The 1990s proved a pivotal decade for gaming, fueled by technological advancements and new businesses that would go on to leave a lasting impact on the industry. The '90s saw the release of both the original Sony PlayStation (1995) and the Nintendo 64 (1996) which brought iconic titles such as Super Mario 64, Resident Evil, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. New opportunities in the '90s also helped pave the way for RPGs, and although countless technological advancements have been made in the past three decades, many of those games are still worth playing today.
The games are just that good — and several of them also helped provide the framework for modern titles. Nearly a decade before Square Enix was formed, two of the gaming industry's biggest players — Squaresoft and Enix — joined forces in 1995 to create an RPG that remains highly regarded today. In Chrono Trigger, players control Crono and a band of adventurers who travel through time to stop a global catastrophee and save the world from the alien entity Lavos.
The game combines some of the best elements of the genre: a captivating story, charming music, and fluid combat based on the Active Time Battle system used in early Final Fantasy titles. Perhaps the most enduring quality of Chrono Trigger, even after 30 years, is its replayability. The game has more than a dozen endings to discover, including a special secret ending that pays tribute to the developers — endearingly called the "Dream Team" — who brought Chrono Trigger to life.
Symphony of the Night may not have been the first Castlevania game — the first Castlevania title predates 1990 — but it was a turning point for the franchise. It transformed Castlevania from a stage-by-stage platformer into an action-RPG and laid the groundwork for future Metroidvania games. In Symphony of the Night, players assume the role of Alucard, the half-human son of Dracula, as he explores his father's massive, sprawling castle — and it is truly massive.
There are 940 rooms and an equal number of inverted (mirrored) rooms, for a total of 1,880 across two mirrored maps. With the game's 30th anniversary approaching in 2027, it's a good time to appreciate the immortal charm of Symphony of the Night's gothic pixel art and its haunting soundtrack by composer Michiru Yamane (which many consider to be one of the best soundtracks in the Castlevania series). At a time when most games involved fighting dragons or rescuing trapped princesses, EarthBound chose a different route.
A young boy named Ness and his friends are tasked with stopping an alien invasion from destroying the planet. To do that, they wield baseball bats instead of swords and eat pizza and burgers to restore health. Gameplay involves stopping at local libraries to collect maps and traveling between towns by bus.
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