20 Must-Play JRPGs: Super Ghost Hall of Fame

A collage of four video game covers. In the top left is the cover for Final Fantasy IX on the PlayStation, showing characters like Zidane and Garnet. To its right is the cover for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, featuring a warrior in dark armor with a sword and shield. Below that is the cover for Tales of the Abyss for the PlayStation 2, depicting the main character, Luke fon Fabre, and his companions. In the bottom right is the cover for Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars on the Super Nintendo, featuring Mario, Bowser, Princess Peach, and Mallow in a battle stance. A small purple ghost is in the bottom left.

JRPGs (or Japanese role-playing games) come in all sorts of shapes, flavors, and sizes. They can take us on all kinds of emotional, action-packed journeys across modern Tokyo, steampunk cities, medieval kingdoms, or whatever other era JRPG devs want to dip their godlike fingers into.

The Super Ghost crew is in the house and ready to share their Top 20 Favorite JRPGs. Each host has taken the time to rack their brains and hand-pick what they consider their top 5 - the cream of the crop of JRPGs.

Make sure to load-up the latest Super Ghost episode while you read for a double XP boost of awesomeness!

Aaron 🐙

Final Fantasy IX (PS1, 2000)

- Final Fantasy IX was the first game that I'd bought with my own money, and the first JRPG that I'd ever beaten. I love the story, characters and the music so much that no game will ever top this one.

EarthBound (SNES, 1995)

- There just isn't anything like EarthBound. It's so weird and goofy, yet also terrifying in some parts. ZOOM.

Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS, 2013)

- SMT4 was the first ever Atlus game that I'd ever played and it made a gigantic impression on me. The demon fusion and combat were so addictive that I put damn near 120+ hours into this on MY FIRST PLAYTHROUGH.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA, 2003)

- It's just Mario and his bro Luigi, doing Mario and Luigi things. The combat is quick as hell, the Bros Moves are a goddamn blast, and Fawful is such a great villain.

Golden Sun (GBA, 2001)

- This game is deceptively simple. The Djinn system allows for a ton of different class options, letting you fine-tune you party down to the finest amount. The visuals and audio are so damn impressive for a Game Boy Advance game that no other game on the system comes even kind of close to its level.