Top 10 Console RPGs

10. Phantasy Star 4 (Sega Genesis)
Phantasy Star IV is an archetypal console RPG in the spirit of the series, featuring the staples of exploration, NPC interaction, and turn-based combat. Building on its predecessors, it added a number of innovative features, such as pre-programmable combat maneuvers called “Macros”, combination attacks between two or more characters and manga-style panel illustrations for major cut scenes. Phantasy Star IV is also the first game in the series to have in-depth character interaction and development. It is debated to be the best of the Phantasy Star games by fans.

9. Suikoden (Playstation 1)
Suikoden may not make everyone’s top list, but it is a great game and opened the doors for many sequels to follow. In the game, the Hero takes up base in an abandoned castle and can recruit up to a grand total of 108 characters to his cause. They all have unique uses, ranging from a shop owner and blacksmith for your fortress to characters that help you fight in battle. The battle system in Suikoden features six person parties in combat, with each character being individually controllable, but also 1-on-1 duel and many-on-many war battles add an extra element to the game.

8. Star Ocean: The Second Story (Playstation 1)
Star Ocean features various deviations from the standard RPG format. Battles are much more action-oriented: they take place in real time, during which the player has manual control over their character, as opposed to choosing options from a menu. Battles take place on a broad battlefield, over which the player’s character can move without limit. Other party members will act on their own, depending on how you configure their AI, so you can set one character as a healer, have one of your characters preserve their MP, and so on.

7. Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast)
Skies of Arcadia is deemed one of the best RPG’s on the short-lived, ill-fated Sega Dreamcast console. It features an expansive world that you explore by airship, and has an engaging story. The game allows you to discover treasure and landmarks scattered all over the world map, with only vague hints to tilt you in the right direction. Finding all of the game’s discoveries is a satisfying challenge. One of the only complaints about the game was the high rate of random battles, which made traveling a test of the player’s patience. This was fixed to a small degree in Skies of Arcadia Legends, the enhanced port for the GameCube.

6. Secret of Mana (Super Nintendo)
Rather than using the traditional turn-based battle system of games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, Secret of Mana utilizes real-time battling akin to the Legend of Zelda series, but also employs typical RPG elements such as gaining levels and buying new equipment. The “Ring Command” menu system allows you to access all the game’s options, equipment, items, and magic on the fly. With 8 different weapons to distribute between your 3 characters, a massive journey with plenty of boss fights, a killer soundtrack, and some of the best visuals on the Super Nintendo (Despite being released early on in the SNES’s lifetime), this is an unforgettable adventure.

5. Chrono Cross (Playstation 1)
The sequel to the epic Chrono Trigger, released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Chrono Cross focuses on a teenage boy named Serge who has the unexplainable ability to travel to an alternate dimension, in which Serge had died as a child. Serge endeavors to discover the truth of the two worlds’ divergence. 44 possible characters assist him in his travels around the tropical archipelago El Nido, though you can’t collect them all in one play through. Struggling to uncover his past and find the mysterious Frozen Flame, Serge is chiefly challenged by Lynx, a shadowy antagonist working to apprehend him. The third game to ever receive a 10/10 by Gamespot, Chrono Cross is an excellent sequel once you get past the differences from Chrono Trigger.

4. Final Fantasy VI (Super Nintendo)
The game’s story focuses on a group of rebels as they seek to overthrow an imperial dictatorship. Final Fantasy VI was the first game in the series to be directed by someone other than producer and series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. Final Fantasy VI has more battle customization options than its predecessors and has the largest playable cast in the Final Fantasy series to date, excluding spin-off titles. It remains widely praised for its storyline and characters, 3 of which made our Top 10 Final Fantasy Characters list.

3. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox)
Knights of the Old Republic, or KOTOR, is a phenomenal fusion of role-playing and Star Wars. The game’s battle system is based on Wizards of the Coast’s Star Wars Role-playing Game, which is based on the d20 role-playing game system derived from the Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. Basically, you attack in real time, and your damage is decided behind the scenes by a roll of the dice. With the ability to travel to such planets as Luke Skywalker’s home of Tatooine, and Chewbacca’s home of Kashyyyk, among more, and the ability to choose to become a light or dark jedi depending on your choices make this game a treat for Star Wars fans and RPG fans alike.

2. Final Fantasy VII (Playstation 1)
Set in a dystopian world, Final Fantasy VII’s story centers on mercenary Cloud Strife who joins with several others to stop the megacorporation Shinra, which is draining the life of the planet to use as an energy source. As the story progresses, the situation escalates and Cloud and his allies must battle Sephiroth, the game’s main antagonist. Development of Final Fantasy VII began in 1994 and the game was originally intended for the SNES, but it was delayed when Chrono Trigger became a big enough project to warrant assistance from main designers. When development continued, they planned to release the game on the Nintendo 64, but as the system’s cartridges lacked the space for FMVs, Square decided to release the game for Sony’s PlayStation instead, ending Square and Nintendo’s nearly decade-long alliance, and propelling the Playstation to success.

1. Chrono Trigger (Super Nintendo)
Chrono Trigger combines standard console role-playing gameplay with several innovations, such as combining 2 or more character’s special attacks to increase damage and range, as well as eliminating random battles by allowing you to see all the monsters in the game, making most avoidable. The game is also revolutionary due to the use of time travel. There are 5 different eras you can visit, from prehistoric times to the future, where you discover that between present day and the future, a being named Lavos rises from the ground after hibernating for millions of years and devastates the planet, wiping out almost every civilization, leaving only dozens of struggling survivors along with plenty of mutants and robots. After learning the fate of humanity, the hero and his friends decide to journey back in time to find out how to stop Lavos from ravaging the planet and change the fate of the planet.

Honorable Mentions: Earthbound, Dragon Quest, Legend of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3, Super Mario RPG, Final Fantasy 9

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