Unlike a lot of games on this list, Star Tropics doesn’t take place in a fantasy setting with swords and magic, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. Coming out towards the end of the NES’s lifespan, Star Tropics had phenomenal graphics and music.

Plus you get to use a yo-yo. I love yo-yos.

Despite the fact that I could never pronounce “Scheherazade,” I still played the hell out of the Magic. It was an absolutely beautiful game and for an NES game had a surprising amount of, for lack of a a better word, “mood.” My favorite part of Scheherazade was the actual gameplay… one moment you would be fighting enemies in a Zelda-esque overhead view, the next you’d be greeted with a turn-based fight ala Final Fantasy.

Video games based on movie licenses are usually God awful, but Willow went against this trend. While Willow doesn’t introduce any innovative elements, it builds upon the foundation laid down by prior games and has some of the best graphics on the NES. My only real complaint with Willow was that it was insanely hard, but then again, I was 10 when I played this.

By the way, in writing up this post, I discovered the George Lucas wanted to do a Hobbit movie but was unable to secure the rights, so he wrote Willow. I don’t know why I never put two and two together, but yeah, nelwyns = halfings, Madmartigan = Aragorn, the baby = the ring.

Even though many would cite Zelda II as the worst game in the Zelda franchise, it was still heads and shoulders above 99% of its peer games (which just goes to show the greatness of the Zelda series…). Because I played Zelda II before I played the original I didn’t come in with high expectations and was completely blown away.

I remember Zelda II being really difficult and it took me many many months to beat; this was pre-internet era, so no gamefaqs, and I didn’t have a player’s guide. Because of this, ERROR.

Another sequel that played drastically different than it’s predecessor; you either loved or hated Simon’s Quest. Castlevania didn’t really become “Metroid-vania” until Symphony of the Night, but Simon’s Quest was the first Castlevania game that used rpg elements. Of all the games I have ever completed, I am probably most proud of Simon’s Quest due to it’s insane difficulty. (This was another game I played with a player’s guide…)

By the way, I wish developers would take more risks with sequels like Nintendo and Konami did with their sequels. I mean, seriously, the majority of the time sequels are nothing more than graphic upgrades with little changes to gameplay elements. There’s not that much of a difference between Halo and Halo 3. I just wish developers would have more balls to innovate.

Of the “platform rpgs,” Faxanadu was my easily my favorite. I mentioned Scheherazade having a lot of “mood,” but Faxanadu takes it to a whole other level. The backdrop of Faxanadu is a dying and decaying world and Hudson Soft manages to transport you there with dark, drab graphics and somber music.

I could never get into the first three Dragon Warrior/Quests despite the fact that they were considered some of the greatest games of the rpg genre, but something about Dragon Warrior IV just *clicked* with me. I enjoyed the intertwining storylines and the ability to play the different fantasy archetypes.

Crystalis is probably the most overlooked game on this list. It’s a shame that it is, because Crystalis is not only one of the greatest rpg games on the NES, but one of the greatest games on the NES period. Gameplay-wise it was similar to Zelda, but does things better in every conceivable way. I recently went through Crystalis again and I was surprised by how well it holds up.

By the way, SNK made this game. I didn’t know SNK made anything other than fighting games.

Also, I’m glad nothing bad happened in 19XX.

Final Fantasy was the first “rpg” game I played and is still one of my favorites to this very day. I’ve spent more hours on this game than I’d even want to think about. (I’ve written about my love for the original Final Fantasy in the past…) I don’t think I really need to say much about Final Fantasy since nearly everyone has either heard of played it.

Pre-Final Fantasy, I’ve always enjoyed the fantasy setting, but afterwards I become a total royal geek. Final Fantasy led to my love of fantasy books, then Dungeons and Dragons, then Warhammer, then me not being able to get laid. When I really think about it, Final Fantasy ruined my life.

That’s okay though, Final Fantasy, you know I love you.

Despite the fact that I didn’t play the original Zelda until I beat the Adventure of Link, it didn’t diminish how much I enjoyed the Legend of Zelda. By 1991, Zelda’s graphics looked dated, the music, while iconic, sounded like beeps, and there were other games that took the gameplay elements that Zelda pioneered and improved on them.

However, the Legend of Zelda was still just as fun and fresh and relevant as when it originally came out. I went through and played this a couple of months ago and it’s still engaging in an age when most gamers are looking for HD graphics and orchestrated soundtracks.