Final Fantasy Legend II

When the first installment proved that a sprawling RPG could fit onto the Game Boy, the sequel went even further and smoothed out the rough edges. Final Fantasy Legend II from 1991 (known in Japan as SaGa 2) is, for many players, the peak of this handheld trilogy from Square. It takes everything that worked in the first game and adds a more readable story along with a more sophisticated world.

The central theme this time revolves around mysterious items called MAGI, scattered across many worlds that are linked by a network of connected dimensions. Your party travels in search of them, encountering diverse cultures, gods, and villains along the way. This episodic structure gives the game a brisk pace, with the setting and tone shifting regularly so nothing has a chance to grow stale.

The combat and growth system stays true to the series' roots. Once again you mix humans, mutants, monsters, and now robots as well, with each type developing according to its own rules. Robots grow stronger through equipment, monsters transform by devouring the flesh of enemies, and mutants randomly acquire new abilities. This mixing is the heart of the fun and tempts you into constantly experimenting with the best way to assemble your party.

On the storytelling front, the game climbed higher than its predecessor. Players still fondly recall the powerful moments surrounding the heroine's father and the themes of courage and sacrifice, which felt unexpectedly mature for an eight-bit handheld. Here Square showed that even within the Game Boy's technical constraints it could strike an emotional chord.

Final Fantasy Legend II cemented the SaGa series' position as the smarter, more adventurous alternative, and for many Western players it was one of the first titles that made them realize a handheld RPG needn't be the poor relation of big console games. The Game Boy trilogy thus laid the foundation for a brand that Square continues to develop to this day.

Why play: A polished handheld JRPG with inventive mixing of races and robots, and a story that reaches unexpectedly high for eight-bit hardware.