You’ve played them. You’ve heard of them. Hell, you’ve probably written bad fanfics about them (no, it doesn’t matter how realistic your portrayal of TifaxSquall is. It’s just not happening, fangirls). Japanese Role Playing Games (JRPGs) are one of the must-haves of just about any video game console you can name, with at least one of the most popular coming bearing the Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest stamp. The quality of JRPGs vary just as much as their irreverent spiraling plot lines do, and finding a derivative troll that feeds like a parasite on your patience is nothing new. However, sometimes you stumble upon a real gem that claims you right from the first Limit Break, and once every ounce of gameplay is experienced, a sequel is the next natural course of action. Here are some of the greatest Japanese RPG franchises that haven’t yet received a new iteration, but which occupy the top of the waiting list.

Discounting the prequel-esque suckiness of Lunar DS, which established such wonderful new techniques like “Killing a main character within the first hour” and “We’re not in the magic age; by the way, we use magic”, it’s been years since we’ve seen the legend of the Goddess Althena revisited. The anime cut-scenes of Silver Star Story and Eternal Blue Complete still hold up, as does the traditional formation heavy battle-systems. Grandia 3 happened – now, let’s see the ambitious, romantic and chirpy youngsters of the Lunar-verse brought into the new generation. Without any colorful tornadoes. At all.

From the get-go, the very theme of floating continents, air-ships and Sky Pirates had ‘epic’ written all over it. Sega and Overworks didn’t disappoint, whether it was an explicit chase aboard a train, or a underwater traipse within a submerged temple, all leading up to the massive air-ship war in the climax. Skies of Arcadia Legends updated the game from the Dreamcast to the Gamecube, providing some interesting back-story (ZOMG Vyse’s scar is so not for show) and additional content, though the response was hardly encouraging. The inclusion of Vyse the Bold and Aika in Sega’s Valkryia Chronicles for the PS3 could be an indicator towards some new form of the franchise in the coming future.

Yes, alright. Chrono Cross was not the jaw-dropping, be-all, end-all of Squaresoft goodness, and it disappointed many who wished to see the enigmatic continuation of the saga. Also, whether the mythos were officially continued or expanded is still a mystery (as was that bizarre battle system). So, why don’t we have what everyone’s been demanding? A straight-up, cataclysmic sequel to the original’s story, with passing references from the second game, leading to the galaxy-shattering fruition of one of the most sublimely awesome, time-traveling stories in RPG history? And hey, this time Crono can be the hero (sorry, couldn’t resist).

Probably the single most gorgeous RPG (if not game) on the Game Boy Advance, Golden Sun reinforced it’s looks with an epic soundtrack, an interesting turn-based battle system centered around class changes, summons and pre-battle strategies as well as mid-battle adjustments (consequently, it’s very easy to cheat because of this factor) and a massive world to explore. Golden Sun: The Lost Age topped it’s original with more of just about everything, but the next sensible step of evolution for the franchise – a next-gen update like Fire Emblem has undergone in recent years – seems to be in suspended animation. Maybe Camelot should revisit the game that pushed the GBA to it’s limits, and leave the Nintendo sports games to Nintendo.

Not even Darth Maul himself has the guts to demand his light-saber back from wonder boy detective Johnny Garland. Shadow Hearts: From the New World is a spin-off from the main Shadow Hearts story-line. It bursts from the seams with kitschy humor, but pulls off the freshest battles (with everyone having their separate system for fighting) and the craziest cast of Drunken Fist kung-fu cats, sword-fish wielding ninjas and shape-shifting sassy hitters ever. The kid even busted Al Capone out of prison, for crying out loud! If the Ring of Judgment knows any justice, then Midway should commission a new-world sequel to this title, stat.

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By N2H

• Crazy Says:
  May 23rd, 2008 at 1:13 am

  The Chrono Cross/Trigger series is regarded as the one half of the JRPG kingdom in Japan, the other belongs to FF.I wish they’d remake Grandia as well, the game outsold FF VII in Japan when it was released for the Saturn.Playstation owners got a port of the game a few years later, but looking at this one in High definition would be amazing.I liked the first Alundra somehow they messed up the sequel pretty bad,

• Ravi Sinha Says:
  May 23rd, 2008 at 4:57 am

  To clarify a couple of things: Firstly, the Chrono series does not form half of any RPG kingdom, be it in Japan, the States, Europe, Kingdom Hearts’ Disney worlds, and what not. The other half of the JRPG kingdom belongs to Dragon Quest, because along with Final Fantasy, it was one of the first JRPGs ever and still enjoys immense sales in its native country.

  Secondly, I’m talking about what games deserve sequels, not remakes. The whole point of contention for me is that some companies can spend millions to craft remakes and milk an old classic when they can’t create bonafide sequels to innovative/memorable/addictive games. So, no. I don’t think it’d be amazing to remake Grandia for the sake of it seeing it in HD.

• Sesshomaru Says:
  May 23rd, 2008 at 5:02 am

  The other half would be Dragon quest period . The chrono serie steamed from the dreams anyway of teaming up key members of enix and square for a stellar game , wich they did .

  grandia did not outsell FFVI in japan … within tree days FF7 sold more than 2 millions of copies in japan , and it obviously kept selling a lot .
  Grandia managed over a million , with the hype of it being the final fantasy of the saturn , and faired only decently on psx afterward .

  Back then the only concurrent and actual killer of FF7 would be Dragon quest in 2000 .

• Sesshomaru Says:
  May 23rd, 2008 at 5:16 am

  Personally i can live with remakes , as long as the original game still got unique qualities that could benefits the next generation , not just blind nostalgia ….

  I’m not in any hurry to replay a hd FF7 … ask yourselves if the game was really that awesome , or arent you also mixing in a lot of nostalgic feelings ? Especially if it was your first big rpg experience .

  I do not get either the need for a grandia I remix … it got various sequels , with of course at least one black sheep like every series , but still it features everything grandia 1 ever had … its unique fighting system , and a definitely not awe inspiring setting or story .
  There will be a grandia 4 soon enough with that same gameplay further polished , graphics , and the same generic plot .

• Dheeraj Kumar Says:
  June 4th, 2008 at 12:09 am

  If Bahamut Lagoon doesnt deserve a sequel, I dont know what does. That remains one of my most loved games, ranking with Golden Sun 1&2 and Final Fantasy series. And we have some rumours of GS3 for gamecube, and now it may be for Wii. GS3 is not being confirmed or denied by camelot, but it says it too busy with whatever its working on right now. also, camelot has only around 10-12 developers or something (a small number, nevertheless) so developing two games at a time is impossible. Still, when im bored i think of what alex might be doing after gs2…