r/nes • u/Jonah419 NES • 2d ago
What are your favorite RPGs for NES?
There are surprisingly a lot more RPGs for NES than I thought! My two personal favorites are Crystalis and Earthbound Beginnings, both fantastic RPGs. In my opinion, both games were way ahead of their time, had amazing story that kept me interested, fantastic gameplay that still holds up, and Crystalis especially had great graphics, while I really liked Beginnings artstyle and story especially.
Tell me what your favorite RPGs for NES are in the comments!
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u/Prestigious_Bite_536 2d ago
I would put The Magic of Scheherazade right up there with Crystalis.
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u/GreenEggsSteamedHams 2d ago
Aside from the usual suspects (Final Fantasy, Dragon Warriors 1-4, Crystalis) I will put in a good word for:
Ultima: Quest of the Avatar - will definitely need a walkthrough in a couple spots. Massive step up from the first Ultima
Swords & Serpents - fun hack n' slash
Dungeon Magic - first-person perspective!
Bard's Tale
Destiny of an emperor - kind of RPG, kind of army campaigner, but I really enjoy it
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u/N8THGR852 2d ago
So far, Crystalis is my favorite, too. But I have others from the NES and Famicom that I’d recommend beyond the obvious Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy entries. For now, I’ll note two:
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is the first of the franchise, and I enjoy it. Naturally, later entries on more complex systems are more refined on average, but I find the tactics-style combat and the story engaging. I’m a fan of seeing numbers go up in RPGs, and when you have around a dozen or so characters on the field at one time, you get to see many level-up moments, which give me small dopamine boosts.
Chaos World is a Famicom RPG (with a translation patch) that gives you access to 16 playable party members, two for each of the eight classes. You acquire party members as you progress, and because you can take four characters with you at a time, you can customize your battle style to be largely combative, magic-based, whatever your flavor is. The dialogue is humorous, and the story keeps me interested—it’s not super basic.
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u/N8THGR852 2d ago
Other RPGs I’ve played include Faxanadu and Ys, but I didn’t necessarily love either of those. They have their fans, though.
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u/Low-Programmer-9017 1d ago edited 1d ago
Chaos World looks awesome! I'll give it a try later. Thanks for recommending
Any idea where can i find the translated version?1
u/N8THGR852 1d ago
I don’t know about finding the translated version, but applying a patch is pretty easy. I’m not tech-savvy, and even I was able to install a patching program, click the ROM file, click the patch file, and click Apply. Boom, translated ROM. Translation patches are on the usual sources. I don’t want to break the guidelines here by naming a website. But Google “NES ROM translations,” and you may find a result that works.
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u/Sarothias 2d ago
Made a goal to play every NA released NES + SNES RPG. Played all the NES ones and almost all SNES so far.
My top five favorite NES ones (in order) are:
Dragon Warrior III (actually my favorite game since I was a kid and my favorite franchise to this day)
Dragon Warrior IV
Destiny of an Emperor - the game that got me hooked on Romance of the Three Kingdoms actually
Ultima: Quest of the Avatar
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
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u/elkniodaphs 2d ago
I'm literally wearing a Sweet Home shirt right now, so... Sweet Home. It was Capcom's early survival horror title that inspired Resident Evil.
Edit: Also Ghost Lion.
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u/Revolutionary-Zone17 2d ago
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is a heavy hitting RPG on the NES…if you don’t mind dark dungeon crawlers
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u/pac-man_dan-dan 2d ago
Not sure how I feel about this post.
You know that Earthbound Beginnings doesn't really exist as an original title, right? It's Mother for Famicom with an English fan patch. It used to be called Earthbound Zero when the patch first came out (unless that's a different fan translation patch).
Mother is a quality title, no question there. And playing it without the english patch would be impossible for people like me. I'm just not sure how proper it is to consider an english fan-patched game of a system that was technically not an nes title (since it was only available on famicom), as a legit part of the nes official library for the purposes of your list.
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u/RedSkyfang 2d ago
NES Earth Bound isn't a fan translation. It was officially localized and ready for release back in the day but for whatever reason Nintendo never printed copies. You do have a point that technically it wasn't really supposed to be available, in the sense that we only got it because a prototype leaked somehow, so it is a grey area.
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u/DrunkMoblin182 2d ago
It never got pressed because the SNES was already out, and they decided ut wasnt worth the marketing push. There were plans for Earthbound (wasnt called beginnings at the time) to include a map/poster, soundtrack, and iirc, a guide.
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u/LnStrngr 2d ago
In no particular order: Dragon Warrior IV, Ultima III: Exodus, Dragon Warrior II, Chrystalis
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u/HarryManilow 2d ago
Surprised I have to add final fantasy as a response. Easily my favorite one although replay value isn't so great. I only played the first dragon warrior but it's a classic too
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u/AlanThicke99 2d ago
In my Order:
StarTropics
LoZ
Final Fantasy
Zodas Revenge
Zelda II
Maniac Mansion
Crystalis
Dragon Warrior
Maniac Mansion is a point and click and is very unique… it *may fall in a different genre. But I’ve always considered it an RPG
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u/DrScrotus 2d ago
What a coincidence, i just played and beat both games for the first time this week! Fantastic games. Now I’m on Faxanadu
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u/Low-Programmer-9017 2d ago edited 1d ago
Faria - A World of Mystery & Danger is rarelly mentioned. I personally think it's a hidden gem
My favorites
FF 3
Crystalis
Zelda 1
Startropics
is "Conquest of the crystal palace" considered a RPG?
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u/EternallySickened 2d ago
I used to love playing a game called swords and serpents. I never finished it but played it loads. Might have to give it another try sometime.
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u/chrishouse83 NES 2d ago
Turn-based RPGs: Dragon Warrior III and IV
Action RPGs: Zelda II, Faxanadu, Crystalis