Summary
The JRPG stands as one of the oldest genres in gaming, enjoying a storied history that dates back more than four decades. Over those years, this genre has developed an intensely passionate fanbase who love nothing more than spending dozens of hours level grinding, listening to ethereal music, and experiencing heartfelt stories that go hard on the melodrama.
As with any artform, tracing the genetics of the JRPG reveals certain games that played a bigger hand than others in moving this genre forward. These historically important JRPGs weren’t afraid to take risks, push boundaries, and ultimately begin a new chapter in the ongoing story of this genre.
10Dragon Quest
The Grand Daddy Of JRPGs
While there are technically JRPGs that predate the original Dragon Quest, it’s hard to argue that Yuji Hori and Enix didn’t singlehandedly cement a great number of the genre’s endearing tropes. Inspired by Dungeons and Dragons and PC RPGs of the early 80s, Dragon Quest made a noticeable impact on gamers – and other developers – in Japan.
It’s easy to see how the early Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star games took inspiration from Dragon Quest, but in truth, the basic foundations of this turn-based, fantastical role-playing game are still holding up much of the genre to this day. You simply don’t have games like Persona 5 and Elden Ring without a game like Dragon Quest igniting the JRPG craze decades earlier.
9Ys 1: Ancient Ys Vanished
An Action RPG With A Global Impact
Ys 1: Ancient Ys Vanished is hardly the first action-JRPG, but it did signal several important firsts. The game kicked off a popular series that is still receiving new entries to this day and it was the firstNihon Falcom RPGthat was easily accessible to gamers outside of Japan courtesy of its Master System port.
Most importantly, it helped prove that the real-time action and exploration of a game like The Legend of Zelda could work extremely well when paired with the level-progression systems of a game like Dragon Quest. This concept would kick off a sub-genre of JRPGs that is arguably more prevalent today than the traditional turn-based model most people associate with the genre.
8Final Fantasy 4
A Story To Behold
JRPGs have always typically taken longer to beat than your typical platformer or shooter, providing ample room for developers to tell deeper and deeper stories. And while games like Dragon Quest 4 and Phantasy Star 2 certainly played around with some neat narratives, it wasn’t until Final Fantasy 4 that the writing went up an extra level.
Each party member in Final Fantasy 4 is portrayed as a complex character, with their own personalities, motivations, and classes (or jobs) that perfectly align with who they are as people. And while playing out this 16-bit melodrama – complete with a doomed love triangle, brothers separated at birth, and a whale spaceship that flies to the moon – you’ll soon discover that reaching the next cutscene is just as exciting as reaching the next level.
7Earthbound
A World Not Unlike Our Own
Before Earthbound, the vast majority of JRPGs relied on classic fantasy (and occasionally, science-fiction) settings as the backdrop for their adventures. Earthbound tells its story in towns and cities that directly pay homage to America of the mid-nineties.
Instead of battling monsters with swords and axes, you fight using baseball bats and yo-yos, and while there are supernatural elements to the narrative, Earthbound also tells a relatable coming-of-age story about friendship and finding your place in the world. While Earthbound remained a cult favourite for years, it is now seen for the masterpiece it is, having inspired countless fans and indie developers.
6Pokemon: Red And Blue
Rise Of The Pocket Monsters
It’s hard to overstate just how big of a movement Pokemon Red and Blue created when these games first launched on the Gameboy in the late 90s. These games made JRPGs social - with children trading the titular pocket monsters with each other in the playground across the two versions of the game.
It was also arguably the first JRPG - and possibly video game - to find major global success in other mediums. Pokemon Red and Blue kicked off a tv show, trading card game, and a merchandise empire that continues to be one of gaming’s most profitable to this day.
5Final Fantasy 7
Taking The Genre To New Heights Of Popularity
The “J” in JRPG reveals a somewhat obvious truth about this genre: that these games are made, first and foremost, with a Japanese audience in mind. Or, at least, that was the case for most JRPGs before Final Fantasy 7 came along and completely shattered expectations over the kind of success that such a game could accomplish on a global scale.
Final Fantasy 7 didn’t just help JRPGs cross over into the video game mainstream outside of Japan, it helped video games cross over into the cultural mainstream all around the world. There’s a reason Square Enix loves to revisit the story of Cloud and friends, as there’ll always be an attempt to recapture that same society-shifting impact that one of thebest Final Fantasy gamescreated back in 1997.
4Persona 3
Feels So High School
Persona 3 fully embraced the concept of marrying a standard JRPG with a contemporary high school simulator. This marriage of genres, combined with the game’s slick presentation and heavy anime influence, suddenly made JRPGs cool in a way they had never been before.
The introduction of Social Links was a genius system that allowed you to increase the stats of fused Personas by spending time with different characters in the game. Sometimes, living an ordinary life is just as interesting as exploring the dim corridors of a tower from hell.
3Xenoblade Chronicles
Ushering In A JRPG Renaissance
To really understand the historical significance of a game like Xenoblade Chronicles, you need to reflect back on the state of JRPGs in the early 2010s. More than any other genre, JRPG developers really struggled to adapt to the HD era and the evergrowing scale and popularity of their Western counterparts.
Enter Xenoblade Chronicles – a JRPG that maintained the emotional storytelling and character-centric party system of a Japanese game but merged these qualities with the modern spectacle and open-ended design of contemporary Western RPGs. Xenoblade Chronicles was a breath of fresh air for a genre that was becoming increasingly stale, which is even more remarkable when you consider it originally came out for the Wii.
2Dark Souls
The Start Of A Movement
It can be easy to forget that Dark Souls is, in fact, a JRPG. True, the game doesn’t share a lot of the same DNA with a title like Dragon Quest for instance, and most people would prefer to label it under theSoulslike subgenrewhich it practically invented on its own.
But, at the end of the day, Dark Souls is a role-playing game developed in Japan, and that is enough to qualify it for the purposes of this list. Why is it historically important? Did you read the part about it helping to create its own subgenre? Or how it has influenced so much of modern gaming’s design philosophy? Yeah, Dark Souls belongs here.
1Nier: Automata
The Sign Of Things To Come
We end this journey through the history of important JRPG milestones in 2017 and with Nier: Automata. This action JRPG from PlatinumGames and Square Enix showcases just how experimental the genre can get when the right creative minds come together to try something entirely different.
Nier: Automata has a story that isn’t afraid to delve into philosophical and existential territories, with morally grey characters and questions that only get answered after multiple playthroughs. Throw in gameplay that combines traditional hack n’ slash action with bullet hell shooter mechanics, and you have a Square Enix game for modern systems that proves there is still plenty of life left in this genre.
