Summary
The 2000s were booming for JRPGs as a lot of companies tested the waters for new series. For example, on the Xbox 360, there wereEnchanted Arms,Eternal Sonata,Infinite Undiscovery, andLost Odyssey. Microsoft was trying to align itself with Japanese publishers to help sell the console in Japan, leading to those examples and more.
On the Wii, there wasFragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the MoonandOpoona. On the DS there wereDragon Quest Wars,Nostalgia, andSands of Destructionjust to name a few. Every single example on those consoles never got a sequel. These other examples did get sequels in the 2000s but the franchises also never went beyond 2009 save for a few remasters and ports which really aren’t new experiences.
Blue Dragonwas a collaboration between Mistwalker, a studio founded by the father ofFinal FantasyHironobu Sakaguchi,and Akira Toriyamathe famous creator ofDragon Ball. It was a turn-based game exclusive for the Xbox 360 and it still is an Xbox exclusive although backwards compatibility still makes it accessible. Beyond the North American Xbox 360 release in 2007 though, there were two DS sequels.Blue Dragon Pluswas released in North America in 2009 and it was an RTS.Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadowwas an action RPG and it technically came out in 2010 in North America. Since it was originally released in Japan a year prior, it still counts as a missing piece of RPG media from the 2000s.
Final Fantasy 10was the first mainline game to get a direct sequel beyond its initial 2001 release on the PS2 which thus created a mini-franchise.Final Fantasy 10-2came out in 2003, also on the PS2, and it was a morelighthearted RPG about Yunaand her squad of girls trying to bring peace back to Spira. There were talks at one point within Square Enix to make a third entry but that never happened. There was, however, a remaster via Final Fantasy 10/10-2 HD Remaster which was released in 2014 in North America on the PS3 and PS Vita. That collection has been re-released many times, like on the Switch and Xbox One in 2019. Despite this, there has still never been a new entry released post-2003.
6Magic Pengel: The Quest For Color
A More Creative Alternative To Pokemon
Magic Pengel: The Questfor Colorwas released in North America in 2003. It was a turn-based RPG, sort oflikePokemon Stadiumwherein players could recruit monsters and have them fight. The twist was that players could design monsters too and import data.
It was an idea maybe ahead of its time for the PS2 but there was a spiritual sequel that doubled down on the idea.Graffiti Kingdomwas released in 2005 in North America, also for the PS2, and both games now live in a fair amount of obscurity.
Metal Gear Acidwas released in 2005 in North America for the PSP. It was a tactical RPG spinoff taking place in an alternate universewith Solid Snake. Instead of moving him directly, players could use cards to move Snake and his partner around tiles. Cards also represented health items and weapons for combat purposes but there were still elements of stealth. It got a sequel on the PSP,Metal Gear Acid 2, which was released a year later in North America. The card-based tactical gameplay was more refined and the art style was changed to cel-shading. The games have never been remastered and there was never a third entry.
Motheris one of thosefranchises within Nintendothat has lived on because ofSuper Smash Bros.over the years. The series began on the NES in 1989 and it was almost localized outside of Japan. That prototype was lost to time until Nintendo dug it up and tweaked it for a digital release on the Wii U in 2015. It was calledEarthBound Beginningswhich made sense since EarthBound was the name ofMother 2in North America, a 1995 SNES game. In 2006, the third and final game was released,Mother 3, which still hasn’t been officially released outside of Japan. Technically one could countEarthBound Beginningsas a new game released post-2009, but it wouldn’t feel right to do so.
Shadow Heartstechnically began with Koudelka in 2000 in North America. That was a PS1 game but the first trueShadow Heartstitle was in 2001 for the PS2. Following that was a bit of a gap untilShadow Hearts: Covenantin 2004 for the PS2 which some fans think was the series' peak.
Finally,Shadow Hearts: From the New Worldwas a 2006 North American release on the PS2 and that spelled the end of the franchise. For a time, there was nothing quite like these alternative takes on history for RPGs from battling Rasputin during World War 1 to taking down Mayan monsters in early American culture.
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Sagawas a spinoff of the mainShin Megami Tenseifranchise. It was a late duology for the PS2 which began in 2005 for North America. The second part, Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2, was released in the same year.Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner: A’s TEST Serverwas a mobile-only spinoff in Japan in 2006 and then that was it. What made these games unique was that the main characters could turn into demons instead of players summoning demons as separate entities to aid them.
Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille Zur Machtwas the first in what would becomea trilogy of RPGson the PS2. It began for North America in 2003 and ended in 2006 withXenosaga Episode 3: Also Sprach Zarathustra. While data did not traditionally carry over between campaigns, there was a continued arc between all three games. It was originally planned for six episodes before the scope was paired down. Western fans may not know about the phone prequel,Xenosaga: Pied Piper, and the DS remake of the first two games,Xenosaga 1 & 2, because they were and still are exclusive to Japan. No remasters or ports were ever made.
