So, I’m a big JPRG fan and just playing through Mother 3. I love Mother 2 (aka Earthbound) as well. I love the music, quirkiness, style, pacing, simple yet rewarding tactics in boss battles.
So, I would appreciate any game recommendations you have for a similar game or game series.
If it helps, my other favorite JRPGs are: Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6, 9, and 10.
Undertale is the obvious suggestion, although it’s more deconstructive than Earthbound.
The Lufia series were not ground-breaking at the time, not that that matters today, but were instead focused on just doing things really well.
The Breath of Fire series is another highly notable old one from about that same time period. You can really see the development of technology as it progresses, like from 2D overhead scrollers in the earliest ones to more 3D effects later on.
I’m surprised you did not mention the Dragon Warrior series bc I’ve heard it’s one of the biggest in Japan even today. Especially the ones never released outside of Japan, but there are fan-made English translations.
It is hard to top Chrono Trigger - it basically cannot be done afaik!
Lisa, but be ready to feel sad
Someone made a flowchart on what to play after finishing the series.
If you’re willing to check out non-RPGs, then I highly recommend Star Tropics (which is on the flowchart). The best way to describe it as a cross between MOTHER (setting) and The Legend of Zelda (gameplay). An interesting thing to note is that Star Tropics is a first-party Nintendo game that’s never been released in Japan despite being developed there.
Another thing is that there’s a point where you’ll need to get a password off of the Internet. The game originally came with a letter from the protagonist’s uncle that contained the password, which would only be revealed by dipping the letter in water.
Great suggestions here already, I’ll throw a few more on top:
- Omori (similar and often compared to Earthbound but the silly fun stuff gets darker and more serious as the story goes on)
- Super Mario RPG (another Squaresoft JRPG from the era of Chrono Trigger and FFVI, very fun and satisfying turn-based combat mechanics, quirky to the max, Squaresoft really had a blast creating a Mario style world. The remaster just released for the Switch, but if you don’t have one then you can easily get a digital port of the original SNES version)
