Chrono Trigger

Chrono Trigger assembled a dream team — Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yuji Horii, and Akira Toriyama — and the result was the greatest JRPG ever made. Time travel is not just a plot device but a core mechanic that affects everything from combat to world-building. Multiple endings, no random encounters, and the New Game Plus feature were all revolutionary. Thirty years later, it remains the standard by which every Japanese RPG is judged.