of Power to create the Rod of Creation, defeat the evil Void, and bring about the Golden Age.  This game is incredibly open-ended, allowing the player almost immediately to explore the full world, with hundreds of NPCs to interact with, a day/night cycle that affects gameplay, and a combat system entirely reliant on magic spells.  There’s a lot of meat to this game, including various random events and sidequests, though the game itself lacked any kind of quest journal, and while it did feature a map, it didn’t mark locations.  Still, the game came packed with a paper map, so if you can find it, cool.  The game also utilized the isometric view, albeit on a playing field that was cut to look like it was presented on a scroll.  That’s all well and good, but it makes the gameplay feel cramped and claustrophobic to me.  It also doesn’t help that this game is pretty hideous, and the music is pretty bland.
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Battlemaster

(NTSC-U / 1991)
I sometimes see this title written as Battle Master.  This game starts with the player picking a one of 16 leaders spread across four races.  Each leader has different stats and a different party following him, ranging from no followers to four others.  The plot of the game has you attempting to find the pieces of an ancient crown to become the Battle Master, as told in an ancient prophecy.  To do this, you’ll have to traverse the world, wandering from point to point on a big world map and duking it out with the inhabitants of each locale.  It’s typical high fantasy, so expect dwarves, elves and the like.  While it’s not the most attractive game, the music’s actually not bad for its release date, and lading a large squad into battle can be fun.
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Might & Magic: Gates to Another World

(NTSC-U, PAL / 1991)
This Amiga port of the second Might & Magic game can be a little intimidating, what with the instruction manual having over 100 pages.  It’s an unforgiving, brutal, and frankly pretty ugly dungeon crawler by the console’s standards.  But what it does offer is an enormous world, numerous quests, lots of spells and even more weapons and armor to find.  It picks up directly after the first Might & Magic, with your party of six adventurers and two NPCs having to find the Orb of Power and the four Elemental Talons for it to save and restore the world.  Characters must pick up various skills along the way to manage the adventure, while fighting off large hordes of monsters.  And don’t take too long, as characters age and die of natural causes around age 75.  If you like dungeon crawlers, are a fan of the series, or just want a challenging game, this one’s something to try.  Just turn the sound off.  Trust me.
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Maten no Soumetsu

(NTSC-J / 1993)
Sometimes called only Maten, this should not be confused with Maten Densetsu for the Super Famicom, as they’re totally different animals.  This is a typical fantasy-based JRPG in almost every sense, with the only real innovation coming in the form of a day-night cycle.  It keeps all the usual trappings of its subgenre, though there is a day-night cycle built into the game.  The plot follows a nameless boy found in the woods by a warrior named Zafan.  When the boy turns sixteen, Zafan dies, but tells the boy to visit the king and follow the way of the warrior before he expires.  So the boy decides to do just that.  Visually, I wasn’t really impressed with the overworld, but monsters and battlefields are very well drawn.  The music is also somewhat hit-or-miss, with certain tracks coming off very well, and some simply grating on the ears.
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Sorcerer’s Kingdom

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL / 1992)
Known as Sorcer’s Kingdom in Japan, this is a JRPG with strategy RPG combat, with the battlefields taking place wherever the party is currently walking.  Once again, you play a young man sent out by the king to find why more monsters are appearing in the land and threatening the people.  While it’s not a very pretty game, it’s got some great music, and the spell effects aren’t terrible for an early Genesis RPG.  Also, keep in mind that only one party member is allowed a round per turn, versus all of the monsters.  Sure, it isn’t fair, but it makes for a much more challenging game, and considering how powerful certain characters get at the end of the game, you actually kind of need the limitation.
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Blue Almanac

(NTSC-J / 1991)
This is a science fiction JRPG, meant for US release under the name of Star Odyssey but never to see distant shores.  Apparently the plot has you playing a boy named Miyabi who must travel throughout different planets in the Galaxy Union Empire, doing good deeds.  The Blue Almanac in question is apparently a record of his travels.  The game’s got some interesting features, including enemies that level with the player and spoken names for the force effects in the game.  Graphically, the game’s pretty bland, though cities look ok.  Building interiors are pure drivel.  The audio is a mixed bag too, with some music tracks I genuinely like, and some sound effects I can’t stand.  My favorite part of this is probably the intro, where an alien “reads” out loud from the Blue Almanac in what I can only guess to be alien speech.
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Sword of Vermilion

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL / 1989)
This was Yu Suzuki’s first console-only game.  In the game, players control the nameless son of King Erik V, who must save the world of Vermilion from the wizard-king Tsarkon.  It utilized four different game modes, a Town Mode reminiscent of JRPGs, Battle Mode similar to an action RPG, Dungeon Mode like a dungeon crawler, and Boss Mode, a side-scrolling action RPG.  The game is pretty(especially the boss sprites), the music is good, and the game came with a 106-page hint book.  But with a vast array of palette swaps backing a small number of enemy sprites, poor AI, and combat actions that are, frankly, pretty dull, the game just doesn’t live up to the hype it built upon release.  Sega-16’s review had the greatest line to describe the game ever: “Well, It looked good, but it played like a cardboard saxophone.”
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Super Hydlide

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL / 1989)
This is actually a port of Hydlide 3 for the Famicom and MSX.  Fairyland is rocked by a sudden explosion as enemies suddenly invade, and it’s up to the hero, Jim, to save the day.  The game’s also generally panned because of the poor graphics.  It offers tiny sprites, limited animation, and a presentation that likely could have been offered on the Famicom(and was).  The game also incorporates an alignment system for monsters.  Killing good monsters drains your MF stat, with rewards for keeping it high and deadly traps appearing if it reaches zero.  There’s also a weight system, and the player is required to eat and sleep, which is pretty amazing for an action RPG of the era.  There are a lot of people who hate this game, so you might want to give it a try before purchasing.
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Fatal Labyrinth

(NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL / 1991)
Also known as Shi no Mekyu, or Labyrinth of Death and originally released in 1990 via Sega Meganet, this is a roguelike RPG with poor visuals, but decent music.  There is almost no plot, just a man entering a tower with 30 levels(and no save function) to recover a chalice from a dragon.  The game features a food system(you can both starve and die of overeating), poorly chosen sound effects, and little animation for monsters.  Enemies move when you do, and defeating monsters will earn higher titles, resulting in higher health and defense.  And while levels are supposed to be random, there’s a limit, so after a few runs you’ll likely recognize some of the maps.  And then there’s the gold, which serves only one purpose: the more gold you have, the nicer your funeral when you die.  Seriously.
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Tiger Hunter Hero Novel

(China / 1994)
The title of this game is actually Shuihuzhuan, though it is often referred to as Tiger Hunter Hero Novel.  It’s a Taiwan-only strategy RPG, based off the book of the same name, sometimes known in the west as Water Margins or Outlaws of the Marsh.  In this game, 108 heroes band together to defeat the corrupt Song Dynasty, in the 12th century.  Towns and locales can be explored, though the majority of the game is composed of large battles.  This game is also absolutely gorgeous, it’s just a real shame that not much is known about it in the West.  It should not be confused with the beat ‘em up Shui Hu Feng Yu Zhuan, which was apparently never released.
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Heroic Legend of Sealing Gods

(China / 1996)
Once again, this is a Taiwanese strategy RPG, sometimes known as Fengshen Yingjiechuan, with gorgeous artwork and some nice magic animations.  The plot follows a legend from the Shang Dynasty, where Emperor Zhou fell in love with the goddess of Nu Wa.  When he ordered his soldiers to capture her, they informed him of a mortal woman with beauty to rival Nu Wa’s, and captured her instead.  Unfortunately, she had been possessed by a fox spirit, and this has lead to corruption and problems in the ruling household.  To save China, you must rebel against the royal family.  You start as the hero Lin Yuan, and must find the other 8 heroes to help you on your journey.  The game focuses entirely on combat and story exposition, with a little travel on the world map thrown in.  Once again, it’s a shame so little is known about it in the West.
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Ya-Se Chuan Shuo

(China / 1995)
This one’s a Chinese JRPG, again with some quite nice graphics.  The title is also often spelled Yase Zhuanshuo.  It’s based on the Arthurian legends, though they provide more of a framework than an actual plot.  Some kind of evil force has infected King Arthur’s castle, infecting many of the inhabitants and slowly spreading to everyone in the kingdom.  You play a young boy named Dilo, whose father goes missing one day.  It’s up to you to find out what happened to him.  Once again, not to much is known about this title. Expect the usual fair of turn-based combat and top-down exploration.
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Conquering the World 3

(China / 1995)
This is a Chinese JRPG from Hong Kong, available in both traditional and simplified Chinese.  You play as Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei as the three attempt to conquer ancient China, roughly around 200 AD.  That’s right, if you’re a fan of Romance of the Three Kingdoms or Dynasty Warriors, you’ll have an idea as to what’s going on.  Gameplay is similar to Lufia II in terms of combat, with fights only beginning when you run into an enemy.  The game relies heavily on palette swaps for enemies.  Combat itself is apparently reminiscent of Final Fantasy VI, though with some glitches like damage numbers appearing behind sprites, making them unreadable.  The soundtrack is generally pretty good.  There’s a few other bugs, but the game is still highly playable.
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Barver Battle Saga

(China, Russia / Unknown, though likely mid- to late-1990s.)
This game is sometimes subtitled as The Space Fighter or The Space Soldier.  It’s a JRPG with some nice music and graphics, likely because ultimately it’s a port of Breath of Fire 2 that’s been hacked to Hell and back, with sprites and art from other games thrown in.  If you’re really interested in the game, the entire thing can be watched in a 55-part speed run on YouTube.  The Russian version is known as Barver Battle Final Fantasy: Russian Version.
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Honorable Mentions

For one reason or another, these titles just didn’t make the cut to be put into a list of RPGs.  That doesn’t mean that these are bad games whatsoever, just that there’s some kind of discrepancy that led to their being put here.

Pier Solar (Universal / Not Yet Released)
Ok, yes, this one’s definitely a JRPG.  I’m just putting it here because, as of this writing, it has not been released yet.  Frankly, it looks absolutely amazing, with some incredible audio to match.  To improve the music further, the game will release with am audio CD for Sega CD, providing even higher quality tracks.  I don’t know details of the story, and even if I did, I wouldn’t want to reveal them anyway, since it might spoil the surprise.  But take heart and keep watching their website, www.piersolar.com.  And if anybody from the Water Melon team read this, we’re looking forward to your game and keep up the good work.

Crusader of Centy (NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL / 1994)
This is a pretty cute game, reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.  And much like Link to the Past, I consider it an adventure game, not an RPG.  That said, it’s pretty and the music is nice, and it features an interesting system of using animal companions to help the player get on with their quest.  The story involves monsters showing back up in the world after several hundred years of being stuck underground, and they’re rightly a little bit upset about it.  Unfortunately the game’s not too difficult, and it’s pretty short, but if you’re a fan of action RPGs and looking for a fun little romp, this might be a good one to check out.  The game’s also known as Soleil

Spiritual Warfare (NTSC-U / 1994)
This is a direct port of the NES version of the same name, which was ultimately a clone of The Legend of Zelda(and again, an adventure game to me).  And direct port is correct: nothing was updated, so expect NES-quality graphics and sound.  Also, it’s a Wisdom Tree game, so expect having to convert pagans and answer Bible questions.  You play a soldier in the Army of the Lord, sent to acquire all the pieces of the armor of God.  Truth be told, I enjoyed the NES version(there’s a scene where you have to wander through a gang war that I always liked), but not for the Genesis.  This just feels lazy to me.  Also, the game is saved with a password system, so even that feels a bit tedious.

Starflight (NTSC-U, PAL / 1991)
This was a space-based strategy game, originally designed for the computers of its age and ported to the Genesis later.  You must discover the secret of the Crystal Planet, a large object moving through the galaxy that causes stars to flare and destroy entire solar systems.  To do this, you have to recruit a crew of aliens, complete various investigations for the Old Empire, and travel through space doing various kinds of jobs.  Also, you can upgrade your ship, engage in dogfights, explore the universe, and even colonize planets, which you can ride around on in an upgradeable ATV.  As far as space games from the era go, this one’s a real winner, so if you’re looking for something along those lines, find a copy of Starflight.

Syndicate (NTSC-U, PAL / 1994)
This is a real time tactical game, not quite on the scale of an RTS but definitely getting there.  The player is in charge of a corporation interested in completing such jobs as rescuing captured friends and employees, finding scientists and civilian workers to serve it, or conducting assassination missions while killing the agents and destroying the resources of other corporations.  Yep, it’s cyberpunk alright.  To do this, you lead a team of four cyborgs, armed to the teeth and in possession of various mechanical upgrades, through an isometric cityscape.  The graphics had to be toned down a bit from its computer brethren, but the game’s still an enjoyable title, definitely worth looking into.

Presented by Ack

When considering reasons to get a Sega CD, RPGs are often one of the foremost genres in consideration.  And why not, some of the RPGs released on it were absolutely phenomenal and well respected titles that regularly go for decent amounts of money.  Unfortunately, many of them never made the leap to our shores, and in some cases information is extremely limited.  While this list is in rough order of quality, the majority of the RPGs on the console are good, so its difficult to really put them in a specific order.

Lunar: The Silver Star

Releases: NTSC-J, NTSC-U
Release Date: 1992
It’s a JRPG, following a boy and his childhood friend who must save their fantasy-based world.  Combat is standard JRPG fare, and the storyline is very linear.  Yet this title is often championed as one of the greatest RPGs for the console.  Character interaction was the deepest it had ever been in an RPG before.  Party members talked amongst themselves and to other people.  The dialog alone for townspeople was three times longer than the standard RPG.  Released in the middle of 1992, Lunar changed forever what the JRPG could be, and became the best-selling game on the console in Japan(and the second best worldwide).

The game is well-balanced, and serves as an excellent RPG for both beginner and long time fans of the genre.  Unfortunately due to time constraints roughly a third of the material was cut, though it was put back in for the re-release on the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation.  As for the English version, the programmers went on a marathon session and finished the English script in eight weeks, though it was a whopping 4 megs.  Perhaps it caught up to them, considering they threw in lots of humorous jokes and bizarre quotes.  If you only play one JRPG on the console, let it be this one.
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Lunar: Eternal Blue

Releases: NTSC-J, NTSC-U
Release Date: 1994
Not only did a sequel to Lunar: The Silver Star appear, but we got it in the states.  Unfortunately it was released late in the Sega CD’s lifespan, so it’s harder to come by than the original.  While it didn’t sell as well as its predecessor, that doesn’t mean much considering it held the third place slot in terms of worldwide sales(and second place in Japan, right after the original).

The game is again standard JRPG fare, but it expanded upon the first Lunar with a vastly larger storyline, though many people complain that something just seems to be missing.  Oh well, love it or hate it, the game is definitely worth checking out and it will keep you busy for a long while.  The recorded speech in the game alone runs for over an hour and a half.  The game uses twice as much dialogue as its predecessor.
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Record of Lodoss War

Releases: NTSC-J
Release Date: 1994
Record of Lodoss War is one of my favorite anime series ever.  If you’re a fan of western fantasy-based anime with a serious side, check out the original series.  You will not be disappointed.  The game is a tactical RPG that follows the plot of the series, including anime cut-scenes and voice acting pulled directly from the source material to advance the storyline.  It may not be as high quality as the actual anime, but it’s close enough for me.

Unfortunately this game was released in 1994, during the console’s closing days, so it never saw action outside of Japan.  That is a real shame as it is one of the best RPGs on the console, with an incredible soundtrack and quality graphics.  It’s also not an easy game, but it’s manageable for those of us who don’t know the language.  Import this.  Seriously.
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Seima Densetsu 3×3 Eyes

Releases: NTSC-J
Release Date: 1993
This title is sometimes known as 3×3 Eyes or 3×3 Eyes: Legend of the Divine Demon.  It’s based on the manga 3×3 Eyes, and similarly to Record of Lodoss War, it uses cut scenes and voice acting pulled directly from the anime OAVs in the game.  The plot covers an early section of the manga, occurring roughly around volumes 3 to 5.

The game is a turn-based JRPG that unfortunately happens to be very menu-heavy, so keep that in mind, though it follows the plot of the series very closely, enabling fans to keep track of what’s going on.  And again, much like Record of Lodoss War, it’s considered one of the best RPGs available on the console.  It also originally came with a two-sided poster.
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Shining Force CD

Releases: NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL
Release Date: 1994
This is actually a remake and combination of the two Sega GameGear games, Shining Force Gaiden and Shining Force Gaiden II, complete with a third section that connects the two together and rounds out the title.  Because of the upgrade, the games’ graphics and audio capabilities were all bumped up.  The game is a tactical RPG, and both of the two main stories can be played separate of one another.  The game was also released in all regions, so finding a copy in your language is a bit easier.

Unfortunately there is a downside to this title: due to hardware limitations, the game can only be saved in the third chapter if the backup RAM cart is in use.  Without it, the player is unable to save, thus hindering progress in the final section, so if you’re interested in picking this title up, go ahead and find a RAM cart as well.
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Shin Megami Tensei

Releases: NTSC-J (English Translation Patch for Super Famicom Version)
Release Date: 1994
Translation: None(the Super Famicom version does have a translation however)
There’s a group of folks that are reading this that are already drooling based on that title alone.  And as well they should, for the Japan-only Sega CD port of this title had some nifty enhancements over previous releases.  First off, it’s not really a port, but more of a remake.    The graphics have all been improved, and the font size is larger, allowing the use of kanji.  Characters now have close-up portraits when talking to them, and the audio has been remixed.  Plus, cut scenes with voice acting have been included.

For those not in the know, Shin Megami Tensei is part of a very broad series of video games, known as the Megami Tensei(or Megaten) series, and it is huge.  This particular title is a first person RPG set in modern day Japan, where Tokyo basically goes to Hell in a hand basket.  Also, nothing is censored in this version, though beyond a couple guys not wearing pants, that doesn’t mean much.  No version of this game has ever been released in English, though if you’ve never played a version of this title, your best bet is probably the English translation patch for the Super Famicom version.
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Popful Mail

Releases: NTSC-J, NTSC-U
Release Date: 1994
It’s a 2D platformer and an RPG.  Popful Mail follows an elven bounty hunter named Mail, a young pointy-hatted wizard named Tatt, and a purple winged critter named Caw, as they pursue a wizard so evil and powerful that he could only be called…Muttonhead.

Switching between characters can be done on the fly, and each keeps a separate health bar, so if one gets weak, you can pop over to a different character and let them take a crack at things.  There’s no experience system, but upgrades can be purchased with the gold found by killing enemies.

It’s pretty, funny, and very quirky, and better yet, it made it out of Japan.  With voice acting and anime-styled videos no less!  If you’re a fan of titles like Ys or anime like Slayers, this is likely a title you’ll enjoy.  It should be noted, the difficulty was toned up for the US release, so don’t expect it to be a cakewalk.  For a very different take on the same game in terms of gameplay, check out the other versions on the PC98, PC Engine CD, and Super Famicom.
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Shadowrun

Releases: NTSC-J (English Translation)
Release Date: 1996
This was the last Sega CD game released in Japan, in late February of 1996, and though slated for a foreign release, it never made it.  It’s also a very different animal from the SNES and Genesis titles of the same name, and happens to be quite rare due to its limited print run.  It features anime cut-scenes, as well as a top notch soundtrack.

It’s also Japanese-only and extremely text-heavy.  How text-heavy you ask?  Shadowrun’s gameplay and story exposition is often compared directly to Snatcher.  Combat plays like a tactical RPG and is heavily based on dice rolls to judge success and damage of attacks.  That’s right, dice rolls, as in it actually shows dice on the screen and everything.  Of all the console based Shadowrun titles of this era, this is the one to play.  You just need to be fluent in Japanese to get anywhere in it.
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Dark Wizard

Releases: NTSC-J, NTSC-U
Release Date: 1993
Dark Wizard holds the distinction of being the first RPG released in the west on the console.  And yes, before we get anywhere, it does feature anime cutscenes, and visually, they’re considerably more attractive than the rest of the game.  But the actual depth of gameplay in this strategy RPG more than makes up for it.  The plot follows the kingdom of Quentin, the last kingdom in Cheshire that hasn’t collapsed under the forces of the Dark Wizard, and is currently under siege from his forces.  To make matters worse, the king of Quentin has just died.  So the people of Quentin are going to have to find a new successor and fight their way out of their situation.  Fights are long, and the game isn’t easy.  It also suffers from poor load times.  But if you can see through this, you’ll find a game well worth playing.
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Dungeon Explorer

Releases: NTSC-U, PAL
Release Date: 1994
This is an action RPG, similar to titles like Gauntlet, that did manage to make the long journey to the United States, though it unfortunately did not manage a stop-off in Europe.  It is technically a revision of the PC-Engine version released five years before it, and the two share a different plot.  In Dungeon Explorer, a goddess has been imprisoned in a tower and it is rumored to answer a single wish to anyone that can rescue her.  The game allows the player to pick from six classes.  Players can level up their characters by killing monsters and fighting bosses in their quests, and can find and buy new weapons and armor, food, and items to help them on their quests.  The game also utilizes the multi-tap, so four can play at once.
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Dungeon Master 2: Skullkeep

Releases: NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL
Release Date: 1994
The direct sequel to the hit RPG Dungeon Master, Dungeon Master 2 is considered one of the most impressive dungeon crawling RPGs on the console, though a considerable amount of the game doesn’t take place in a dungeon at all.  The plot revolves around the player racing the forces of evil to collect parts of the Zo Link, a device that can open doorways to alternate universes.  To do this, he must pick from a team of warriors to aid in his quest.

The game itself is gorgeous, with well done sounds effects, and the world is fairly open in terms of what you can do.  The interface takes a little getting used to, but once it’s understood, the game flows fairly smoothly.  As for leveling, if you’ve ever played an Elder Scrolls game, it’s the same idea: you must level skills to level your characters.  Of course, said skills are generally raised in combat, so have your characters do what they normally would do anyway, and leveling should be a breeze.
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Genei Toshi: Illusion City

Releases: NTSC-J
Release Date: 1993
Originally planned for a US release under the title Phantom City, this game was unfortunately never brought over.  Which is a shame, because another cyberpunk RPG is always welcome in my book.  In the year 200X(the same year the Mega Man games take place, mind you), Hong Kong is razed to the ground, and no one is able to discover why.  A corporation named SIVA International Information Group moves in, falsifies information, and takes over the area as reconstruction begins.  Twenty years later, Hong Kong is the most modern city in the world, and SIVA rules over it entirely.  The city is divided based on social class, and the poorer areas are still being ravaged by whatever destroyed the city.

You play, you guessed it, a couple of guys from the poor part of town who have to figure out what’s going on.  The game isn’t translation-friendly, and is very menu intensive, but allows heavier immersion than most JRPGs.  The graphics give it a gritty look that is built upon by the music.  If you’re confident in your kanji, check it out.
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Faeria

Releases: NTSC-J
Release Date: 1992
There’s a bit of a discrepancy with this title’s name, so if you’ve ever heard of Fhey Area, it’s the same game.  The title is a solid JRPG that never made it out of Japan, featuring a quality soundtrack, and while the gameplay isn’t innovative, it does offer a nifty use of character portraits during combat.

In Faeria, you play Raphael, a young man descended from a legendary warrior known as the Spirit Rider.  When asked to visit the queen, she mysteriously vanishes, and you must discover what has happened to her.  It features the standard anime cut scenes, and it’s not too hard to make it through the game with a limited understanding of the language.
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Alshark

Releases: NTSC-J
Release Date: 1993
Once again, this is a Japan-only RPG, but Alshark also has the distinction of being the longest, coming in at over 60 hours, and that’s if you can speak the language.  Graphically, the game is not up to par with other titles on the same console, but the overall length, well-done audio work, and multiple animated cut scenes make up for it.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t make up for the slowdown which occurs when too many sprites are on the screen.

The game features customizable characters, a large and diverse cast, and even a customizable spaceship, which will help getting across the 7 galaxies that this game spans.  The game also incorporates some shooter elements.  The title isn’t friendly to new players and boasts a high enemy encounter rate, but it did reach a cult level of appeal, so if you understand Japanese, give it a shot.
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Arcus 1-2-3

Releases: NTSC-J
Release Date: 1993
If you have ever played Arcus Odyssey for the SNES or Genesis, you have an idea of what this is about.  Just an idea, however, as this Japan-only release featured the entire trilogy of games, and the gameplay is radically different.  In fact, the general plot has changed, and the action elements have been thrown entirely out the window.

The game series is composed of dungeon-crawls and turn-based combat, with levels so large it may require the player to make their own maps.  It feature anime cut scenes and a wonderful soundtrack.  Plus, it features a continuous storyline, as one of the younger party members in the first title is the lead hero in the second and third.  Each title lasts about 20 to 40 hours, and they get progressively more challenging as time goes by.  But the story ties itself together in the end completely, making this a very satisfying series to see all the way through.
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Might & Magic III: Isles of Terra

Releases: NTSC-J  (PC Version was in English)
Release Date: 1993
In a very bizarre twist of fate, an English-language game for the PC is ported to a Japanese console, and then not ported to the English-language version of said console.  That is exactly what happened with Might & Magic III.  It’s another turn based first person dungeon crawler, and a good one at that.  The gameplay is deep and open-ended, and the main quest is non-linear, so the game can change every time you play.

The game uses text to tell information, and menus can be tough to navigate with little to no understanding of Japanese.  Truthfully, if you’re really interested in playing this game it probably would be easier to track down the PC version.
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Eye of the Beholder

Releases: NTSC-J, NTSC-U, PAL
Release Date: 1994
Ok, technically the title to this game is Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder, and it is also a dungeon crawler RPG.  That said, it’s a very well designed dungeon crawler that keeps to its roots.  The plot features a party of adventurers hired to find out what’s going on in the sewers of a town called Waterdeep.  Once they get there, a beholder traps them in and forces them to fight through Dwarf and Drow cities to its lair.

If you know what a beholder is in Dungeons & Dragons, you have good reason to be alarmed.  If you don’t…let me put it this way.  If you’re not a high level and you see a beholder, you run.  You run very fast.  They’re nasty.  They make manticores look like kobolds, and I HATE manticores.  Graphically, the game’s not the most impressive, though the art holds true to the game, much as the game’s system does.  Also, in an incredibly smart move, the game is compatible with the Mega Mouse, and movement with the D-pad can be enabled in the options menu.  The audio in the game is also high quality.  Unfortunately neither of the sequels would make the leap to the console.
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Aisle Lord

Releases: NTSC-J
Release Date: 1992
Aisle Lord was a Japan-only release by the now long-defunct Wolf Team(who went on to split, part of the team working for Namco on Tales of Phantasia, while the rest formed tri-Ace and created the Star Ocean series).  The title is a dungeon-crawler RPG, and while not particularly innovative in terms of gameplay, it did help start the trend for anime cut scenes in RPGs.

It did suffer from a few framerate problems, but a long quest is included, with some sidequests for kicks, and the game is apparently a solid title for fans of this kind of RPG.
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Death Bringer

Releases: NTSC-J
Release Date: 1992
This is another dungeon crawler, using the same engine as Aisle Lord, and once again, it’s Japan-only.  Originally this was a PC game that was ported to the PC-Engine, and then to the Sega CD.  The cut scenes are still there, backed by nice voice acting, though the actual music leaves something to be desired.  Unfortunately, not much seems to be known about the plot of this title in the west, though general impressions tend to say it’s somewhat bland.

If you can read Japanese and you like dungeon crawlers, look into it, but don’t expect anything particularly groundbreaking.  And it should be noted, this title has nothing to do with the Amiga game of the same name.
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Arslan Senki

Releases: NTSC-J
Release Date: 1993
Based entirely on an manga which was based on the book The Heroic Legend of Arslan(which has also been turned into an anime), this game saw a release in Japan in 1993 as a turn-based strategy RPG.  The plot follows an outcast prince who is trying to retake his kingdom, and the game focuses on large-scale battles.

Unfortunately beyond plot, the game doesn’t really offer much.  No items, no levels, and no special attacks of any kind.  While characters do have stats, fights will sometimes come down to luck more than skill.  And to top it all off, the main character is uncontrollable and wants to be his own man, so the most the player can do is give him a general idea of what to do and let him go off and do his own thing, which really sucks considering if he gets dropped it’s game over.  Still, it’s gorgeous, and it does feature some interesting scenarios, and it stays true to the designs from the manga, so if you’re a fan, check it out.
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Burai

Releases: NTSC-J
Release Date: 1992
Here’s an RPG directly from Sega, once again Japan-only, and once again featuring anime-style cut scenes with voice overs.  But this one is an updated version of the same title, released for the MSX(and later, the SNES).  Fights are classic turn-based affairs, though with a perspective change: instead of being first-person view, as the MSX and SNES versions are, the Sega CD version went for an over-the-shoulder approach.

The game also begins like a saga, with eight selectable characters with unique talents that culminate in the formation of the main party.  In terms of plot…well, you’ve played it before.  Dark god does evil, light god seals him away, evil demon tries to release him, eight warriors appear to stop him.  And yes, there is a prophecy.
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Heimdall

Releases: NTSC-J, NTSC-U
Release Date: 1994
A western RPG, Heimdall loosely follows Norse mythology and the story of Ragnarok.  At the beginning of the end, Loki steals the weapons of Odin, Freyr, and Thor, and drops on the earth below.  To get them back, the good gods send Heimdall down to Earth to recover them.  The story begins with a series of minigames to determine which party members are available, and once they’re finished, players will travel around  three lands of islands to find the weapons: Midgar, Utgard, and Asgard.

The game’s very cartoony, which is good considering the material concerns the impending end of the world.  Combat is done in a first person perspective, while normally walking around is in an isometric perspective.  The biggest gripe seems to be a lack of inventory space, though you can stick items on unused party members(while you can have a max of six, only three can be used on any of the islands).  The sequel, Heimdall 2, never made the jump to the Sega CD.
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Vay

Releases: NTSC-J, NTSC-U
Release Date: 1993
This is a typical JRPG, more renowned for its bizarrely scaling difficulty than anything else.  In some cases, stronger variants of creatures will yield less experience and gold, and boss fights can be ridiculously hard when compared to their dungeons.  The game’s also light on puzzles, and the voice acting is pretty hammy.

The game starts with the main character’s wedding, only for it to be broken up by an attack by giant robots, who kidnap the wife-to-be and murder his parents, the king and queen.  It’s got fantasy, magic, and mecha all wrapped into one.  And since it was released in the United States, it can be found in English, though no such luck to the PAL regions.  Also, if you’re lucky, you might be able to find a copy complete with the poster-sized map that was packaged with it.  This game was also recently ported to the iPhone.
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Daihoushinden

Releases: NTSC-J
Release Date: 1994
Truthfully, there just isn’t that much known about this game in the west.  The plot apparently involves an army invading and the hero having to deal with the problems that arise.

The game is very text heavy, so even with some kind of translation guide, playing the game is a daunting task.  The combat is also very tough, so only the most hardcore will likely continue playing.  Still, it features quality music and the game features, you guessed it, animated cut scenes.  The game itself isn’t too shabby to look at either.  It plays as a standard turn-based JRPG.
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Magical Girl: Silky Lip

Releases: NTSC-J
Release Date: 1992
Some folks claim this title would serve as a pseudo-predecessor of the Sakura Taisen series.  While I don’t really know about that, it is true this is a quirky JRPG.  You play as a magical girl named Lip who is being forced to spend a year living in the human world so she can be properly judged for the position of queen of the demon world.

The game progresses as if it were a television show, with ending credits of an episode preceding an intro for the next.  While there are a few typical JRPG battles, many “fights” consist of conversations, where verbal choices will effect stats and outcomes.  Due to its text-heavy nature and focus on magical girls, it’s not really a title for those just dabbling in Japanese RPGs.
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Cosmic Fantasy Stories

Releases: NTSC-J
Release Date: 1992
First and foremost, this isn’t one RPG, it’s a 2-pack, featuring Cosmic Fantasy 1 and Cosmic Fantasy 2.  Cool, right?  Well, not entirely.  First, Cosmic Fantasy 1 is obviously older, with a very limited color palette.  Thankfully, Cosmic Fantasy 2 was built with the Turbo Duo in mind, so it’s prettier.  Audio quality isn’t what it’s cracked up to be either.  And yes, it does include the anime-esque cut scenes and voice overs, which at this point is practically required.

The games are also easy to play for a western audience, as they don’t really require much Japanese and all the player really has to do is move to the next town and do a simple task.  Also, the random encounter rate is absolutely abysmal.  Still, two easily manageable RPGs for the price of one that don’t require much knowledge of the language is pretty hard to turn down, especially if you’re just starting to get into translation guides.
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After Armageddon Gaiden

Releases: NTSC-J
Release Date: 1994
This game was a Japan-only release, though Working Designs was originally planning on releasing it in other regions.  Unfortunately the impending release of the Sega Saturn killed this before it really got a chance, and the western world would never see it.  After Armageddon Gaiden is a side story to Last Armageddon, released only in Japan for the Famicom, PC and PC-Engine, where demons fought robots for control of Earth several centuries after humans go extinct.  Yes, you read that right, demons fight robots.  For control of Earth.  Best. Plot. Ever.

Once again, this game has the player controlling a party of ever-evolving demons, and it plays as a traditional JRPG of the 16-bit era.  The soundtrack on this game is supposed to be pretty good.
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Funky Horror Band

Releases: NTSC-J
Release Date: 1991
This title is also known as Woodstock: Funky Horror Band or Wakusei Woodstock: Funky Horror Band.  The plot involves a boy seeing something crash from the sky at night, so he investigates and discovers some kind of alien electronic funk band.  This game has a reputation for being pretty bad, and it’s hideous in terms of graphics.  Combat is also dull and extremely static.

The one upside is that talking to important individuals will bring up nicely drawn portraits of them, and while their words are presented in text, they also feature voice acting, albeit not at the best quality.  That’s also the high point of the audio, as the sound effects are bland and the music is absolutely awful.

The game also seems pretty language-intensive, so it might be best to just avoid this JRPG.  And yes, it does feature anime-styled sequences. Still, it should be noted that this was also the earliest RPG on the console, so some of the problem may lie there.
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Honorable Mentions

Here’s a section including a few more titles that might interest RPG fans of the console, just in case you might want something similar but not quite the same thing as what was mentioned above.  It should also be noted, these aren’t in any order.

Pier Solar
This is an entirely original RPG that as of this writing hasn’t been released yet.  It’s also unofficial, and not really a Sega CD title, instead utilizing the Sega CD for better audio capabilities.  The actual game will be in cartridge format and will be available to all regions.  Check out the team’s website for more information.

Lords of Thunder
This is a hori shooter with RPG elements.  Also known by such titles as A-rank Thunder and Winds of Thunder, it was originally released on the TurboGrafx-CD, then ported to Sega CD.  While the PAL regions would see neither version, both PAL and NTSC-U now have access to it via the Wii’s Virtual Console.  The player plays as god-knight Landis, who must fight the evil god Zaggart’s army.  To do this, he must choose which of his four magical armors he will wear, and collect money so he can purchase upgrades at the local shop.

Strategy Games:
There are quite a few, and while some venture closer to RPG territory like Mega Schwarzschild, some like Genghis Khan 2: Clan of the Grey Wolf never quite make that distinction.  Still, they’re there if any strategy fan really wants to take a look.

Special thanks to Modemul.net,  Sega-16, HG101, and MegaDriver.org for the screenshots

Note from racketboy: Thanks again to Ack, for all of his hard work on this comprehensive guide to the best RPGs the SNES has to offer.

Were you one of the next generation of gamers that didn’t think RPGs were cool until Final Fantasy VII?  Own a Super Famicom, but have no clue what to play for it?  Wondering what the role-playing classics of Nintendo’s entry in the 16-bit generation were?  Well look no further.  Here at Racketboy.com we’ve got a list of suggestions that you just gotta try.  So sit back, chill with a nice frosty potion, and prepare yourself to experience the world of SNES RPGs.

Final Fantasy Series

The Super Famicom would see three releases from the main Final Fantasy series for the console, each one taking Square’s popularity even further.  While Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI would get stateside releases(as FF2 and FF3, respectively), Final Fantasy V would stay obscure to American audiences for years afterwards.  Europe would be forced to wait even longer, not seeing the titles until their PlayStation re-release several years later.

While each Final Fantasy features different characters in different worlds, all three brought new ideas to the series.  While preceding titles for the NES had full casts, the characters that would populate the Super Famicom titles would prove to be some of the most memorable of the series, with many fans ranking them among the best titles of the series.  The SNES’s audio capabilities were brought to the test by Nobuo Uematsu, with VI bringing some of the most loved songs from the series to the table.  The sprites and backgrounds would evolve slowly over time, and all would utilize Mode 7 technology for some extra visual flair.

But perhaps most endearing were the characters, designed from the concept art of Yoshitaka Amano.  Amano’s art would pervade all three games, though his creature designs and character portraits are most obvious in VI.  The series would also broach potentially controversial topics, such as child abuse, prejudice, the deaths of loved ones, and a coming apocalypse, while also discussing love, duty, honor, and other themes commonly explored in the genre.

It should also be noted that the Final Fantasy Series had another game released for the SNES, entitled Final Fantasy Mystic Quest in the USA, Final Fantasy USA Mystic Quest in Japan, and Mystic Quest Legend in Europe.  This game did not feature the stunning artwork or music the main series was known for, the battle and equipment systems were cut down immensely, and a small party size of up to 2 characters was implemented.  The game is generally easy, excepting the first battle, which is arguably the hardest in the game.  The title is more of an attempt to bring new RPG players who have little to no experience with the genre into the fold.  Most RPG veterans avoided it.
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Chrono Trigger

Chrono Trigger was considered quite revolutionary for an RPG, featuring a multitude of side quests, multiple endings, a unique battle system that combined aspects of the turn-based Japanese RPG with the action RPG flavor of titles like Secret of Mana that allows part members to combine attacks for greater effect, as well as a beautiful score and excellent characters designed by Akira Toriyama.

The game follows Crono as he and his friends attempt to stop the apocalypse, brought on by an extraterrestrial creature named Lavos.  To do this, he and his friends must wander through time, collecting weapons and items while becoming more powerful in anticipation of the final battle.  The story’s a bit more complex than this, but I don’t want to give anything away if you haven’t played it.  Chrono Trigger is quite epic, and also has lots of replayability as the party stays powerful between each game, allowing players who’ve beaten the title several times easier access to the various endings.

While it has been criticized at times for its short length and generally low difficulty, Chrono Trigger is often considered one of the best games ever made.  If you are new to the world of RPGs, it’s definitely worth a look.
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Dragon Quest/ Dragon Warrior Series

While the Famicom versions of Dragon Quest would make it to the states in the form of Dragon Warrior 1-4, the Super Famicom versions wouldn’t see an official release either stateside or in the PAL regions.  The series forms two trilogies, comprised of Dragon Quest 1 -3 and Dragon Quest 4 -6.  The game is well known for its art, done by Akira Toriyama, whose influence would grow more obvious in the series as graphics in the titles improved.  The series is also remembered for plots that are out of the ordinary.  For instance, Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride follows the Hero through twenty years of his life as he finds a wife and starts a family.

The Dragon Quest games always focus on a character called the Hero, who must complete some kind of quest, ranging from fighting a Demon Lord to slaying dragons to getting married.  The earliest title only allowed the Hero in the party, though later games would include multiple party members, the ability to recruit monsters after random encounters, and even a job system that.  While not as expansive as what would come in the Final Fantasy titles, still held some interesting occupations.

While Dragon Quest V and VI were made for the Super Famicom, eventually the early Dragon Quest titles would find their way on as remakes, with improved graphics and sound as well as minor changes and tweaks to improve gameplay.  The Game Boy Color remakes also featured specialized borders if played on a Super Game Boy.  Obscure only that in the middle games never saw releases outside of Japan, the Dragon Quest series is one definitely worth looking up, and fan translations of ROMs can be found on the web.
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Mother 2/ Earthbound

A SNES RPG that showed us the modern-day setting could work perfectly in an RPG, Earthbound could only be described as strange, quirky, and very fun.  From its off-beat music to its hilarious references to American culture and the RPG genre, this is definitely a title not to be missed.  Earthbound serves as the sequel to the Japanese only game Mother, released for the Famicom in 1989.  It follows a boy named Ness, who discovers a meteor has crashed near his home.  There he encounters the alien Buzz Buzz, who informs him that he is from the future where an alien named Giygas has taken over the world.

From there Ness and his friends must venture from town to town, solving problems as they go.  And character names like Twoson, Threed, Fourside, and Magicant, are just an early indication of the bizarre experiences that are in store.  No random encounters occur, instead enemies are present on screen and attempt to rush the party.  If Ness and his pals are high enough in level, enemies will attempt to get away from them, and the party will automatically win battles. Also, hit points roll downwards, like an odometer, and a character does not go unconscious until his hit points reach 0, so a character whose hit points are rolling down can be healed, saving them.  Money is also earned by withdrawing it from ATMs, after Ness’ father puts money in for him.

Originally meant to fit on an 8 megabit cartridge, Earthbound would eventually become large enough it required a 24 megabit cartridge, likely due to the large amounts of music in the game.  In all, Earthbound would require five years in development, being shared by both Ape, Inc. and HAL Laboratory, Inc.  When it did release in Japan, gamers had option of purchasing it boxed with the strategy guide and such promotional items as scratch and sniff stickers!  In America, though praised by reviewers, sales didn’t do so well, as RPGs were often overlooked at the time.  Still, what more could be said about a game that features the “New Age Retro Hippie” as an enemy?
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Breath of Fire Series

The SNES would see the start of Capcom’s ongoing RPG series, Breath of Fire, where the player always follows the adventures of a blue haired hero named Ryu.  In every game except the fifth, Ryu has some sort of dragon-based heritage which allows him to learn to shape-shift into dragons to fight.  While the games all seem to fall into the same continuity(except V, which Capcom says is a different universe entirely), the Ryu of each story is never the same character.  Capcom has never defined the order the games come in(though IV-I-II-III seems the most plausible).

The Breath of Fire series features other constants as well.  Every game features a large cast of anthropomorphic characters.  There is always a female counterpart to Ryu named Nina, and in the first four titles she is always a blond woman with wings.  Ryu also has a love of fishing in every game, which serves as inspiration for a very common mini-game in the series.

Only Breath of Fire and Breath of Fire II were released on the Super Famicom, both seeing a release soon after in North America, though only II seeing release in Europe initially.  Both games were criticized on their release for being too difficult.  However once the player has advanced far enough in the game, the difficulty is countered by the size of the character roster.  The Breath of Fire series features the ability to switch out characters in the middle of a fight, so if one goes down, another can step in to take his place. The games also show health bars of enemy creatures, though this feature doesn’t work out for bosses, who often have more health than the bar registers.

While not the greatest RPGs on the console, the two Breath of Fire games are still solid titles, and definitely shouldn’t disappoint.
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Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

This title would serve as the end of a relationship.  First, it was the final Mario game to be released on the Super Famicom.  Two, released in 1996, it would be one of the final games to receive a major commercial release on the console in general.  And three, it would serve as one of the final collaborations that Nintendo and Square would have to for more than five years.  But despite all these endings, Super Mario RPG was worth it.  This game was incredible, featuring some of the best music on the console, 3D graphics absolutely phenomenal for the console, and an entertaining battle system that combines the play styles of a Squaresoft RPG with a Mario platformer.

Of course to handle this, the hardware had to be upgraded.  Super Mario RPG is one of three titles to be released outside of Japan with Nintendo’s SA-1 chip, improving clock speed and RAM while also employing copy-protection, thus ensuring the European crowd(who never saw an official release) would have to wait even longer for the ROM.  In the meantime, 210 sound effects were put in the game, along with music by Yoko Shimomura, who would incorporate the work of Koji Kondo and Nobuo Uematsu to round out the sound.  The game would combine many elements of both platformers and RPGs, fusing the two genres quite seamlessly even in the battle system, where well time commands could increase attack power and length.  For instance, one of Mario’s most basic powers was to stomp on his enemies, but press a button at the right time, and he does it again.  And again, if the press is times right.  And again and again, and so on, dealing massive amounts of damage.

The game does feature many characters originally created for the game, though due to Square owning rights on many of them they are unable to appear in other games.  But the game is an excellent choice for fans of Nintendo or Squaresoft, and even Bowser is a playable character.  This title comes highly recommended.
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Tales of Phantasia

While the first title in the Tales series of RPGs, Tales of Phantasia wouldn’t see a release outside of Japan until 2006 (on the Gameboy Advance), which is a shame considering the quality of the game.  This title would be the first 46 Megabit game to be released on the Super Famicom, as well as the first game to feature streamed audio voices, thanks to the power of the “Flexible Voice Driver.”  This includes full vocals for the song “Yume Wa Owaranai.”

The plot follows two young men, Cless Alvein and Chester Burklight, who are out hunting when their village is destroyed.  When they return, they find their families killed, and Cress vows revenge.  Along the way, they make new friends and allies, adding to the party in skill, power, and capability.  It sounds stereotypical, yes, but the battle system goes above and beyond.  It’s an early build of the Tales combat system, known as the Linear Motion Battle System.  Combat is on a 2D plane, similar to a fighting game, where characters can run around attacking one another.  The player generally controls one character, while the computer handles the rest.  In Tales of Phantasia, the system is not as refined as it would be in later games, so the player never has total control over their character.  But they can make general selections about the AI of other characters, improving the party’s survivability.

On a side note, this title would lead to the creation of Tri-Ace, known for the Star Ocean line of RPGs.  The original creators, Wolf Team, were looking for outside publishers and financiers for their title.  Namco made the winning bid(though Enix tried), and brought them into their company, then cut half the staff and began making massive changes to the game.  Incensed by this behavior, several team members protested the changes.  The controversy created delays, forcing Namco to slow Tales of Phantasia’s development by a year.  After its release in 1995, many Wolf Team members would leave to form Tri-Ace, leaving the others to stay at Namco.  Meanwhile, Nintendo was originally planning on publishing the title, but as they shifted gears to start working towards the Nintendo 64, they dropped Tales of Phantasia. Though the game was released, it created a schism with Namco, leading them to work almost exclusively with Sony, since Sega was a major rival of Namco’s.
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Terranigma

One of the console’s greatest and most overlooked Action RPGs, Terranigma was released only in Japan, Europe, and Australia.  So while PAL owners got to experience the joys of this title, most Americans went on with their lives, never knowing the greatness that lay across the oceans.  Terranigma tells the story of the resurrection of the world, progressing from millions of years ago to the near future.  The main character, named Ark, is a bit of a trouble maker, who just so happens to open a box that causes the inhabitants of his village the freeze.  The village elder, the only person besides Ark not to be frozen, then tells him he has to fix things, and sends him on his way to bring life back to the Underworld, and then the Overworld.

The plot is heavy on ideas about good vs. evil, the creation of life, the progression of life, death, and reincarnation.  While not necessarily one of the greatest games in terms of graphics or music, the changes to the world that take place as Ark progresses with his mission, watching life grow into abundance, is an extremely beautiful change, and the music does a superb job of backing up the imagery.  Mode 7 graphics are utilized for the game world when moving between towns and dungeons, and appears to wrap around in a way that represents the curvature of the Earth.

As an Action RPG, the title also features an unusual combat system, where attacks differ depending on whether the character is running, standing still, or jumping.  There is also the option to block, though this does little more than stopping small projectiles.  The game also uses a magic system involving “magic rings,” which are made from Magirocks found in the game that the player takes to magic shops and has turned into rings.  Once a ring is used, it’s destroyed, though the player will get the items used to make it back in their inventory to make more rings.

Terranigma was released in Japan along with a book by Kamui Fujiwara about the plot of the game that reads similarly to a “Choose Your Own Adventure.”  A two-part manga series, novel, and game atlas were also released.  For the German release, Club Nintendo put out a small comic book.
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Star Ocean

Remember that mention of Tri-Ace’s creation earlier?  Well this is where it pays off.  Star Ocean is their first game release, published by Enix for the Super Famicom in 1996, as well as the first title in the Star Ocean series.  While a North American release was initially in the works, it was canceled when Enix closed their America division.  A shame, too.  Star Ocean would be one of the most intensive games on the Super Famicom, coming in at a whopping 48 megabits.  The cartridge utilized the “Flexible Voice Driver” and featured even more voice work than Tales of Phantasia, though due to size limits the quality was lessened.  The game also featured surround sound.  Finally, the title was one of only two Super Famicom games to use the S-DD1 chip to help with graphics compression, the other being Street Fighter Alpha 2.

But on to the good stuff.  The title follows Ratix, a young Fellpool from the planet Roak.  Rumors start spreading of a mysterious petrification disease, so one of his closest friend’s father goes to investigate, subsequently becoming infected himself.  Ratix undertakes a quest to find a special plant that is said to cure any disease, but just as he reaches it a sudden light explodes, and two humans appear from space.  That’s right, Star Ocean is a science fiction RPG, with many similarities to Star Trek.  It also features standard random encounters, but the battle system is real time, where the player controls a character as the rest of the party is controlled by computer AI, much like Tales of Phantasia.  After all, the original creators had just left Namco to found Tri-Ace, so the many similarities are quite striking.

The series also features the ability to gain up to 8 characters in the party, two of which are secret characters.  The title also serves as the first game to utilize the Private Action, where each character enters a town separately and does their own thing.  The player can use this to affect plot progression and character development, though its effects would end up far more important in later games in the series.  It was also the first to feature the Star Ocean system of item creation, which players could use to make powerful equipment, expensive objects to sell, and even cook food to get around the 20-limit cap on individual items.  This would be one of the final hurrahs of the Super Famicon before the Nintendo 64’s release, hitting store shelves on July 19, 1996.
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Seiken Densetsu (Mana) Series

The Seiken Densetsu series, often referred to as the Mana series, is a bit of an odd bird.  Originally intended as a sideline of games to the Final Fantasy line, the first Seiken Densetsu is also known as Final Fantasy Legend.  The next two in the series, Seiken Densetsu 2 and 3, would release on the Super Famicom in a much different style.  While 3 never made it out of Japan, Seiken Densetsu 2, better known in the USA and Europe as Secret of Mana, would reach wide acclaim, and is often considered one of the best games ever made.  Though originally designed for the Super Famicom CD add-on(ie. the PlayStation) as a launch title, the project was quickly turned into a cartridge upon Nintendo’s dropping the peripheral.  The game was translated in less than a month, causing much of the text to be cut, so conversations are bare-bones at most.  Seiken Densetus 3, meanwhile, was supposedly so large that translating it proved impossible on the SNES catridge, as well as plagued by some software bugs, and the game was never brought over.

Both games were definitely Action RPGs, with the player controlling one character while the CPU controlled two others in a pseudo-Zelda style combat system.  While both titles feature multiplayer, Seiken Densetsu 3 only supported two players.  Secret of Mana could support up to three via the use of a Multi Tap.  Both games also feature the Ring Menu system, where items, spells, equipment, and even various options settings can be changed on the fly.  Mode 7 would also be used occasionally in the titles, and Seiken Densetsu 3 featured surround sound.

Seiken Densetsu 3 also had players pick their characters at the beginning, heavily affecting gameplay and some plot elements.  It would feature a system to choose which stats to raise whenever a character leveled up, as well as job classes that would evolve over time.  Both titles would feature amazing graphics at the time of release, as well as large and epic soundtracks.  If you’re a fan of the Action RPG, the two Seiken Densetsu titles for the Super Famicom are worth taking the time to check out.
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Fire Emblem Series

And you thought the back story to the Seiken Densetsu series was complicated.  While the West wouldn’t see any Fire Emblem releases until after the popularity of Marth and Roy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Intelligent Systems was pumping them out like hotcakes in Japan.  There are four Fire Emblems for the Super Famicom, though most fans consider only three of them officially for the console, and only two were originally in cartridge form.  The first two releases, Fire Emblem: Monsho no Nazo and Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu, were released late in the Super Famicom’s pre-Nintendo 64 days, in1994 and 1996 respectively.  The third game, BS Fire Emblem: Akaneia Senki, considered unofficial, was released in four individually playable parts in 1997 via the Satellaview.  And the fourth, Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, was released in 1999 on Nintendo Power catridges.

For those not in the know, the Satellaview was a satellite modem Nintendo released as an add-on to the Super Famicom.  Many of the games were exclusive, and still are, and games had to be saved to a Memory Pak.  Since the Satellaview service has been discontinued, it is effectively impossible to play BS Fire Emblem: Akaneia Senki unless someone found a Memory Pak still containing the game, and even then the game wouldn’t be playable in its full glory, as the voice acting in the game was streamed.  Meanwhile, Nintendo Power catridges were flash RAM carts, which people could download games onto.  Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 was also released on a DX Pack, and so it is still possible to find the game.

Anyway, enough history.  The Fire Emblem games are Strategy RPGs, known for their difficulty due to permadeath.  Namely, if a character dies in a Fire Emblem, they stay dead for the rest of the game.  Any segments of story they were in are removed, and if necessary, plot will change, though if any of the major characters fall it usually spells game over.  Of course this also affects enemy units, so once you drop an enemy, they stay down.  Combat is handled on a large map which players must navigate in a turn-based approach, slowly moving their units one by one across it.  Instead of randomly generated player units, such as in titles like Final Fantasy Tactics, all characters have distinct personalities and skills, though they always fall under specific professions in Fire Emblem’s job system.  Combat operates similarly to rock-paper-scissors, with certain weapon types being more or less effective against other types of weapons.  All the games take place in a continuous world on various continents, and many serve as sequels, prequels, or even between chapters of other games, and while interpersonal relationships were always an important part of the series, they’re not fully delved into until after the Super Famicom titles.

If you enjoy medieval battles, turn-based combat, and engaging characters, the Fire Emblem titles are good places to look, though be wary: They aren’t easy titles, though they are rewarding.
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Front Mission

Want to try a Strategy RPG, but not into the fantasy setting?  Enjoy near-future mecha combat?  Want to blow the limbs off enemy mecha with all manner of destructive paraphernalia?  Then, Sqauresoft’s mech-combat-filled Front Mission is for you.  Front Mission is sometimes seen as more of a Strategy game than an RPG.  Units are moved about the field one by one and can either enter physical combat or take potshots.  All people drive battle mechs, called Wanzers in the series.  The Wanzers can be outfitted with all manner of different kinds of weapons, entailing a great deal of customization for every character.  The two arms, the legs, and the body all have their own hit points, and players can destroy different pieces to cripple their opponents.  While destroying the body will finish the Wanzer off, destroying their arms will remove their weapons and taking out their legs ruins their mobility.  Vehicles also exist, though they only have bodies.

The plot of Front Mission focuses on a war breaking out in the year 2090 on a small island in the Pacific, named Huffman Island.  The war, known as the Second Huffman War, occurs between the Oceania Community Union(OCU) and the United States of the New Continent(UNC).  Though the main character, a man by the horrible name of Royd Clive, initially severs the OCU, the first mission in the game gets a bit bungled, and because of that he’s effectively court-marshaled.  Which leads to is eventual recruitment as a mercenary for the OCU.

Unfortunately the plot remains rather vague, and isn’t fully explained.  Not even in the remake for the PlayStation, Front Mission 1st, is the plot fully explained, or in Front Mission 4, which is directly related.  Finally, in Front Mission 5 is every mystery finally answered, so if you want the whole story, it’ll require playing through every game.
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Bahamut Lagoon

Another Strategy RPG that was never released outside of Japan, Bahamut Lagoon is a squad-based game where squads are moved one by one over battlefields in an attempt to destroy the enemy or finish specific objectives.  However, the defining thing about Bahamut Lagoon is that the squads also have dragons.  That’s right, dragons.  The game’s all about them.  You can fight with them, feed them to increase their stats, and by feeding them enough, get them to evolve into various forms to make them more effective at combat.  In general they have minds of their own, though they will accept simple commands.

The plot of the game centers around Byuu, head of the Resistance.  His aim is to defeat the Granbelos Empire, who recently conquered the world after a long and terrible war that destroyed Byuu’s home kingdom.  They start by stealing a giant ship called the Farnheit, and set about on their open rebellion.  Now there isn’t much in the way of land in the game.  The world seems mostly composed of caves and floating continents, as well as ships made of land, including the Farnheit.  Flying around on a ship made of dirt and feeding dragons may not seem that interesting, but the game actually ends up rather fun.  Later on, mission modes become available, allowing the player to level themselves and their dragons without advancing the plot.

On a side note, Bahamut Lagoon shares designers with Final Fantasy VI, including an enemy.  In FFVI, an enemy Monster-In-A-Box can be found in the World of Ruin, named the Presenter.  The enemy is actually a commonly occurring one in Bahamut Lagoon, making an interesting tie-in between the games, though they aren’t officially related.  Also, Bahamut Lagoon released in Japan in early 1996.  There were plans made by Square to release both it and Front Mission in North America, though events were quickly souring between Nintendo and Square.  This is often considered the ultimate reason for why they were never brought over, as Square would soon abandon Nintendo to make games exclusively for Sony.
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Lufia Series

The Lufia Series is a set of currently four fantasy RPGs all set in the same world across multiple centuries, though only two were released for Super Famicom.  While America would get both Lufia & The Fortress of Doom and Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals, Europe and Australia would only see Lufia 2(called Lufia in Australia).  The two titles are actually out of order in the time line, with the ending of Lufia 2 serving as the intro to Lufia.  In the Lufia games, random encounters occur on the world map, but in Lufia 2, dungeon enemies are represented by sprites similar to one of the enemies in the group, and only move when the player moves, making it possible to dodge them.  Both games are rife with puzzles throughout their dungeons, ranging from fairly easy to extremely difficult to figure out.

And then there’s the combat system.  Lufia doesn’t have characters target individual monsters.  Instead, you target the group.  If there are two lizards and two bats attacking, they’re lumped into groups, and while you can target a specific group, you don’t know which one you’ll hit.  Also of note is that all characters take turns at the same time, and if one character kills an enemy that the next was targeting, that character will still attack the dead monster.  Strategies must be formed to effectively combat creatures.

As for story, a group of creatures called the Sinistrals emerge and attempt to take over the world, so some of mankind’s greatest warriors go after them.  This story is the plot of Lufia 2.  In Lufia, the story takes place 99 years later, when a new Sinistral army has emerged, and the player must take the hero they choose to name to fight against them.

While the games are sometimes criticized for not being as good as some of the heavy hitters of the genre like Chrono Trigger or Secret of Mana, and while the second one does suffer from a few glitches and spelling errors, they do make for a fun romp and any hardcore RPG fan should take the time to give them a spin.  Also of note, the original Lufia was considered for a port to the Sega Genesis, though the project was scrapped early on in its life.
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Live A Live

Ok, I’ll be honest.  This title is only on here because it’s a personal favorite of mine.  The plot is actually a group of different stories about different characters from different times, ranging from a caveman in prehistory to a robot in the far future.  Each of the seven sections is very different, with some featuring without combat, to nothing but combat.  Every character is distinct, and while many may appear stereotypical, they still have likable personalities.  Ultimately after all seven sections are finished, a special section appears set in medieval Europe.  After completing this section, the final boss appears, asking the characters why they fight.  The player must then select who they will use to defeat him.

The battle system is something that really stands out as different from other RPGs Square produced.  Combat takes place on a 7×7 grid, though this may be divided up in various ways in different chapters.  Characters move around the grid, performing special moves that target specific areas.  Enemies do the same, and the two must fight until one side is finished off.  Skills work off charge times, and hit points are refilled after every battle, so the player can always fight at his hardest.

The game is also rife with little tributes to various films and historical characters.  Many of the chapters were written and designed by manga artists, as were character designs.  Yoko Shimomura also composed all the game’s music, much like Super Mario RPG.  Unfortunately the game’s relatively obscure and doesn’t seem to have even been considered for a release outside of Japan.

So there you have it, 15 RPGs and series to look up for all you Super Famicom fans.  But just because I recommend these doesn’t mean there aren’t many, many more RPGs on the console worth playing.  Here’s a few more recommendations that should keep you occupied for a long time:
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Illusion of Gaia

This is another Action RPG, known as Illusion of Time in Europe.  The game takes place in a psuedo-historical setting, with many well known locations like the Egyptian Pyramids serving as locales.  The player takes control of an explorer named Will and have them wander different areas attempting to reach new places and kill enemies.  In a bit of a twist, Illusion of Gaia features no experience system.  Instead, a jewel appears after clearing an area that will raise the characters’ stats.  Money and equipment are also not present in the game, and there are few healing items.  Instead players can visit Dark Spaces to heal up and save.

It is this Dark Space that sets off the plot of the game.  Will accidentally stumbles into one where he is told by a being called Gaia that a comet is hurtling towards the earth and will bring great evil to it.  Will must do everything in his power to stop it.  While the game isn’t as acclaimed as many of the rest of its SNES RPG brothers, it is still considered quite good in its own right and deserves a look.  Nintendo also initially released the game with a t-shirt, so if you can, check it out.

On a side note, this title was created by Quintet, also known for Terranigma and Soul Blazer as well as other games like the ActRaiser series.  The titles see several similarities, and in a secret developer’s room in Terranigma, the game is referred to as “Illusion of Gaia 2.”  If you enjoyed Terranigma, definitely check this one out.
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SaGa Series

While the SaGa games would eventually make their way out of Japan, only one of the three Super Famicom titles would see a release in America(and not at all in the PAL regions apparently), and it would only take Squaresoft 13 years to do it.  The three SaGa titles on the Super Famicom are known as Romancing SaGa 1, 2, and 3 respectively.  The games follow multiple characters, taking the time to focus on each separately.  After that…well, there really aren’t too many similarities, so I’ll devote a quick paragraph to each one.

First, in Romancing Saga, the player selects one of 8 characters, follows their story to the end, then selects a new character who wanders around the world.  Often selectable characters will come across each other then continue on their merry way.  The world is your typical fantasy RPG fare.  The player can also recruit various party members from the world to continue with their storyline, and through this the overall plot of the game is discovered.  It’s great for anyone who doesn’t want to spend hours uncovering a long storyline and feeling like they’re getting no where as each section is significantly shorter than a run through something like a Final Fantasy game

Second, Romancing Saga 2 mixes up the idea a bit by having the player play as a king or queen.  When they die, the player then controls their heir.  And upon their death, again the player controls the heir.  And again.  And again.  And so on and so forth until the game ends.  On a nifty note, only the first heir is chosen for the player as well, so after a while they player can decide who they wish to take over as.  The ultimate goal?  Advance the kingdom, of course!

And third, in Romancing Saga 3, the character is once again given a choice of 8 characters to pick from.  Battles can take a much more strategic approach than the standard RPG in Commander Mode, with the player creating battle formations that use teamwork to defeat enemies.  The game boasts a large cast, as well as a unique level system.  Characters don’t level up.  Instead they gain stat boosts based on the way they fight.  If a character casts lots of spells, they become better at it.  Melee characters get better at physical attacks and defenses.  It allows the player to build them to their strengths, instead of the game forcing them down a specific tree or path.
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Megami Tensei Series

Oh boy.  There’s no easy way to talk about this one.  The Megami Tensei series happened to see a lot of releases on the Super Famicom, with no fewer than six releases, sometimes with three in one year.  Of course, while they’re all related, they’re not all sequels of each other.  The six titles are Shin Megami Tensei, Majin Tensei, Shin Megami Tensei 2, Shin Megami Tensei if…, Majin Tensei 2: Spiral Nemesis, Last Bible 3, and Kyūyaku Megami Tensei.  They fall into four categories on the Super Famicom: the Shin Megami Tensei games, the Majin Tensei games, the Last Bible games, and the Digital Devil games.

The Shin Megami Tensei games are Shin Megami Tensei 1, 2, and if….  And yes, it is actually called if….  These games are First-Person RPGs, set in Tokyo in the year 199X, and revolve around high schoolers being sucked into the demon world.  Well, the first and if… do, while Tensei 2 is about what happens in the aftermath of 1.  Combat is turn based, and every character has a specific alignment.  Many of the recruitable characters don’t have official names either.

Then there are the Majin Tensei games, Majin Tensei and Majin Tensei 2: Spiral Nemesis.  While these games are set in the same universe as the others, they are Strategy RPGs, similar to Fire Emblem in terms of gameplay and graphics.  The games feature some odd but interesting effects, such as moonlight affecting the strength of demon characters.  Again, they are set in a more modern setting, in locales in the series canon.

Next comes the Last Bible games.  Only one would be a Super Famicom release, while the others saw releases on Game Boy(only one of which would see release outside of Japan).  Last Bible 3 is a bit different from the rest of the series in that it takes place in a fantasy setting instead of the modern day.  The main character is able to recruit monsters to join his party, and can then customize those monsters to fight in various ways for greater party benefit.  Monsters can also equip gear and level up like the main character.  It plays closer to the typical RPG than the other titles.

And finally there is the only Digital Devil game released for the Super Famicom, Kyūyaku Megami Tensei.  However, that’s a bit of a misnomer, as this title is actually both of the Digital Devil games for the Famicom remade for the Super Famicom console.  Once again, the game is a First-Person RPG.  The plot is about a boy who summons demons via a computer program he wrote, hence the name Digital Devil.  The remake would see graphical improvements as well as valuable additions like a save feature for the first title.

It is important to note that all of this was spawned by a book series by Aya Nishitani.  The series didn’t stop on the Super Famicom either, but went on to see releases on PlayStation and PlayStation 2, cell phones, Game Boy Advances, PSP, PC, Sega Saturn, and even a spin-off for the Virtual Boy.  Upcoming games include potential releases on the DS, PS3, and Wii.  The series, sometimes referred to as MegaTen, is nothing short of HUGE, and is perhaps the most prolific series in game history, coming to 52 current releases since the Famicom if including every title(there are a lot of cell phone titles).  It’s considered a bit off the beaten path for most RPG fans, but if you really want something different, look the series up.

Shadowrun

Based on the popular pen and paper role playing game, Shadowrun is a cyberpunk RPG set in Seattle in the year 2050.  The player follows Jake Armitage, a courier and shadowrunner, who suffers amnesia after an attempted hit on his life.  So now he has to find out who he is, found out why people want him dead, and get them back.  The game is an Action RPG with battles and assassination attempts occurring in real time.

It does feature a leveling up of sorts.  As Jake kills enemies he gains Karma, which can be spent to boost stats, power up abilities, or unlock new ones.  Jake can also speak with NPCs through a large database of terms that gets added to every time someone says a new keyword to him.  But finally, in a hark back to its roots and the novel Neuromancer, Jake can enter cyberspace to hack computers.  This gets him money and key information, though if you die in cyberspace, you die in the game.

While it did release in all three regions and English was the main language in all three, the Japanese version featured subtitles, a longer intro, and some small graphical differences.  The game didn’t sell very well despite it being considered pretty good.
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Ys Series

The Ys series is a series of Action RPGs that follow a Germanic young man named Adol Christin, who goes around on various adventures, helping people as he goes.  Three of the games would see release on the Super Famicom, being Ys III: Wanderers from Ys, Ys IV: Mask of the Sun, and Ys V: Kefin, the Lost City of Sand.  The plots are: Adol learns that a village is being threatened by men in a castle so he helps out, Adol finds a message in a bottle asking for help so he boards a ship to help, and Adol hears a rumor about a lost city so he investigates.  It’s simple, really.

Gameplay varies, though stays in the Action RPG genre, with camera position changing a bit in each of the titles, from a side-scroller to a top-down.  In the first two games, as in IV, Adol deals damage by running into his enemies, though in III and V, he manages to swing a sword.  In V he can even jump and pull out a shield, as well as use magic.

Ok, so it’s extremely simple in concept and story so why include it?  Because the Super Famicom featured a wide deal of diversity in its RPGs, enough for almost everyone to try.  If you’ve tried one on this list and hated it, try a different one and see if it’s more your style.  So many companies were putting out RPGs at the time that while there’s lots of similarities, there’s also lots of differences.  They’re all worth spending a few minutes with.  But this isn’t all.  What follows is a short list of some other recommendations, though these are no where near the complete number of RPGs on the console.  There are literally hundreds on the console.  There’s a good chance there’s one for you.
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Other Titles Worth Checking Out:

• Soul Blazer
• Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen
• Der Langrisser
• Ultima Series
• Drakkhen Series
• Wizardy Series
• Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together

Presented by: Fastbilly1, Marurun, & Racketboy
New To Together Retro? Check out the introduction to the club

After much debate we came down to a handful of options for the next game. We knew that many were thirsty for an RPG and we wanted to continue into the 32/64bit generation. We did not, however, want to settle for what some might see as an obvious choice. Sure, it would be easy to choose something like a Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior, but most of us have played them to death already (and they are not out of the running, they were just not picked this go-around). Besides, you know how we love Hidden Gems around here.

So the choice came down to two epic games: Dragon Force on the Saturn and Lunar: Silver Star Story, which is on multiple platforms. After much debate, Lunar finally won out. This was not simply because it was released on the Sega CD, Saturn, PSX, and PC so that those looking for a copy would have plenty of options. It seems that none of the three of us have beaten (or even played, in some cases) the game recently. It is a shame, but we hope to rectify this over the next month.

About The Game

Created by Game Arts, a company known at the time for Thexder and Silpheed and more recently for the Grandia series, Lunar was first released to the world on the Sega CD in 1992. In 1993, with a little help from the experienced but little known company Working Designs, it made its way across the ocean to the US (sadly it never made it to Europe) to very positive reactions. It sold amazingly for a Sega CD title and was received quite well where ever it went, second to only Sonic CD.

Lunar’s beautiful style, simplistic controls, and gripping story created an atmosphere that few other RPG at the time could deliver, technically or artistically. Anime styled cutscenes, voice acting, and an amazing soundtrack just sealed the deal; the game was a masterpiece to all who reviewed it.

For all the glowing praise the game never had the same impact with RPG fans as other titles and seemed relegated to Critic’s Favorite status. It was overshadowed by games like Final Fantasies IV & V, Phantasy Star III, and of course Might and Magic IV. It did have a revival on the Playstation in the late nineties, and another in the early 2000s on the GBA, but it never seemed to get the level of respect that it deserves (unless you consider Working Designs’ excessive packaging fetish). It has spawned an amazing sequel (Lunar: Eternal Blue) and a handful of spinoffs (Walking School – aka. Magic School, and Dragon Song), all of which are decent games.

The Lunar series may not have the “street cred” that the other RPG heavyweights have, but any fan of solid role-playing goodness would be remiss to pass on this series.

Recommended Ports

There are a number of ways to play:

• Sega CD – Lunar: The Silver Star
• Saturn – Lunar: Silver Side Story (Japanese only)
• PSX – Lunar: Silver Side Story & Lunar: Silver Side Story Complete
• PC – Lunar: Silver Side Story (Korean and Japanese only)
• GBA – Lunar Legend

The Sega CD version is the original and probably the easiest to emulate if you are going that route, but if you want the very best the PS1 version is considered to be superior with its enchanced visuals and extra story bits. The Saturn/PSX/PC versions changed some story elements and events from the original but sticks to the core decently well. The GBA version wanders a little further still from the original source.

It’s safe to say that no matter which game you pick you’ll get the same core story and find yourself playing largely the same core game. On the other hand, the differences and enhancements might be enough to offer significant replay value. Those of you who are really intense (and speedy) about playing RPGs are encouraged to start with the Sega CD installation and, when finished, dip into one of the later titles to compare and contrast. And be darn sure to share with the rest of us, all of you, no matter which version you decide to tackle.

Sega CD	PS1

If you would like a little more perspective of how the different variations are from the original Sega CD game, here is a quote from Lunar’s Wikipedia entry:

“Lunar: The Silver Star has been re-released several times for a number of consoles, often with graphic and sound enhancements as well as an expanded script. The first such remake, Lunar: Silver Star Story, originally appeared on the Sega Saturn in Japan on October 15, 1996, and featured redrawn graphics, a polished script, and new music by Noriyuki Iwadare. This version was soon expanded in July 1997 with the addition of an MPEG expansion card that allowed full-motion animated video playback interspersed throughout gameplay. The updated MPEG version was later ported to the Sony PlayStation in 1998, and was eventually translated into English by Working Designs for a North American release in May 1999 under the title Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. A Windows PC version was released the same year exclusively for Japanese and Korean audiences, with the North American version later cancelled for “technical issues”.^[36]

The second major remake, Lunar Legend, was released for the Game Boy Advance in Japan and North America in 2002. This version features redrawn character graphics, yet lacks the full-motion video sequences of its predecessor, instead using captured still images. The story was reworked to better coincide with the official Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete monetization, adding new scenes while omitting others. The background music contains down-sampled versions of songs from the PlayStation and Saturn remakes.”

(Also see these articles: Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar Legend )

Emulation for Lunar: Silver Star Story

Since there are various ports of Lunar, there are also various ways to emulate them. If you want to emulate the Sega CD version with Kega Fusion, you can check out our Kega emulation guide. ePSXe will also emulate the Playstation version if you want to go with that. If you need assistance setting up any emulator, please post your question in the Emulation section of the forum.

Gameplay Tips / Help

If you have the Sega CD version, here is a downloadable copy of the original, official strategy guide.

Otherwise, I actually couldn’t find a lot of strategy stuff for Lunar, but here are some GameFAQs walkthroughs

• Lunar Silver Star Story Complete
• Lunar Silver Star

Together Retro Discussion

Instead of posting in the comments section of the blog, we will be using the forum for all of our discussion in order to keep things more organized. So get your hands dirty with Lunar: Silver Star Story and talk to us about your thoughts in the forums. We want to know your tactics, your strategies, your successes and your failures.

• Lunar: Silver Star General Discussion
• What Port of Lunar Are You Playing?
• Extra Credit: Lunar Eternal Blue…

Additional Resources

• Lunar-Net
• Lunar-Net’s Collection of Lunar Links

presented by fastbilly1 with racketboy

The Idea In A Nutshell

Zelda Four Swords Adventure for the Gamecube is a killer party game, but who wants to play on a GBA? We fix this issue with a killer multi-Gamecube, multi-TV setup.

Nintendo Makes Legend of Zelda Multiplayer

It is a fickle slope when traditionally single player series add multiplayer elements. Sometimes it works, but more often than not it feels tacked on, rushed, or are just simply bad. However in 2002, Nintendo added a little something to their GBA port of their famous Link to the Past title, a high-quality side game called Four Swords.

Four Swords provided a random multiplayer world for those who knew one to three other people who owned copies of the game. This was a fantastic sidequest for the series but had a few problems such as the length of the game and the technical limitations of the GBA. No matter the problems, the Zelda series had finally worked in multiplayer, and it was awesome.

Flash-forward two years. Nintendo releases Four Swords Adventure for the Gamecube. This game expands the gameplay of the original and adds some rather nice features. Still using the Link to the Past inspired character and world sprites, it adds in Windwaker styled explosions, a orchestrated soundtrack inspired by Link to the Past, and a deathmatch-styled game mode. It seems like it has everything going for it, brilliant 2D gameplay, beautiful visuals, a fantastic soundtrack, but it has one dastardly hardware requirement that keeps it from being in everyone’s collection, which we will talk about later.

What Makes Four Swords Adventure Worthwhile?

In Four Swords Adventure, you still have your standard adventure, known as “The Hyrulean Adventure” , which involves eight areas; each of which has three stages and a boss fight. For those who have played a Zelda game but not a Four Swords; you work your way through the stages in typical Zelda style but with one twist. Force Gems appear on the stage and without a certain amount you cannot complete it. Whoever has the most of these crystals at the end gets a bonus on who wins the round. By “wins the round” at the end of the stage you are rated on several facets of gameplay.

So it does come down to a nasty game of co-op/counter-op as the game progresses. You also need the all of the players going one direction to change the map on the tv, so if one person is a completionist or just has to cut down every bush, then it can take awhile. This is both alleviated and compounded by the fact you can lift up other players. This most noted in three player mode when one of the Links is essentially dead space until he is put to work. The downside is that if you piss of another player they can pick you up and throw you into pits or take you places against your will. I like to view it as a needed accessory to the game, but that’s just mean spirit in me wanting to throw that prick of a blue player into a pit after he lit me on fire for the fourth time.

However my aggressions are better suited for the other multiplayer mode, “Shadow Battle”. Shadow Battle is simply deathmatch in Zelda. There are ten stages, random weapons and powerups. It is important that this mode is available because more often that not after a few stages in the adventure mode, it ends up being a fight anyway, why not add more weapons and flair? The stages are the standard set you would imagine from a multiplayer Zelda game: a Beachside Cottage, Wind Temple, Fire Temple, Hyrule Castle, etc, but they are all balanced and will provide you with hours of intense battles. Like a Bomberman title, the game is easy to learn (even none gamers should pick it up in a couple of minutes), has a fair amount of depth, and is fun.

Four Swords Adventure’s GBA-Based Weakness

To play Four Swords Adventure in multiplayer, every player needs a Gameboy Advance and a Gameboy to Gamecube cable. So to fully enjoy the game you need four GBA’s, four Gameboy to Gamecube Cables, and the usual Gamecube and TV. (see a diagram of this original setup)

Why does everyone need a GBA? Well the game is played on both the TV and the GBA screen. For example, when you enter a cave or building on the tv, you showup on the GBA. This makes for intense fights and puzzles that span both screens. Essentualy, Four Swords Adventure could not have been done any other way while maintinaing its unique gameplay and appeal.

While playing Four Swords Adventure with the GBA setup may be more affordable, it is definately not the most enjoyable experience for a number of reasons.

• Standard GBA screens are notorious for being hard to see
• GBAs aren’t as comfortable as Gamecube controllers
• All participants will get neck aches from moving their head up and down, alternating from the main TV display to their own GBA.
• When your teammates get stuck inside a dungeon or building, you can’t easily see their situation and help.
• You are limited to wired GBA-to-GC link cables

Our 5+5 Four Swords Solution

To get around the limitations of the GBA-based setup, we used Gamecubes with GBA players linked to a central Gamecube and hooked up to their own TV displays. This is the same method employed in the Pacman Vs setup from last years Momocon, I needed to scrounge up three more Gameboy Players and Gamecubes to take it to the next level.

Breakdown of the Equipment Needed

• One Gamecube or Wii running the Four Swords Adventure Disk
• 1 Large TV for primary Gamecube/Wii
• 4 Gamecubes with Gameboy Players
• 4 GBA-to-Gamecube Link Cables to connect GBA Players to primary Gamecube/Wii
• 4 Gamecube Controllers (Wavebirds are nice for wireless)
• 4 Smaller TVs for the additional Gamecubes

What This Will Cost:

• Gamecubes – $60 Retail / $30 Amazon / $25 eBay / $30 at Gamestop
• Gameboy Players – $30-$40 eBay / $30-$40 Amazon
• Gameboy to Gamecube Cable – $5 used eBay / $10 new Amazon
• Gamecube Controllers: 3rd Party about $10, Official about $15, Official Wireless about $30-$50
• TVs – You can go with new sets or look for used ones at Goodwill, garage sales, etc
• Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure : $12-$25 (eBay / Amazon)

So that comes out a little over $350 before TVs (assuming you don’t have any of the stuff already). BUT if you break it up over time, hunting for deals or re-using older equipment you already have, you can get it all for a lot less. Heck I got a Gameboy Player for $5, and another for $15 on Craigslist.

Small Things To Keep In Mind:

• You only need one disc for the Gameboy players, once they are the loaded you can take the disc out and put it in the next one.
• Also I have been told that you can use the Japanese hardware on the US system.
• However you cannot use the Japanese disc without a freeloader, but they supposedly work with the US disc. (I have not tested this)

The basic principle behind this is that with a TV people cannot complain that they cannot see what is going on on the screen. (They also have a bigger and clearer screen for reading the menus in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, in case you want to play that as well). This makes the games a lot easier to explain, but it also takes up a lot of room. And I just used the cables I already owned.

The 5+5 Zelda Setup Put To The Test

This was setup at Momocon 08 on Saturday in a corner of the Retro Gaming Room, and while it did not get the play traffic we expected it to grab, it was damn impressive. It was always a little daunting for people to jump in on since it does take four people. But people would see it, disappear briefly and then pop in with others to play a few rounds. There were two teams of ambitious people who tried their best to get through the story mode without a memory card., but everyone that jumped in and out seemed to have a blast. (Most player fatigue was probably due to trying to play the whole game without saving — Having memory card space is heavily recommended — my lesson has been learned.)

Photo Gallery | Zelda Four Swords 5 + 5 VideoSadly, I had to take it down Saturday night and transport it home (I only have so much space in the car), and on Sunday there were droves of people who were asking about it and wanting to play it and how to build their own. In the end, it took a lot of planning, friends, and a bit of luck to pull this one off, but it made a good impact on the con. Now that it has been done at our con, and documented, I think I may travel to some of the other smaller cons in my neck of the woods, to spread that strange mix of joy and frustration that this game always brings so more people can light their friends on fire with the firewand.

Other Multi-Screen Gamecube Games To Try

While it never had the potential to be the must-have Gamecube game, or the game that you buy the console for, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure did provide an experience that no other console has duplicated. There are two other games that use a similar setup, readers of the site may know Pacman VS quite well, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. If you do end up getting enough Gameboys for Four Swords, do yourself a favor and try to get the other two. All three are fantastic games and it really is a shame that they do not get the recognition that they deserve.