It's tough to imagine a world without RPG games, but the fact is they haven't been around for very long. The first games were written, produced, and played in the late 1960s in tabletop form, and focused on fantasy settings and themes. The transition to video didn't happen until a generation later, and other types of RPG genres (like post-apocalyptic or survival horror) wouldn't evolve until years after that.
There are a lot of RPG games from the 1980s and 1990s that still have a lot of vintage charm. With the rise of PC emulators and the larger variety of older games being remastered for tablets and phones, there's a renewed interest in revisiting these old games. Either for the nostalgia to feel the same wonder you did as a kid, or if you're a kid now wondering where games like Fallout or Elder Scrolls evolved from, there's a lot of good reasons to experience a few vintage RPGs.
10 Secret of Mana, 1993
The graphics and storyline of Secret of Mana are quaint, but there's nothing creative or special about them. What really sets this game apart is how it shifted the role-playing game from storytelling to action, a change that persists to this day. The battles are in real-time, and an innovative multiplayer system allows other players to join in at any time. The Ring Command menu system was a fan favorite, allowing players to pause and plan their next move in the heat of battle.
9 A Bard's Tale, 1985
The complete title is just as epic as the tabletop D&D games that inspired it, Tales of the Unknown, Volume I: The Bard's Tale. This popular game also spawned volumes of books and a series that included two more games. There would have been more, but those became the Dragon Wars video games instead. A Bard's Tale IV, which was released in 2008, led to a spin-off game, A Mage's Tale, which was released in 2018.
8 Wasteland, 1988
For those players that love survival horror, parallel timelines, or post-apocalyptic settings, this is the game at the center of the mushroom cloud. Fallout is a direct descendant of the game, which would have become a series of games in the early 1990s if Electronic Arts hadn't had a change of plans. Today one sequel exists, created by inXile Entertainment in 2014, and another is currently in production.
Rather than using Dungeons and Dragons rules as a basis for the game mechanics, creators Ken St. Andre and Michael Stackpole used Tunnels and Trolls, a simplified alternative to D&D also created by St. Andre. This version only used six-sided dice and a points-based magic system, and the same basic rules were applied in the original Wasteland.
7 Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, 1985
It's tough to choose the best vintage game when it comes to the Ultima franchise, partly because the folks at Origin Systems had a long series of games running before it was a cool thing to do. In was in the fourth installment of this lengthy franchise that the Avatar was introduced, and the story became more nuanced with more of a blurring between the lines of good and evil. Later RPG games like Everquest, Diablo, and The Elder Scrolls series would follow this descent into darkness.
6 Fallout, 1997
Following in the footsteps of its predecessor, Wasteland, the unique setting and storyline of Fallout brought the RPG genre of the late 1990s to its post-atomic knees. Games for adults, dark, gritty, and bloody, rife with tales of tragedy and despair, was officially a genre of its own with the success of Fallout. Atompunk retrofuturistic design had a name, epitomized by the mascot of the series, a 1950s-inspired pop-culture icon nicknamed Vault Boy. The most recent entry in the franchise, Fallout 76, was released in 2018.
5 Chrono Trigger, 1995
Developed by the same team of dedicated professionals at Square Enix who also brought Final Fantasy to the gaming world, Chrono Trigger was a critical and commercial success the second it was released. It was vastly different from other RPGs of the time, however, offering more creative options and vastly different storylines depending on the path a character chose.
Players could combine their weapons and powers, collect magical items, and travel through time. The six playable characters are each from different eras, and the Earth-like planet where the game takes place has everything from the prehistoric age to a modern period.
4 Earthbound, 1994
There's no other game on this list that has a more dedicated fan following than Earthbound, and in a strange twist of fate, it also seems to be the game nobody knows about. Localization issues made the transition of the game from Japan to the US difficult, adding to its obscurity. The rise of emulators and the resurgence of vintage consoles brought the game into the limelight in recent years. Known as Mother 2 in Japan, it's currently available on various different platforms, including the now discontinued SNES Classic Edition.
3 Final Fantasy, 1987
There are few titles on this list that are still going strong with their original storylines, but this is one of them. There are literally legends that surround the creation, development, and evolution of this game through the ages, starting at the very beginning of the genre and continuing on to this day. The success of the original Final Fantasy ensured that generations of gamers would want for nothing as far as the RPG was concerned. It was the graphics of the game that took center stage, while the grind was heavily criticized. Perhaps the more things change, the more they stay the same.
2 Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, 2000
Gamers dedicated to the look, feel and mechanics of classic Dungeons & Dragons rules are what made the original Baldur's Gate a hit, so there was already a healthy fan base to support the game when the sequel rolled out. The story from the original game continued, but with better graphics, more streamlined gameplay, and smoother fighting styles, all based on Advanced D&D rules.
The story takes place in the Forgotten Realms, a fantasy setting that appears in many D&D gaming modules. It not only set the bar higher for RPG games in general but made the concept of voice acting an important feature as games moved away from text and into audio.
1 Diablo II, 2000
First, the RPG gave players adventure, then it gave them graphics and game mechanics, and when Diablo arrived it brought to them the greatest gift of all; the promise of sweet, sweet loot. The path before the player is more predetermined than other games, with the focus more on riches and gear than character development. Diablo II is just entering its vintage phase this year, and Diablo 4 is currently in production, and although the game has hit a few snags it aims to redeem itself with the latest installation.