🗡️The 15 Best JRPGs of All Time
JRPGs are the genre most defined by feel: a party you get attached to, a world map you learn by heart, and a soundtrack you can hum decades later. Combat styles vary wildly, so this list is grouped by era rather than by system.
Every entry notes the platforms it is on today, because a surprising number of these classics now run on Switch, PlayStation, Xbox and PC.
The essential JRPGs
Chrono Trigger (1995)
- SNES
- DS
- PC
- Mobile
Time travel, combo attacks and thirteen endings in twenty hours. Nothing wasted, and still the best first JRPG for anyone.
Final Fantasy VII (1997)
- PS1
- PS5
- Switch
- Xbox
- PC
- Mobile
The genre's biggest cultural moment, with a Materia system that still allows genuinely creative builds. The Remake trilogy is a separate, excellent thing.
Persona 5 Royal (2019)
- PC
- PS5
- Switch
- Xbox
Balancing school life, friendships and heists gives every in-game day weight. Royal's extra semester justifies the length.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (2022)
- Switch
A huge real-time-with-positioning RPG whose story is about mortality, told with unusual patience. Well over 80 hours.
Dragon Quest XI S (2017)
- PC
- PS4
- Switch
- Xbox
The most traditional JRPG here and the most comforting — clear structure, warm characters, gorgeous art. A 2D mode is included.
16-bit and PS1-era JRPGs
Final Fantasy VI (1994)
- SNES
- PC
- Mobile
- Switch
- PS4
Fourteen characters, an opera scene and a villain who genuinely wins halfway through. Still the series' best-written entry.
EarthBound (1994)
- SNES
- Switch (NSO)
Suburban America as an RPG setting, with rolling HP and a sense of humour nothing has matched. Available on Switch Online.
Suikoden II (1998)
- PS1
- PS5
- Switch
- Xbox
- PC
108 recruitable characters and a castle that grows as your army does, wrapped in a genuinely tragic war story.
Chrono Cross (1999)
- PS1
- PS5
- Switch
- Xbox
- PC
Two parallel worlds, 45 recruitable characters and an element grid instead of MP. The soundtrack alone justifies it.
Final Fantasy Tactics (1997)
- PS1
- PSP
- Modern remaster
Grid tactics with the deepest job system in the genre, attached to a story about class and betrayal.
Modern JRPGs worth starting today
Metaphor: ReFantazio (2024)
- PC
- PS5
- Xbox Series X|S
Archetype classes, a travelling caravan and an election plot. The most confident new JRPG in years.
Sea of Stars (2023)
- PC
- PS5
- Xbox
- Switch
Deliberately built on Chrono Trigger's bones, with timed hits and zero grinding. About 30 hours.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
- PC
- PS5
- Xbox Series X|S
A turn-based brawler set across Yokohama and Hawaii, with an absurd number of side activities. Funny and unexpectedly sincere.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019)
- Switch
Tactics plus a teaching calendar, and four routes that change your view of the same war.
Nier: Automata (2017)
- PC
- PS5
- Xbox
- Switch
Action combat with RPG chips and a story that only makes sense after multiple playthroughs. Its structure is the point.
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