I never finished Chrono Cross thanks due to a bug (either with the game or with my disc) that left me perpetually stuck in one area. I thought about not ranking this game, but from what I played, I know I would rank it at least this high. Perhaps if I finished it (which I won’t, I’m sure) it would rank higher. Regardless, it’s a nice follow-up to Chrono Trigger that excels in everything except that I never felt fully engaged with the story.
Developer: Square Publisher: Square Year: 1993 Platform: Game Boy
The third and final game in this series makes some significant improvements in game mechanics, making the game more user-friendly. It also has a time-travel plot, which should be golden. Unfortunately, a rather dull story weakens an otherwise solid game.
The Lufia series was heavily overshadowed by Final Fantasy and Breath of Fire, so much so that I had never heard of it until the internet. I hoped I would find an overlooked gem, but sadly, Lufia’s relatively poor reception was deserved.
The first RPG I was ever exposed to, and also one of the first America was exposed to. Considering it took three years for this classic to make it over from Japan, it’s obvious it took this side of the Pacific longer to warm up to gaming that didn’t involve hand-eye coordination. While the game is slow and painful at times by today’s standards, it has so much damn charm that the game can still worth playing today, especially the updated ports (packaged with Dragon Quest II) that fix several of the game’s issues, detailed below.
Billed as an RPG for beginners, Mystic Quest provides an experience so simple that my cat could win it if you gave her plenty of catnip and a turbo controller.
Developer: Square Publisher: Square Year: 1989 Platform: Game Boy
The first game in the SaGa series was the first ever handheld RPG and sold incredibly well, thanks in part to rebranding it as a Final Fantasy game stateside. However, there is really no reason other than nostalgia to play this game, partly due to its difficulty but mostly due to the general ennui the game elicits.
Final Fantasy (and frankly, all RPGs) was hugely popular in Japan but the series didn’t reach the states until the 90’s. While the first game did become a hit over here, Nintendo held off on publishing anymore until the fourth installment. While I’ve heard good things about FF3, I don’t blame Nintendo for bypassing this game.
Death By Troggles 