The 50 Best RPGs Of All Time

22 – The World Ends With You

Developer: Square Enix

Initial Release Date: April 22, 2008

Why it’s one of the best RPGs: Whatever happened to The World Ends With You, anyway? Seriously. This was one of the best RPGs on the Nintendo DS, they teased a sequel liberally in the years after it released, but nothing ever came of it. The World Ends With You is a truly unique experience. Taking place in an alternate reality version of Shibuya, Japan, main character Neku finds himself dead. Only by playing the “Reapers’ Game” and surviving for seven days can he regain his life back, along with his lost memories.

The World Ends With You makes full use of the Nintendo DS’s dual-screen. Each week, Neku teams up with a new partner. While Neku fights on the bottom screen using pins activated by different motions of the stylus on the touch screen, his partner fights on the top with control pad key presses (or on auto, if it’s too much to control both at once). Between pin upgrades, clothing upgrades in line with the latest in-game trends, and Neku’s mysterious power to read minds, you’ll have your work cut out for you to escape the Reapers.

Next: 21 - The Witcher 2