Spirit World Tower Warriors: SaGa

A hero gathers together courage and companions to challenge climbing a tower that transcends worlds -- a feat yet to be accomplished by anyone.

Expanding on Akitoshi Kawazu's idea from Final Fantasy II to create a game where the party grows based on the player's decisions rather than innate characteristics, this game crafted a unique experience on the GameBoy in the late 1980's.

Players may create their parties of four by using any combination of Human, ESPer, and Monster characters, each with their own unique traits and methods of growth. Unlike mmost role-playing games of the time, the flow of the game revolves around exploration and discovery with the setting and gameplay taking precedence over a linear narrative.

SaGa 2: Legend of the Relics

A group of adventurers set out to look for one's father who left town in search of the Relics, and find themselves unraveling the mystery behind the Relics themselves while traveling through various worlds.

While taking place in a new and unrelated setting to the first SaGa game, SaGa 2 brings back the ability to create a party of different types of heroes that grow based on the player's decisions, now adding a new Mech option in addition to the Humans, ESPers, and Monsters. The differences between these types of characters as well as their methods of growth are fleshed out a bit in the new title. Similarly, there is more narrative and core story than before, while keeping the focus on exploration of the world with the immediate goal often being left unclear.

Space-Time Champions: SaGa 3 (Final Chapter)

To prevent a flood from destroying the world, a group of heroes travels through time to stop the entity responsible for the destruction.

Foregoing a few of the key elements of the first two games, SaGa 3 has a set party from the beginning of the game with a more strict narrative than before, having characters with some pre-determined strengths and now having a traditional experience level system. The focus remains on exploration and discovery, however, and the varying party members exists in the form of characters being able to mutate into monsters or augment themselves into mechs, leaving their normal humanoid forms, as they grow over the course of the game.

Romancing SaGa

The world of Mardias is threatened by the resurrection of the evil god Saruin.

The first game in the Romancing SaGa trilogy introduces the series staple "Free Scenario System" that sets the SaGa games apart from most other Japanese role-playing games. The player chooses one of eight different protagonists to freely explore the world and accomplish tasks rather than to present the world as a linear path through a narrative. A wide variety of party members can be recruited as well, making every player's experience unique.

Romancing SaGa 2

The legacy of the Avalon Empire fights against the return of the twisted Seven Heroes.

The second Romancing SaGa entry in the series takes the Free Scenario System to new levels. Players control the Emperor of Avalon, which changes throughout the game as time passes or the current emperor dies in battle. A wide variety of allies can be recruited as the world opens up through myriad subquests, each having their own variations so that players can have vastly different experiences between playthroughs. This entry introduced the series staple Glimmer system in which characters learn new arts by awakening them randomly during battle, as well as other lasting mechanics such as Life Points and Formations. It also features a city-building aspect to the game where the Emperor can expand Avalon through upgrades.

Romancing SaGa 3

Every 300 years, a Death Eclipse eradicates all newborn life on the planet, this time, altering the fate of eight unexpected heroes.

The third Romancing SaGa game continues the focus on world exploration and setting-focused storytelling, this time abandoning the generational Emperor system from Romancing SaGa 2 in favor of the first Romancing SaGa's concept of multiple selectable heroes. With another large variety of characters to recruit, this game expands on the existing Glimmer and Formation systems while adding some interesting minigames and subquests.

SaGa Frontier

As the Regions intertwine, so do the fates of seven heroes.

The PlayStation era brings new frontiers to the SaGa series, along with some throwbacks to the previous games. The Free Scenario System is used now to explore seven different possible protagonists' storylines, who are now again divided into the classes of Humans, ESPers, Monsters, and Mechs. With another large cast of playable characters to recruit freely, the game allows for the player to recruit up to fifteen playable characters at once, dividing them into three sub-parties that allow for inactive parties to rest and regain some of their Life Points, expanding on the resource-management strategy aspect of the gameplay. The game also introduced the series-staple Combo system in battle.

SaGa Frontier 2

As Gustave XIII fights to reclaim his throne and William Knights investigates the disappearance of his parents, their paths cross in the world of Sandail.

Breaking from series tradition, the second SaGa game on PlayStation follows a strict linear plot, with the player navigating through two different stories in short episodes. While the player is unable to freely explore the world and partake in quests out-of-order like previous titles, the player is able to change between the two stories mid-game to unravel each plot in a different relevant order. With a more complex battle and combo system and a mass-combat system, the game focuses heavily on the strategy and underlying battle mechanics.

Unlimited Saga

Seven Wonders left behind by a civilization past hold powerful secrets to be uncovered by seven heroes, whose fates intertwine at the Festival of Regina Leone.

As one of the most experimental games in the series, Unlimited Saga employs elements of classic tabletop role-playing board games and computer text adventure games. The player selects one of seven narratives, each with its own unique way of progressing the story, where the player learns more about the complex setting through each scenario. Complex mechanics and a high level of randomness make for a game experience that is unique and original even compared to the rest of the unorthodox series.

SaGa Scarlet Grace

70 years after the exiled god Firebringer returned and drove the world into chaos, new dangers approach for new heroes.

After no all-new releases in almost 15 years, the series returns to celebrate its 25th anniversary. This title brings back series staples and favorites, like a complex Free Scenario System including multiple outcomes to sub-events, a strategic battle system revolving around Glimmers, Formations, and Combos, multiple selectable protagonists and stories, and over 70 different characters to recruit into the party. An interesting design choice is that the concept of explorable dungeons is gone, leaving only the world map, battle scenes, and dialogue scenes to progress the game forward, heavily focusing on the strategic battle systems and branching events to explore.

Romancing SaGa (Portable)

The original entry in the Romancing SaGa trilogy was slightly updated for portable play on the WonderSwan color in 2001. Other than some graphical changes, the game is nearly identical to its Super Famicom counterpart.

Spirit World Tower Warriors: SaGa (Remaster)

The original SaGa game was remastered into full color with a few added minor features on the WonderSwan Color in 2002. The release also allowed you to play an emulated version of the original game in addition to the remastered version.

Romancing SaGa ~Minstrel Song~

Minstrel Song is a complete remake of the original Romancing SaGa from the Super Famicom. Keeping the basic storyline and setting in-tact, the game features redesigns of all of the characters, modern stylized 3D graphics, full voice acting, all new battle and gameplay systems based on more recent titles, as well as new scenarios and characters for the player to explore, making it a completely new experience even for players well-versed in the original game.

The game was released as Romancing SaGa in the west as the original Super Famicom game by that title was never localized in English.

SaGa 2 Legend of the Relics: Goddess of Destiny

The DS remake of SaGa 2 from GameBoy aimed to stay true to the original experience at its core while adding new 3D graphics and additional gameplay systems such as being able to increase favor with gods by giving them gifts.

SaGa 3 Space-Time Champions: Shadow or Light

Unlike the DS remake of SaGa 2, the remake of SaGa 3 aimed to recreate the experience of the original GameBoy title to be more appealing to long-time fans of the series with new graphics and game mechanics.

SaGa Scarlet Grace: The Scarlet Ambition

The Scarlet Ambition is an upgraded remaster of the original SaGa Scarlet Grace from the PlayStation Vita intended for a wider release, including an international localization. The game features new characters and scenarios, upgrading graphics and animations, shortened loading times, and partial voice acting.

Romancing SaGa 2 (Remaster)

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the SaGa series, a remaster of one of the most popular entries in the franchise, Romancing SaGa 2 from the Super Famicom, was released on PlayStation Vita and mobile, then later worldwide on a variety of platforms. The game features new characters and areas with touched-up graphics. It was also the first release of Romancing SaGa 2 outside of Japan.

Romancing SaGa 3 (Remaster)

A remaster of Romancing SaGa 3 is planned for release in 2019 featuring HD graphics and some new content. Its eventual localization will be the first release of Romancing SaGa 3 outside of Japan.

Emperors SaGa

Emperors SaGa is the first free-to-play casual game entry into the SaGa series. Released on Japan-exclusive mobile game platforms like GREE, the game is browser-like and features collectable cards of characters from other SaGa titles.

Imperial SaGa

Released to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series, Imperial SaGa is a free-to-play casual game accessed and played through a computer web browser utilizing the Adobe Flash backend and the Yahoo!Japan gaming platform combined with Square-Enix Bridge. The game features collectable battle units from the rest of the SaGa series as well as many crossovers with other games and anime. Players complete short episodic quests which consist of series of battles similar to the Romancing SaGa games complete with Formations, Combos, and Glimmers.

Romancing SaGa Re;universe

Re;universe is an upcoming mobile free-to-play game intended as a counterpart to the following remaster of Romancing SaGa 3. The game takes place in a setting of the Romancing SaGa 3 world 300 years after the events of the game, and will feature systems that seem to be similar to Imperial SaGa.