 STRAW STRAW Hello there, and welcome to part one of the Japan-only Super Famicom RPG series. There are many, many, many RPGs that were only released in Japan, like nearly a hundred. So I'm sorry I can't cover all of them in one video. I'm not insane. I just wanted to start with the more popular ones that have English translation patches. A huge thanks to BoneSnapDs from the Rocket Boy forums for providing a tremendous resource listing all of the RPGs. Click the link in the description to see it for yourself. Also a huge thanks once again to Ziggy587, also from the Rocket Boy forums for his collection of information on flash cartridges. Again, click the link in the description to learn a bit about flashcards. Those are the best and easiest way to play these games on your original hardware. Now let's get to the games. I'm only going to be talking about seven or eight at a time per video. Not too much detail, I just want to talk about the guts of each game, like the combat system and the story and such. And like I said, I'm going to start with the popular ones, like Bahamut Lagoon. This is a strategy RPG from Squaresoft. If you're into classic JRPGs straight from the vein of games like Final Fantasy 6, but with strategy-based gameplay, then you got to check this game out. The battles are turned based on a grid, like most strategy games. Your team is grouped into fours, each featuring a dragon, but you can't really control the dragons. They act kind of like the capsule monsters in Lufia 2. There's classes that allow for range attacks, or you can get close and do battle the usual way. Movement is a big part of Bahamut Lagoon, as you're allowed to use your surroundings to your advantage, or they may equally end up at your disadvantage, depending on how your battle goes. Sometimes games like this become overwhelming with the absurd amount of micromanaging you have to do, but this game stays sensible in its approach, while allowing a huge amount of customization. Unfortunately, the story is a little incoherent. The English translation did its best, and kudos to the people who work really hard on these things, but it still doesn't make a whole lot of sense. What's evident is that the story is extremely cliche, with an empire ruling over a plucky resistance, a princess is kidnapped, and develops Stockholm Syndrome for a captor. The story is not particularly unique, but the gameplay is what makes Bahamut Lagoon worth checking out. If you like the strategy grid style combat, but a little simpler, there's Treasure Hunter G. It's a much more streamlined combat system, but it still utilizes the basic strategy game components. And you can actually attack diagonally on the grid, which is nice. Really, if you're new to strategy RPGs, I highly recommend this one. It really does a nice job explaining how to play, without it being dumbed down or holding your hand too much. The story is also streamlined, without a lot of fluff or detail. It's just two brothers named Red and Blue, whose dad is always getting into trouble, going on big treasure hunts, so they want to follow in his footsteps and do the same. They also have a helper monkey, and who doesn't love helper monkeys? The only glaring flaw with Treasure Hunter G is that the menu and item system is really outdated. For instance, you can't tell on the surface if a particular item, like a weapon or armor is an upgrade or not to whatever you already have, and that's a pain in the ass. And also, you have to equip items to each character, so to speak. There isn't just a huge pool of stuff to pick from. You have to hand each item to one another, which is really kind of annoying. But really, Treasure Hunter G is a really fantastic game, thanks to its smooth combat system and its strong soundtrack especially. Next is perhaps the most hyped Japan-only release, Saikenden Setsu 3, or Secret of Mana 2. This utilizes similar combat gameplay as its predecessor, but with less of a mandatory wait between attacks. That makes things way more chaotic, and I enjoy it. Unfortunately, you still have to pause the game to use magic, and that's kind of annoying, but whatever. At its core, it's still the same Secret of Mana mechanics at work. They added a lot of neat little touches as well, like the different enemies appearing depending on if it's day or night, and a class system that allows for a lot of detailed customization. The story is freaking gigantic. There are six characters, and you the player can choose who the main character should be, plus choosing two partners. All six people want the monosword, and they each have their own motivations. And yeah, some are more interesting than others. Each character's story eventually comes together to form one big narrative, but still, the replay value of this game is just crazy. It can take well over 30 hours and at least six playthroughs to get through every character's storyline. It's a really cool idea, and it's executed very well. So yeah, Saikenden Setsu 3 takes the classic Top Town beat-em-up gameplay, adds an inventive storyline mechanic that gives incentive to play the game a ton. It's beautiful looking, while all the games on this list are, but this one stands out, and plus the soundtrack is top notch. If you only get one game from this video, make sure it's this one, Saikenden Setsu 3. In Star Ocean, a disease starts turning people into stone. Your team of soldiers has to find a cure on the top of Mount Meteorix, but when you finally get there, you find these guys who politely inform you that this disease is actually a biological weapon and an active war from another alien race. So we all hop on a spaceship and cruise around the galaxy to find a cure. What really makes the story stand out in Star Ocean, though, is the private action mechanic. It's entirely optional, but when you show up to any town, your party can split up together town gossip, which can potentially trigger larger events in the story and sometimes even cause two particular characters to have a closer relationship. Which leads to really cool stuff like having an increased attack power out of rage, if your friend is defeated in battle. It's really an amazing feature that adds a ton of depth to the gameplay. The battle system is real-time, but not quite like Secret of Mana or Zelda. It's an interesting hybrid between the usual RPG battle engine and real-time top-down battles. You can have up to four party members in battle, which causes some good fun and chaos, but you only control one player at a time, and the computer AI isn't exactly the best when it comes to controlling the other characters. But yeah, Star Ocean is well worth checking out just to experience the private actions mechanic. It's very cool. Tales of Fantasia is very similar to Star Ocean in terms of the battle system, but instead of a top-down view, you have a 2D side view that scrolls the screen to the left or right depending on where the battle goes. Again, this isn't turn-based, you only control one person, so you're left at the mercy of the computer AI sometimes, which isn't always fun. As for the story, it's just okay. You start out immediately fighting this sorcerer named Deus. He's on the verge of defeat before he casts a spell to travel way into the future where he promptly runs into your party's descendants. Whoops. They seal him away into two magic pendants. Many years pass, the pendants are stolen, Deus is revived, you get the idea. The character interactions in my opinion are really cringe-worthy. I'm not that experienced with the Tales series, but I'm told that's just how it is with these games. I wouldn't call Tales of Fantasia the best game on this list. I'm not hating on it, it's just my opinion. But I gotta include it because it's a very impressive piece of work. The graphics and the soundtrack really stand out as something special. Final Fantasy V is one of the better games in its series, but it's not quite as good as the 4th or 6th game. Still, it's worth checking out because it's a little bit of a departure from the normal Final Fantasy experience because of the job system. You eventually accumulate up to 22 different jobs you can pick from to apply to your party. It's mostly your typical stuff, like knights for more powerful attacks, and black mage for black magic, and that kind of stuff. Although as you collect more crystal shards, you get more jobs available. And there's a lot of room for combinations and customization, with secondary commands available as well. You can also switch jobs at will, which is fantastic. That's really what makes this game stand out among its peers. Not only is this game unique in the series because of the job system, but the tone of the story is much lighter as well. And personally, I appreciate that, because as much as I like the stories of the 4th and 6th games, it's a much needed change of pace from the overwrought, over-serious nature of not just the usual Final Fantasy story, but the usual JRPG story. So yeah, Nintendo of America didn't think it was worth the time and effort to localize the game back in the early 90s, but thankfully, Final Fantasy 5 was re-released on PlayStation and Game Boy Advance, and it's also available in the PSN store, as well as on iOS and Android devices. It's really well done and a nice change of pace for both Final Fantasy and the JRPG genre. Then there's Terranigma. I know this game is already obviously in English because it got a European release, but it never came out in the US and I'd never hear the end of it. It's arguable whether or not this game is actually an RPG, but I gotta include it on this list. Terranigma is technically the sequel to Illusion of Gaia, which was a sequel to Soul Blazer, but it's not at all necessary to play those games to understand what's happening in Terranigma. But if you liked those games at all, then you'll love this one. It implements the same style of gameplay, which is closer to an action or adventure game than an RPG. Still, the music storytelling and visual presentation are very much JRPG-ish. There are some cleverly made puzzles to get past, and the sound of destroying an enemy is addicting. The only gameplay function that feels a bit outdated, in my opinion, is the save system. There's not nearly enough save points, but whatever. The story is that you're this little troublemaker kid named Ark. He stumbles upon a hidden door, which as a result freezes everything in his own village. Whoops. So in order to unfreeze everything, he's gotta leave the village for the first time and go to this parallel universe and revive everything. There's an interesting twist that I won't spoil, but it's well done and it keeps the story from being too generic. Personally, I like the puzzles and level design in Illusion of Gaia a bit more, but the story in Terranigma is light years more coherent and more interesting. Again, if you liked Soul Blazer in Illusion of Gaia, or stuff like Luffya 2 in Link to the Past, then you will definitely like Terranigma. Okay, that's it for now. I hope to do more of these videos, and I hope you have a great rest of your day. Thanks for watching.