There is a stark difference between the RPGs of the heyday of the Super Nintendo and RPGs that are popular today. For one, SNES RPGs tended to be pretty intuitive, easy to pick up and learn for anybody who wanted to play. They were simpler, both in terms of the restricted pixel-art of the time and in the gameplay itself.
Modern RPGs, on the other hand, are immersive experiences that take players across complex worlds and through intertwined narratives. Sometimes, the scope of these games gets too large, and the final product pales in comparison to what could have been. While there's plenty to love about modern RPGs, here's what could be great about going back to basics.
10 Great Music Is Essential For Immersion...
SNES RPGs excelled at music and ambiance. The music of games like Chrono Trigger and the extensive Final Fantasy series helped to define their worlds in ways that words just couldn't. Modern RPGs are rife with music, but there's a lack of the originality that was so present on the SNES.
Games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim have incredible music that gets stuck in players' heads. But while most SNES RPGs have theme songs that are instantly recognizable, modern RPGs tend to lack this aspect of world building.
9 ...And So Is Art Direction And Style
Modern games have a tendency to lean towards the realistic, especially in the RPG genre. Games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance pride themselves on their historical accuracy, while presenting a realistic take on Henry's small world that ends up looking like every other vaguely Medieval game.
Art direction and style don't have to bow to realism, though, as is evident in games like Dark Souls and Breath of the Wild. Dark Souls presents a gritty world with incredibly stylistic designs and layouts, while Breath of the Wild uses cel-shaded graphics in its incredible open world. Both help immerse players in the world and the story.
8 RPGs Don't Have To Take Themselves Too Seriously
One thing SNES RPGs do far better than modern RPGs is balance serious moments with comedic relief. No game is more evident of this than Earthbound, whose wacky world is filled with moments both bizarre and meaningful.
Aside from Undertale, which took major inspiration from Earthbound and SNES games of its kind, some gamers feel that modern RPGs take themselves too seriously. Not everything needs an explanation or adult themes throughout — funny moments have their place even in dark stories.
7 Stories Can Be Over-The-Top, But Grounded
SNES RPGs are great at presenting bombastic, world-altering narratives, while still keeping everything believable. Games like the Final Fantasy series pitch players against cosmic entities all the time, but the games still feel grounded thanks to coherent, well-built-up story climaxes.
On the other hand, modern RPGs (and especially MMORPGs) tend to veer fully towards the "player must save the world," trope without making those moments feel quite as special. World of Warcraft, for example, has been criticized for constantly growing its scope while feeling far less grounded in its own reality than in earlier expansions.
6 Turn-Based RPGs Are Great When Combat Is Fun...
Over time, the turn-based RPG genre has gone through a number of major changes. Games like Earthbound and Chrono Trigger had their own unique spin on this combat mechanic, for example. This is because turn-based combat can get boring and repetitive quickly.
Games like Undertale and YIIK: A Post-Modern RPG show how turn-based combat can be morphed into something much more engaging and actually fun to take part in. It doesn't have to be a grindy slog of the same enemies over and over again.
5 ...But Sometime's Its Best To Try Something New
The turn-based RPG genre was at its height during the days of the SNES, but some games for this classic console were already moving away from this style of combat. The Secret of Mana was one such game that took inspiration from turn-based games but ultimately played completely differently, thanks to open combat.
There are some games that just work better with a turn-based combat mechanic, like the Pokemon series. But even a seminal series like this is open to experimentation, such as in the recently-released MOBA Pokemon Unite. It only goes to show that some modern turn-based games could be better served with updated combat systems.
4 New Twists On Established Brands Work
One thing Nintendo seems to have realized far earlier than other gaming companies is the power of variety within a franchise. The Mario series, for example, has countless spin-off titles in every genre from tennis to racing to RPGs. Super Mario RPG for the SNES is a great example of this successful experimentation.
It would be wonderfully interesting to see an RPG version of a traditionally non-RPG brand, rather than to see more of the same. Pokemon Legends: Arceus is on the horizon and looks to do exactly that, though one could argue that the Pokemon series has always been an RPG series at heart.
3 Eyecatching Box Art Needs To Come Back
More than anything else, gamers from the SNES days remember glorious, misrepresentation box art. There are some not-so-great examples of box art, like the famously terrible Mega Man art, but for the most part, SNES box art stands the test of time. Super Metroid, Ogre Battle, and The Secret of Mana are some prime examples of the era's artistic box art offerings.
Modern box art, however, tends to be incredibly underwhelming. Almost every AAA game's box art is along the lines of "main character in front of background." The Witcher 3, Dark Souls 3, and even Bioshock Infinite could have had much more impressive box art, but went with the tropey character-based designs instead.
2 World-Building Doesn't Have To Be Expository
SNES RPGs were simple and generally to the point in terms of exposition, and players always knew what their goal was because of it. Immersion in SNES RPGs doesn't come from extensive details on minor lore tidbits; instead, it comes from music, art style, and characterization.
Too many modern RPGs offer world-building primarily through dialogue and reading. This can be effective for creating detailed lore for a universe; however, modern RPGs are noticeably lacking in coherent, stylistic, and environmental world-building. A lot of the exposition in Skyrim is only found in books spread throughout the world, while an SNES RPG might have shown those details in another more subtle way.
1 Low-Budget Doesn't Mean Low-Quality
While SNES games were certainly expensive for their day, the budgets of these classic RPGs tended to be tiny, nowhere close to the hundred of millions of dollars spent on modern AAA titles. That's not to say there aren't amazing modern RPGs with low budgets (Undertale and Stardew Valley, for example) but popular ones tend to be expensive to make.
Game development studios tend to promise a lot of things, and then deliver on only a few of them. For example, Cyberpunk 2077 had a massive budget but turned out to be a failure thanks to its huge scope. Modern RPGs don't need to be nearly as ambitious to be instant classics — sometimes simplicity is the best way to create a lasting impression.