Favourite 16 bit RPG?

[Spritely]

Edit: Think SNES or the Sega Genesis/Megadrive/Mega CD/32X era consoles.

My favourite would have to be Terranigma, PAL only SNES release near the end of the SNES's lifespan in Europe and Australia. 

You basically played the role of a young troublesome teenager living in a sleepy village town in an otherwise uninhabited wasteland, one day you open literally open Pandora's box and everyone in your village is frozen. You must set out to reverse the damage and end up dispacted to the overwold, a barren lifeless place to revive all life starting with plants and animals onto people, eventually helping rebuild civilization on the surface world and coming face to face with the evil that destroyed it originally. It is an action RPG meaning you attack enemies on the same screens you explore to find items and the like with your spear, it has different kinds of attacks based on whether you are dashing, jumping or hitting the attack button rapidly... If you run, jump and hit the attack button you will leap at the enemy with your spear, hit them, then slide along the floor hitting everything in your path until you come to a stop; it feels sweet as hell when you pull off chains of attacks. There is a huge twist about three quarters through and the ending is very, very sad. It has some of the most memorable music I've ever heard in a 16 bit video game and it will forever hold a warm place in my heart. 

This is the final battle theme, I think it's great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkTIS-_f_r4

 

[Kesil]

Good, very good choice there. SNES housed many awesome RPG games, yet my reply would be a more steretypical one-Chrono Trigger.

 

[Spritely]

Good, very good choice there. SNES housed many awesome RPG games, yet my reply would be a more steretypical one-Chrono Trigger.

Didn't see that on Aussie shelves but I did play it on an emulator, I was glued to the computer for like 2 days straight playing that. 

 

[Kesil]

It wasn't released where I live either (nor was Chrono Cross), but emulation put me on a Summer binge until I got at least an ending. Some weeks later, my hard disk fried itself. Was it a coincidence...?

 

[Spritely]

It wasn't released where I live either (nor was Chrono Cross), but emulation put me on a Summer binge until I got at least an ending. Some weeks later, my hard disk fried itself. Was it a coincidence...?

Not unless you got the ROM from an unsafe website with some sort of trojan'd zip/rar file. I used to be emulation in a big way until I played out the 16 bit and 32 bit RPG catalog.

 

[Kesil]

It was meant to be a joke, actually. The story was that it got fried due to a faulty plug, not from my constant playing.

 

[Woider]

Aww hell, I only got into RPG's around the turn of the decade, so I really wouldn't know.

 

[Shido]

This is a really hard choice for me since I have played countless RPGS throughout the 90's. I would have to go with Dragon Quest V for the Super Famicon, That or The Illusion of Gaia for the SNES. There are just so many that it's really hard to just pick one.

 

[TheDarkMaster]

Interestingly, my three top RPGs that I've ever played are: Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest V, and Knights of the Old Republic.  All of them offer very different things that are all fantastic.  However, I actually played both Chrono Trigger and Dragon Quest V on my DS.  The first non-handheld console I had was the Gamecube, so I never had the chance to play them earlier.

 

[Kei]

Hard question since the SNES had many many amazing RPGS. If I had to pick one I'd say FFVI for sure... it was way too good and the depth of the story was amazing. Chrono Trigger is a safe second place. A farming simulator it may have been but Harvest Moon was also brilliant.

 

[Enigmatic D]

I got my kicks playing Super Mario RPG, Breath of Fire 1 and 2, and finally Seiken Densetsu 3. I spent hours on that last one.

 

[Spritely]

It was meant to be a joke, actually. The story was that it got fried due to a faulty plug, not from my constant playing.

My youngest brother(at like 11) played 3/4ths through a fan patched FF4 on ZSNES(emulator) with the main character replaced with lesbian gender swaps before I pointed out there was no lesbian relationship in that game as we discussed it. >.>

 

[Kesil]

I like to play hacks from time to time myself, but I'd never do that unless it tweaked things like items, difficulty and the like. Ah, I remember the times in which I checked that The Smartass website for hacks to play, such as a Link's Awakening one with Pokémon references (e.g. having to awake Celebi from the egg). Now that you mention it, FF IV has a special place in my heart.

 

[Nik_van_Rijn]

If I can stray from 16-bit to include just old ones then Vandal Hearts 2, its story is like GoT but better. Highly unusual gameplay helped too. Breath of Fire IV, because it was a gate drug for JRPGs for me. A lot of old WRPGs.

 

[Darkwarpalg6]

Oh I loved Terranigma, Chrono Trigger, and Super Mario RPG. But my personal picks were two slightly less known games, Secret of Evermore, and Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals. Secret of Evermore was a sort of futuristic spinoff of the ole Secret of Mana series that had multiple regions based on time periods. And Lufia 2 was a game encrusted with secrets and puzzles, most of the game is just one giant puzzle as you go through dungeons.

 

[tyr4n02r]

Chrono Trigger because I STILL don't feel as if it gets enough love, Super Mario RPG (it wasn't a particularly "break through" game, but it was fun, so it counts) and Legend/Secret of Mana games. Shadowrun as well if you want to count it as such.

 

[Shido]

Oh I loved Terranigma, Chrono Trigger, and Super Mario RPG. But my personal picks were two slightly less known games, Secret of Evermore, and Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals. Secret of Evermore was a sort of futuristic spinoff of the ole Secret of Mana series that had multiple regions based on time periods. And Lufia 2 was a game encrusted with secrets and puzzles, most of the game is just one giant puzzle as you go through dungeons.

Yeah Secret of Evermore was extremely fun. Having your dog as an ally made the game so much fun and easy to connect with. Lufia and the prequel Lufia 2 had some of the greatest stories I had played during that time period. Without a doubt they are very good games that never made it through the NA/EU regions as a good game due to other games around that time making more of an influence in those regions.

Chrono Trigger because I STILL don't feel as if it gets enough love, Super Mario RPG (it wasn't a particularly "break through" game, but it was fun, so it counts) and Legend/Secret of Mana games. Shadowrun as well if you want to count it as such.

Shadowrun is without a doubt an RPG so yes it can be counted.

 

[Spritely]

Yeah Secret of Evermore was extremely fun. Having your dog as an ally made the game so much fun and easy to connect with. Lufia and the prequel Lufia 2 had some of the greatest stories I had played during that time period. Without a doubt they are very good games that never made it through the NA/EU regions as a good game due to other games around that time making more of an influence in those regions.

Shadowrun is without a doubt an RPG so yes it can be counted.

There was two versions of it for 16 bit consoles that I've played, one on Megadrive, the other on SNES. I believe the Shadowrun Returns on PC had a few references thrown into one or both...

 

[Shido]

There was two versions of it for 16 bit consoles that I've played, one on Megadrive, the other on SNES. I believe the Shadowrun Returns on PC had a few references thrown into one or both...

I played shadowrun on the Genesis and the SNES. I like both and they are classics and games that should be played at least once to see how far RPG's have come from older consoles.

 

[October]

There was this one game that featured its final boss in "Brutal Mario." I think it was called Romancing Saga? It looked like something I would've love to try.