A Guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games

656 Pages·2021·48.668 MB·English

by  Bitmap Books

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BITMAP 2021
Prepared exclusively for John Hozen / [email protected]
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A Guide to
Japanese
Role-Playing
Games
First published in 2021 by Bitmap Books Ltd.
Cover art by Stephanie Sybydlo (www.dicesms.tumblr.com)
Divider art by Army of Trolls (www.armyoftrolls.co.uk)
Copyright © Bitmap Books Ltd. and Kurt Kalata 2022
The Author and Publisher have used their very best endeavours to obtain express permission for the
reproduction in this book of all third-party copyright material. If you can show that you own copyright
in any material reproduced in this book and that we have not obtained permission from you for its
inclusion, please get in touch with us. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British
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by any means, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature, without prior written permission, except
for permitted fair dealing under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) or other
applicable law. Application for permission should be made to the publisher. All games featured are the
property of the copyright owners. Their images have been used respectfully purely for review purposes.
To get in touch, please email us at [email protected]
Accept no imitations … we are the world’s no. 1!
1
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Table of
Contents
Introduction 3 Final Fantasy 124
Contributors 4 Shin Megami Tensei and Persona 152
What is a JRPG? 6 Namco’s Tales of… series 178
A History of RPGs in Japan 9 Other Franchises 196
Localisation 16 Action RPGs 428
Soundtracks 20 Strategy RPGs 492
Anime 22 First-Person Dungeon Crawlers 556
Attack and Dethrone God 24 Japanese Rogue-likes 580
Remakes 26 Monster-Collecting RPGs 594
Japanese PC RPGs 28 Miscellaneous RPGs 612
Falcom 74 Index 644
Dragon Quest 110
Info Bar Key
Each game has an info bar which shows its official English name (or Japanese name if none available), along with
the developer, the date the first version was released, and the platforms the game was released on. This list only
includes platforms with original ports – that is, emulated versions are not listed.
3DO - 3DO IBM - IBM PC/DOS PC80 - PC-8001 TG16 - TurboGrafx-16
3DS - Nintendo 3DS IOS - iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch PC88 - PC-8801 TGCD -TurboGrafx-CD
AND - Android MCD - Mega CD PC98 - PC-9801 WII - Wii
ARC - Arcade MD - Mega Drive PCE - PC Engine WIIU - Wii U
C64 - Commodore 64 MOB - Mobile PCECD - PC Engine CD WIN - Windows
DC - SEGA Dreamcast MSX - MSX PCFX - PC FX WS - WonderSwan
DS - Nintendo DS MSX2 - MSX2 PS1 - PlayStation WSC - WonderSwan Color
FC - Famicom MSXR - MSX Turbo-R PS2 - PlayStation 2 X1 - Sharp X1
FDS - Famicom Disk System MZ - Sharp MZ PS3 - PlayStation 3 X360 - Xbox 360
FM7 - Fujitsu FM-7 N64 - Nintendo 64 PS4 - PlayStation 4 X68 - Sharp X68000
FMT - FM Towns NDS - Nintendo DS PSP - PlayStation Portable XB - Xbox
GB - Game Boy NES - Nintendo Ent. System PSV - PlayStation Vita XB1 - Xbox One
GBA - Game Boy Advance NGAGE - N-Gage SAT - SEGA Saturn
GBC - Game Boy Color NGCD - NEOGEO CD SCD - SEGA CD
GC - Nintendo Game Cube NGPC - NEOGEO Pocket Color SFC - Super Famicom
GG - SEGA Game Gear NSW - Nintendo Switch SMS - SEGA Master System
GEN - Genesis PC60 - PC-6001 SNES - Super Nintendo
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Introduction
I first became enamoured with Japanese role- genre’s diversity, especially across the many, many,
playing games when I was nine years old, thanks many games that have never been released in
to a strategy guide in Nintendo Power in late 1990. English, and some that are even forgotten in their
It was a whole issue devoted to a then-forthcoming native country.
RPG called Final Fantasy. I studied it thoroughly, This book is organised into a few major
preparing myself for when I could actually get the sections. First, there are some essays that explain
game, which ended up being a Christmas present. our definition of a Japanese RPG, and a quick
I wasn’t disappointed. overview of their history over the years, as well
However, it was rough going for budding as some other related articles. The bulk of the
RPG fans of the era. While the genre was on fire in book features reviews of various titles. First, we’ll
Japan, that success didn’t quite translate outside of go over the Japanese PC titles that birthed the
the country. American boys, I was told, only liked genre, including many works by Nihon Falcom.
action and sports games. I liked these too, but I also Subsequent chapters look at the most prolific
enjoyed the sprawling adventures, fantastical plots, franchises in the genre, including Dragon Quest,
and enormous bestiaries role-playing games had. Final Fantasy, Shin Megami Tensei, and Tales of…
For the 16-bit era, I elected to get a SEGA Then we’ll look at small series, before drilling
Genesis, mostly because of Sonic the Hedgehog, down into individual titles. After this, chapters
but I was exposed to a few RPGs of the time, focus on different sub-genres: action RPGs,
like Phantasy Star II and Lunar: The Silver Star. strategy RPGs, Rogue-likes, first-person dungeon
But things changed in late 1996, when my little crawlers, and monster-collecting games. The last
brother bought a cheap SNES at Funcoland. chapter includes various miscellaneous pieces,
I mentioned this offhand to one of my friends like MMORPGs based on Japanese franchises,
at school, who returned the next day with Final Western-developed JRPGs, and a handful of adult
Fantasy III, raving about how awesome it was and RPGs and sports RPGs.
demanding that I play it. He wasn’t wrong – I was
immediately in love, and ended up buying my Please enjoy!
own copy at a local video store. Afterwards came
Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana. I dug out Kurt Kalata
my Genesis again and grabbed Phantasy Star IV January 2021
and Lunar: Eternal Blue. On 3rd September 1997,
the day Final Fantasy VII came out, and both my
brother and I pooled our money so we could buy
it, along with a brand new PlayStation. From then,
I was hooked. Almost every new RPG that came
out, I had to buy. This was a great time to get into
Japanese RPGs too, since the success of Final
Fantasy VII had opened the floodgates for more of
them to come out in English.
The book you’re reading is the culmination
of 30 years of playing and studying Japanese
RPGs. It’s not just my experiences, though, as it
also includes contributions from over 30 other
writers, covering well over 600 games. The
definition of “Japanese RPG” has been (and will
continue to be) argued over for a long time, and
there are tons more that aren’t featured here.
But we’ve chosen a wide variety of the best, most
popular, and most interesting titles released since
their inception back in 1982 all the way up to the
present day. My hope is that you’ll come into this
book looking to learn more about your favourite
titles, find yourself discovering some of the lesser
known entries, and gain an understanding of the
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Contributors
Audie Bassow is a student living in Elizabeth Henges is a freelance gaming Luigi, Mega Man Battle Network & Mega
Portland, Oregon, who’s passionate about journalist who’s worked at Gamasutra, Man Star Force, Mega Man X: Command
retro sound hardware and game music. Kotaku, RPG Site, and more. She’s also the Mission, Paper Mario, Radiata Stories,
Contribution: Magical Vacation. mother of one beautiful cat named Sissel. Robopon, Septerra Core: Legacy of the
Contributions: Atelier, Ar tonelico. Creator, Tales of Legendia, The World
Anson Oliver is from Ontario, Canada Ends With You, Yakuza.
where he lives with his two kids and Elmon Dean Todd is the author
partner and is slowly turning them of the Godshard Chronicles (www. Justin Guillou is a game collector, writer
into big fans of JRPGs. Contributions: godshard.com), a review writer for and contributor to Operation Rainfall
Archaic Sealed Heart, CIMA, Shadow RPGamer, and a police officer. You can along with being a co-host for XenoChat
Madness, Chaos Rings. find him on Instagram and Twitter: – a podcast dedicated to discussing
@saiyancop. Contribution: Dark Wizard. Xenogears, Xenosaga and Xenoblade.
Audi Sorlie is an author and game Contributions: Xenoblade, Xenosaga.
producer most well known for his Eric Titus spends his time in Chicago
complete retrospectives and work in with his wife and perennially scared cat, Kurt Kalata is the founder and editor-
video game music. Contributions: when he’s not writing guides for games in-chief of Hardcore Gaming 101 (HG101),
Rance, Toushin Toshi. twelve people will play. You can find his and also put together much of this book!
scribbles at @GrimyGolem on Twitter. He lives in New Jersey, USA, with his wife,
Bryan Cebulski is a journalist, media Contribution: Cosmic Soldier. daughter, and two cats. Contributions:
critic and aspiring point-and-click Everything else!
adventure protagonist living in a George J. Horvath hails from Central
tiny house in the woods of Northern New Jersey, and loves exploring into the Leon Staton is an East Asian micro-
California. Contribution: Wild Arms. forgotten and obscure, especially when it computer media generalist and streamer,
comes to anime, manga, and video games. known for the #PasokonSunday showcase
Bryan Ochalla lives in Austin, Texas, with You can find his long-form thoughts series on Twitter (@dragenregalia).
his husband, David. He does his best to at his blog, The Land of Obscusion. Currently working on a website and video
keep his 13-year-old blog, The Gay Gamer, Contribution: Super Robot Wars. series discussing classic, overlooked
going when he’s not writing about PC software and hardware from Japan,
other topics for a living. Contributions: James Galizio is a regular contributor Korea, and China from the turn of ’80s
A Witch’s Tale, Ever Oasis, The Alliance to RPG Site, and has been writing about to today. Contributions: Code Name
Alive, The Legend of Legacy. games and RPGs for most of his adult S.T.E.A.M., Gage, Relics, Kumdor no Ken,
life. You can follow him on Twitter, Wind’s Seed, Lunatic Dawn.
Carrie Wood works as a reporter, but @Theswweet. Contributions: Legend of
she has also enjoyed writing about her the Heroes: Trails in the Sky and Cold Leonardo Lira is a freelance writer who
hobbies, having penned books on the Steel, Ao and Zero no Kiseki, Ys IX. is passionate about obscure JRPGs and
video game and tabletop industries. will finish even the clunkiest of them
She lives in Owings Mills, Maryland, Joe Brown spends his days in the idyllic to find a hidden gem. Contribution:
with her husband and their two cats, North Carolina countryside with his Sol Trigger.
Ganon and Zelda, and she hopes she wife and two cats. Still uses ZSNES.
lives long enough to see a Golden Sun 4. Contribution: Mystaria. Luke Maxwell is a writer from Dublin
Contributions: Kingdom Hearts, Digimon, covering food, film and games.
Rune Factory, Golden Sun, Baten Kaitos, John Harris wrote the Rogue-like column Contribution: Dragon Quest X.
Monster Rancher, Beyond the Beyond. @Play for GameSetWatch, various
features and Q&As for Gamasutra, and Marisa Alexander is a writer for Operation
Chris Hatala has a love of video games a number of gaming ebooks available Rainfall, where they like to delve into
that has led him to direct international at www.itch.io. Contributions: Mystery unfamiliar topics. New or old, they are
events, set world records, compete semi- Dungeon, Izuna, Z.H.P. willing to explore anything of interest.
professionally, and found a business Contributions: Brigandine, Gungnir.
that entertains and trains through Jonathan Kaharl is an obscure games
gaming. Romhacking Phantasy Star and critic and HG101 writer. He enjoys lo-fi Mathias Nowatzki is German guy
podcasting about fan translations are tech aesthetics and is working on a Mass who’s bad at skill-based games and
his latest adventures! Say hi on Twitter: Effect book. Contributions: Contact, has thus played mostly RPGs since
@Ghaleon. Contribution: Dragon Force. Dark Cloud, Infinite Space, Mario & falling for the genre on the SNES with
4
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Secret of Mana and Terranigma. He Heaven & Earth (Soul Blazer, Illusion Word on the Wind is a stubborn, loud-
sends his random thoughts into the of Gaia, Terranigma, Granstream mouthed trans woman with a passion for
void as @cursedblessing on Twitter. Saga), Robotrek, SaGa Frontier 1 & 2, sizeable mammaries and video games.
Contributions: Crimson Shroud, Fantasy Saiyuki, SoulsBorne, Stella Deus, Stella She’s a regular on HG101’s Top 47K
Life, Jade Cocoon. Glow, Suikoden Tactics, Tenshi no Uta, Games audio show. Contributions: Final
Treasure Hunter G, Unlimited Saga, Fantasy Legend, Romancing SaGa, SaGa:
Michael Gridman has been playing JRPGs Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume, Scarlet Grace, Pokémon, Breath of Fire,
since Dragon Warrior. He’s currently Vanguard Bandits, Xak. Mother/EarthBound, Rudro no Hihou,
working on a book about first-person The Last Remnant, Final Fantasy XIV.
dungeon crawlers, tentatively titled Sraëka Lillian is an interstitial game
The DRPG Book (www.drpgbook.com). designer, programmer, and critic in Special thanks go to: Felipe Pepe,
Contributions: Elminage, Labyrinth of Toronto. Contribution: Battle Chasers: the author of The CRPG Book (also
Refrain, Stranger of Sword City. Nightwar. published by Bitmap Books), which laid
the foundation that helped formulate this
Patrick Griffin writes a blog about Stephanie Sybydlo (known online as book from a vague idea into an actual
Japanese RPGs at www.JRPG.moe. He’s DiceSMS) has been playing games and workable project (and by providing a
currently living in Japan, working on drawing since before she could fully form working copy of Samurai Mech at the
his language skills and naming sense. sentences. Unable to write or program last minute); Sam Dyer, head of Bitmap
Contributions: Medarot, Hero Must Die. for the next big game, she passionately Books, for believing in and funding this
pursues creative venues in the industry project; Joseph Redon at the Japanese
Phil O’Donnell III is a film, animation, and has worked on numerous indie Game Preservation Society for his
and video game enthusiast from Central games and commercial projects. help providing some of the very early
New York, who also runs the Pro Gent Contribution: Cover artwork. PC games; John Szczepaniak for his
Show on YouTube. Contributions: invaluable Untold History of Japanese
Pokémon Conquest, Rondo of Swords, Steven Barbato is a lifelong gaming Game Developers volumes; Simon Carless
Lost Kingdoms, Project X Zone. enthusiast, passionate JRPG fan, and of MobyGames and Ken Horowitz of
dog lover, who contributes to HG101. SEGA-16 for allowing use of some of
Quentin H. has been a journalist in the Contributions: Last Rebellion, Dragon the images from their archives; Robert
games industry since 2015, and first fell Star Varnir. Fenner for fact-checking; Karen Giles for
in love with JRPGs thanks to the Lunar proofreading; Hanenashi no Error for his
series, localised by Working Designs in Thomas Nickel is often busy, teaching examinations of video game localisations
the ’90s. Contribution: Pier Solar. game history and game design at various (and helping me brush up on my
German schools and universities, writing Japanese!); Sam Derboo, whose ‘Dark Age
Queuethulu @queuethulu on Twitter. for print-magazine M!Games, working of JRPG’ column at HG101 kickstarted
Contribution: Sigma Harmonics. on his own game for the good old research into early PC RPGs; Samuel
Game Boy. You can find him on Twitter Messner for digging up some interesting,
Richard “The Great Klaid” Morgan is @bimbofortuna. Contributions: Final previously unknown titbits; Eirikr J.
a wargame enthusiast and MMO addict. Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, .hack, Smith for QCing Shin Megami Tensei;
The only time he stopped was to beat Evergrace, Eternal Ring, Lord of the Jeff Nussbaum for helping QC the Falcom
every Final Fantasy; they’ve made a few Rings: The Third Age, Lost Sphear. parts; Pat R, David DeRienzo, Alexander
since then. Currently hosting the Top47k Case, and many of the other RPG review
games podcast. Contribution: Final Tyler Trosper writes news articles for contributors to HG101 over the years; my
Fantasy XI. RPGFan. As a huge fan of the PlayStation 2 wife Sophia and daughter Violetta for their
classic Xenosaga, he hopes one day for love and support (and help with screen
Robert Fenner is a games journalist the series’ glorious return. Contribution: capturing!); and my parents, for indulging
and podcaster who still occasionally Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless my hobby as a teenager. Also thanks
enjoys freelancing for HG101. Originally Frontier. to invaluable Japanese sites such as
from Kansas, he lives in London with Game Catalogue (w.atwiki.jp/gcmatome)
his partner and their giant whiny cat, Wes Iliff is a small town dad with too and Tower of RetroGame (www.towerof
Borscht. Contributions: Cosmic Fantasy, many pets and a love for writing. Outside retrogame.blog.jp), along with Project Egg
Exile/XZR, Fairy Fencer F, Hoshigami, his day job, you can check out his after (www.amusement-centre.com/project/egg)
Hourai Gakuen, Idea no Hi, King’s Field, hours gaming and entertainment work and the books Old Gamers History Vol. 3
Koudelka, Last Bible, Lennus, Majin at www.messofcords.com. Contribution: and Challenge!! Personal Computer AVG
Tensei, Maka Maka, Oninaki, Quintet Phantasy Star Online. & RPG in help with research.
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What is
a JRPG?
What is a “JRPG”, exactly? Literally, it just means most popular, and both remain internationally
“a role-playing game from Japan”, but over the successful to this day.
years it’s become the name of a sub-genre, a very However, there is more to a JRPG than
specific style of RPG, whose evolutionary branch approachability. The game style evolved from
led to a vastly different product from Western the 8-bit Famicom onto the 16-bit platforms, and
RPGs. So when did this happen, and where did the then the 32-bit CD systems. Broadly speaking,
term come from? elements include: an overworld that is divided
In the early ’80s, most RPGs in Japan were into discrete town and dungeon sections; separate
imported from the United States, and much of screens where battles take place, typically turn-
the locally developed software was based roughly based and executed via menu commands; a focus
on Ultima, Wizardry, or some combination of the on battle statistics in lieu of other RPG elements
two. The real flashpoint for this style of game was (e.g. charisma statistics to influence conversation);
Dragon Quest, published by Enix for the Nintendo unique character customisation systems; manga-
Famicom in May 1986. style artwork; strong soundtracks, as seen in other
Broadly speaking, Dragon Quest was console games; and linear storylines.
successful because it took the mainstays of RPGs – Obviously, even at the time, there were
that is, the feeling of a sprawling journey, combined exceptions to these rules. Square’s Final Fantasy
with character growth – and put them into a form used artwork by Yoshitaka Amano, whose
that was easily accessible. The Famicom audience illustrations are a far cry from typical manga
largely consisted of children, so the games needed (though Tetsuya Nomura, who joined the series as
to be easy to play and understand. Earlier RPGs an illustrator with the seventh instalment, is a little
had a reputation for being extraordinarily difficult, more standard). Data East’s Metal Max presented
often giving you no guidance or easily putting an open world that let the player explore at their
you in an unwinnable situation. Dragon Quest leisure. Atlus’ Megami Tensei (and its 16-bit sequel
was much friendlier, giving you some direction series, Shin Megami Tensei) kept the first-person
into and context for the game world. It was even perspective found in Wizardry. Namco’s Tales of
generous about player death, resurrecting you at Phantasia used an action-based battle system even
the starting point, letting you keep your experience though the rest of the systems were similar to other
and equipment, and only charging you half of games. RPGs grew to be so popular in Japan that
your gold. A strategy guide was helpful, but not there was quite a bit of experimentation, and this
necessary. Further, the Famicom controller only created an audience with a wide variety of tastes,
had four buttons and a directional pad, so the though America and Europe only saw glimpses of
controls needed to be simple and straightforward, this in the 16-bit era since (for the most part) only
compared to the complex keyboard commands the most mainstream games were localised.
required by computer RPGs. Combined with While this type of game is what most people
artwork by famed manga illustrator Akira think of when referring to a JRPG, the net is quite
Toriyama, who was seeing incredible success with a bit wider. While Dragon Quest had turn-based,
Dragon Ball, and the game became the reference menu-based battle sequences, it certainly wasn’t
point for generations’ worth of RPGs. the only popular game to feature them. RPGs from
There were many direct clones in the mid as early as 1984, like Nihon Falcom’s Dragon Slayer
to late ’80s, and most have been forgotten. Other and T&E Soft’s Hydlide, focused almost entirely
companies jumped on the RPG bandwagon but on action, though they were often clumsy, as
still crafted their own unique experiences – of this combat often consisted of bumping into enemies
era, Final Fantasy and Megami Tensei were the and hoping you had the stats to beat them.
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Left-to-right,
top-to-bottom,
some of the most
important Japanese
role-playing games:
Falcom’s Dragon
Slayer, XtalSoft’s
Mugen no Shinzou,
Namco’s The Tower
of Druaga, and T&E
Soft’s Hydlide.
The flashpoint for this evolution, once again from developers like SSI. Nintendo’s Fire Emblem
a Famicom game, was Nintendo’s The Legend for the Famicom was the first big entry to establish
of Zelda. Like Dragon Quest, it was relatively the simulation RPG, as it gave your units individual
easy to understand and play, and moreover, had personalities, presented them in a grand storyline,
much better controls and combat than previous gave them statistics, and let them grow over the
computer RPGs. course of the game. Later games include Quest’s
Ironically, the Zelda series is not really Tactics Ogre (and its own sorta-sequel, Final
considered an RPG by most modern gamers, and Fantasy Tactics), Square’s Front Mission, SEGA’s
that’s mostly because so many of its elements Shining Force, Sakura Wars, Valkyria Chronicles,
are either simplified or abstracted. In the original and many others.
Legend of Zelda, there are only a few pieces of Then there are the Rogue-likes. Rogue was a
equipment, with most items used to open new dungeon crawler with randomly-generated levels,
areas or solve puzzles, and the only permanent dating from the early ’80s, which was widely ignored
character growth comes from expanding your life outside of the most hardcore PC circles. In Japan,
meter. Its sequel, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Chunsoft’s Mystery Dungeon series, beginning on
is a little more complex, having an experience the Super Famicom, created a new, then-unique
system, several magic spells, and other statistics, variation of this game. The first entry here was a
though later games reeled these back. That being tie-in with Dragon Quest, featuring Torneko from
said, by the definitions we’re setting down, Zelda the fourth game. Much like its parent series, it took
is indeed technically a JRPG … but only barely. this style and made it approachable for broader
Partially, this is because RPG elements audiences. Over the decades, other licences have
began cropping up in all kinds of other games. been plugged into the Mystery Dungeon style,
For example, the famous Metroidvania sub-genre, including Final Fantasy, Pokémon, and Chunsoft’s
which grew into existence with Super Metroid and own original character, Shiren.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, are basically Then there are the first-person dungeon
Zelda games with a side-scrolling perspective crawlers. While games like Wizardry eventually fell
(and Metroid, as with Zelda, also heavily abstracts out of style with ’90s PC gamers, they maintained
the statistical elements). some niche level of popularity in Japan, where
Even these are only a portion of what could the licence actually continued for many years.
be considered a Japanese RPG. There are strategy Atlus’ 2007 DS game Etrian Odyssey resurrected
RPGs (or rather simulation RPGs, as they tend to this style of game for a new generation, with
be referred to in Japan), where units of opposing bright visuals, attractive characters, and perhaps
teams are put on square (or hex) boards and must most importantly, mapping tools on the bottom
move to attack each other. This style of game has screen of the console. This sparked another
its roots in the PC game Daisenryaku, which in revolution, with similar games also being
turn was based on the sort of war games you’d see developed by others.
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Nintendo and
Intelligent Systems
brought fantasy
strategy role-playing
to the Famicom with
Fire Emblem (left),
which has become
an international
success. Square’s
Final Fantasy
Tactics (right)
is another take
on this formula,
And the list goes on and on. There are MMORPGs However, genres evolve, and what made using an isometric
like Phantasy Star Online and Final Fantasy sense during a certain era may not always hold perspective.
XIV. There are monster-collecting RPGs, starting true. Popular games like Final Fantasy XV have
with the Pokémon craze. There are Souls-like barely any resemblance to a traditional JRPG,
games, a particular brand of action RPG begun by having rather more in common with open world
FromSoftware’s Demon’s Souls, which emphasise WRPGs like The Witcher 3, though there is still
a high level of difficulty. There’s a unique branch a distinct stylistic difference. Similarly, Capcom’s
of Japanese arcade RPGs, like Namco’s Tower of Dragon’s Dogma comes from a Japanese
Druaga. Many action games, particularly in the developer, but has more in common in looks
PlayStation 2 era, with games like Devil May Cry, and style with Western RPGs. There are plenty
also started offering character customisation, of turn-of-century Western-developed RPGs
though since the focus is more on the action like Anachronox, Septerra Core, and Shadow
elements, it usually isn’t considered an RPG. Madness that are heavily inspired by Japanese
So now that we’ve defined (broadly) what a games, while there are tons of Western indie
JRPG is, where did the term actually come from? RPGs, perhaps most popularly Undertale, which
Searches of old Usenet forums from the mid-’90s draw from similar sources. At this point, “JRPG”
show the term popping up every now and again, but is far more a style than simply an RPG that came
it really didn’t come into popular usage until the from Japan.
PlayStation 2 generation, around the year 2000. So, like a lot of sub-genre labels, a “JRPG”
At this point, there was a distinction between designation isn’t really binary, so much as a
games like Final Fantasy, which grew from sliding scale. There are also hundreds upon
consoles, and Fallout and Diablo, which were hundreds of them. Obviously, we can’t cover all
franchises that started on PCs. Some gamers of these because then you’d have a book nobody
referred to these as “console RPGs” versus would be able to carry, but this book does cover
“computer RPGs”, which made sense, but made all of the major and important ones, so you can
for some confusion since the acronyms were get a feel for the variety and richness of what
identical. As more traditionally computer RPGs these games can offer.
began to make their way onto console systems, While the genre isn’t quite as prolific as it
like Bioware’s Star Wars: Knights of the Old was back in the ’80s and ’90s, Japanese RPGs are
Republic for the Xbox, the audience began to settle still an essential part of the vibrant video-game
on “JRPG” for the Japanese type, and “WRPG” landscape. They still provide unique mechanics,
(Western RPG, obviously) for American and distinct visual styles, brilliant soundtracks,
European types. By this point, these sub-genres of innovative stories, and other aspects that make
games catered to wildly different audiences, hence them stand apart from their Western-developed
the need for a different designation. counterparts.
Etrian Odyssey (left)
resurrected the old-
school first-person
dungeon crawler,
featuring attractive
visuals and a touch
screen mapping
system. Mystery
Dungeon: Shiren the
Wanderer (right) is a
distinctly Japanese
branch of the Rogue-
like sub-genre.
8
Prepared exclusively for John Hozen / [email protected]