The Most Ambitious Wii JRPGs

The seventh-generation of video game consoles was a truly fascinating time. Sony and Microsoft were battling for second place, mainly due to the fact that no one was going to catch Nintendo and the Wii. It was just too much of a runaway freight train, and while the success of the Wii can be directly traced to the hooks it had in the casual gaming audience, the library still had plenty to offer for the hardcore.

In terms of JRPGs, the Nintendo Wii wasn't exactly the go-to place for the genre. To be honest, this generation was such a bizarre time for JRPGs, and it always felt like no place was a great place to go for the genre. The JRPGs that the Wii did have, however, were truly fascinating.

They were highly ambitious, some of them either taking full advantage of the motion controls or just creating a huge, spectacular world to explore and discover. These JRPGs would often combine multiple different genres and styles, resulting in a library with its own quirky sense of style, just like the console itself.

10 Pandora's Tower

Tower of Power

Pandora's Tower made up one of the three games that were part of Operation Rainfall, a strategic endeavor to bring multiple Japan-only games to the US. The real shame is that it's easily the most forgotten of the three, and could stand toe-to-toe with any modern game in the genre.

What is really so striking about Pandora's Tower is its scope. Environments are massive, and the level of detail is actually remarkable for the limited hardware of the Wii. Combat is super responsive and engaging, as well, feeling like faster-paced God of War mixed with Final Fantasy.

Pandora's Tower was also pretty innovative in how it blended big, epic storytelling with a softer, sometimes more comedic side. A lot of games have funny moments, but Pandora's Tower went out of its way to be funny in its own sort of odd way, and it works better than you'd think.

9 Opoona

Persona and Pikmin Meet Final Fantasy

If you pitch a game to me as a mash-up of JRPGs and social simulations, I'd immediately think you're riffing on Persona or Shin Megami Tensei. Opoona is as far away from those two franchises as you can get, but is still so delightfully charming and unique.

Opoona is best described as a mix between Pikmin and Persona, as bizarre as that sounds. It offers a pretty wide variety of different gameplay systems, with a rather visually appealing world to explore and an impressive number of unique NPCs.

Games that felt like living ecosystems were starting to come into public consciousness during this era, and Opoona did its best to usher that in. There are a lot of fascinating ideas in Opoona, and it's the kind of goofy, oddball JRPG that we need more of today.

8 Super Paper Mario

In Which Mario Becomes a Soulslike

Paper Mario was already firmly established as a strong, highly polished JRPG spin-off by the time the Wii generation came around. When it was time to bring it to the Wii, something was a little bit different.

Super Paper Mario ditched the turn-based combat for real-time action mixed with traditional platforming elements. It really was like if the original Super Mario Bros. had RPG systems, and at the time, it was a fascinating blend of multiple genres that felt incredibly innovative.

It was a bit of a risky gamble, and in the end, it kind of worked out in its favor. Super Paper Mario gave the series the go-ahead to become even more experimental, and future games would take this opportunity to develop more complex combat systems, unique worlds and new characters.

7 Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

If War and Pace Was a Video Game

Fire Emblem has been ambitious from day one, as it has emerged as one of the most epic, all-consuming strategy JRPG franchises in the world. That hasn't changed today, and Radiant Dawn is a prime example of the series beginning to break beyond its limits.

Radiant Dawn doesn't feature a main protagonist, which was a big change. Previous entries had focused on singular protagonists, but Radiant Dawn is focused more on factions and a huge, sprawling ensemble.

You'll often find yourself in conflict with previous units that you trained, as each chapter features a different army as its focus. It's really one of those games that just takes control of your life, as the scale and grandeur of it is just endlessly alluring.

6 The Last Story

The Master Returns

After leaving Square in 2003 due to stress and disappointment in multiple projects, Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi went on to create his own studio with Mistwalker. The team would produce some classic JRPGs of the era, including titles like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey.

Following that, Sakaguchi and Mistwalker put all their effort into a Wii exclusive known as The Last Story. This outlandish, absolutely unhinged JRPG is still one of the most interesting and fascinating games I've ever played.

The combination of traditional RPG combat with stealth was truly mesmerizing. It created so many unique scenarios, and all those systems were paired up with squad-based inputs that almost turned it into a strategy game. It feels so unlike every other JRPG of the era, and is long overdue for a remaster.

5 Rune Factory: Frontier

Let's Get Married

Rune Factory has its origins rooted in the Story of Seasons franchise, where it started as a spin-off on the DS back in 2006. It's more than earned its place as one of the industry's most celebrated farming sim RPG franchises, and Rune Factory Frontier on the Wii was a stupendous entry that elevated it from a cute little farming RPG into a fully-fledged, expansive world.

Of all the Rune Factory games to this point, Frontier had by far the largest world and the highest number of systems running at any given time. The team at Neverland was committed to creating a Rune Factory experience that was unlike any of the ones before it, and the franchise felt like it had matured overnight.

It also had some fantastic social simulations, including thirteen possible marriage partners and a town that seemed alive. NPCs had unique personalities, likes and dislikes. A lot of Rune Factory games with bigger scope have come out since, but at the time, this was one of the largest games of its kind back in 2009.

4 Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon

A Frightening Blend

The Wii built and solidified its reputation on the hooks it had on the casual audience. No other console at the time could claim that entire families were playing together, but the Wii had a solid grip on that audience. Even so, there were times when a Wii game was so odd and so experimental, that it was hard to fathom.

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon was exactly that kind of game. It is truly one of the most unique, compelling horror JRPGs I've ever experienced, and that's a mash-up I've got quite a bit of love for.

The way it mashed up horror and traditional JRPG systems was utterly fascinating. Its script was rather mature for the Wii, not to mention the industry at the time. It had all the trappings of a classic horror game, but often played itself with a bit of dark humor. Everything about its strange, surreal world and surprisingly deep combat feels fresh even today.

3 Earth Seeker

The Best Wii Game That Never Left Japan

It's honestly baffling how many amazing Wii games never left Japan. Whatever goes into making those decisions, it often feels like the wrong one was made. That's especially true in the case of Earth Seeker, an absolutely breathtaking and delightful JRPG that everyone needs to make room for and play today.

Earth Seeker's world isn't concerned with being the biggest, but rather how much it can make you feel like you're living in an actual, honest-to-goodness real-world location. It doesn't matter how outlandish or fantastical it gets. The point was to make it seem real, and the team did an absolutely wonderful job of doing that.

The small, but highly detailed and enjoyable world is rife with missions, side-quests, NPCs and so many little things to find. It is sadly without an official stateside release, but a decent fan translation does exist. It's absolutely worth finding and playing the fan translation, as Earth Seeker is just remarkable in every way.

2 Dragon Quest X

Still Waiting For a US Release

At this point, it's safe to say that the ship has sailed in regard to any possible port of Dragon Quest X to America. If it was going to happen, it would have happened years ago when the franchise really started to boost its popularity in the US thanks to Dragon Quest 8 and the multiple successful DS games. It's right up there with Mother 3 as one of the biggest games to never get a US localization.

It's tremendously frustrating, as while I have not personally played DQX, it's easy to see just how much effort and talent went into it. It took a historically single-player, offline JRPG franchise and went into the wild, untamed world of massively multiplayer online madness.

The success speaks for itself, though. Dragon Quest X is still fully online and functional in Japan, and at its peak had a daily player count of over 300,000. It's still one of the most consistently played MMOs in Japan, and gets consistent updates every single year. There's still a ton of passion and love being poured into this game even a decade after launch.

1 Xenoblade Chronicles

The Biggest Wii Game of All Time

Arguably the biggest game to come out of Operation Rainfall, Xenoblade Chronicles is one of the industry's most well-earned success stories. It's due to the dedicated, passionate team at Monolith Soft that Xenoblade Chronicles was able to become what it is today. And it all started on the Wii, with a game built around big ideas.

The scope of Xenoblade Chronicles almost dwarfs some of its contemporary competition. It's built around the idea of two warring armies that live on the backs of gigantic titans known as the Bionis and the Mechonis, and the exploration of the world is still truly staggering even all these years later.

It's a world that feels legitimately unlimited, with a sprawling, seemingly limitless horizon. What really works, though, is how well it balances that huge scope with a perfectly written ensemble cast. You can feel the genuine hard work and love for the craft that went into Xenoblade Chronicles every time you play it.