With so manyclassic games being remade over the past few years, many will be hoping that some of their favorite games from decades past will soon find themselves next on the list. Perhaps more than any other genre, there are a ridiculous amount of RPGs that are arguably deserving of the remake treatment, many of which featured on the original PlayStation.Final Fantasy VIIis already in the midst of its remake, but there are plenty of othergreat role-playing games on the PS1which could really benefit from a complete rebuild.
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A lot of these also come from the back catalogs of Square and Enix, althoughthe two Japanese giants weren’t the only developers making exciting RPGs around the turn of the century. If given the same care and attention asFinal Fantasy VII Remake, these games could be truly incredible and captivate a brand-new generation of gamers as they once did in the nineties and early two-thousands.
Updated June 17, 2025, by Tom Bowen:Not all games need to be remade. In fact, there’s perhaps an argument to be made that it’s actually the bad ones that deserve the remake treatment, rather than fan favorites and timeless classics. On the other hand, games like Final Fantasy VII Remake prove that rebuilding beloved titles from the ground up can work well if it’s done with enough care and attention, particularly when the original versions are still readily available for those who prefer the retro feel. With that line of thinking in mind, these other praiseworthy PS1 RPGs could also benefit from the increased power and performance provided by modern consoles and PCs.
12Wild ARMs
No list ofgreat PS1 role-playing gameswould ever be complete without Media Vision’s fantastic Western-inspiredRPG Wild ARMsfeaturing somewhere on it. Released in Japan in late 1996, the game was overshadowed somewhat by the runaway success ofFinal Fantasy VII, which launched just a little over one month later. Even so, it still sold incredibly well and garnered excellent reviews, becoming a fan favorite in the process and spawning multiple sequels.
As fans of the series will already know, the originalWild ARMshas already been remade once, withWild Arms Alter Code: Farriving for the PS2 almost a decade after the original game’s release. It brought with it a lot of great improvements, but, as that game is now almost twenty years old itself, it might be time for whoever holds the rights to the series these days to dust it off once again and treat it to a bit of TLC.
11Breath of Fire III
Capcom is generally pretty good when it comes to looking after its long-running IPs, as anyResident Evil,Street Fighter, orDevil May Cryfan should be able to attest. Unfortunately, however, the same cannot be said of the Japanese developer’s treatment of theBreath of Fireseries, which, aside from a shoddy mobile game that wasreleased exclusively in Japanback in 2016, has now laid dormant for nigh on two decades.
Having started life on the SNES, the series jumped ship to Sony’s PlayStation platform forBreath of Fire III, with the series' fourth and fifth installments also releasing for the console. Naturally, rebooting the series by remaking the firstBreath of Firegame would make the most sense, though were Capcom to instead opt for aBreath of Fire IIIremake, it’s unlikely that many series fans would be complaining. Of course, any newBreath of Firecontent would be nice at this point; even another crappy mobile game.
10Final Fantasy Tactics
TheFinal Fantasyseries islittered with standout titles, many of which are worthy of the remake treatment. WithFinal Fantasy VII Remakealready in progress and HD remasters of each of the first 12 mainline entries readily available on most modern systems, however, many will feel thatFinal Fantasy Tacticsshould be next in line for receiving a brand-new coat of paint.
Square’s excellent tactical RPGwas released back in the late nineties and spawned a number of spinoffs and sequels. An updated version was later released for the PSP and mobile devices, but while it did offer a few basic quality of life updates and some additional content, a proper remake could offer so much more. After all, the original game features an excellent story and some of the most poignant and thought-provoking dialogue to have ever appeared in a video game, let alone aFinal Fantasytitle.
9Jade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayu
Many sawJade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayuasa poor man’sPokemonwhen it was released for the PS1 back in the late nineties, but the game actually has some excellent and innovative ideas. Granted, some of them weren’t quite as well-executed as some will feel they should have been. Despite its flaws, however, the game had all of the pieces required to build something really special.
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Its beautifully presented anime cut-scenes and the huge variety of minions on offer were incredibly impressive for the time of its release and the story wasn’t half bad either. The breeding system also provided an extra layer of depth and went far beyond anything thatthePokemonseries has ever attempted. The combat was perhaps a little too simplistic for some people’s tastes, but with a few tweaks here and there, a remake could prove to be a big hit with modern gamers.
8Xenogears
When it comes to narrative excellence in RPGs,few games, if any, can compete withXenogears. Had things gone just a little differently, in fact,the story found in the gamecould quite easily have been used inFinal Fantasy VII, as was Square’s original intention. Thankfully, however,Xenogearsended up becoming its own title, and nineties gamers were treated to two excellent RPGs rather than just one.
The game featuresan excellent story, captivating characters, and an incredible soundtrack composed by Yasunori Mitsuda;the same man responsible for theChrono TriggerandChrono Crosssoundtracks. Though the spirit of the game still lives on through the modern-dayXenoblade Chroniclesgames, the original was only ever released for the original PlayStation. It sold well too, and also managed a 91% average rating on GameRankings.com; the Metacritic of the early two-thousands.
7Suikoden
That so few people got a chance to play the originalSuikodengames really is a travesty, as they are some ofthe best JRPGs of all time. There were five of them in total, but the first two are definitely the pick of the bunch and offered innovation and ideas that wereyears ahead of their time. The huge variety of playable characters and neatly woven narrative were the stars of the show, but the game’s intuitive combat mechanics also stood out.
The only element of the games that really let them down was their graphics, which were a little basic even for the PS1. This was likely the result of them being developed early on in the system’s life cycle, with later entries in the series looking much better, although failing to stack up to the originals in the narrative department.Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroeswill probably be as close as fans will ever get to a newSuikodengame, but many still have hope that Konami will one day reboot the series or remake the original titles.
6Chrono Cross
WhenFinal Fantasy VII Remakewas announced back at E3 2015, some wondered whether other Square Enix properties would at some point get the same treatment. If so,Chrono Triggerwould likely be at the top of many people’s wishlists, but there’s perhaps an argument to be made that the game doesn’t need to be remade due to it being almost perfect.The same cannot be said, however, ofChrono Cross.
Unlike its predecessor,Chrono Crosshas plenty of room for improvement and could offer up all of the building blocks needed to create a modern-day masterpiece. What’s more, introducing the series to a brand-new audience could give it the momentum needed for Square Enix to finally developa trueChrono Triggersequel. For now, though, fans will have to settle for the game’s 2022 Radical Dreamers remaster.
5Vagrant Story
Between them, Square and Enix were responsible for some of the very best RPGs of the nineties and early two-thousands, and while their mergerarguably led to a higher quality of games in the long run, it sadly led to some series falling by the wayside. One of those series wasVagrant Story, which many considered to be every bit as good as the likes ofChrono CrossandFinal Fantasy. Sadly, however, it didn’t sell anywhere near as well and the franchisewas left to rot in the years following its release.
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Although one or two of its systems were a little more complex than some players would have liked, everything else about the game was near perfect. In fact,Vagrant Storyis one of only 27 games to have ever received a perfect score from Famitsu, being the only PS1 title to achieve this feat and just the third game to do so afterThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of TimeandSoulcaliburfor the Dreamcast.
4Grandia
That the first twoGrandiagames were treated to high definition remasters for the Switch and PC back in 2019 should by no means rule them out of the running for the remake treatment. The first game, in particular, was a technical marvel, with solid graphics, 3d environments, and some of the very best sprite work of the mid-to-late-nineties.
Rather than random battles, the game’s enemies were instead visible in the field in much the same way as they are in modernFinal Fantasygames. The combat mechanics were excellent too, but it’s perhaps the game’s story that really helped it to stand out from the crowd. Granted, there were better JRPGs released around that time, but not too many and not by much.
3Parasite Eve
Parasite Evecan at times feel a littlelike a cross between a JRPG and aResident Evilgame, which makes a lot of sense, really, considering the popularity of the latter around the time of the game’s release and the fact that it was developed by Square. The real-time combat system worked surprisingly well, whilethe graphics and sound effects were also really impressive for the time. It was also the developer’s first-ever M-rated game, which allowed the creative minds at Square to show off some of their darker ideas
The game sold over two million copies and was widely praised by both players and critics alike. The soundtrack and the attention to detail paid when creating the game’s environments were some of its biggest strengths, although some felt that the game was held back a little by its lack of voice acting. Given how far technology has come since the late nineties, however, it’s easy to see how a modern-day remake could right some of the game’s very few wrongs.
