Call me crazy but… well actually there’s no “but”. Just call me crazy. I’m planning out an epic journey through every SNES RPG! I want you to join me on this adventure at twitch.tv/thewellredmage.
This comes as the public-facing side of a seeeeeecret project that I can’t reveal just yet (which you should absolutely be excited for despite having no knowledge about it) but it still represents a true saga unfolding across the ages. It’s no secret that the Super Nintendo is my favorite system of all time and the SNES RPG canon is an impressive lineup with some extremely heavy hitters. The JRPG scene was beefy with the likes of Breath of Fire and Breath of Fire II, the triple Final Fantasy games, the Quintet trilogy, Secret of Mana and Secret of Evermore, plus all of the Western offerings from the Ultimas to Wizardry V to Eye of the Beholder.
Note that’s Super Nintendo, not Super Famicom, RPGs. I’m playing every RPG that received an official English translation on the Super Nintendo. This is not a knock to the great SFC games. It’s for sanity’s sake. I’d easily double the size of my list or more including Super Famicom!
Yeah, I know it’s a lot. It’s not news to me that trying to play every SNES RPG is quite the task! I’m guessing the final list will fall somewhere between 45 and 50 games. There are a few titles that I might’ve missed, let’s be honest. Contrariwise, there are some titles in there that I suspect may not make the final cut. What is an RPG? That’s an important question for this project and I’ve got some thoughts on it but I know that means some cuts may have to be made.
Right off the bat, I can tell you that The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Harvest Moon will not make an appearance on my list, despite being inconsistently described as RPGs through the years. “You play a role” comes the plaintive wail. To my mind, A Link to the Past, like most other Zeldas, is more related to the adventure genre than the RPG genre, and as for Harvest Moon, it’s a farming simulator game, a genre for which there’s some parallel and crossover, as well. For the sake of this project, though, those two are out.
Oh and no Obitus (like you care). It’s totally an action-adventure.
I opted to start with Illusion of Gaia. Rather than traverse this mondo list alphabetically, I decided to leave it up to whim and fate, give myself some freedom for the cleansing of the palate. The last thing I want to do is burn out on this. Illusion of Gaia will be completed on stream as of today, so what’s next? I’ve got options!
As I wait with bated breath for the day when I can finally reveal the ultimate nature of this quest and the point of this project, all I can do is invite you to join the party. I’ll be playing through this list of games on original hardware on a Super Nintendo with the cartridges on a real CRT television with a frickin’ camera pointed at it, streaming every weekday at 1pm Central. Come with me. Everyone who has enjoyed SNES RPGs knows that quests are rarely undertaken alone.
Anything missing from this list? Let me know! I want to have the most consistent and comprehensive list of every SNES RPG available online!
Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage or Mage Cast.
