Emulators were a big part of how I discovered and played retro games in the 1990s. Before I could really go anywhere outside of my hometown, I would wander from website to website downloading NES, SNES, Game Boy, and Genesis ROMs. I don’t remember all of the games I played back then, but some made an impression on me.
A lot of these are going to be RPGs. This was the start of an obsession with the genre, and I was trying to find something new and different to play. Many of my favorite retro RPGs were games that I first played on an emulator and were sometimes games that I was told were “bad.”
This was the main way I discovered games back in the day, especially when I started collecting games in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was an easy way to try out a game before I went out to buy it, or I would simply remember a game I played on an emulator and look for a physical copy. I didn’t look for all of them, especially if it wasn’t possible for me to get them at that time.
I had a hard time limiting this to just a handful of games. As I was writing things out, I kept thinking of more to add. I narrowed it down to eleven. If I think of more, then I’ll put together another list. Let’s go over the games that I remember the most and see what they have to offer.
TLDR: A list of games that I first played on an emulator
Paladin’s Quest
Paladin’s Quest is one of the first few games I came across while looking for ROMs. I wanted to like this game so much. The graphics are beautiful, but the gameplay is just annoying at times. The story also gets almost incomprehensible near the end as the translation gets worse.
This game doesn’t have magic points, which is an odd choice as the two main characters are mages. Instead, every time you cast a spell, your character loses health points. I believe there is one healing spell in the game, but it isn’t as effective as the healing items. There are some good things in this game, but I was really struggling to enjoy it when I went back to play the game.
The graphics were what grabbed my attention. They were very different from the other RPGs I’d played at that point. The story was also something that felt different at the time. Much of the plot was very good, and I like the world that this game takes place in.
After trying to get into the game throughout the 1990s, I played it in the 2020s. After beating it, I felt a little off about it. I was glad that it was over, but I didn’t really enjoy what was there. Mostly, it was the gameplay that I didn’t enjoy that much, and the story got a little weird due to a poor translation.
7th Saga
Much like Paladin’s Quest, 7th Saga is one of the games that I really wanted to like more than I did. Back in the 1990s, I had no idea how to play this game. It just felt like something that I should enjoy, but I was really struggling to do so.
Everything about this game feels like something that I should enjoy. The combat is fun, the story is great, and I love the graphics. What really holds this game back is the extreme difficulty spikes. It is much harder than it really needs to be.
7th Saga is one of the games that I remember looking for when I started collecting games. Even though it has problems, I still liked it. When I came back to play this game, I knew what to expect from it. It was still a difficult game, but it was fun to see how far I could get.
Destiny of an Emperor
This is one of the games that I found while I was home sick from school. It immediately pulled me in because of the setting and the source material. Destiny of an Emperor is a retelling of the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
In this game, you go on a long quest to find all the main characters of your party, but you can also recruit enemy generals along the way. It is a fairly linear game, but that isn’t really an issue for me. I love the story and setting so much. The graphics are pretty good and remind me of one of the Dragon Quest games.
This game felt like it was something that only I knew about and liked. I remember trying to show the game to my friends, and they either didn’t care about it or were dismissive. It got me thinking that my friend Drew was kind of full of it.
I’ve come back to this game several times over the years. It took me a while to find a copy of it back in the late 1990s, just because it was a little obscure. Now, it is one of my favorite NES games. It is one of the better RPGs on that console and a fairly unique game.
Secret of Mana
I stumbled across this game while looking for something to play. Secret of Mana was something different from the other games, and it is one of the few action RPGs that I really enjoyed. It just looked different, and the story is a lot of fun. I had no idea this was a sequel, mostly because it didn’t feel like one.
I played this game on and off over the course of a few years. This is one of the games that I didn’t play with a controller, and when I tried, I was awful. It was a little odd at first, but I did eventually get better at it.
The game’s story really got me interested. The gameplay is great, but the story is what really kept me coming back to this game. My friend Drew didn’t introduce me to the game, but he did explain it and show me Secret of Evermore, which is a very similar game.
Secret of Mana is one of those games that made me want to get an SNES when I finally had the chance. This is one of the games that I don’t remember if I’ve ever beaten, and I should really circle back to it at some point. I love the graphics, the story, and the gameplay is a lot of fun.
Final Fantasy II
This is one of the games that I was very excited about when I came across it. The opening cutscene and battle were very cool, but then I had to start fighting, and I got really confused. Looking up how to play the game wasn’t even a thought for me back then, and I just kept trying to figure it out.
I really didn’t like this game when I first played it. Much of that was due to my not understanding how to play the game. Still, there were some cool things in the game, and I liked the story.
I gave this game a few more chances, especially when it was released on the PS1. When I went back to play it in the last few years, I really enjoyed it. The story, graphics, and some of the gameplay were quite good. I particularly enjoyed the story, even if there were some odd moments in it.
Finding this game on the internet was much more fun than the actual game was. This was around the time that Final Fantasy VII was released, and I was interested in playing the others in the series. The only one I had played was the first at this time. While I was disappointed at first, I’ve got a newfound appreciation for this game, and I like it more than the first game in the series.
Robotrek
I’ve written about Robotrek a lot in the last few months. It is a very underrated RPG on the SNES, and I really like how different it is from the other games on the console. What I really love about this game is how it gets increasingly bonkers as the game progresses.
Robotrek’s combat, graphics, and story all felt different from anything else. I loved how goofy everything was and how the story got increasingly crazy. The more tactical approach to combat was great, and I loved that there was a crafting system in the game.
While I never got too far into the game when I first played it, I did end up beating the game. None of my friends mentioned this game at school, which made me feel like I had discovered something special. Every time I come back to play this game, I have a great time.
Pokemon Yellow
This is one of the very rare games that I played and then got as a Christmas gift. When all my friends were going crazy over Pokémon, I was sadly left out because I didn’t own the game right away. I started looking for Game Boy emulators and ROMs, and I stumbled across this one. What I couldn’t remember was if I played this game or Pokémon Green first, so I went with this one.
Pokémon Yellow is a combination of Red and Blue. It has a few twists, but the core plot is the same as Red and Blue. You can get all the starters from the other two games, and you start with a Pikachu. Aside from that, there aren’t too many other differences between them.
I’ve written about this game a few times. It is one of my favorite Game Boy games, and is a solid RPG. Most of the Pokémon games are good RPGs, and there is just something fun about finding and customizing your party of monsters.
Gemfire
I can’t remember if I played the SNES or Genesis version of this game first. I guess it doesn’t really matter since they’re the same game. What I really liked about this game was how easy it was to get into. It is a solid fantasy version of the other Koei strategy games.
Much of the management has been toned down in this game. The battle screens are pretty good. I like that you can recruit a monster or some other special creature to fight alongside you. It made things a little more fun for me. None of my friends were into games like this, but that never really mattered to me.
This is a good entry point for the Koei strategy games. Gemfire is the easiest one to get into and isn’t all that hard to beat. Having monsters fight alongside your soldiers makes this a little more fun than the other games. I wish Koei had made more games like this, even though I enjoy the other games they made.
Ogre Battle
My friend Drew introduced me to this game and emulators. Ogre Battle was the first game I played on an emulator, and while I didn’t beat this game until years later, it quickly became my favorite game on the SNES. This game is the reason I got into looking for ROMs and playing games on emulators.
Ogre Battle is a strategy RPG. You play as a rebel leader, and you build an army to fight against an evil empire. There are a lot of endings and hidden characters in this game. While it has a basic story, there are quite a few things that can alter the course of the story depending on your alignment and the characters you recruit. The graphics are great, the combat is fun, and there are plenty of customization options for your army.
I have no idea how anyone was supposed to get the best ending in the game on the first try. There is so much in this game that you can get lost in it. It is also fun to mess around with different units and configurations for your party.
I have many fond memories of playing this game. It took me a long time to figure it out, but I kept coming back to it. Finding a copy of this game on the SNES was awesome! It is one of the few retro games that I’m not planning on selling.
Uncharted Waters: New Horizons
I can’t remember exactly how I stumbled across this game back in the late 1990s, but I do remember falling in love with it. It is hard to explain this to people today, but it took me a while to find a physical copy of the game because I couldn’t just go on eBay back then. I was only 14 years old at the time.
This game is very unique for a retro RPG. There are six storylines, and a few of them overlap. Two of them don’t involve combat, and those are the two that I gravitate towards. I really don’t like the combat in this game, even though it is pretty different from other games. It doesn’t have all of the things you would expect to see in an RPG, but it has a lot of great things!
Uncharted Waters: New Horizons is one of the games that I felt like no one knew about aside from me. That is a common theme with some of these games. In some ways, it shaped how I felt about video games. I started gravitating to some of the weirder games in the various console libraries.
Harvest Moon
Here is another game that my friend Drew introduced me to. He told me about it, and either gave it to me on a floppy disk or we found it online. Neither of us knew much about the game. If my memory is right, he saw it in Nintendo Power and then told me about it.
This is one of the first “cozy” games. It is a bare bones farming simulator that has some of what would be standard in games like this. I remember getting obsessed with this game when I first played it, but after a while I realized there wasn’t much to do.
You plant and harvest crops, clear your field of rocks and weeds, and you take care of your cows and chickens. There is a dating simulator in the game, and you can upgrade your house. Finally, there is a three year time limit on the game, and there are a few festivals that you can participate in.
When I went back to play this game, I realized how far these games have advanced. The first Harvest Moon is a boring game, especially in winter when there is nothing to do. Harvest Moon created a market for games like this, but this first one is a rough game to play.
Conclusion
Emulators played a huge part in my finding retro games back in the 1990s. At the time, there weren’t too many people who knew about all of these games, and there wasn’t as much information about them. For me, it was either looking for ROMs or getting that newspaper that FuncoLand made with all the prices for the games on it.
I have no idea how they came up with their prices. There is another guide that was made back in the 2000s that had prices in it. I made a video on it back in the day, but I don’t remember much about it.
Back in the 1990s and 2000s, if I came across an “expensive” retro game (over 20 dollars), I would look for it online and try it. If I liked the game, then I would try to find it. Going back over stuff like this, it makes me think about how cheap all these games used to be. It is part of the reason why I kept the price tags on these games.
While I don’t play on emulators anymore, I’m not one of the people who have a strong dislike for them. The biggest reason I don’t use them is that I own physical versions of these games. Most of them were picked up when they were cheap, and given how stupidly expensive they are, I think emulation is a great way to play them.
If you liked this post, check out some of my other lists. Such as Games I’ve changed my mind about or the Worst Games I’ve played.