Mother 3

A fantastic GBA RPG carried by a heartfelt, authored story with a strong cultural message and an unusually varied, sample-heavy soundtrack tied to its rhythm-combo battle system. It is held back by pacing problems, prolonged single-character fights that inflate difficulty, and a basic, uninteresting turn-based combat core. Despite dated, problematic content, it stands among Nintendo's best narratives and earns an 8.5.