5 Greatest RPG Series From the 1980s, Ranked

In the 1980s, developers were finding new ways to push software forward, especially in the personal computing space. One genre that started to become popular is role-playing games. At the time, Dungeons & Dragons was all the rage, and developers were looking for ways to replicate the experience in the virtual world. That led to several different teams trying all kinds of ideas. However, a few series stand out as the best of the ’80s. Some of these series went on to become even bigger, while a few essentially died out entirely. Either way, they dominated the decade for fans of the genre.

Here are the five best RPG series of the 1980s. Keep in mind that this list only ranks output in the ’80s. If a series went on to even more success, it doesn’t count for this list.

5) Final Fantasy

During the late ’80s, Square was in dire financial straits. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that the studio would’ve closed in a few years had it not released the first Final Fantasy game to such major success. Thankfully, they did exactly that, giving players a great-looking RPG with a diverse class system that kept fans engaged.

Final Fantasy would rank much higher on this list if it were about the entire series. Unfortunately, the ’80s only got Final Fantasy 1 & 2. Both games are solid, showing console fans how good RPGs could be. Plus, it’s worth noting that the West didn’t get Final Fantasy until 1990. It’s a shame it took so long, but the lack of several games in the decade drops it down the rankings.

4) The Bard’s Tale

The Bard’s Tale is nearly a complete inverse of Final Fantasy. Interplay Productions put out the first game in 1985. It was quickly followed by two sequels in 1986 and 1988. Then, fans got a dungeon crawl creation toolset in 1991 that was a neat addition, but didn’t do much for players hoping for The Bard’s Tale 4.

That game eventually came in 2018. It was a middling Kickstarter game that felt more like the 2004 offshoot from the original series than a true follow-up. To put it simply, The Bard’s Tale was a classic PC RPG with one of the best interfaces of its era and a jaw-dropping amount of detail in its plot. Then, it disappeared as quickly as it came, leaving fans disappointed for decades.

3) Dragon Quest

Like Final Fantasy, fans could argue that Dragon Quest‘s best games came out in the ’90s. However, it gets a little boost because the first three games in the iconic series came out in the ’80s. Incredibly, the first game launched in 1986, and developer Chunsoft released a new game yearly until taking 1989 off to work on the fourth game.

No matter how you slice it, Dragon Quest is one of the most important games of all time, especially in Japan. These days, Final Fantasy has probably overtaken it, but a new Dragon Quest game is still an event, thanks to how successful those first three games were. Mixing casual-friendly gameplay design with an incredible cast and the amazing art of Dragon Ball Z creator Akira Toriyama made for a perfect package that came around at the exact right time.

2) Wizardry

Now, we get to the big boys of the era. Wizardry, along with the next game on this list, was at the forefront of creating the genre in the virtual world. The team at Sir-Tech took the systems players loved in Dungeons & Dragons and put them into an Apple II computer, giving players a graphically rich world to explore.

What made Wizardry so popular was how well it captured dungeon crawling. Sir-Tech made elaborate mazes, filled with monsters and traps for players to dive into. The first game launched in 1981, and fans were treated to four more games throughout the decade. As PC-only games for most of the ’80s, Sir-Tech had a relatively limited audience, but their influence on the genre is still felt today.

1) Ultima

Ultima is the other side of the early RPG coin. Where Wizardry puts players in dungeons filled with monsters to fight and loot to earn, Ultima takes players out of the dungeon, giving them a large world to explore. Beyond that, Ultima was one of the first RPGs to really expand its plot. At the time, most of the focus was on combat, but Ultima moved the genre forward, treating players to mind-bending tales.

On top of all that, Ultima started to play with its genre over time. Traditionally, the series was mostly fantasy, but the developers slowly started to add elements of science fiction, including time travel. Having that extra bit of creativity helped Ultima stand out, and it is something that’s still seen today. During the ’80s, players were treated to five mainline Ultima games. It enjoyed a few more highs in the ’90s, but has largely gone dormant since.

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