3 RPGs Every '90s Kid Played At Least Once

Published Aug 4, 2026, 8:45 AM EDT Austin King is the Senior Editor of Gaming at ScreenRant and has been with the site since 2020 with a focus on RPGs and tabletop games. He previously managed content for Geek to Geek Media, and has served as a writer for sites like Nintendad, Geek Fitness, and more. In addition to his work at ScreenRant, he also hosts the Dragon Quest FM podcast and is the author of several books, including co-writing Nimbus (a #1 bestseller in 2013). His latest is the nonfiction The Dragon Quest Book, available now. He's written about pop culture, video games, and genre studies over the course of his career. You can find him on BlueSky, X, and at Dragonquestaustin.com The 1990s are known for a lot of things: Grunge, Nickelodeon, and the initial Pokémon boom are just a few that come to mind. However, the '90s also had a phenomenal number of RPGs. These role-playing games spanned multiple systems, from the SNES to the N64, the PlayStation 1 and SEGA Dreamcast, and the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. From popular JRPGs like Final Fantasy and Pokémon games to cult classics like Xenogears and Breath of Fire 2, there were so many excellent role-play games to come out of the '90s. Admittedly, some of these were more popular than others. And despite so many choices, there were a few RPGs that pretty much every '90s kid played at least once. 3 Chrono Trigger Chrono Trigger has become ubiquitous when discussing the best RPGs of all time. And even if you didn't play the game on SNES in the '90s, you've most likely played it since on PS1 or Nintendo DS. At launch, Chrono Trigger had a lot of hype due to the game's development team. Dragon Ball's Akira Toriyama, Final Fantasy's Hironobu Sakaguchi, and Dragon Quest's Yuji Horii assembled as a "Dream Team" to create Chrono Trigger. While that may have been responsible for initial sales, word of mouth helped propel Chrono Trigger into becoming one of the most iconic RPGs of the '90s and of all time. The lively cast of characters, time-sprawling narrative, and inventive combat have allowed Chrono Trigger to remain popular all these years later. If you're an RPG fan who was alive in the '90s, the chances are extremely high that you've played this video game. 2 Final Fantasy 7 Final Fantasy 7 is largely responsible for popularizing the RPG in the West. Upon its initial release, the game's cutting-edge graphics, compelling story, and memorable characters all made it a must-play video game for anyone who had a PS1. The PC release shortly thereafter brought the RPG to an even wider audience. For a generation of RPG fans, this was the first role-playing game they ever played, and it certainly left an impression. FF7 has helped the Final Fantasy franchise remain a popular franchise globally, so it's no wonder the remake trilogy was created all these years later. The original FF7 is one of the best Final Fantasy games of all time, and thanks to tech demos at retailers like Walmart in the '90s, most kids at least played a bit of it, even if they didn't have a PS1 at home. 1 Pokémon Red & Blue If you weren't there, it's hard to explain the Pokémon craze of the '90s. It all started with Pokémon Red and Blue, the Gen 1 games that launched an empire. With Pokémon Yellow shortly after, an extremely popular card game, and a legendary anime in Indigo League, the franchise became a part of the cultural zeitgeist. Even kids who didn't know what RPGs were — and may have not touched an RPG since — played Pokémon in the '90s. Pokémon turned 30 earlier this year, and the series is as popular as ever. Cards are still flying off the shelves, the video games sell like hotcakes, and merchandise is everywhere. Still, nothing quite matched Pokémon Red and Blue in the 1990s, and if you were alive back then like I was, you either owned a Gen 1 Pokémon game or know someone who did. These games were easily the most popular RPGs of the decade. Pokemon Red and Blue Released September 28, 1998 ESRB Everyone / No Descriptors Developer(s) Game Freak Publisher(s) Nintendo Multiplayer Local Co-Op Sequel(s) Pokemon Silver & Gold Franchise Pokemon Number of Players Single-player Pokemon Red and Blue were the first two Pokemon games to be released in the West. Together, they sold more than 300 million copies worldwide, with only Tetris selling more on the original Game Boy. In the years since their release, the two games have been remade several times, first as Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen and then again as Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! Chrono Trigger Systems Released March 11, 1995 ESRB T for Teen: Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood Developer(s) Square Enix Publisher(s) Square Enix Engine Cocos Creator Engine Multiplayer Local Co-Op Considered by many to be one of the greatest RPGs of all time, Chrono Trigger is a fast turn-based game developed by Square Enix (formerly Squaresoft) that follows a young hero named Crono on a quest to save the world from an ancient being. When Crono meets a mysterious young girl sent back in time due to a malfunction at a fair attraction, he follows her back to the dark ages to bring her back home. However, Crono learns that an alien being that sleeps deep within the planet is waking – and it’ll take heroes from different time periods to save the past, present, and future. Final Fantasy 7 Systems Released January 31, 1997 ESRB T for Teen: Blood, Fantasy Violence, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes Developer(s) Square Enix Publisher(s) Square Enix Engine Unreal Engine 4 Cross-Platform Play ps, pc Cross Save Players who have already started their adventure on iOS or Android can take advantage of cross-save capabilities The seventh flagship title in the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy 7 was the first title in the franchise to make the jump to 3D and was one of the most successful entries overall. Players assume the role of Cloud Strife, an ex-SOLDIER (a member of an elite military unit) of Shinra, who now lives the life of a mercenary in the slums of Midgar. However, what follows leads Cloud and friends down a massive journey that will pit them against the most powerful SOLDIER, Sephiroth. Sephiroth holds the key to Cloud's memories and the world's destruction, and Cloud and his team are the only ones who can stop him. Final Fantasy 7 was followed up with a part remake/part sequel in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which manages to both retell critical moments of the original story while providing a full sequel to the events of this original title.