I don’t get to talk about one of my greatest loves as frequently as I’d like to on this cutesy, fashion-centered blog, but RPGs from the SNES era of gaming are among some of my favorite things that exist on this Earth. I owe a lot of my creativity and imagination to those, even in my adult life. Actually, ESPECIALLY in my adult life.
And they haven’t faded into obscurity, either; these decades-old games are available readily if you have a mobile device that can play them! Here are some personal favorites, just from browsing what Square-Enix has available in iTunes.
Secret of Mana
The Mana series is a serious favorite, and to this day it has my favorite happy color palette
and cute enemy designs (look at those Rabites!). The three heroes are ADORBS,
and the variety of weapons you collect makes each of them customizable.
…Probably the first action RPG I ever played, abandoning turn-based battles.
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Chrono Trigger
A true classic, with masterful storytelling and characterization.
The pacing of this game always struck me, with the player traveling through time
to gradually piece more and more of the plot together.
It makes for a perfect, highly gratifying experience.
Every music track from this game is classic as heck, too.
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Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
Agreed upon by many fans to be the most emotional in the Dragon Quest series,
due to the sheer involvement you get in the protagonist’s life playing as him from childhood.
And things don’t “settle down” for him once he gets a family,
since things only pick up in the story from there.
I’M NOT CRYING, YOU’RE CRYING!!
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Final Fantasy VI
I remember playing this as a kid and just being blown away by the fact that
video games, which I thought were just fun and adventurous,
could be as dark and emotionally intense as this.
Though I hear tell that this iOS version isn’t optimal for enjoying this fantastic game –
maybe you want to go for the GBA one, for normal-looking character sprites?
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Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation
I poured SOOOO many hours into the version of this game on the Game Boy Color,
accompanying me along many a road trip.
You’re allowed a fully customizable battle party, of any combination
of class, gender, and personality you like (seriously, the personality system
in this game is one of my favorite things ever).
A large-scale adventure, and a quintessentially important
entry in RPG history – this is the game you might have heard rumors about
that completely shut Japan down (with employees calling out of work
and kids skipping school) on the day that it was released.
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Final Fantasy IV
Another impactful memory from the SNES, although this version
uses the beautiful models (and I believe also the voice acting?)
rendered for the Nintendo DS remake.
Honestly I’d recommend this remake version just for the re-orchestrated music alone.
