Not cool when your a victim of it. Happened to me twice when I loan games out both said they got stolen. I suspect they both lied to keep my Dragon Warrior/Metal Gear/Super Tecmobowl. 3 of my favorite NES games.
You included Crystalis! Such a masterpiece that never quite took off, unfortunately, and shamed by the awful GBC port. The story, music, puzzles, dungeon design, and the game play mechanics (like jumping shoes, being able to run in all directions, various power levels to your sword attacks, thinking about which weapon to use against your enemies) were practically unheard of for the NES. It had Legend of Zelda beat by a long mile, and I loved and played the hell out of both NES Zelda games.
Like this page and what I do here? Consider supporting me on patreon! www.patreon.com/davidvinc [0:32] - 10) Star Tropics [1:26] - 9) Glory of Heracles 2 [2:16] - 8) Destiny of an Emperor [3:04] - 7) Silva Saga [3:55] - 6) Just Breed [4:52] - 5) Earthbound Zero [5:54] - 4) The Guardian Legend [6:51] - 3) Crystalis [7:57] - 2) The Final Fantasy Series [8:44] - 1) The Dragon Warrior Series
1) Gotta praise Mother for having an (almost) open world, where nobody would really tell you what to do. You'd get out of your home, told you had to save the world, then it was up to you. The huge world map is almost all avaiable to explore right off the bat (provided you can handle the monsters). Even when I was stuck and didn't know what to do, I'd look at my map, see the dots scattered around and challenge myself to reach those places to see what was there. 2) Gotta praise David's mother too. Such a awesome mom!
Magic Of Scheherazade is probably the only RPG I played back in the Nintendo days. My little brain at the time couldn't figure out how to beat it, but it was quite enjoyable. And to be honest I didn't know what a rpg was until ff4 came out for the snes. But I'll definitely play some of these games on this list when I get a chance they look interesting.
I loved Final Fantasy 2. It's honestly my favorite FF of the NES era. It had an emphasis on story telling that neither of the other 2 had, and the use it and it grows philosophy works for me because that's how you grow in games like The Elder Scrolls. I also really enjoyed having guest party members, too. Conversely, FF3's class system was nice, but the game itself was completely shallow, and while I love FF1 and the class change quest line, FF2 still nudges it out as the best game in the series for me. I really think it has more to do with taste in how RPGs should work, because FF2 had a more western RPG feel because of the fact that it didn't use EXP to suddenly boost your characters stats. That said, Dragon Quest 4 is far and away the best RPG of the NES era, DQ3 was very replayable, but 4 was way more advanced technologically and the story was also great. I've never heard of Guardian Legend, that looks like it could be awesome. I would have loved to have played that when I was kid.
DW4 had the most epic story of any game on the NES, it was definitely a harbinger of deep RPG stories to come in the future. I gotta play the DS remake sometime.
One RPG that never left Japan that I loved to no end you all should look into is Sweet Home =) grandaddy of all survivor horrors. Aged as well as Earthbound did. Definitely check it out!
10/10 mom. Great story. I've always wished that Final Fantasy II had a ROM hack that turned it into a traditional JRPG with experience points and levels; I've never enjoyed SaGa's gameplay at all. FFII is a perfectly good game otherwise. Charming NES graphics, fantastic Final Fantasy music. Just change the gameplay style and you have a solid game.
hehe best thing about FFII was you cheapen the first half of the game in the first hour, esepcially on roms :> By going to the peninsula where it just goes far enough into the near end game area, and just fight the enemies there, they will kill you, but often 1 guy will survive, and get big boosts, head back to town heal, rinse and repeat till all your guys are buffed.
Yes, Final Fantasy 2 is flawed (the development took under a year), but it also held a ton of improvements and innovation over the first one. I appreciate that Square tried to do something different, even if not all of their experimentation was well received. I actually like Final Fantasy 2 better than 1, but FF3 is by far the best of the first three games in my opinion.
The part about your mom going back and telling the rental store you lost it so she could just pay them for it is both awesome and hilarious. Love it. Very cool mom.
@@jc.1191 It's not as cryptic as Zelda 1. Honestly I don't get people who praise Zelda 1 but hate Zelda 2. IMO Zelda 2 is an improvement in nearly every way, though both games haven't aged well compared to later games in the series.
@@Paradox-xm9zq Personal preference and nostalgia for me. I like Zelda 1 the best, way more than Link to the past. Blasphemy in most circles, lol. Zelda 2 I really love, second favorite.
Yes, Sweet Home is an amazing(and quite innovative) gem of a game. The fact that it was never released outside of Japan is an absolute travesty! Just bought a repro of it a few days ago.
The fact that it never got an international release is truly a shame, indeed. Although, there's no way in hell Nintendo would allow a game like Sweet Home to be released overseas. It's a miracle we even got Monster Party. At least we can play it via emulation these days.
@@HaydenTheHistorian I think it could have easily been released overseas. I'm sure there would have been a few changes here and there, but that would would have made it no different then many other games released back then.
Right? It bothers me when people call games like that an RPG. It's an action game with a tiny twist of RPG flavor. But it's still an action game. There's no leveling, no HP, no numerical stats, you power up through the collection of items rather than battle, etc. Zelda is not an RPG, Star Tropics is not an RPG. If they are, then so is Megaman X.
Destiny of an Emperor is my favorite NES game, and one of my favorite games period. It's got a cult following with some very polished ROM hacks which tell the story from a different Three-Kingdoms perspective.
retluoc Nier Automata actually has A LOT of similarities with Guardian Legend. Judging by the success of that game, and the current successes of retro style games, I think the market is there.
@@Hereticbliss322 Looked it up, got a sense of deja vu... but yes, that game's play style is similar to how I envisioned the modern/reboot style. It's been a year, but I think someone mentioned that game before, that or another very similar game.
retluoc I think the potential story for Guardian Legend is cool too. The whole “if you’re reading this then I’m already dead...” thing was really interesting and I feel like there’s a very rich world just waiting to be imagined there.
I had a lucid dream about this game some 5 years ago. They were obscured memories from a childhood experience coming back to me. I remembered playing a game that a former friend lent me, where you play as a cyborg going around solving puzzles and leveling up equipment, and randomly you morph into a fighter ship that fights from an eagle eye perspective against enemies and bosses Gradius style. I always thought this memory was some kind of embellishment of a gaming experience, if not completely made up. After my dream, I woke up and started googling “nes game where you fight as robot and turn into ship...” hahaha! Never thought it would work, but I bought the game on eBay that day for just a few bucks. Dreams are a very strange phenomenon.
TOP 10 NES RPG quotes to put on the box covers: #10: "It's not actually an RPG." #9: "Dragon Warrior 2 knockoff" #7: "It's like, why bother?" #5: "It's ungodly hard." #3: "The game is infamously difficult. It is ridiculous." #2: "If you look at these three games, they all have the exact same graphics." #1: "It's the definition of basic." 👍
I like all of these, but I'd like to give a shout out to Magic of Scheherezade. Part Zelda and part...I'm not sure there was another game like it at the time on the turn-based aspect. It allowed you to hire mercenaries to use for fodder, included party combos and had a pretty expansive collection of party members by NES standards. The world felt big, though in going back to it, it's more compact than it seemed to childhood me. The middle eastern setting also gave it a unique flavor. It's one that's always stuck with me and would make my own top 10.
*Isfa and his companions combined their powers to use the Moniburn! *Enemies turn into tiny rocket ships and fly away.* Man, that game was an absolute treat.
Back in the mid 90s, I remember watching my mother try for 15-20 minutes to destroy my first Playstation memory card as a punishment for something I said/did (can't remember what). That memory card was a beast, she tried breaking it by hand, then tried slamming it with a door. She eventually found my stepdad's hammer and after a minute or two whacking at it finally broke it. I wasn't even upset at that point anymore, because she made such a fool of herself trying to break a tiny piece of plastic. Anyway, get your mom something nice for mother's day for being such a great mom.
I recently played FF2 for the first time last week and really enjoyed grinding stats as a change of pace. Legitimately had a blast playing through it. I think the abundance of hate towards the game only served to pleasantly suprise me with how underrated I find it to be.
Hey david. Been trying dragon quest 3. Its definitely different than modern rpgs. Really heavy encounter rate and im kinda lost in the first dungeon but your videos always inspire me to keep at it
If you ever want to do a list of lesser-knowns Faria is right up there with NES RPG-type games. I'd describe it as a blend of Final Fantasy and the two Zelda games. It has a lot of that NES era quirkiness to it.
I had a lucid dream about this game some 5 years ago. They were obscured memories from a childhood experience coming back to me. I remembered playing a game that a former friend lent me, where you play as a cyborg going around solving puzzles and leveling up equipment, and randomly you morph into a fighter ship that fights from an eagle eye perspective against enemies and bosses Gradius style. I always thought this memory was some kind of embellishment of a gaming experience, if not completely made up. After my dream, I woke up and started googling “nes game where you fight as robot and turn into ship...” hahaha! Never thought it would work, but I bought the game on eBay that day for just a few bucks. Dreams are a very strange phenomenon.
I think FF2 is better than FF1. More interesting story and the battle system is fine if you know what you're doing, and it's not that complicated. But play the PS1 remake, where they fixed some of the major flaws that were on both games.
The PSP/Android remakes were good too, albeit a bit too easy where the stat gains had no decreases whatsoever. Got a bit easy to overpower yourself if you know what you're doing
II is definitely my favorite Final Fantasy until VI and I love the stat growth system. Saga/Final Fantasy Legend II was my first Squaresoft RPG, and by far my favorite of the first three JRPGs I owned (Dragon Quest/Warrior II, Saga/Final Fantasy Legend II, and Final Fantasy I) so I'll always have a soft spot for it. Plus I've always hated how in many JRPGs stat growth is determined by the computer with no player input.
I want to clarify in #5, Ninten's Game did finally gets localized to the West around in 2015 and ported to the Wii U Virtual Console as EarthBound Beginnings.
Not a bad list, just missing Sweet Home. I would have swapped Star Tropics for it (not that Star Tropics is bad by any means but I don't really consider it to be an RPG) and put it at number 3 or even 2, either behind or ahead of Final Fantasy.
Im looking for ones in which you can choose what to increase, like strenght or vitality, like Diablo 2, Seiken Denketsu 3, Robot Taisen OG, or that you can customize your characters like Final Fantasy 5 or Tactics. I know FF2 and FF3 are like these (FF1 too, a bit), and Downtown Special, but which else? I also like Captain Tsubasa 2 but cheating, replacing players by others. I like to try things, like using the characters who have more HP or using only a type of attack (Romancing Saga SNES). Thanks for giving me info!
Great list! I found your Silva Saga guide on GameFAQs. Did you write any others for any of the games on the list? There were several on here that I've never heard of that I'm going to make an effort to play at some point. When I play Silva Saga I'll refer to your guide. It looks like it got a sequel on the Super Famicom as well that might be worth a look.
Great list David. But I believe there is one game that everyone seems to just miss or overlook. Easily one of the best games on the NES. The Legacy of the Wizard. Holy Hell this game is awesome. Amazing music, wonderful dungeon design. I love how simple the story is as well. I don't wanna ruin it, but if you manage to beat this game. You'll be rewarded and understand why it's so freaking awesome. I realize it is a platformer, but there are tons of RPG elements so it's a weird hybrid. Faxanadu is also a great RPG/Sidescroller as well, though it's learning curve is challenging for some players.
Star Tropics! A Zelda like game with yoyo as main weapon! Love it! Silva Saga, looks like FF one lol! Never heard so far some of these games. Number 3! Crystalis! Fun game! Storyline was good! Now we getting to somewhere with FF! Dragon Worries series! hmm. I can see that topping FF because for NES there a lot more series. Of course at that time, no one knew about other FF series that was over seas. So I can see how Number one game is number one on this list!
Without a doubt Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy are best, but? Dude....I thought I was like one of the only people to own Crystalis and Guardian Legend! Man....I still have their music playing on my playlists at 40 years of age. I wish they would remake them. Loved Star Tropics too! Owned all of these except Earth Bound 1 :-/ but played the modded one later on in my 30's! Excellent game.
Some of you may want to consider Ultima: Quest of the Avatar (NES), Ultima III: Exodus (NES), or one of the other games in the series spanning NES, Sega Master System, SNES, Gameboy, Playstation, Apple, and PC.
Got to say Dragon Warrior on the NES series is at the top of my list of RPGs of ALL TIME. Surprised to hear the reviewer give such a luke warm thumbs up to Dragon Warrior IV. DW III is great, but IV has a great story, fantastic music (best of ANY Nes game), insane character development (you actually CARE about each party member), and the biggest city in the world has a casino with fun mini games. I really enjoyed the chapter system, btw. Everything else you said about the series I agree with except I believe, even though DW III did a couple of things better than IV, Dragon Warrior IV is superior to III when you add it all up
I kind of feel like River City Ransom belongs on a list like this. I know it's more of a beat-em-up but it had some really cool RPG elements that me and my friends loved.
Great list! No Ghost Lion? I guess that would b #1 if we were talking cover art lol. I’m dying to try some of those unreleased games. I’ve got the Hercules game imports but still need to patch them. What I did play I really liked. Keep up the good work.
I'm always happy to see Earthbound Zero get some love on RU-vid. As rough around the edges as it was compared to Earthbound, it still had so much heart for an NES game, especially an NES RPG. If you ask me, what makes it so special is how Shigesato Itoi wasn't even a game designer; he was just someone who thought of a great story, and found that a JRPG would be the best way to tell that story. As someone who started his online social life on Earthbound fan sites, finally seeing an official Western release for it was unbelievable, and I'm so glad that the game's available to people who aren't aware of - or avoid - emulation.
Here’s hoping some of these show up for Nintendo online. I was so excited to see DQ 1-3 on Switch but then I’m like awww, it’s the mobile ports. You raised my hopes and dashed them quickly.
Dude!! That story about Crystalis, your mom is awesome. I remember how mi dad gave me a few unknown games back in the day, like simon's quest, timelord and much more games, that were not sold in my country (Chile). He worked abroad so he bought games that were cheaper outside, but it was cool, becouse if it wasnt for him, i would not know of their existence.
just looked up dragon warrior 4 on ebay.. reminds me of earthbound in how they are both 10x as expensive as i remember them being before YT. I always thought it was AVGN that really influenced the stark increase in prices in cartridge games, but im not so sure anymore.
Dragon Warrior really dominated the NES. All four games are fantastic classics. Shame it was a generation too early as JRPGs really took off in the SNES era which Dragon Quest was totally absent on outside of Japan. Especially considering that Dragon Quest V is one of the greatest JRPGs ever made. That game getting released in the west during the SNES era could have totally changed the fortunes of the series outside of Japan.
DESTINY of an EMPEROR(capcom wow) and crystalis(snk wow) 2 of my favorite games of all time. DESTINY actually had a japan only sequel. Do a strategy game video (nobunagas ambition) we played that for hrs on the weekends
I had a lucid dream about this game some 5 years ago. They were obscured memories from a childhood experience coming back to me. I remembered playing a game that a former friend lent me, where you play as a cyborg going around solving puzzles and leveling up equipment, and randomly you morph into a fighter ship that fights from an eagle eye perspective against enemies and bosses Gradius style. I always thought this memory was some kind of embellishment of a gaming experience, if not completely made up. After my dream, I woke up and started googling “nes game where you fight as robot and turn into ship...” hahaha! Never thought it would work, but I bought the game on eBay that day for just a few bucks. Dreams are a very strange phenomenon.
I had a lucid dream about Guardian Legend game some 5 years ago. They were obscured memories from a childhood experience coming back to me. I remembered playing a game that a former friend lent me, where you play as a cyborg going around solving puzzles and leveling up equipment, and randomly you morph into a fighter ship that fights from an eagle eye perspective against enemies and bosses Gradius style. I always thought this memory was some kind of embellishment of a gaming experience, if not completely made up. After my dream, I woke up and started googling “nes game where you fight as robot and turn into ship...” hahaha! Never thought it would work, but I bought the game on eBay that day for just a few bucks. Dreams are a very strange phenomenon.
I had the same obsession over a Game called Double Dungeons. Could not for the life of me for 20 YEARS OF SEARCHING figure out the title of the game... Then my bro got a retro pi and I went into tg16 stuff and just messed around in some the games listed .. 12 games in, I freaked out as a 35 year old because by then I mostly gave up and it felt like the second coming of Jesus and that I wasnt mad. .. I only played double dungeons as a kid for a total of 30 minutes.. .. .. And it was because the mom was selling their Nintendo for a 'better system'.
Jonathon Kociuba, great story! I have also been searching for a certain turbo graphix game I can’t recall the name of, and which was sold by my brother to make way for another console. Maybe it has secretly been double dungeons this whole time and you are an instrument of fate!
I'm loving mother. I had completed 3 just recently and I had gotten close to the end in 2 before my save file corrupted so I had to give 1 a try. It made me want to check some other really old rpgs out. Thanks.
Joseph Jones, Zelda II was epically more difficult with respect to it’s battle mechanics, so it garners more hatred than it deserves. I look at it as a great experiment that added tons to the music, weaponry and magic, and lore that would drive the franchise to even greater levels via future entries. The temple theme is easily one of my favorite video game songs.
@@jordanwoods728 I don't know how this happened but I actually played Zelda 2 before Zelda 1. My family (it was very much a family affair as I was only 6 years old when we bought an NES) bought Zelda 2 and we all played the hell out of it and I know I eventually defeated it, just like Ninja Gaiden and Wizards and Warriors, despite the difficulty. That didn't keep me from loving Zelda 1 or disparaging it when I later played it at a friends house. I'm sure I was surprised at the different game mechanics, but I still loved it, just like Zelda 2, and could tell it was quality.
Great to see this update! Startropics is one of my favourite games; I replay it once a year. Couldn’t agree more about Dragon Warrior at the top of the list.
Sigma Star Saga is for GBA btw. Never played it. Just looked it up after you mentioned it. Looks good. edit: your mom is awesome for finding a way to get you that game.
@@Strider86x Battle of Olympus was a terribly underrated game. I see it as an early metroidvania before the genre came to be. Great games are ahead of the curve.
I have such love for StarTropics. I got it as a gift for Christmas 1991 and loved it. I still remember being so happy that I had the foresight to save that letter!
... Heracles. Hercules is the Roman name for the mythical characters Also it's still amusing to me that Nintendo actually went and bought the rights to the series only to botch the attempted revival
Some thoughts on this video: - Destiny of an Emperor is one of my top 5 games that Capcom ever made. I have played it through and beaten it 3 times and have considered doing so again. It to me was an absolute gem and I love the historical time period it takes place in. - I would classify Guardian Legend as an action RPG and its fantastic. The fact its also a shooter just gives that game so much charm. I loved that game as a kid and have played it since, honestly, its still just as fun but I have become terrible at the shooter sections haha - Crystalis was so hard for me and cryptic as a kid that I tried probably 6 or 7 times to really play the game and just kept getting lost on what to do or angry at the gameplay. It deserves a lot of historical credit, but it had me pulling my hair out at times and I never was able to ever get that far into it. - When I was a kid and found out there were 2 Final Fantasy's we didn't get it blew my mind. In recent years I played 2 and frankly regretted it, just awful. I started 3 and thought it was a huge improvement but did not beat it and one day I will go back to it. Awesome list, very nostalgic for me!
Startropics is great, but I'm not sure I'd call it an RPG. Great choices here, nonetheless. I'd never heard of Just Breed, either, so thanks for the tip!
Thank you for making me aware of some hidden Japanese gems I didn’t know about. Subbed. And knowing you enjoyed destiny of an emperor tells me you have good taste.
I played and beat Mother 1 (Earthbound) two years ago, and I didn't find it confusing at all. I was never stuck, except once late in the game, where you have to find some random tree or stone (I don't remember). You simply know that, if you find overpowered enemies, you're not supposed to go there yet. It's a tough game, but it already has the charm of SNES Earthbound. I also love many of the games in your list: Startropics, The Guardian Legend, Final Fantasy (especially the third one). Actually the job-based FF are my favorite. FF5 is definitely my favorite on the SNES. As for Dragon Warrior, I only played part 3, but didn't beat it. I think it was just too long and it dragged too much. I was frustrated when, after getting the airship late in the game, I was forced to go to another map and use a boat again.
Madara was also a really solid nes rpg. I'm waiting for that game snes sequel's fantranslation to be completed to be able to play it as well. But, for me, the best nes rpg is Juvei Quest. If you haven't played it yet, do it. It's like a prototype to the snes Super Shell Monsters Story games, with the same system of calling "helpers" to do some tasks for you, such as deciphering old ruins, scouting the surrounding area, etc. And it has a fairly good story with some plot twists and story branchings for some party characters. I eagerly recommend every retro jrpg fan to try it
