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Turn-based combat is a hard sell to a lot of gamers. Add in the loss of graphical fidelity that comes from 2D gameplay, and you might think that a turn-based 2D game doesn't have any strategic depth or fun gameplay - but you would be dead wrong!
Games with turn-based battle systems and 2D graphics have formed the basis for some of the most iconic and inventive games ever made, titles that have defined new genres and expanded the possibilities of familiar ones. Here are just a few o🐠f the best.
10 😼 Advance Wars
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Advance Wars was the first game in Nintendo's Famicom Wars series to make it to Western shores, and it served as an excellent introduction to the series' tactical 2D gameplay. Developed by Intelligent Systems - the crew behind the equally deep 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fire Emblem series - Advance Wars is set in a fiꦯctional world where two armies have been battling each othe💞r for years.
When Andy, one of the COs for the Orange Star army, is accused of attacking another nation, the whole world threatens to sink into war. The game's battles quickly escalate in intensity, asking you to strategize between each turn and use all of your resources to snatch victory.
9 Lunar: Silver Star Story 🦂
While Game Arts' Grandia series received 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:an excellent HD remaster, their other RPG stalwart, Lunar, has had no such luck. And that's a shame, because the first two games are undersung classics. Nowhere is this more evident than in the enhanced version of the original game, Lunar: Silver Star Story.
This is the version that was ported to 32-bit systems with upgraded graph𓄧ics and new animated cutscenes, and the whole package overflows with charm. The turn-based battle system is inventive too, emphasizing character positioning and strategy. It brings a new twist to the traditional RPG loop.
8 The Banne𒊎r Saga 🐭
And speaking of gorgeous animated cutscenes, The Banner Saga features some of the most beautiful animation of any game, with a visual style that's closer to hand-drawn Disney movies than it is to other tactical RPGs. The game follows a ragtag caravan as they travel through the wilderness of a Scandinavian-inspired landscape.
When you have to fight, you'll be transported to a grid-based tactical battlefield, inspired by classics like Shining Force and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy Tactics. But The Banner Saga is presented like an interactive story, where your choices on and off the battlefield will affect the direction of the plot, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:so you'll have to plan your moves carefully.
7 🎃 Pokemon Gold/Silv﷽er
The little-played, little-known classic that is Pokem-... ah, let's not kid ourselves. If you're a living, breathing person on the planet Earth, you probably know what Pokemon is: you venture out from your hometown, you capture the monsters that you meet alon𝕴g the way, you tr𒐪ain and battle and level up on your journey to be the very best that no one ever was.
Pokemon Gold and Silver aren't the newest installments in the franchise, but they still represent the peak of the series. By adding new features like a day and night cycle, item holding, and breeding, this generation fully defined what Pokemon could be. Plus, you unlock the entire Kanto region after beating the game for the first time. You basically get two games in one!
6 𝕴 Slay The Spire
Roguelikes are to the indiesphere of today what Metroidvanias were to the indiesphere of the 2010s: a common trope, and a flexible platform for endless experimental riffing. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Slay The Spire, a turn-based card battler that incorporates roguelike elements such as procedural generation, is a great example of how inventive developers can 🐼be with the concept.
You begin each run with a set of relatively weak cards, and slowly expand your deck as you climb the spire and face tougher enemies. You can combine cards for different effects, exploit enemy weaknesses, and discover new combinations as you go. The game creates an addictive feedback loop where you'll learn something new on each run.
5 Earthbound ♛
Despite its initial commercial failure in the West, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Earthbound has garnered one of the most vocal cult followings of any game, spawning a whole legion of indie imitators in the process. It's not hard to see why. The game's combination of colorful 2D graphics, a banging soundtrack, and an unsettling sense of humor creates an entirely unique experience.
That oddball♑ charm extends to its battle system, too; its big feature is its rolling health meter, which allows you to come back from mortal damage if you select a move before your health hits zero. It adds a layer of frantic strategy that sets the game apart and leads to any number of memorable bat🐟tles.
4 Sh⭕iren The Wanderer
Modern roguelikes will take some of the basic ideas of the genre - procedural generation, high difficulty, permadeath - in new and wild different directions. But if you've played your fill of Hades and want something a little more classic, Shiren The Wanderer is a great example of an old-school rogue🐼like.
It's as straightforward an example of the genre as you can get, featuring turn-based dungeon crawling through randomly-generated floors of a huge tower; each time you die, you'll lose all your items and have to start back over from zero. It's a hardcore experience for sure, but if you're on its wavelength, there's nothing else that's quite as addictive.
3 Dragon Que🧸st 11... Kind Of
The latest installment in the iconic JRPG series is technically a 3D game first, following in the footsteps of prior entries like Dragon Quest 8: Journey Of The Cursed King. But the Definitive Edition of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dragon Quest 11 adds a whole new experien🀅♋ce for hardcore fans: a top-down 2D mode, reminiscent of the old-school Dragon Quest games for the NES and SNES.
This new mode emphasizes the traditional charm that makes Dragon Quest 11 so special, with the classic first-person battle perspective intact. There's just nothing quite like destroying a 2D slime.
2 💮𝔍Tactics Ogre
Before Yasumi Matsuno🃏 created th𝕴e iconic Final Fantasy Tactics, he masterminded the Ogre Battle series of tactical RPGs. The games include all of his trademarks: a faded medieval fantasy aesthetic, a dark and morally complex story, and a complex turn-based battle system.
Tactics Ogre adds in a deep class system and forces you to take the terrain into account when you plan your moves; you'll have to think about your party's skills and the surrounding arena before each and every move. Tactics Ogre has come to be regarded as a strategy classic, and if you have even a passing interest in the genre, it's a must-play.
1 ♎ Fiꦛnal Fantasy 6
You don't need us to introduce the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy franchise to you. It's one of the most iconic RPG series... ever, and its success paved the way for swords-and-magic battling throughout gaming history. The series' final 2D installment, Final Fantasy 6, might also be the best in the whole series, and is commonly regarded as one of the best RPGs ever made.
The game features an incredible soundtrack, a deep and emotional story, and some of the most beautiful sprite work ever committed to cartridge. It also stands as the apotheosis of the series' traditional Active Time Battle system, which forces you to take your turns quickly in order to stay ahead of your foes. This is a game that has truly stood the test of time.
