Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Pokemon are all beloved JRPG series that continue to this day. While there is a plethora of ongoing series in the JRPG genre, there are also a ton of standalone games that never became a long-running series or even received any kind of sequel.

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Many of these games don't even have spiritual successors, although plenty of newer games have been inspired by them. There have been so many standalone JRPGs in the past several decades that it's difficult to be aware of all of them, and which are considered best will differ from person to person. Here are some you may have missed.

Updated March 21, 2023 by Rebecca Phillips: JRPGs continue to be some of the most popular games today, and as a result, they go on to have many sequels or become part of an ongoing series. However, some JRPGs, for one reason or another, never see their stories continued. There are plenty more standalone JRPGs out there worth trying, so we've added more to this list for you to enjoy.

23 Stella Glow

Split image screenshots of the Stella Glow cast in official art and the party in a grass area.

Launched in 2015 for the 3DS, Stella Glow uses a turn-based battle system and follows the story of Alto, who has amnesia. Despite this, he lives peacefully in Mithra Village with Lisette, his friend — that is, until Hilda, known as the Witch of Destruction, turns the village and its citizens into crystals. Alto heads off on an adventure to find a way to stop Hilda from crystallizing more towns across the world.

Similar to the likes of Fire Emblem, the gameplay in Stella Glow is split into two parts: you can progress the story through battles, or spend time building relationships with other characters, which can also influence the game's ending.

22 Threads Of Fate

Split image screenshots of the Threads of Fate boxart and the main character jumping.

Developed by Square for the PS1 and launched in 1999 in Japan and 2000 in the US, Threads of Fate centers around two protagonists, Rue and Mint. You can choose which character to play as at the beginning of the game, but they both have the same goal: to find a relic that is said to grant you any wish.

Each character has their own unique story, as well as different combat techniques and abilities to use in battle. For the full experience, it's worthwhile to complete both campaigns, and not just for the variety in gameplay and story — the narratives link up in the end, tying everything into a neat bow.

21 Avalon Code

Split image screenshots of the Avalon Code box art and the main character speaking to Fana, showing her description on the bottom screen.

Avalon Code takes full advantage of being a JRPG on the Nintendo DS, as its main mechanic revolves around using the Book of Prophecy on the DS' lower screen. You use this to record various things you encounter, such as weapons or monsters. Everything you scan has a unique 'Code', which you can use throughout the game.

The story itself follows a young protagonist (whose gender you can choose prior to the beginning of the game) who has been having strange dreams. In the dream, a mysterious voice reveals that the protagonist must venture around the world and decide which parts of the world are 'worthy' of carrying over to the next one, using the Book of Prophecy to record their findings.

20 Live A Live

live a live cover art & chapter select

Live A Live launched exclusively in Japan for the Super Famicom in 1994. Over two decades later, it finally received an international release on Nintendo Switch thanks to its 2022 remake made in the HD-2D style previously used by Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy.

Live A Live has eight chapters that take place in different eras and have you playing as different characters in each, with the final ninth chapter bringing everything together. Despite originally launching decades earlier, the gameplay of Live A Live is almost like a combination of the two HD-2D games that came before it, combining grid-based movement with more traditional turn-based JRPG combat.

19 Jeanne D'arc

jeanne d'arc cover & gameplay

Jeanne D'Arc is a tactical JRPG published by Sony Computer Entertainment and developed by Level-5, which launched for the PlayStation Portable in Japan in 2006 and North America in 2007. Jeanne D'Arc has you leading Jeanne and the rest of her party through France to fight against an invading army of demons.

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Jeanne D'Arc has all the staples you would expect from a turn-based tactical JRPG, including strengths and weaknesses for each unit, equipment upgrading, various skills, and more. Jeanne D'Arc also has a "Burning Aura" system where said aura appears behind a recently attacked enemy, allowing another character to attack or powering a character up if they were already there.

18 Radiata Stories

radiata stories cover art & gameplay

Radiata Stories is a 2005 PlayStation 2 real-time action JRPG developed by tri-Ace and tri-Crescendo and has several unique features. This includes NPC recruitment, with 176 different NPCs you can recruit to the main character's party once their requirements are met, a living world where NPCs have their own lives, schedules, and more, thanks to the in-game night and day system, and the ability to kick nearly everything.

Kicking objects can help reveal hidden items, while kicking NPCs will make them fight you and summon guards to protect or assist them. In battle, all party characters can either be controlled individually, or you can utilize tactical formations.

17 Arc Rise Fantasia

arc rise fantasia cover & gameplay

Arc Rise Fantasia is a traditional turn-based JRPG developed by Imageepoch and Marvelous Entertainment that launched for the Nintendo Wii in Japan in 2009 and North America in 2010. Arc Rise Fantasia has its party fighting against creatures known as Feldragons, which despite being a major inconvenience to the nearby populace when alive, also explode and release poison when killed.

While dealing with these creatures, the party has to deal with political turmoil between three separate factions. While the gameplay is decent, many have stated that the English localization is subpar, and most of the voice acting leaves a lot to be desired, but it may still be an excellent pick for those who can bare it.

16 Enchanted Arms

enchanted arms cover art and gameplay

Enchanted Arms is a game that was published by Ubisoft but developed by FromSoftware for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2006, three years before the release of Demon's Souls. The main character, Atsuma, has the power to draw enchantment powers from other party members by using his right arm, a different ability from the enchanting abilities other characters use.

While Enchanted Arms has traditional turn-based gameplay on a grid due to the reach distance of different attacks, it also has creatures known as Golems that you can create by using various materials gathered throughout the world to assist you in battle.

15 Ever Oasis

ever oasis cover & gameplay

Ever Oasis is a Nintendo 3DS exclusive action JRPG directed by Koichi Ishii, who also worked as the director for games like Final Fantasy 11 and several games in the Mana series. In Ever Oasis, you're tasked with creating an Oasis after it has been engulfed by Chaos.

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To accomplish this, you must gain more residents through completing quests, obtaining allies for your party, adventuring through dungeons, and defeating chaos-afflicted creatures. Ever Oasis is probably best recommended if you enjoy the Rune Factory series due to its similar concepts, including town building and dungeon crawling mechanics.

14 Okage: Shadow King

okage shadow king cover & gameplay

Okage: Shadow King is a PlayStation exclusive turn-based JRPG with some similarities to the Blue Dragon series that launched a few years later. In Okage: Shadow King, the main character Ari has his shadow merged with the spirit of an evil king known as Stan, in order to save his sister from the curse that was afflicted upon her and save the world from the Fake Evil Kings who had taken Stans powers away from him.

Like most other traditional turn-based JRPGs, several other characters join them on their quest for various reasons. Notably, if you choose to wait long enough, you can have your party members perform powerful combination attacks to make quick work of enemies.

13 The Last Remnant

the last remnant cover & gameplay

A standalone JRPG from Square Enix, The Last Remnant follows the main character Rush Sykes, who goes on a quest to find his sister Irina, who is kidnapped at the start of the game, and later his quest changes to bringing an end to the war that plagues his fictional world.

The gameplay of The Last Remnant is turn-based; however, instead of controlling individual characters, you control groups of characters at once and must strategize accordingly. The Last Remnant also features art and character designs by Yusuke Naora, who had previously been the art director for a few mainline Final Fantasy games.

12 Moon Remix RPG Adventure

moon cover & gameplay

Moon was first launched exclusively for PlayStation in Japan in 1997 and finally received a worldwide launch on Nintendo Switch over two decades later in 2020, with PlayStation 4 and PC versions launching the following year.

Moon Remix RPG Adventure turns many JRPG tropes upside down, and because of this, many claim it to be an anti-RPG where you tend to assist characters that they would typically fight against in more conventional JRPGs. Moon is far from an easy game to explain, but if you're a fan of games like Undertale and Earthbound, you may enjoy it — like Earthbound, it heavily inspired the former.

11 Rogue Galaxy

rogue galaxy cover and gameplay

Rogue Galaxy is a space-faring adventure developed by Level-5 exclusively for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. Like many other Level-5 games, many who played the game around the initial international release appreciated the great graphics for the time and visually stunning art style. However, there were had mixed opinions regarding the combat because of its unique but repetitive action-oriented gameplay.

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Many were also dissatisfied with the lack of depth of the story and backstories for each party character when compared to other JRPGs at the time. Despite these criticisms, Rogue Galaxy was well-received and was digitally re-released on PlayStation 4 in 2015.

10 Eternal Sonata

eternal sonata cover and gameplay

Developed by tri-crescendo for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2008, Eternal Sonata is unique in that it takes place in a fictional dream world seen by composer Frédéric Chopin while on his deathbed. This dream world is inspired by Chopin's life and music, with some of his compositions included in the soundtrack. All the characters who join Chopin's party are named after different musical terms as well.

Eternal Sonata is a beloved game that succeeds at its goal of making JRPG fans more aware of Chopin's life and music while also containing powerful themes regarding the shortcomings of society. If it ever gets remastered, it could see an even larger fanbase in the future.

9 Infinite Space

infinite space cover & gameplay

Unlike other sci-fi JRPGs, 2009 Nintendo DS title Infinite Space primarily revolves around spaceship combat instead of party-based combat. Due to this aspect, characters will be fatigued after intergalactic travel and must stop at different planets or spaceports to restore their energy; otherwise, they will perform worse in battle.

Although Infinite Space was well-received at the time of its release, it had lackluster sales, which is probably a big part of why there was never a sequel. Featuring mercenaries, pockets of unstable reality, valuable ancient objects, empires, federations, and more, Infinite Space is an often overlooked JRPG that many fans of sci-fi would enjoy.

8 Resonance Of Fate

resonance of fate cover art & gameplay

Developer Tri-ace is primarily known for the Star Ocean series, but in 2010 it released an unrelated JRPG called Resonance of Fate for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Resonance of Fate combines real-time and turn-based gameplay by using the "tri-attack battle system," where party characters can execute different actions depending on how many action points they have. A charging system and different damage types depending on the weapons used also help add further depth to the combat.

One of the most interesting aspects of Resonance of Fate is that the weapons are primarily different kinds of guns instead of the mix usually seen in other JRPGs. Resonance of Fate received a 4K remaster for PlayStation 4 and PC in 2018.

7 Folklore

Folklore

Folklore is a 2007 PlayStation 3 exclusive action RPG developed by Game Republic Inc. and based on Irish mythology. You take on the role of one of two protagonists with different play styles who are exploring the netherworld for different reasons. Both have the ability to absorb creatures they've defeated to use the powers for themselves.

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While Irish mythology has been seen in plenty of games before, it's not seen nearly as often in JRPGs, particularly at the same scale as Folklore. While Folklore was well-received and a sequel was planned, unimpressive sales led to its cancellation, and as of writing, the first game is only playable on PlayStation 3.

6 The Last Story

the last story cover and gameplay

One of three Wii titles featured in Operation Rainfall and another critically-acclaimed JRPG developed by Mistwalker, The Last Story is an action-oriented JRPG that was first released in Japan in 2011 and released in North America, Europe, and Australia in 2012.

The Last Story follows the character Zael and his party as they participate in a conflict between the human empire and the Gurak. Unlike other JRPGs where all or at least most party characters are playable, Zael is the only playable party member and gives commands to his AI-operated allies instead. Unfortunately, The Last Story is stuck on the Wii and has never been ported to other platforms, and it may be unlikely to receive a remaster in the future.

5 Legend of Dragoon

legend of dragoon cover and gameplay

The Legend of Dragoon was developed by Team Japan and first released for the original PlayStation in 1999 in Japan, 2000 in North America, and 2001 in Europe. It has a traditional turn-based battle system with quick-time events added in. At certain points in the game's story, party characters gain the ability to turn into Dragoon form, a human-dragon hybrid, once they have obtained a Dragoon spirit, hence the game's title.

Despite its more legendary status now, Legend of Dragoon had mixed to average reception at the time of release, with some claiming it was too generic and didn't do anything new or innovative for the genre. The Legend of Dragoon has also never been re-released on other platforms despite its passionate fanbase.

4 Radiant Historia

radiant historia perfect chronology cover & gameplay

Initially released by Atlus for the Nintendo DS in 2011 with a remake on Nintendo 3DS in 2017, Radiant Historia takes place on the fictional continent of Vainqueur, which is experiencing desertification due to the Sand Plague, which turns any being who contracts it into sand. After the main character Stocke is given a book called the "White Chronicle," he learns he can use it to time travel and change the past.

Radiant Historia features turn-based battles on a three-by-three grid and has all the staples fans of turn-based JRPGs and tactical games are familiar with. There's no guarantee it will be re-released in the future, but Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology is currently available on the Nintendo 3DS eShop.