10 Best Nintendo 3DS JRPGs

One of the quirks I've been burdened with is that I love handhelds. So much so that I fervently consider my Switch 2 a giant one, cumbersome and huge as it is in comparison to smaller examples like the 3DS. I really adored the 3DS, and played a bunch of different genres of games on it. But one that I kept returning to was JRPGs.

While you might not immediately consider a handheld when you think of JRPG adventures, since they're very demanding and intensive, I found it worked remarkably well for the genre. Sure, comparatively, they were a bit shorter than their console brethren, but that in no way meant they were any less enjoyable.

There's a lot of great 3DS JRPGs on this list, including some that redefined iconic series as well as others that made a name for themselves. No matter what, we ranked them roughly according to their overall reception, with my personal tastes helping break any annoying ties. So grab your handheld, and get ready for an epic set of adventures!

10 7th Dragon III Code: VFD

Dragon Slaying

It's still kind of remarkable that I even played 7th Dragon III Code: VFD for several reasons. One, I hadn't played any of the previous games in the series. For another, I tend to avoid games with overly complex and grammatically awkward titles. Still, something about this adventure spoke to me, and I'm glad it did. Because it became one of my most enjoyed JRPGs on the 3DS!

In a weird way, the game plays somewhat similarly to the Etrian Odyssey games, where your characters are entirely crafted by you, choosing from a huge variety of classes and personalization options. Unlike those games, this one had a more gripping story about time travel, dragons and the end of the world.

Even more rare is when I feel compelled to play a JRPG all over again immediately after beating it, but that's exactly what I did with 7th Dragon III Code: VFD. Both because it was fun, but also because the game's not over after one run through. A challenging yet very compelling experience overall.

9 Monster Hunter Stories

Long to Hatch

I'll just start by admitting I'm not a fan of the traditional Monster Hunter games. I tried one a few years back, and just found it wasn't for me for many reasons. Yet something about the first Monster Hunter Stories spoke to me. Or at least it did eventually, since I literally waited until several years after it came out and it was massively on sale to finally listen to that itch in my brain and pick the game up.

Once I did, I couldn't put Monster Hunter Stories down. It was like a giant theme park full of monsters you could ride and battle with, along with a serviceable story and cute graphics. It wasn't quite Pokemon, and it wasn't quite Monster Hunter, but it was a wonderful middle ground for both. And even though the sequels to the first Stories haven't grabbed me as much, that first 3DS adventure was memorable.

The mixture of easy-to pick-up and-play combat combined with stylus control and a variety of different Monsties to team up with made Monster Hunter Stories one of the last and best games I played on my Nintendo 3DS before the system stopped getting support. Now that I write this, I just might have to boot up Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin again...

8 Stella Glow

Imageepoch's Triumph

If I were solely ranking this list on my own preferences, Stella Glow would be much closer to the top. Not only was it one of the last games developed by Imageepoch, but, in my opinion, it was their best game. It managed to tie together tactical combat, a variety of colorful witches, fanservice and a surprisingly deep plot in one cohesive package.

Sure, Stella Glow features some tired tropes, like an amnesiac hero and the need to manage time effectively to bond with your teammates. But it did so in ways that didn't feel derivative or ordinary. I won't spoil why, other than to say this is another one of those JRPGs where I spent a long time playing just to get the best possible ending.

Best of all, this was a game that was easy to play in short bursts, but which also provided 50+ hours of gameplay and lots of reasons to replay it. Even though it's sad this was one of the last games by Imageepoch, at least they went out on a high note.

7 Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth

Handheld Persona

I don't play all that many dungeon crawlers, though a good friend convinced me to give Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth a shot. At first, I wasn't sure it was the right fit, since it was very grindy and difficult. But since I had played other Persona and Shin Megami Tensei games in the past and enjoyed them, I persevered and found this to be a great dungeon crawling adventure.

The main challenge was resonating with the entire cast of characters. I was very familiar with the ones from Persona 4 Golden, but at the time hadn't yet played Persona 3. So the likes of Mitsuru and Yukari were a bit perplexing, even though the game featured snappy writing that fit the characters.

Once I settled into the swing of things, I found Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth to be very addictive, even with the simplified chibi-style visuals. Mix in plenty of different scenarios, traps and brutal boss battles, and this is one JRPG adventure you'll be playing for a long time.

6 Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse

Wonderful Destruction

I don't usually get all that excited about remakes or follow-ups, especially a few years after the first game got released. Additionally, I wasn't a big fan of the original Shin Megami Tensei IV. But somehow, they made a much more captivating and enjoyable adventure in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse.

Nanashi is a much more edgy main character, for one thing. For another, the story feels much less wishy-washy than the first, with a series of events pushing things much faster thanks to the deity Dagda. You choose what sort of person Nanashi is, and can have him side with his allies or massacre them all for ultimate power.

Like other games in the series, Apocalypse features the iconic weakness system, as well as demon allies, which can be fused into more powerful (and often weirder) forms. Post-apocalyptic Tokyo has never been more fun to explore.

5 Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey

Teeny Tiny Plumbers

As much as I adore the Mario & Luigi series of games crafted by AlphaDream, I'll admit that one of the best is Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. So when they remastered it on 3DS with even better graphics and a whole new side story in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, I couldn't have been more pleased.

Not only does this adventure feature the iconic plumber brothers, shrunk down and running around Bowser's innards, but it gives a swan song to my favorite villain from the series, the diabolical Fawful. He's not just a sidekick anymore, and he would have succeeded if not for those pesky plumbers.

Oh, and not to be outdone, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey also lets you take control of the King of Koopas himself on several occasions, even rampaging in epic boss battles. Just be cautious, because when he inhales enemies, Mario and Luigi will have to finish them off! Which really makes you think about combat differently.

4 Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

A Three-Dimensional Journey

It's true that I'm not the biggest fan of the Dragon Quest series. I was more of a Final Fantasy boy growing up, even though I've always loved the visual flair of Akira Toriyama. But when I did finally start playing them, it was on handhelds, and one of the absolute best in the series was Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King.

While it originally came out on PS2, the 3DS remake more than a decade later really spruced things up. Not only are there new characters like Red and Morrie, as well as new story beats, but this game actually did a decent job implementing the 3D graphics. Which I suppose you would expect, but a lot of 3DS games did a miserable job of it.

Even though this is a handheld JRPG, it's a deep one, and will have you playing for at least 100 hours. Which sounds like a lot, but I find it's much easier to invest a bunch of time in games when I can play them wherever I want.

3 Pokemon Sun & Moon

Aloha From Game Freak

The Pokemon series has seen many highs and lows over the years, often because it became too content not to take big chances. But on the 3DS, they did a remarkably good job with Pokemon Sun & Moon. Not only did it take place in the tropical archipelago of Alola, but it also introduced one of my all-time favorite features, the Alolan variants!

Another thing that the games did well was telling a story that actually felt engaging. This is honestly pretty rare for Pokemon, since it usually focuses first on gameplay and second or third on plot. Mix in some utterly wonderful new monsters, respectable post-game content and vicious Ultra Beasts, and you have a winner.

The only negative was that the games that followed Sun & Moon were a bit of a letdown. Here's hoping Game Freak manages to rekindle all our interest with the upcoming release of Winds and Waves!

2 Bravely Default

Crystal Clarity

The thing I love most about Bravely Default, other than a company as big as Square Enix taking a chance on something retro, was that it managed to provide a complex story with a vibrant cast of characters. It shows that the game was originally a sequel to The 4 Heroes of Light, since it's all about magical crystals and a nuanced Job System.

While my personal favorite was the cute and grumpy Edea Lee, there's not a bad character in the game. Better yet, Bravely Default gives players strategic control over how they fight, using Brave Points to wallop foes in a single turn, and paying the consequences later. There's also a ton of different jobs to unlock and use, so prepare for a lot of grinding in battle.

The game really gets wild later on, which many gamers found quite a huge flaw. While the endgame can be repetitive, overall this is an outstanding JRPG that spawned a couple of fun follow-up adventures.

1 Fire Emblem Awakening

Grima's Ascension

After Fire Emblem was brought to the West, it suffered from several lean years and contentious adventures like Shadow Dragon. During that period, it wasn't clear if the series would even survive. But thankfully, Intelligent Systems and Nintendo delivered a masterpiece in Fire Emblem Awakening on the 3DS. A game that revitalized the entire series, and brought hundreds of hours of joy to this gamer.

Not only does Fire Emblem Awakening feature a rousing story full of time travel, evil dragons and vicious hordes, but it featured gameplay that was precise and full of strategic depth. Like many games in the series, it also has a huge roster of delightful characters, many of which you can romance as the avatar Robin.

It's not unusual I play a JRPG once or twice, just to remind myself why I liked it. But for a game like Fire Emblem Awakening, I've easily played it a dozen or more times, just to bond with new characters and relive the epic adventure. Sure, some aspects are silly now, like the proportions of the character models. Overall, though, this was an outstanding game that arrived just when fans needed it to.