Tired of playing the same old rpg? If you haven't played Earthbound, you don't know what an original rpg is. You'll battle it out with the likes of hippies, robots, deranged cultists, and even your anoying next-door neighbor in a variety of exotic locales and urban American settings. The fate of the earth, nay the universe, is in your hands!

Secret of Evermore never quite achieved the same fan-following that Secret of Mana did, but if you're a fan of SoM, you owe it to yourself to take this game for a spin. The gameplay is real-time much like SoM, and the time-traveling feature in SoE allows for some imaginative level-design. SoE may not be the monster that SoM is, but it's still an excellent action-rpg.

Many consider Suikoden II to be the swansong of the series. There are some definitive features that separate Suikoden from most rpgs: you can recruit up to 108 characters, your party maxes out at six active members, you get to create and name your own castle, there's some epic, turn-based strategy thrown into the mix, and the story is top-notch.

The N64 wasn't known for its rpgs, but Ogre Battle 64 was an exceptionally good title. More specifically, this game is a tactical rpg, and frankly, not everyone is a fan of these types of games. If you're new to the strategy rpg genre, I recommend doing some research before committing to a purchase.

Many people who have actually played this game consider it to be the greatest rpg ever made; I however, will never know because it's too frickin' expensive. Only around 20,000 of these babies were ever made.

This is an adventure game, and the bulk of it deals with solving various environmental puzzles in order to collect pieces of treasure. This game makes good use of the Wii remote; you'll have to manipulate the controller in all sorts of unique ways if you want to progress.

Yet another obscure, SNES rpg; if you're looking for a way to squeeze more joy out of your SNES, this is it.

Sky pirates + epic rpg = win. If you're still not convinced, check out the reviews.

Intense, high-flying, mech action; easily one of the best representations of the genre.

In this game, your giant mech is operated via a human character with a remote control device; it's like controlling a giant toy, and you have to battle it out against other opposing robots. The control scheme is very innovative.

A third-person shooter where you kill giant insects? Sign me up! That aside, it can be rather repetitive at times, and it's more fun killing things with a bud. However, it has a relatively cheap price tag.

This title is often considered to be one of the best 2-D fighters in existence, and I think it may be possible to get it cheaper than this on a different console.

Design your own robot, and fight against others. Oh yeah, it's good too.

This is one of the best titles available on the original Game Boy. Despite the obvious Konami relation to Castlevania, it plays more like Mega Man.

This game combines the beat-em-up action of Double Dragon, and the side-scrolling, rpg elements of Zelda II. You can even play with a friend. If you have a Wii, this title is available for download on the Virtual Console at the much cheaper price of $5.

This is the sequel to Rocket Knight Adventures on the Genesis, and it's also one of the most visually stunning SNES titles.

I'm not exactly sure what genre to place this game in (sim/adventure?), but here's the premise: this game allows you choose between a merchant, pirate, explorer, etc., and sail across the seven seas whilst fulfilling class-based objectives like discovering ancient ruins, trading, etc. You also get to do a fair bit of micromanagement like selecting your crew, purchasing supplies, etc.

Sixteen levels of co-op, rpg style, beat-em-up action in a medieval setting. This is one of the great beat-em-ups for the SNES.

Another great strategy/rpg from the company that brought us the Ogre Battle series. Some would argue that it's even better than Ogre Battle.

A firefighting game for the SNES that's actually a whole lot of fun, and the going price is currently only $2.91.