I've been on a bit of a classic RPG kick. First on the list is a fan translation of
Radia Senki: Reimeihen, a Famicom game that was never released outside of Japan. Which sucks, because it's one of the best "NES" RPGs I've ever played. It has great visuals for an 8-bit system and a fun plot with a great twist near the end. Its only real flaw is that your party members (it's real-time combat where you only directly control the hero, though you can give orders to your party) don't have the best AI, but the battle system is still impressive for a Famicom/NES game. (It's hard to believe that Tecmo then thought that
Secret of the Stars was worth the time and effort to release in English.)
Then I went on to play
Lagoon on the SNES. I can say this without any doubt in my mind:
Lagoon is the worst SNES game I've ever played. Dungeons are just tedious mazes, the characters in the game look like children's toys, the plot is generic and stupid (not to mention that, given the name and the source of trouble in the game, I had expected some kind of water motif or theme throughout the game), the sound effects are awful, waiting for HP and MP to recover past the first dungeon takes way too long, and your primary attack is a sword that's
four pixels long. When hitting basic enemies in a game requires precise positioning and timing (and the less said about boss fights, the better), you know you've got a problem. (The music ranges from "alright" to "
this doesn't fit the game in the slightest but HOLY %$@#". That's all that can be said in its favour.)
I'm now playing
Faria: A World of Mystery and Danger, an action-RPG on the NES that's similar in gameplay to
Zelda, and thus far I'm a lady soldier who is off to rescue the princess whom I may marry once I rescue her. Said princess
is a giant caterpillar.
I am stoked beyond words.