On the subject of games not making the cut, just wanted to take a moment to randomly gush about Tactics Ogre on the SNES (Japanese/fan translated). Not suggesting it was an option, of course.
I don't understand why it isn't more famous/revered-- Even when you go out of your way to search for great Japanese SNES games that never came over seas, it's never mentioned.
It's essentially a 1995 version of Final Fantasy Tactics (one of the better PSX games that still holds up) but with less hand-holding, less game-breaking, more interesting creative decisions/themes/mechanics, what feels like a larger scope (especially with the branching paths), and that astoundingly somehow looks visually and stylistically (not to mention art direction) even more polished and attractive than FFT does. It's the best sprite/background/interface work I've seen on the system, personally, and doesn't feel remotely dated to me. It's comparable in overall quality to the better JRPGs on the console, IMO (I think not as good as Chrono Trigger/FFVI/Earthbound, but better than FFIV/Secret of Mana, etc.).
The PSP version is even better and is translated, but they didn't have to tweak very much of it to make it look modern.
I mean, look at that. Looks fantastic now, let alone in 1995 on a SNES.
