Japanese role-playing games, or JRPGcan be incredibly polarizing; Players either love them or hate them. There are plenty of reasons for this – they’re often long, dialogue-heavy affairs, with playstyles that some find tedious – but sometimes, finding a JRPG worthy of a player’s investment of time requires going out beaten paths.

The titans of the JRPG genre — Fantasy Finale, Pokémon, Fire Emblem — are well known and loved by many, but there are many classic games — both standalone titles and entries in modestly sized series — that go unnoticed and underappreciated by the general gaming public. Whether they were overshadowed upon release or simply took risks that defied player expectations, these underrated gems are diamonds in the rough, waiting for the daring gamer to pick them up and give them a chance .

10 Lunar Legend is a pragmatic port of a 90s classic

A fluid and portable version of Lunar

It’s hard not to love a well-made portable carry. After several iterations across many different game formats, the story and characters of Lunar: The Silver Star Story Complete was ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2002 under the name Lunar legend.

Although the story may seem somewhat of a trope by today’s standards, Lunar legend is full of entertaining, beautifully designed characters, a classic turn-based combat system, and a world that players – and the game’s developers – love to return to again and again. THE Lunar the series has a sprawling history across multiple consoles, but Lunar legend was the entry that best struck the balance between questioning the system’s hardware capabilities and extending previous iterations of its story.

9 Golden Sun is a pioneering portable series that demands a sequel worthy of the name

These games proved that Camelot was a remarkable developer

Sometimes a series is underrated, not because of a lack of entries or popularity, but because of a lack of appreciation of its impact. At the time of its releaseGolden Sun was one of the few Game Boy Advance RPGs not tied in some way to an existing franchise.

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Similar to Fantasy Finale And The Legend of Zelda series, the golden sun The games have been praised for their soundtracks, hardware-stretching graphics, and memorable approach to exploration and puzzle-solving, but what makes the series notable is the way it inspired players and critics to sit up and take note of what the Game Boy Advance was capable of. The DS continuation of the seriesGolden sun: Dark dawn, may have received a mixed reception from critics, but Camelot has a fantastic foundation on which to expand the series, should they choose to do so.

golden sun

Captivating and engaging, golden sun is the perfect game for anyone looking for a game that will keep you glued to it for its duration. This game has an interesting narrative and exciting challenges. You will love it!

golden sun has an overarching narrative around which all the characters revolve, as well as wonderful adventure and puzzle solving. However, there are subplots throughout the game. These subplots provide relief from the main plot and build on the main narrative.

As the player character, Isaac, you will experience the gripping narrative at the forefront.

As in traditional RPG formats, you will form a band of characters in golden sun. Thus, Isaac goes through the game with three companions. All three have unique roles and offer specific advantages in the grand scheme of the game.

There are different worlds in the game. Each world exposes you to new challenges and different landscapes. These different worlds ensure you stay interested throughout the game while maintaining its novelty.

As you progress through the game, you unlock new powers. These powers are useful for completing challenges and solving puzzles in the game. The powers are presented as magical spells that serve as weapons and shields.

Franchise

golden sun

Platform(s)

Game Boy Advance

Released

November 12, 2001

Developer(s)

Camelot Software Planning

Multiplayer

Local multiplayer

Engine

GSHTML5

ESRB

e

Release

2001-11-12

Develop

8 Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth is a charming spin-off with an iconic soundtrack

A potpourri of gameplay mechanics from Atlus

THE Shin Megami Tensei series, and by extension, the Character the series has more than its fair share of devotees, but the Person Q games, which owe much of their aesthetic and gameplay sensibilities to Atlus Etrian Odyssey series, have received remarkably less fanfare than their mainline counterparts.

A spin-off of a spin-offPersona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth imagine a sort of What If scenario: what if the protagonists of Character 3 And Character 4 were gathered to face a new, unknown threat? The result: a dungeon-mapping, skill-testing RPG with the most iconic theme song this side of Character 5It is “Life will change.” The game’s sometimes overwhelming difficulty may put off some players, but PQ, and its 2018 sequel, Persona Q2: new cinematic mazeare worth it.

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth

Platform(s)

Nintendo 3DS

Released

November 25, 2014

Developer(s)

Atlus

Editor(s)

Atlus

ESRB

m

How long to beat

60 hours

Develop

7 Dragon Warrior Monsters is a monster fighter with a legendary pedigree

A great gateway to the Dragon Quest series

In 2000, the first game of Dragon Quest Monsters Series (known as Dragon Warrior Monsters in the United States) was released for the Game Boy Color with a pocket-sized rival monster awaiting it: Pokémon Red and Blue. Many considered the game a knockoff at the time. However, many elements determine Dragon Warrior Monsters outside of Game Freak’s flagship franchise.

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Arguably more of a dungeon exploration game than a monster catching game, Dragon Warrior Monsters uses monster designs from the Dragon Quest series to fantastic effect and challenges players to create unique and powerful party compositions to defeat dungeon bosses and rise through the ranks in the arena. If it weren’t for his own decades-long line of predecessors, Dragon Warrior Monsters may have been lost in obscurity, but when it comes to underrated gems of the Game Boy Color, this game is hard to beat.

A dynamic adventure with endearing visuals

When a game has Grasshopper Manufacture on the box, it’s hard not to notice. Contact, a DS RPG from the developer behind More heroes And Killer7, is somewhat of an oddity. Although her aesthetic falls squarely on the side of adorable, Contactgameplay design is similar to Western RPGs as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, with notes of RuneScape blend.

Each of a player’s skills, from fighting to fishing to walking, has its own level and can gain experience simply by navigating the world of Contact. This adds an exciting dynamism to the gaming experience, as improving skills mid-battle can quickly turn the tide in more difficult fights. Few JRPGs since have taken this approach to character progression, but Contact serves as a shining example of what is possible when developers are willing to learn from their competitors.

5 THE The Baten Kaitos series is a card fighter’s dream adventure

This franchise plays its cards with finesse

Card battle RPGs get a bad rap, but those from 2003 Baten Kaitos: The Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (and by extension, its 2006 prequel, Origins of Baten Kaito) demonstrates what’s possible when a developer takes the concept of “maps” and extends it to every aspect of a game’s world.

Baten Kaitos offers an imaginative fantasy adventure with beautiful pre-rendered environments and a new card-driven combat system – and its card-based design isn’t just a novelty; The widespread use of cards opens up a lot of space for puzzle and quest design outside of combat. With the recent release of Baten Kaitos I and II HD Remastered on Switch and Steam, there’s never been a better time to discover (or revisit) these hidden gems.

Baten Kaitos I and II HD Remastered

Franchise

Baten Kaitos

Platform(s)

Nintendo Switch, PC

Released

September 14, 2023

Developer(s)

Bandai Namco Entertainment, Logicalbeat Co ltd, Monolith Soft, tri-Crescendo

Editor(s)

Bandai Namco Entertainment

ESRB

T for Teens // Fantasy Violence, Mildly Suggestive Themes, Mild Language, Mild Blood

Develop

4 Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 is a diabolical duology full of character

A poignant and bloody story that lends heart and soul to Shin Megami Tensei

Before the Character the series exploded onto the scene again in 2006 with Character 3THE Digital Devil Saga the games represented a shift in Atlus’ sensibility, away from the dark and punishing Shin Megami Tensei III and towards a character-centered and only slightly less difficult approach.

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With a combat system built around exploiting enemy weaknesses while ensuring your party of half-demon fighters avoids hunger-based madness, the Digital Devil Saga the games are full of elements that make them more accessible than the mainline Shin Megami Tensei games, while providing challenges for veterans of the series. From an energetic, rock-infused soundtrack to a remarkable cast of protagonists and antagonists, this pair of underrated masterpieces deserve more time in the spotlight.

3 The World Ends With You is a multi-screen masterpiece, perfect for its platform

Square Enix and the crown jewel of the Nintendo DS

The world ends with you I finally got a sequel in 2021 NEO: The world ends with you, but in 2007, TWEWY was the original little Nintendo DS game that could. Fans of Tetsuya Nomura’s stylized character designs and intricate stories know that these are features, not bugs, and The world ends with you is indeed a brilliant design achievement for the Nintendo DS.

Utilizing all aspects of the DS’s distinctive hardware, The world ends with you demonstrates a design innovation that few games have matched since – making it difficult to port effectively to other consoles. It didn’t stop Square-Enixwhich has ported enhanced remakes of the Shibuya adventure to mobile devices as well as the Nintendo Switch, but none of these versions compare to the gaming experience of the DS original.

2 Lost Odyssey is an ambitious and far-reaching adventure

A timeless and emotional saga supported by legendary staging and composition

After a rich career as a director and creator of Fantasy Finale series, Hironobu Sakaguchi left Square to start a new studio, Mistwalker, which has been responsible for a handful of modern RPG classics. One of these titles was Lost Odysseya vast Xbox 360 RPG considered by many to be “the true Final Fantasy XIII”.

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Lost Odyssey warrants these comparisons due to its gorgeous visuals and memorable cast of heroes and villains, but beyond these pitfalls it also delivers one of the most moving stories of its time. A key ingredient to the game’s success is its Thousand Years of Dreams, musically accompanied side stories that could easily stand alone, but which beautifully enhance our understanding of the game’s immortal protagonists. Sakaguchi has stated that he had little interest in bringing Lost Odyssey to modern consoles, but it’s a JRPG that shouldn’t be lost to time.

1 The Last Story is the swan song of a system, impeccably performed

A brilliant RPG that deserves a second look

The last story never really received his due because the Wii’s swan song RPGlargely because his biggest rival for this title was the hugely popular Xenoblade Chronicles. However, in an era where gaming time is limited, The last story earns its place among underrated JRPGs due to its compact story, compelling characters, and a combat system that, while it sometimes stumbles in terms of control, never has the chance to become stale.

The last story doesn’t have random battles, but the way combat evolves over the game’s 20-30 hours makes the gaming experience satisfying and addictive – and luckily, the game’s online multiplayer mode offers players even more chances of entering the fray. As the title suggests, a sequel to the game is unlikely, but The last story will impact any player who gives him a chance.

The last story

Platform(s)

Wii

Released

August 14, 2012

Developer(s)

Mistwalker, AQ Interactive

Editor(s)

Nintendo, XSEED Games

Multiplayer

Local multiplayer

ESRB

T Suitable for teens due to language, mildly suggestive themes, alcohol use, violence

Develop