IGN - Why the SNES is the King of RPGs

IGN - The Super Nintendo may even surpass the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 in terms of role-playing goodness. Here's why.

[xX-StolenSoul-Xx]

Snes is the days where i first played a RPG....

First game i ever played was FF IV and i loved Rpg from then on, my Favorite Rpg was actually played on the Snes and is in my opinion the best Final Fantasy Storywise... FF 6 :)

[dark-hollow]

Chrono trigger.
That title alone is better than all the jrpgs released this gen.

[xX-StolenSoul-Xx]

I've enjoyed Chrono Trigger as well :)

[oli]

i was too little to read, so i didn't enjoy rpg's that soon. :/

[Sexius Maximus]

I beat Chrono for like the 10th time about six months ago. I just beat Secret of Mana about a week ago for the fifth time. FF6/III again about a year ago. SNES is truly the RPG king. The only reason there would disagrees is because there are a lot of young gamers that never had the 16 bit experience. (Segas Phantasy Stars were awesome too)

[Army_of_Darkness]

The ps1 is the king of rpg's still! And always will be. Final fantasy 7-8, xenogears, chrono cross and vagrant story just to name a few.

[Peaceful_Jelly]

My first RPG was FFI but it wasn't until Illusion of Gaia that I came to really like RPG's. I just bought the game because I liked the box-art but then even my best friends (they were brothers and my neighbors) that hated RPG's got hooked with it and we all played it together until the very end.

The game was so mysterious and intriguing we couldn't help it. It was around 1996-97 and we were like 12 years old but we could beat it because the game came with its own guide-book. Then we tried FFVI but it wasn't the same because the game was much slower paced with its turn-based battle system, too much talking and then it lacked the wonderful puzzles of Gaia.

I still remember when we got to this boss like if it were yesterday, we were so hyped it was crazy: http://www.terraearth.com/w...

[flyingmunky]

Cool.

I just beat Illusion of Gaia the other day, excellent game. I finally killed the jeweler gem guy after like 15 years. Also since I had a turbo button the ending was even good again, stupid text speed...

[MrKingofVideoGames]

I am playing through Gaia again right now; just got past the diamond mines... gonna replay FF3 (6) next and the Chrono trigger and Cross. FF3 was the first RPG I ever played (outside of Zelda 1) and I sure miss the 1990's RPG's. To me Norrath, Elder Scrolls and the like just don't hold my interest as much as the older games did. I know there are tons of people who love the newer ones (KOTOR, Mass Effect, etc.) but they are just not my thing.

[lastdual]

My first was Dragon Warrior, but it wasn't until the SNES that I really fell in love with the genre. FF6 is still my favorite of that era, followed closely by Chrono Trigger.

Unfortunately, I haven't felt that addictive grip that JRPGs used to have for a long time. Maybe if NOA would bring over Xenoblade...

[Son_Lee]

Chrono Trigger, Breath of Fire II, Illusion of Gaia, Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, Final Fantasy III. The list goes on and on. SNES is my favorite system of all time, not just for RPGs.

[Peaceful_Jelly]

The true king of RPG's is the PS1. The PSX not only has enhanced ports of all the FF games but it has Chrono Trigger and other stuff too like: the Lunar series, Grandia, Parasite Eve, FFVII, Suikoden, Valkyrie Profile, Alundra and Persona series. And then there's the likes of Xenogears...

The Snes doesn't stand a chance against the PS1. Sorry.

[wumster]

While you name some relevant series, I think for most people, the SNES introduced them to rpg's. For me, the SNES was a great rpg machine because that was where I played my first one and fell in love with the genre.

The PSX has some great ones also, FF IX being my favorite. I don't think you are wrong in what you state, but the SNES did some great things for the rpg genre.

[Hicken]

But that doesn't make it King. Like Tzunoy said, the SNES is the Father of rpgs, but the king would have to go to either the PS1 or PS2. Not only did they both- especially the PS2- have massively large libraries in the genre, but there were also dozens of great titles.

[Odion]

Gradia 1 sucked though, Grandia 2 was the standout title of that series, and you can't give props to the system because it had ports of SNES titles.

[clrlite]

I haven't completed ff6 or chrono trigger yet. On which device should I try to play them. I know there is a version of Chrono Trigger available for DS, and all these different versions that are supposedly slightly different of the FF games, but which would provide me with the best experience?

Breath of fire 4 just popped up on the Playstation Store, I plan to pick that up ASAP.

[MrKingofVideoGames]

Since you have a PS3, you could get the PS1 Final Fantasy Chronicles and Anthology for around ten bucks each. Then you have both those games plus 2 more!

[pain777pas]

PS1 had almost every great SNES RPG and its own series like Legaia, Dragoon, F Saga, Arc the lad, Alundra, Suikoden, FFT, Xeonogears, Parasite Eve, Grandia, and new iterations of every SNES franchise like FF, Chrono Cross etc..

[Tzuno]

Snes is the Father of Rpg's

[Hicken]

Calling it the king is going a bit far, but it DID do a lot to make them popular. I would say either the PS1 or PS2 was king, most likely the latter.

[Tzuno]

yes ps1 and 2 were cool because of the new technology but the snes is the platform that started all. here is my collection for snes emulator:

Dragon Quest III
Dual Orb II
Treasure Hunter G
Bahamut Lagoon
Breath of Fire
Breath of Fire II
Chrono Trigger
Dragon Quest VI
Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy V
Illusion of Gaia
Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past
Lufia & The Fortress of Doom
Lufia II - Rise of the Sinistrals
Romancing SaGa 3
Rudra no Hihou(Treasure of the Rudras)
Secret of Evermore
Secret of Mana
Seiken Densetsu 3
Star Ocean
Super Mario RPG
Tales of Phantasia
Terranigma

There are more but those are the best for the snes.

And here for PS1:

Arc the Lad
Arc the Lad II
Arc the Lad III
Beyond The Beyond
Breath of Fire 3
Breath of Fire 4
Castlevania - Symphony of the Night
Chrono Cross
Dragon Warrior 7
Eternal Eyes
Final Fantasy Anthology
Final Fantasy Chronicles
Grandia
Legend of Dragoon
Legend of Mana
Lunar - Silver Star Story
Lunar 2 - Eternal Blue
Rhapsody - A Musical Adventure
Saga Frontier
Saga Frontier 2
Star Ocean - Second Story
Suikoden
Suikoden 2
Tales of Destiny
Tales of Destiny 2
Thousand Arms
Vagrant Story
Wild Arms
Wild Arms 2
FF 7 8 9
Legend of Legaia etc.

For Ps2 i wait for a good emulator in the future.

[CrzyFooL]

FF6, Chrono Trigger, nuff said

[jon1234]

there are no kings... only opinions

[fr00ty-wizenhymer]

well said. Although my opinion would be PC as the best, maybe because I don't enjoy JRPGs as much. But the Playstation and SNES would defiantly be tied as my second.

[HeavenlySnipes]

The ps1 holds that. Chrono Trigger AND Cross. All the best FF games (ffxii is my fav though) and gems like legend of dragoon, vagrant story...digimon world...

[Father Murder X]

Chrono Trigger is in a class by itself. It took me months to beat that game. I find it funny that the RPG's of the 16bit era offer more longevity and better in depth story than any of the drivel that they release today of any genre. These young bucks have no idea what they missed out on. Man Chrono Trigger was a damn good game.

[flyingmunky]

I think internet strategy guides and faqs basically killed the difficultly in video games in this era. Imagine if back in the day anytime you got stuck in an area you could download a map online, or if you got stuck on a boss you could watch the youtube video.

Although I also think games in general have become much easier too. At any rate, play demon's souls, as its a nod to old school difficultly.

[White-Sharingan]

Though it's not the king of RPG's, a surprising console that does have a lot of JRPG's is the PSP (again, I'm not stating the PSP is the king, but it's a ver good platform where JRPGs are found)

[manaxknight1]

dont forget 7th saga, and the jap imports like bahamut lagoon ff5 treasure hunter g, seiken densetsu 3...i also think because I had more time to play rpgs, the snes stands out as THE rpg King

[Kos-Mos]

Two reasons:
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy VI

[Chrono]

PS1 > SNES > everything else