Phantasy Star II System: Sega Genesis US release: 1989 Oh, Phantasy Star II. Just the name alone will bring a smile to the lips of many. The original Phantasy Star, probably the best RPG of the 8-bit generation, gets a serious makeover with the help of the Genesis's power. An amazing quest, with wonderful graphics and characters. It's startling to think that this was hitting the shelves within a year of the NES's primitive looking Dragon Warrior. The only thing that mucks this one up a bit is a rather high random encounter rate - but the battle system is so fluid and fun to watch (animations galore!) that you may not mind. Truly a showcase for the early power of the Genesis, and what can be done when a beloved game is given the treatment it deserves. Download Phantasy Star II

Final Fantasy System: NES US release: 1990 The most popular RPG series in the world began with this offering. It blew me away in the day - not as good as Phantasy Star, but still a lot of fun. Sadly, the series decided to throw away the cool turn based combat in favor of the ATB system - most people liked it, I hated it. I didn't come back to the series until FF-X, which returned to the true turn based combat system. Download Final Fantasy

Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar System: Sega Master System US release: 1990 Ultima 4! The Ultima series was long a popular one for IMB compatible machines. It made the translation to the consoles. I have to admit I much prefer the NES iterations of the series to the SMS versions. The interface is rather painful - for example, if you want to talk to someone: You have to press B, Press B again to select talk, move the cursor to the desired talkee's location, then press the B button again to instigate conversation. All something that could have easily been condensed to one press. All the same, it's quite an important piece of RPG development memorabilia, so you shouldn't be against taking a peek. Download Ultima 4

Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord System: NES US release: 1990 You know that this game had to have its origin on the PC, with a title that cool. If you want old-school, turn-based, complex, dungeon-hacking RPG goodness, look no farther than Wizardry. If you're a bit claustrophobic, like me, slogging through the nigh-endless catacombs may prove too much. Not much personality to the characters, but if you like to play the numbers game - and if you're here I know you do - you'll find plenty to manage. Download Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

Dragon Warrior II System: NES US release: 1990 The Dragon Warrior series begins its legacy of dominating turn based RPGs. This one is bigger, allowing three people to join your party. It's a much larger quest, with more of just about everything. Unfortunately, the game lost the neat backgrounds from the first one. If you were captivated by the first one, as I was, then this immediately became a must purchase title for you. Download Dragon Warrior II

Ultima: Quest of the Avatar System: NES US release: 1990 Continuing on the success of their excellent initial NES Ultima offering, Exodus, FCI rebounds with another good translation. This one has a lot of features that you rarely find in an NES RPG - the ability to slaughter the townspeople recklessly! Using the skull of Mondain, you can lay waste to children, the elderly, punks, anyone. Though this has disastorous consequences on your karma, it's still worth it just to hear their dying wails of terror. I preffered Exodus over this one by a hair, but they are both necessary additions to any role playing gamer's library. Download Ultima: Quest of the Avatar

Swords and Serpents System: NES US release: 1990 Swords and Serpents for the NES! Unfotunately, this one is pretty painful. There's significant delay in the already cumbersome interface, so you'll have to have a heck of a lot of patience to wade through this one. It's another dungeon crawler (which I've never really liked), so don't expect much variation in the scenery. The cover art is probably the best and most amusing part of this game. Download Swords and Serpents