Best JRPGs of All Time — A Definitive Ranking

Japanese RPGs have shaped how games tell stories since the 8-bit era. This ranking weighs three things: how well the game plays today (not just how it felt at launch), how much it changed the genre, and whether you can still buy or play it on current hardware without hunting for an old cartridge. Every entry says where to play it now and who it suits, so you can pick one rather than just nod along.

Ranking "all time" lists is subjective, so here is the reasoning in plain terms. A game moved up if its systems still feel fair and readable decades later (Chrono Trigger's visible enemies, Dragon Quest XI's clean menus), if later games borrowed openly from it (Final Fantasy VII's cinematic presentation, Persona's calendar), and if a current version exists. Remakes are noted where they change the experience. Prices and platform availability change, so check the store before you buy.

Square built it with a team that included Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy), Yuji Horii (Dragon Quest) and artist Akira Toriyama, with music by Yasunori Mitsuda and Nobuo Uematsu. What still stands out is how little it wastes your time: enemies are visible on the map instead of random encounters, battles happen right where you meet them, and party members combine into Dual and Triple Techs. New Game+ unlocks a long list of alternate endings, several of them triggered by beating the final boss at different points in the story.

• Where to play it now: PC (Steam), iOS and Android, plus the 2008 Nintendo DS version.
• Who it suits: anyone new to JRPGs. It is 20 to 25 hours and almost never grinds.

Released in North America as Final Fantasy III, it has no single lead: more than a dozen playable characters each carry part of the story. Kefka is one of the genre's best villains because he actually wins for a while, and the second half of the game, set in the ruined world he leaves behind, lets you rebuild the party in almost any order. The opera house sequence is still the moment people bring up first.

• Where to play it now: the Pixel Remaster on PC, iOS, Android, PS4, Switch and Xbox.
• Who it suits: players who want a big ensemble story with classic turn-based (Active Time Battle) combat.

Atlus split your time between a Tokyo school year and heists Inside the minds of corrupt adults. The calendar is the hook: every afternoon you choose between building friendships (Confidants), studying, working a part-time job, or progressing a dungeon, and those choices feed back into combat strength. Royal adds a new semester, a new character and reworked dungeons to the 2016 original, so it is the version to get.

• Where to play it now: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch and PC.
• Who it suits: players with time. A first run is commonly 100 hours or more.

The series' formula, turn-based fights, a silent hero, Toriyama's character designs and the late Koichi Sugiyama's score, done with modern comforts: visible enemies, adjustable battle speed, saving at any church or goddess statue, and optional "Draconian Quest" rules if you want it harder. The Definitive Edition (the "S") adds character side-stories and a 16-bit style mode that lets you play the whole game in 2D.

• Where to play it now: Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC (the S edition).
• Who it suits: anyone who wants a long, warm, low-stress adventure.

Monolith Soft set the whole game on the bodies of two frozen giant titans, the Bionis and the Mechonis, and you can walk from one end of a landscape to the other. Combat is real-time with auto-attacks plus cooldown-based arts, and the Monado sword lets the hero see enemy attacks before they land and change the future. The North American release only happened after a fan campaign (Operation Rainfall).

• Where to play it now: Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition on Switch.
• Who it suits: players who love exploring huge open areas between story beats.

• Final Fantasy VII (PS1, 1997) - the game that took the genre mainstream outside Japan. The original is on PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC and mobile; Remake (2020) and Rebirth (2024) retell it as action RPGs, and they play very differently.
• EarthBound (SNES, 1995) - Shigesato Itoi's modern-day suburban RPG: funny, strange and sad in about equal parts. Playable through Nintendo Switch Online's SNES library. More in our games like EarthBound list.
• Suikoden II (PS1, 1998) - a war story where you recruit 108 Stars of Destiny into your castle. The Suikoden I & II HD Remaster (2025) put it back on sale on PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC.
• Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PS3) - Level-5 with animation by Studio Ghibli and music by Joe Hisaishi. The 2019 Remastered version is on PS4, Switch and PC.
• Tales of Arise (2021) - fast, combo-driven action combat; the most modern-feeling game here. PS4, PS5, Xbox and PC.
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch, 2019) - grid tactics plus a school-year calendar; four routes tell the same war from different sides. More in our games like Fire Emblem: Three Houses list.
• Bravely Default (3DS) - classic job-system Final Fantasy structure with a twist: bank turns ("Default") to spend several at once ("Brave"). Its sequel, Bravely Default II, is on Switch.

• Short on time: Chrono Trigger.
• Want a modern feel: Persona 5 Royal or Tales of Arise.
• Want comfort food: Dragon Quest XI S.
• Grew up on the PlayStation era: start with our best PS1 JRPGs and the games like Parasite Eve list.

If you finished one of these and want the same feel again, try the games like Chrono Trigger list, the hand-picked JRPG hub or turn-based RPGs. Many of the best handheld JRPGs (Bravely Default, Shin Megami Tensei IV, Fire Emblem Awakening) are on 3DS. See our best 3DS games.