Atlus used to be a company synonymous with obscure titles. That was like their bread and butter. They seemingly liked to go after games to publish in the West that nobody else would. Then Persona 3 happened and their traction as a company started to grow from there. Persona 4’s release on PS Vita boosted their brand once again and when Persona 5 hit, they became more of a household name.
Are they as big of an RPG company as Square Enix? No, but that is okay as they still have a rich history. As more common as their brand is, Atlus still has a lot of weird titles out there that no one remembers except the hardcore fans. Will these games ever resurface in the West?
8 Wacky Races
Atlus made some pretty decent platformers back on the NES. One of the best was Wacky Races, which funnily enough had nothing to do with the iconic races found in that cartoon. It instead starred the villainous Muttley, Dick Dastardly’s dog, in a platformer similar to Mega Man.
Players could choose where they wanted to go, earning power-ups along the way. The controls are still tight, and the graphics hold up for an NES game too. This would fit well with the Switch’s NES library.
7 Princess Crown
Princess Crown was never released officially in the West, although there have been fan efforts to patch it. It was originally a Sega Saturn game in Japan before eventually getting an enhanced port for the PSP. It’s a 2D action RPG and there were some simulation elements to the gameplay as well.
What makes this an interesting pick is that the director, George Kamitani, would eventually leave to help create Vanillaware. The elements that made Vanillaware games like Odin Sphere and Dragon’s Crown great can be traced back to Princess Crown.
6 Kartia: The Word Of Fate
Kartia: The Word of Fate features artwork from Yoshitaka Amano who is most probably known for the Final Fantasy series. The girl on the box art looks a lot like Terra from Final Fantasy 6 and that’s only one example. This was a tactical RPG that was sort of blended with Pokemon-like gameplay.
Players controlled a group of generals in every battle, but the emphasis was more on their summoned creatures than their natural talents. Characters could summon various monsters to do battle for them and this gave the game an RTS feeling as well. It’s one in a handful of tactical RPGs on the PS1 that got overlooked next to Final Fantasy Tactics.
5 Thousand Arms
Thousand Arms was co-developed between Atlus and a lesser-known Japanese developer, Red Company. It saw a very limited release in the West, making it a hard-to-find PS1 game at the time, and is even rarer now. This was a typical turned-based RPG as far as the battle system went. However, there was a twist to the gameplay as it was also a dating sim.
Players were a blacksmith that had to woo their female party members to help strengthen their abilities to make weapons. It was certainly a unique concept at the time that perhaps Atlus got inspiration from for Persona 3.
4 Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha Vs. The Soulless Army
Speaking of Persona 3, there were a lot of Shin Megami Tensei games on the PS2 that got overlooked next to both that game and its sequel, Persona 4. Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army is a mouthful of a name along with its sequel, Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon are mouthfuls.
They are both action RPGs that take place within this spinoff universe. Players controlled their hero in battle but also summoned iconic demons, like the Jack Bros., to do battle alongside them. A remastered collection for both of these would be awesome because they are rare physically.
3 Radiant Historia
When it comes to time-based RPGs, Chrono Trigger is usually the one fans think of first. There aren’t that many time-travel games in general. Radiant Historia was perfect for the DS but also not perfect. The handheld was set up as an RPG system which allowed for grinding on the go.
Unfortunately, a lot of console gamers snubbed the DS as something lesser. Radiant Historia is on-par with Chrono Trigger, featuring great turn-based gameplay and an in-depth time travel system. It got another shot on the 3DS, but that version didn’t sell like gangbusters either despite critical acclaim.
2 Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
Even the biggest series under Atlus' umbrella, Persona, has had some entries that almost fell off the radar. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth was the first spinoff that blended elements of Persona with Atlus’ dungeon-crawling Etrian Odyssey series. The first game crossed over the Persona 3 and Persona 4 universes while its sequel, Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, made things even wilder with Persona 5 characters.
Both were released at a time when the 3DS was waning in popularity, but this is especially true for the sequel as it launched in 2019 in the West which was two years after the Switch’s debut.
1 Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
Finally, there is Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE which was another crossover RPG project. This time Atlus partnered with Nintendo to mash together Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem. Characters from Fire Emblem Awakening were turned into Persona-like entities in this turned-based RPG. It was more Shin Megami Tensei than Fire Emblem, but that wasn’t the problem.
It was first released on the Wii U which was notoriously a poor-selling console even with well-reviewed software like this. The Switch re-release gave this game another shot but it still didn’t make a huge splash.