5 jRPGs You Probably Haven't Heard Of

We've all played our Final Fantasies and Dragon Quests, but there's a select few jRPGs that slipped under the radar that are definitely worth a play.

Treasure of the Rudras (Rudra no Hihou)

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This Japan-only Square RPG features an intuitive "write-your-own-spells" system, where by creating Mantras, you can choose which element it will cast, and which targets it will hit. Since it was released so late in the SNES life cycle, we never saw a Western release, but through the glorious beauty of emulation and ROM translations, Westerners can enjoy it today.

Vandal Hearts

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This turn-based tactics-style Konami RPG flew mostly under the radar, with a select few ever really picking up the PS1 hidden gem. If you're a fan of Final Fantasy Tactics, Vandal Hearts will welcome you with great tactics gameplay, and a fun "rock, paper, scissors" style class strength system.

Evolution Worlds

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Evolution Worlds is a very well hidden gem of a dungeon crawling RPG, that has an interesting storyline, solid controls, and the dungeon crawling aspect adds an addictive level of finding loot and crushing baddies. This Gamecube game has two previous "Evolution" titles that were previously on the Dreamcast, on one disc.

Thousand Arms

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Japanese Role Playing Game mixed with Dating Simulation - an odd, but effective mix. Thousand Arms is an Atlus game, so you know it's a ball bustingly hard game at certain times, but with a rewarding storyline and an endearing "Steampunk" art style, it's well worth a playthrough for any RPG fan.

Panzer Dragoon Saga

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Ah, the Sega Saturn. The console that half-murdered Sega, but yet, still had some amazing (and in this case, wildly expensive) titles. From rail shooter to straight RPG, Panzer Dragoon Saga takes the critically acclaimed rail shooter franchise to the turn based realm. Nice (for the time) CG cutscenes, open world exploration on Dragon or on foot, and great graphics on the Saturn. A holy grail for collectors, and a hidden gem for RPG players.