Final Fantasy VI—or FF6 if you're lazy—is one of those SNES RPGs that just sticks with you. Right from the start, you're dropped into this weirdly beautiful world where magitek armor stomps around like it owns the place, and rebels with tragic backstories somehow still crack jokes. The opening hour alone has you sneaking through snowfields, stealing mechs, and watching a guy dramatically flip his hair before freezing an entire army. Classic.

The party system is wild—you’ve got 14 characters, and half of them could carry the whole game by themselves. Want a ninja who throws money at enemies? Done. A yeti who only communicates in food metaphors? Yep. And the Esper system? Way more flexible than the job classes in other FF games. You can turn anyone into a magic nuke if you’re patient enough.

Oh, and that soundtrack? Uematsu went absolutely feral composing this. There’s an opera scene. An actual opera. In a 16-bit game. It shouldn’t work, but it does, and by the time you hit the World of Ruin, you’ll be humming Terra’s theme while recruiting a vampire.

Still holds up, still wrecks emotions, still has the best villain monologue in RPG history.