Discussion Which console or handheld had the greatest library of rpgs in your opinion?

[Peasant0]

There are a lot of consoles and handhelds with a great library of western and eastern rpgs. Some noteworthy consoles are the snes, ps1, ps2, gba, ds, 3ds, and switch. So, which console had the best library of rpgs to you?

 

[purseowner]

PS4 or Vita, especially if you include PSP and PSX in the latter

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

PS2, PS4, DS, SWITCH, PS1, 3DS

 

[RingoGaSuki]

DS, followed by SNES for me.

DS > SNES > GBA > 3DS > Switch > GB/C > NES

 

[Dunban]

PS2, PS4, DS, SWITCH, PS1, 3DS

I think I'd insert PSP after the DS, but pretty much this. Switch might surpass it but it hasn't yet for me.

Edit: Just realized the SNES is also missing. Guess I gotta make my own ranking.

1. PS2
2. SNES
3. PS4
4. DS
5. PSP
6. Switch
7. PS1
8. 3DS
9. Xbox 360
10. Sega Genesis

PS Vita gets an honorable mention just for being a great way to access a large part of the PS1 and PSP library.

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

I think I'd insert PSP after the DS, but pretty much this. Switch might surpass it but it hasn't yet for me

Oh this wasn't exactly in order, I just named the systems I consider to be the best for RPGs. I would put Switch ahead of DS though (and presumably behind PS4, with PS2 taking top honours).

 

[Dunban]

Oh this wasn't exactly in order, I just named the systems I consider to be the best for RPGs. I would put Switch ahead of DS though (and presumably behind PS4, with PS2 taking top honours).

Oh I definitely wouldn't put Switch ahead of the DS, but when I realized you didn't include the SNES I knew my ranking would be different.

 

[em]

SNES had Chrono Trigger (still the best version, too), Final Fantasy IV-VI, Terranigma, Lufia II, Earthbound, and Dragon Quest IV-VI (and Japanese exclusives like Fire Emblem, Front Mission, etc.).

That’s an unbeatable lineup in my book. PS4 is probably next, followed by the almost-PC “consoles” of the 1980s that got the classic AD&D Gold Box and Ultima games.

 

[Leica]

Consoles would be SNES, PS2, DS, PS1, 3DS and PS4 for me in roughly that order. They're all pretty good, PC ultimately washes all of them really badly though but that's obviously cheating

 

[xghost777]

SNES and PS1 are golden eras of JRPGs for sure. DS/3DS, PS3, and Vita were also awesome places to enjoy RPGs. The current king is Switch, it has mountains of amazing games both new and old even if the original Switch first games aren’t as spectacular. I’d only put Neo The World Ends With You, Crosscode (which did hit PC first), and Breath of the Wild (which I only count as an RPG every other day lol) as legendary original RPGs on the system.

Edit: Forgot PS2 as the other great place for RPGs in general.

 

[Phosphorescent Skeleton]

PS1, PS2, SNES, DS, and 3DS are what always comes to mind when I think great RPGs.

 

[freedomseekr]

For home consoles, I think it HAS to be the PS2. It had a wide array of RPGs from both Japan and 'the West' (though Japan obviously dominated the platform, let's be clear about that) and it is backwards compatible to its predecessor which also has a wide selection of RPG that could, unless you were super into the kinds of RPG that were exclusive to home computers (which, I mean, can do a lot when it comes to games in general), satisfy everyone. SNES is also great as it is a home to a ton of classics and a lot of the design language of RPG that still gets used today originated on that platform. And I think that one should also give it up for the Mega Drive and the Saturn, both excellent systems in their own right when it came to RPG, but especially the Saturn being disallowed to play to its strengths outside of Japan.

For handhelds... oh dear. I think the DS and the PSP have to share that spot. Both of them have a sizeable amount of great RPG and while the PSP's RPG library is a little heavier on ports and remakes, there are so many great titles between the two that it's difficult for me to pick a definitive winner. Things went a little downhill with their respective successors though, but there I'd argue the DS -> 3DS transition didn't hurt nearly as much as PSP ->Vita.

Also a special shoutout to the 360 - it's not the greatest library, but you're going to have to acknowledge its role in bringing 'WRPG' to the console space while also having a few good 'JRPG' on its own.

 

[Sturmgeist]

SNES and nothing even comes close. Among my Top 10 Games, six of them are RPGs, and four of those six RPGs (FFIV, FFVI, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound) originally released on SNES.

 

[JazzPotatoes]

It's a tie between SNES and PS1 if you ask me. My personal favourites are on PS1, but you have to tip the hat to any console that has Chrono Trigger, FF6, Earthbound and Super Mario RPG.

 

[Josh5890]

This is one of those times where the SNES and PS2 go hand in hand with each other.

Really hard to pick one over the other.

 

[Aigis]

Probably PS2, Atlus was in their prime