Gonna start one, just resharing as I go and think of things. Not a definitive list, and I am definitely not proscribing a certain way of playing these that is otherwise unavailable by legal means.
Probably the original survival horror game as we know it today, bonus of it being a survival horror JRPG. You start with five people, and can finish the game with all but two dead if you are a masochist. Very difficult and unforgiving, and RPG grinding plus limited heals is a choice, but it gets the horror and dread down right.
Man, for a while there they made fighting games of anything eh? There were actually a few Gundam fighting games, especially early PS1, but this one is a solid one. Bonus to having one of the tallest battlegrounds in a fighting game, as you can go up to three screens high and some mechs use that very well.
The random-ass iOS port does -not- count, especially because its de-listed. While there were the famicom Megami Tensei games, this is where the whole mishmash of demon summoning / apocalypse / mythology mashing started.
Notably that this game also counts as post apocalyptic and cyberpunk in genres, if you'll forgive minor spoilers. It made for a great TTRPG campaign homebrew.
Gameplay wise, it is a hard as nails first person dungeon crawler. You will grind a lot for money, for new demons to fuse, to barely scrape by to get to the next area, and get lost a lot. This one has no auto mapping, and a lot of features later games have, so its pretty hard to go through as a modern gamer, but it still has a lot going for it compared to other SNES RPGs of the era.
Arguably a more interesting story than the first game, with lots of QoL features (like auto-map!) that made it a better game. Gets a bit less love, mostly because it does follow sequentially from the first (the Law ending specifically), and getting someone to play through -both- old school dungeon crawlers that are tough as nails is a bit of an ask.
Fun fact: Both are canon, especially to the Raidou Kuzonoha games.
Notably, I can not personally recommend 1, because I have not finished it, and I try not to recommend games I haven't finished.
An odd mecha JRPG, where loot comes in the form of mech parts to analyze. You command a ship lost in space, and go to various planets to find your way back and defeat the villain of the story. Some references to the first game, but nothing that will have you lost. The gameplay is solid and the unique take on JRPG combat with the mech skills and off-screen artillery make it worth a shot.


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Speaking of original horror games. Clock Tower is still a great game despite its age, effectively a point and click horror game released on the SNES. The series never really reached 'great' status, and honestly this might be the best entry in the whole lot. This game innovated a lot of the run/hide from villain mechanics later games would develop on, along with multiple endings and some genuinely scary scenarios and story telling.



The SNES and NES had tons of two things, JRPGs, and the worst ideas of adapting popular properties into video games. Sailor Moon saw tons of games on the SNES, a lot of match 3, brawlers, fighting games, and the like. Another Story is a very solid JRPG, not the best ever produced, but definitely worth a play. A bit grindy, but not as bad as some of the better thought of games higher up on my list.




You, your tank, and maybe some party members with their own tanks you pick up, in a post-apocalyptic hell scape, hunting monsters to try and make ends meet. A fairly open-world-ish RPG with a unique premise. There were actually two previous games (Metal Max, Metal Max 2), but I can't vouch for how playable they are in comparison.
(That box cover is entirely my vibe)
