What is it that makes a great RPGs? Some would say that good story is a must. They have a good point. Some people would say that a solid battle mechanic is imperative. That’a also a good judge of an RPG. Some people might say that graphical sophistication is the hallmark of a good RPG. They’re wrong. But I think that one of the hallmarks of a fun RPG is the quality of the minigame or minigames found within the title. So this week, I’m going to do a quick special. I’m listing the top 10 best RPGs based on minigames.
Why minigames? Well, it doesn’t go back all that far. There’s only so much you can do with a snes game. In some Playstation RPGs, some extra space was available for a minigame. With the space for a minigame, came the opportunity to insert a game that, while fun, enjoyable, or addictive, would not merit its own independent release. Simply put, while one might want to play a casino game as a break from something else, most people would quickly lose interest if that was the only thing to do in a game.
What is a minigame, you ask? Well, for the purposes of this review, minigames adhere to a few principles. One is that a minigame features a different system than that found in the main game. This distinction means that some things are minigames only in certain contexts. For example, a real time strategy segment is only a minigame if the rest of the game isn’t real time strategy. Even if it’s the same genre, a different system still makes for a minigame. Like a monster breeding RPG in a standard RPG might count. Another rule of thumb is that a minigame must be repeatable, for a significant portion of the game. Something that only happens once, or you can only do until you leave a certain area for the first time, does not count as a minigame. That’s an event. Finally, a supposed minigame that is simply a way to get you used to various aspects of the controls used in the main game is really more of a training exercise. This type is common in a number of action RPGs, where you might have different rules than the normal game (limited swings, different targeting, unusual goals), but it still helps you coordinate your use of the controls.
So, without further ado, the list!
10: Any RPG with a fishing minigame as the sole minigmame. Usually these are just a little bit above a button mashing minigame, which are not included on this list because they’re hardly interesting. There’s soooo many RPGs that have a fishing minigame. I figure it’s because fishing games sell terribly on their own, so the only way to get them to sell is to bundle them with an RPG. For the sake of this list, figure that my example is Persona 4.
9: Any RPG with a standard casino game (poker, roulette, slots, blackjack) as the only minigame. Examples might include a number of the Pokémon games, but I’ll officially put Dragon Warrior VII as the example for the sake of this article. These games are fun, generally have some good in-game purpose –getting prizes— and usually are repeatable after you get to the casino. Still, they’re not very original, and there’s not much in the way of variety or exciting mechanics.
8: Breath of Fire III. This game is mainly about its fishing minigame, which deserves mention because it is a cut above most such games. In addition to detailed selection of rods and lures, fish swim around, will only go for certain lures, and fight back in various ways once hooked. This game also has a sort of town building minigame in the form of the faerie village. In the faerie village, there is a way to get a “casino.” The two games are High/Low and Number Guessing. The former is just like the boring half of a poker game where you’re allowed to double up, but the latter is essentially Mastermind, with better prizes the fewer guesses you use. One good minigame, one decent minigame, and one boring minigame put Breath of Fire III on the list, and above the generic examples to boot!
7: Final Fantasy X. Well, this game at least has a lot of minigames, so you’re likely to really enjoy one of them. I liked blitzball, but there’s also the chocobo racing game, and butterflies. Still, most of these minigames are mediocre, hence rating this game rather lower than Final Fantasy VIII, which has a very good minigame.
6: Final Fantasy VIII. Sigh. I’d really like to put this game higher, but it only has one minigame. Still, Triple Triad is an excellent minigame, with a fair amount of strategy involved, and a huge payout if you follow it religiously. There’s been some efforts made to make sure that having the best cards doesn’t automatically win you the game, which is refreshing.
5: Thousand Arms. While I’d hesitate to call the dating sim segments minigames—after all the game is supposed to be an RPG/date sim— there’s all the minigames involving the various girls. Blackjack, Super RPS (don’t ask), cooking, whack a mole, shooter, a warehouse cleaning game, something like tanagrams, and memory make an intimidatingly large list of minigames, and while none of them are groundbreaking on their own, adding them up means you’ve got a long list of adequate minigames.
4: Ephemeral Fantasia. This is one case where the minigames might actually be better than the main game. The rhythm game is pretty good, as are the drinking game and the domino game. The only problem with the rhythm game is the lack of songs. There’s only 6. Still, between the minigames, there’s a lot to like, even if the game itself is a chore to play.
3: Kingdom Hearts 2. Okay, this game has sooooo many minigames that it’s impossible that you don’t like at least one. Though it does have a lot of training style events that aren’t “true” minigames, it contains a huge number of legitimate minigames. Some of the highlights include the gummy ship segments, which received a HUGE improvement over the first game. While in the first game, you simply got from point A to point B or C with lasers blazing, in Kingdom Hearts 2, there are actually missions you can undertake, secret parts to be found, and points to be earned. The builder even got a bunch of cool parts. There’s all of the Winny the Pooh minigames, of which I personally enjoy the bouncing one most. There’s the cycle minigame in Tronland. The present game in Halloweentown, and last but… actually, probably least, the Atlantis singing game. This minigame is infamous mostly because it includes absolutely terrible songs, and mediocre voice acting. The game itself would be fairly inoffensive if it the sound were turned off, but in a rhythm game, that kind of defeats the purpose.
2: Xenosaga Epsiode I: Der Wille zur Macht. Well, this game has a large variety of minigames. The mech battle game, the drill game, the casino, and the card game. The first two are generally fairly forgettable, though they do have their fun bits. The casino is your RPG standard, more or less. But the card game is phenomenal. This is a card game that is at least as complex as the Pokémon card game, and has significant strategy involved. You can set up combos, or just pound away. The only real issue is that, once you’ve got a good deck, you’ll rarely lose against the computers, who only have one or two really good decks.
1: Final Fantasy VII. In my opinion, this is the real reason that FF7 is legitimately one of the best RPGs ever made. This game has so many minigames, it’s hard to keep track of them all. The submarine game, the snowboarding game, the rail-shooter, chocobo racing, even the somewhat lackluster minor minigames in the Gold Saucer. My only gripe is that I wish they’d let you play the rts game of defending Fort Condor again. Still, the minigames in FF7 were truly great, and make the game well worth sinking some extra hours into.
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