SNES : Star Ocean (JAP)
3Star Ocean (スターオーシャン) is an RPG with action-style sequences that developed by tri-Ace and published by Enix back in 1996, exclusively for the Japanese market and the Super Famicom/Nintendo console system.
On the planet Roak, inhabited by the Fellpool race, a trio of childhood friends (Ratix, Dorn and Milly) go about their ways and protect their village of Kratous from bandits as usual. However, Milly's father Martoth leaves after receiving news that a mysterious plague threatens the nearby town of Coule. As the town healer he hopes to help the victims, who are all turning to stone. But he, too, is infected before long. The trio thus decides to set off for Mt. Metorx to recover the Metorx Herb, a legendary herb said to cure any ailment. What they find is more than they ever expected...
Star Ocean is a magnificent RPG which surprisingly enough didn't receive a Western localization.
Aside from the excellent pixel art graphics, the very interesting random encounter - action battle system, the scenario development and progression, it's one of the very few games on the system that uses real voice samples (a real rarity). There's no doubt, Star Ocean streched the hardcore SNES hardware to it's limits.
On a personal note, I believe it's one of the best RPGs that ever appeared in the 16bit era. If i had to mention 1 thing I didn't like that would be the limited view of the world map.
Althought it is not an import friendly game, thankfully, some fans have already translated the game in the English language. Be sure to check it.