Summary
The NES was Nintendo’s greatest achievement, which helped revive the console market. This then led to theGame Boy, their first portable, and their console successor, the SNES. For many, SNES titles remain some of the best games that hold up to this day, thanks to their improved gameplay loops, enhanced graphics, and, in some cases, more compelling stories.
RPGs are great examples that are as easy to go back to today as they were in the 90s. Even though the SNES was popular globally, that didn’t mean every game was released on a wide scale or even released at all. These RPGs still rip, but they are a bit more obscure than most.
8The Adventures of Hourai High
Move Over Persona
The Adventures of Hourai Highis a Japanese SNES RPG that takes place on an island with an exclusive academy on it that players will parachute onto at the start. Everyone has their allegiances and players, as a newbie, will go through each club to take them down a peg or two and make their way to the top.
Fighting club members are one thing, but there are also mutated animals to deal with on this mysterious island.Personafans who like school-based RPGsshould look this one up, as fans have translated it into English.
Sega Saturn RPG fansprobably playedAlbert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean, or at least heard about it in the 90s, which is a decent turn-based RPG. What they may not know is that there were two SNES games that preceded it.
The firstAlbert Odysseyis quite different, too, as there are strategic elements involving invading kingdoms on the world map. There is a fan patch for it, but not the sequel so far. Either way, tactical RPG fans who like weird systems should check out the firstAlbert Odyssey.
Arcanais a relatively obscure RPG for the SNES that was surprisingly released on the console in North America despite its Japan-heavy vibe. Players control a Card Master named Rooks, who can summon other party members on his travels. Players will traverse through dungeons in first-person with their party of four, fighting animated cards along the way.
LikeFire Emblem, players have to be careful about progressing their party members as Arcana is a linear experience going from dungeon to dungeon, which makes it more challenging, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Brain Lordis not a descriptive title for the game, and the box art for North America doesn’t help either. It can best be described as a top-down action RPG with an emphasis on puzzles, which may be where the inspiration for the title came from.
Despite the big blocky frame of the hero, players will move quite fast through dungeons, and the weapon range is decent for a SNES game. There are no humanoid party members, but players can summon faeries and use other magic while in combat. It’s not Enix’s best RPG on the SNES, but it does occupy that hidden gem territory.
4Brandish
Another Series Of Missing Sequels
Brandishis another series that has some mysterious sequels lying in wait in Japan. Brandish wasn’t a huge RPG on the SNES in North America, but some may have played it. There was a sequel released in Japan on both Japanese computers and the SNES calledBrandish 2: The Planet Buster, and yes, there is a fan patch.
It was a top-down action RPG that played more like a classic roguelike of the 90s. It was a fairly big RPG series for Japanese players, at least as there were two more sequels on PC. The first game even got remadefor the PSP, which was released outside of Japan, but Westerners probably didn’t know that existed either.
3Emerald Dragon
Release The Dragon
Before players were tearing it up as the Dovahkiin inThe Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, they were a Dragonborn inEmerald Dragon. Releasing only in Japan, players assumed the Dragonborn Atorushan, who transformed into a man to aid a young girl’s request in the human world.
While Atorushan gains party members, only he can be controlled in battle, which operates like small-scale tactical encounters. The AI-based system is not ideal, but party members are smart enough for an SNES game. From the colorful sprites to the expressive anime-inspired character portraits, this RPG is waiting to be discovered, and there is a fan patch.
Assassin’s Creed: Shadowsgave fans a ninjaand samurai RPGrolled into one that they have been wanting for a while. It was far from the first samurai or ninja RPG, though, as there was a decent one on the SNES called Inindo: Way of the Ninja.
Players were a lowly ninja at the start who tried to make alliances to take down the evil Lord Nobunaga, a tale thatAssassin’s Creed: Shadowswill find familiar. It doesn’t have the flashiest combat on the SNES, but it is unique in its setting, and it did release on the SNES in North America along with other platforms.
1SD Gundam Gaiden: Knight Gundam Monogatari - Ooinaru Isan
Mechs Going Medieval
The SNES is absolutely floodedwithGundamgamesor other anime games that fans have probably never heard of, including RPGs. One of the strangest isSD Gundam Gaiden: Knight Gundam Monogatari - Ooinaru Isan, which makes the most sense from an RPG point of view but less sense as aGundamgame.
It’s framed like aDragon Questadventure, except that familiar-looking mechs will be clad in armor or have horns like they are monsters. It’s very silly, and unfortunately, there is no fan patch yet.
