I’ve done the NES RPGs, the SNES RPGs.. the next logical retro step would be the Genesis(aka Mega Drive), thus these are the top Genesis RPGs

5. Rings of Power

“Band together six powerful magicians and search out the fabled Rings of Power to free your world.” – Official Box Art

A long time before Naughty Dog Software created Jax and Daxter, much further back then Crash Bandicoot, they created Rings of Power. In Rings of Power you play as a sorcerer whose quest is to travel the world recruiting a master of each school to join you, while also collecting the 11 Rings to recreate the Rod of Creation to destroy the evil god.

Rings of Power played much more like the PC role-playing game of its time, it was very open ended, hundreds of NPC, lots of dialog choices and from the start of the game you can travel to almost anywhere. Combat is quite unique, in battles you don’t need armor or weapons instead the battles are all about magic.

Rings of Powers isn’t a great game but it has a lot of heart, if you give it a chance you’ll find it rewarding.

Legacy

Non-existent, although there was a course named after it in Crash Bandicoot: Warped.

4. Shining in the Darkness

“Vanish the fiendish forces of Dark Sol and restore peace to the enchanted Kingdom of Thornwood.” – Official Box Art

You’re introduced to most of the plot within the opening of the game, the princess and your father have vanished, the king requests you and two friends help find his daughter and hunt down Dark Sol.

Shining in the Darkness was one of the first RPGs released on the genesis, it was by all means a dungeon-crawl RPG. The dungeon crawling was via a first person view where you can navigate the dungeon in pseudo 3d world. The combat in SitD is entered by random encounter, is turned based, and is played very similarly to the other RPGs of the time(think Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest).

Shining in the Darkness does have a few weakness, it’s very easy to get lost in the dungeons and unless you track your path(pen & paper style) you’ll not doubt be random encountered to death, also the music endlessly repeats so after 4-5 hours you’ll definitely want to turn the sound off.

Despite its short comings it’s still a great RPG with a good storyline(including numerous cut-scenes), lots of hours can easily be put into this game.

Legacy

SitD has one of the better Genesis RPG legacy’s, its been recently released on the Wii arcade, it has had 14 sequels/spinoffs released, and an anime series produced based on one of the later games.

3. Shadowrun

“The year is 2050 and the megacorps rule by the power of information. Everyone is on file in the global mainframe… everyone but you and a handful of “invisible” outlaws called shadowrunners.” – Official Box Art

Shadowrun follows the story of Joshua and his quest to find the truth behind his brothers death(and non-surprisingly seek vengeance), Shadowrun is based on the pen and paper RPG of the same name and is the second Shadowrun game released.

Shadowrun similar to Rings of Power is a very open ended RPG. At the start of the game you are restricted to a small area but within a short amount of time the entire world opens up.

The gameplay is split up between two worlds, the real world where you get jobs, fight enemies etc and the matrix world where you do most of your missions, eg.. hacking the megacorps, getting confidential documents or just hacking building’s security.
The real world portion is played like a 2D top down shooter, while the matrix is a 3d world.

Shadowrun has an amazing amount of depth to it, there’s lots to do in the world, lots of missions, a strong plot and an interesting world. Although some of the missions can get repetitive at times it is still a very decent game.

A game sharing the same title was released for the SNES, although both based on the Shadowrun books & P&P game they have vastly different storylines and gameplay, they are both very good RPGs although in my opinion the Sega version is slightly better due to being more open ended and having a slightly more refined combat system.

Legacy

A text based adventure sequel was released in Japan, a Japanese only sequel was released for the Mega CD again titled Shadowrun, a PC version of Shadowrun was to be released in 1998 but was scrapped, a multiplayer shooter(sharing the same name) loosely based around the Shadowrunner world was released for the Xbox360 & PC in 2007 to mediocre reviews.

2. Phantasy Star IV

“An ancient, hideous Dark Force stalks the Algol star system. You, a young hunter, are destined to become Motavia’s greatest warrior and strike the deathblow that destroys evil FOREVER!” – Official Box Art

Phantasy Star IV is the final part of the canon storyline, the story follows Chaz Ashley a bounty hunter in training who is by accident thrust into becoming the savior of the Solar System.

The gameplay is nearly the same as the previous Phantasy stars, the combat is turn based you can fight with up to 5 allies and each character have their own unique skills. World exploration and NPC interaction in PSIV is very similar to Final Fantasy series.
An innovative feature new to Phantasy Star IV was the Macro system, it was used in combat to create battle sequences and would allow you to record a set of attacks for your characters and repeat them at the push of the button(I’m unsure why this isn’t in more rpgs, tis a very good idea).

The graphics in this game are great, including the manga-esque cutscenes used for all major events.

In my opinion this is one of the best console RPGs of the 90s, the characters are likable, the story is great, combat is fast paced and fun, and the music is catchy. It’s definitely worth checking out.

Legacy

No direct sequels were ever released, PSIV has been re-released 3 times once for the, Saturn, PS2 and PSP and there is a Wii release on the horizon. A online game based in the Phantasy Star universe was also released ‘PS Online’.

1. Shining Force II: Ancient Sealing

“An ancient evil has broken free, and is spreading over the land of Rune. You must lead the Shining Force into battle to recover the stolen jewels and seal the Door to Darkness. The Kingdom of Granseal is depending on you!” – Official Box

Shining Force 2′s storyline follows Bowie and his companions as they journey to try and reclaim the holy sword, fight against the forces of Zeon and reseal the Devil King before the world is destroyed.

SF2 is pretty much Sega’s take on the Nintendo Fire Emblem series, eg tactical turned based combat. If you think of a mixture of Final Fantasy Tactics & Fire Emblem + Simplified then you know pretty much what Shining Force 2 combat is like. It’s great fun and plays well.
SF2 is summed up into two different gameplay areas exploration and combat, with the emphasis being on combat.

Why it’s the best? The graphics are great, the storyline is engaging and has a few good twists, music is decent, heaps of replayability with multiple levels of difficulty, plus with so many different characters there is lots of different ways you can progress through the game.

Legacy

Since Shining Force is in the same series as the previous listed Shining in the Darkness its legacy is the same, SF2 has an upcoming re-release on the Wii arcade.

Honorable Mention:

Landstalker I would of included this within the top 5 but in my opinion it isn’t an RPG it’s an adventure game.
Sword of Vermilion while I have nostalgic memories of it, didn’t quite make the cut upon replaying.