Retro RPGs that Still ROCK in 2024!

[@smallmj2886]

My first RPG was Tunnels of Doom on the TI99/4A. It was a fantastic CRPG with a procedurally generated dungeon. It had auto mapping in 1982, first person navigation, and third person turn based combat. I still remember the excitement of finding a honing stone to increase weapon damage.

[@mccallosone4903]

yeah me too. it was awesome, way ahead of its time. can totally see the influence on the ssi gold box dnd games gameplay. you can download a free emulator and play it on pc

[@mccallosone4903]

yeah me too. they have it for free on an emulator you can download

[@JuanDLink]

My favourite RPG and the best non-Zelda game ever for me is Ogre Battle 64 A Person of Lordly Caliber. It is a perfect game for me, everytime Nintendo has released I buy it again and I spend more than 100 hours everytime I play it.

[@chipgarrett3139]

My first was Dragon Warrior on NES. God I wish I had kept better track of that game, manual and box. Then it was Final Fantasy. I was lucky to start on two of the best ever.

[@brentknoth875]

Shining Force was the first game I fell in love with back in the day. I loved it so much I shoveled rocks for an entire summer so my dad would buy me shining force 2 when it came out😅

[@chipgarrett3139]

@@brentknoth875 shining force was awesome.

[@pharmcat8484]

12:46 that looks like the guy from SoulBlazer

[@RetrocartCollector]

Love me a Retro RPG! I just recently picked up Paper Mario on the 64 and fell in love with it! I wish I hadn’t been a silly teenager when it first came out, back then I thought “Paper Mario? What’s with that?”. I now regret that I missed out all these years. It’s so good! Can’t wait to play the other ones.

[@OrcOfOrchestra]

A thousand Year door in super paper Mario on the Wii are so good

[@pharmcat8484]

Earthbound is one of those games I keep going back to. To me it’s part of the Top RPG Trinity on the SNES, alongside Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6.

[@johnrandell4794]

Some really great pics here. Definitely refreshed my memory on some of these. It’s interesting to see how people experience classic games differently; ie Lunar my first experience was on Sega CD , there’s a bit of a difference between the two but both are great!

[@RetroRivals]

Such a great list! You had me with Skies of Arcadia. Scott would totally appreciate the addition of Lunar as well. Oh and he just finished playing EarthBound.... I'll leave it at that 😊 Oh and if I could only shout out one retro RPG, i gotta go Koudelka.

[@GeeqShuq77]

Great video. Some of my favorite retro RPGs are Grandia/Grandia II, Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IX which is my favorite FF game of all the ones I have played. I did get Chrono Cross for the Switch and what I have played I have really enjoyed as well.

[@gallioearthmage]

I love games that showcase supporting cast, instead of just 'the hero and some other guys'. Dragon Quest IV has always been one of my favorites because of that. The way you talk about Suikoden II makes me want to finally give it a shot!

[@mjdf122]

I have every RPG from 1980-Now what a life of gaming throughout the decades I have every console as well as tons of games I enjoy the RPG genre thanks Square Pegs/Jay

[@elvenatheart982]

Found out about the Snes this week and let's just say I'm browsing the Web for as many as possible rn😂😂

[@retrowildlands]

Always love when Skies of Arcadia gets some love. Its one of my favorite retro RPGs and one that helped shape my tastes in games! Would love a remaster of this...

[@retrogaminghippie3720]

Retro gaming hippie approves! Fantastic production. Questron on C64 was my first RPG,followed by the gold box games. After that, never got into them again until the PS1/2 generation. I recommend the shadowhearts series.

[@MackenziePerrault]

Who?

[@khreativa]

One of the OG game categories - text-based RGPs started it all!

[@oodaloopc9725]

I played Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance through two or three times...even used the cheat code to play as Drizzt. "Sneaky as a Drow!" Great video.

[@DrinkGameswithJosh]

Great video Jay! I love a good RPG too but am ashamed to say I have actually only ever played one of these games. I do own two others though and should get off my butt and get too them. Love Paper Mario and I had only recently heard about Mario Tennis on GBC having RPG elements. Who woulda known. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@chrishensley5384]

Yes! Both of the Dark Alliance games on the OG Xbox were so fun.

[@Owazrim]

I have a friend who has kept at me to play through Skies of Arcadia. I keep tell him I'll get around to it but the time sink is really offputting. I had a lot of fun with BGDA on the GC. It was fun and straight forward. The OG shining force is still one of my favorite games. The GBA version has some nice QoL improvements too.

[@pharmcat8484]

I was waiting for you to mention Suikoden. Tease.

[@voteDC]

When it comes to Lunar the Silver Star my favourite version is the one released for the PSP and that's because I played it first. I've tried to go back to the Mega-CD and Saturn/PS1 versions but there's just so many little quality of life tweaks with the PSP version that it makes going back to the older versions difficult. I really do want to play the PS1 version through for the visual consistency with Eternal Blue. I really would recommend if people have never played the Lunar series to start with the Mega-CD version, simply because then they can experience how the game matured. My favourite retro RPG is actually 3, the Shining Force III trilogy. The first was amazing and for years it was the only one of the three I got to play but thanks to the awesome translation project I finally got to import my story across into the other two parts and finish the trilogy.

[@GenerationPixel]

You had me at RPG 😂 i do hope Skies gets a remaster or port at the least. I can't wait for the Lunar remaster coming to current systems. I really need to sit down with Earthbound. Chrono Cross is sitting on my backlog 🤷‍♂️ There are a few Sport RPGs, and totally approve 👌 Suikoden 2 for the win 🏆 ❤ Great video, my brother 😎👍

[@heatherharrison264]

I've been into RPGs since I first played Ultima III on my Atari 800 back in the 1980s. I stayed with the Atari 8-bit for a while and then went over to PC. I loved the Ultima series until it started to go downhill with Ultima VIII. Later, I moved on to Baldur's Gate and some of the other D&D games, and I got into the Elder Scrolls series with Daggerfall. I've never owned a console since the Atari 2600. Despite my many years with RPGs, I've never played any of the games in this video. It is an interesting reminder of just how separate the PC and console markets were for a long time. Even nowadays, Nintendo still maintains a large number of exclusives, and they seem very reluctant to port their games to other systems. There are numerous games for now-obsolete consoles that it would be nice to see brought back. Of course, one method is to look for emulators and sail the seven seas to attempt to find them, but it would be nice if they could be brought back in a more legitimate and easy-to-obtain fashion, either ported to PC or bundled with emulators, so that people can play them on modern hardware without too much difficulty.

[@cheezits3632]

The mario sports rpgs on the GBC and GBA are amazing. I wish there were more games like it to dive into (golf story was a nice homage to it a few years back)

[@TheDownrockRecordsArcade]

Skies of Arcadia got me into RPGs. I hated them before that.

[@samuelallen2831]

Earthbound took some growing on me, and it is flawed - but as I sit here now, having finished it for the first time, I realize it just cracks my top 20 of all time on SNES.

[@lindsayLLcoolgames]

FFIX was my gaming gateway drug. I'm curious - are there RPGlites? We have -lites of seemingly every other flavor... Maybe I'll look into this!

[@pharmcat8484]

Go ahead and add Crystalis in there for me.

[@SquarePegs]

100% yes

[@bianodias2000]

My first was Y’s on Master System. And after Phantasy I was sure that was for me:)

[@WoodmanFLG]

OH HELL YEAH BROTHER

[@stephenevers6097]

Kotor 1 and 2 are my favorite rpgs

[@stuartirwin8628]

Thank you for not calling 360 retro yet, making me feel old 😂

[@Livingtree32]

Wooooah Sacred Stones is so much fun and in fact still holds up so well. I could literally start a playthrough now and enjoy the hell out of it. Earthbound on the other hand has always been overrated to me. 😅

[@moandaindesigns]

You Know what I am going to say. Jay, can you guess the 3 I would mention?

[@davidsaunders5959]

Mine are Phatasty star

[@LameDadRetroGamer]

I've owned skies of arcardia for years and never played it. Also I've tried many times to play Chrono cross and the beginning is just so slow for me. I never make it past givinh kid his medicine from being poisoned

[@AndSaveAsManyAsYouCan]

Crono Cross IS NOT a sequel. It takes place in the same universe and briefly acknowledges the existence of Chrono Trigger.

[@SquarePegs]

Is it a direct sequel? No, I'll grant you that. But it's decidedly not a brief acknowledgement. There are direct and not at all subtle references to events, characters, and plot points from the original.

[@erickavery1]

​@@SquarePegsidk if think it's reasonable to call it a direct sequel. Figure chrono, Luca and marle show up as ghosts, it's basically stated that they broke time when they defeated lavos, the frozen flame is Lavos, and don't forget Kid is raised in Lucas orphanage.

[@CatFish107]

Really doesn't matter. They're both great games. Had a blast playing through them.

[@SquarePegs]

@@CatFish107 100% this. Great comment. 🧡

[@Wheels8504]

I have to be honest. I've never been an RPG fan at all. Or FPS for that matter other than GoldenEye for N64. But I'm horrible at all others. I just want to pick up a game and play it. I don't want to watch or read a story. I get bored easily. But that's just me. It's great that they make many others happy. I enjoyed your video thanks.

[@SquarePegs]

@@Wheels8504 Thanks so much for watching! What kind of games do you dig?

[@Wheels8504]

@@SquarePegs Probably not your typical answer to this. Beat-em-up, sports especially arcade style like Blitz. Bust A Move is fun too. I have all the EA hockey games from SNES to GameCube. Some game shows, platformers, fighting games like Killer Instinct. I'm a retro gamer, and just Nintendo. The most recent console I own is GameCube.

[@munkymaniaman]

Your outro is so loud. Nice work, otherwise. :)

[@khreativa]

I noticed a background flicker in recent videos, must be the neon sign or LED lights for filming?