BoneSnapDeez wrote:Remember when you and Exed forced me to buy that along with Cacoma Knight in Bizyland (aka Kawaii Qix)? I have yet to finish either one.
You know, you should really get on that...
DreamyWarrior00 wrote:Ack wrote:That said, if you really like RPGs beyond just JRPGs...well, young padawan, you are about to encounter the Dark Side.
I guess I just figured most of the games back then were exported by Japan. I really enjoy anything with a memorable story and detailed back story on each individual character.
What games did you have in mind or do you classify as a standard RPG?
Ah ha, yeah, no. While Japan was dominating the console side of things during the 16-bit era, there were tons of games being developed by Western developers both for console and home computers. In fact, RPGs got started in the West in the 1970s with college students trying to program the electronic equivalent of Dungeons & Dragons on university computers. Japan didn't really get into it until the mid-1980s when successful Western franchises like Ultima and Wizardry began making an impact, and it was 1986 before the hit Dragon Quest came out over there. There are a few of us here who like to discuss how things got going with RPGs from time to time, but really it comes down to Dragon Quest to start the JRPG trend and set its base standards.
Anyway, you have a few different subgenres of RPGs that would be recognized on the Super Nintendo in the US: Action, Dungeon Crawler, Strategy/Tactical, and then Japanese or Western/Computer, depending on who you ask. Honestly the definitions can be played with a bit fast and loose, and you'll find quite a few games that don't neatly fall into any particular box, but the rough idea is this:
Action RPGs have you running around manually controlling an individual(or a group with AI partners) to attack or cast spells without entering special sequences for combat.
Dungeon Crawlers have you moving a party in first person through a dungeon or series of dungeons, often with real time combat.
Strategy/Tactical - These have you moving a party or individual across a battlefield to engage opposing enemy troops in large-scale battles. Strategy if it's a major campaign where you control squads, Tactical if it's an individual unit.
Japanese RPGs are developed in Japan and have preset characters with their own backstories in a larger narrative that is usually epic in scope, offer random encounters to fight in specified battle screens, and generally trace their lineage back to Dragon Quest.
Western RPGs (or Computer RPGs) are developed in the West, allow for the creation of a party or player character of some kind, and have a strong adherence to Dungeons & Dragons-style mechanics.
As I said earlier, this is just a rough idea, so don't take these as the verbatim rule. None of these are going to cover 100% of what you'll encounter while exploring games, and some games can easily fit into 2 or 3 different categories, or even more. Nor is this the entire list of RPG subgenres, as things like Roguelikes are still hugely important but didn't make an appearance on the US Super Nintendo. Heck, there's only 1 US release that I'd consider to be a Strategy RPG.
As for how many RPGs got released on the Super Nintendo in the US...well, here's my list of what I consider to be RPGs:
There are also quite a few that I'd say are RPG-esque but I do not consider true RPGs. I've seen other folks call these RPGs, though I do not agree:
As for whether all of these are worth playing, that will come down to personal taste and what you're looking for. There is a lot of variance in quality, but often you can find good ideas in even games generally considered the worst. There is stuff on here I wouldn't recommend to even the most hardcore RPG fan, such as Secret of the Stars, but I'm glad I've beaten it and feel I was better to appreciate its ideas when I saw them in other games.
It's also worth noting that if you have questions about any individual title, there are a bunch of us who have played and/or beaten many of these. I'm trying to beat them all, and BoneSnapDeez, MrPopo, and Exhuminator all have a lot of experience with them as well, just to name a handful of members off the top of my head. If you're curious about any of them, feel free to ask.
