One of my favorite themes in any work is time travel, whether it’s jumping from the past to the future or even dealing with alternate timelines.
Consequently, I also love games that embrace this theme, especially JRPGs. However, I recognize that it’s rare for a game to nail the theme appropriately, both narratively and in gameplay.
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Usually, we have to be pretty lenient with the application of time travel in games because it’s easy to spot loopholes in its execution. But if a game masters time-hopping, the result is splendid.
In this list, I’ll highlight the best JRPGs that feature time travel and successfully incorporate the theme, whether through the story, a gameplay mechanic, or even both, creating a true time-traveling masterpiece.
8 Tales of Phantasia
Villain Everywhere All at Once
Tales of Phantasia was the first Tales of game released. It was already ambitious, introducing a new action combat system, high-end graphics for the SNES, and time-traveling mechanics.
The time-travel system in Tales of Phantasia is entirely structured around the narrative, as it has no gameplay implications, and even so, it’s still highly convoluted.
Cress, the protagonist, is sent to the past to find a way to defeat the villain Dhaos in the present. However, past Dhaos is still alive, and it’s up to Cress and the other party members to take him down.
With more levels than before, the protagonist returns to the present and manages to defeat the first Dhaos, not affected by past events.
Just when they think everything is fine, a visitor from the future shows up, saying the villain is still alive. Cress and the gang go again to smack him, now fifty years ahead.
Despite this mess and the constant tug at the player’s patience, it’s fun to travel through time and witness the crazy adventures along the way.
JRPGs that let us recruit party members through different eras are always amazing, and Tales of Phantasia was one of the first to do it.
7 Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
Saving The World Alongside Yourself
Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time
Adventure
Puzzle
JRPG
Action RPG
Released November 28, 2005
Engine unreal engine
ESRB e
How Long To Beat 18 hours
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I’ve got good news and bad news for you. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time focuses on time travel entirely for gameplay, bringing fun twists like most Nintendo games. If you’re looking for pure enjoyment, this JRPG has plenty.
However, it does this while disregarding any narrative implications of time travel. If you’re expecting a well-structured story or an airtight plot in this Mario game, you might as well give up and look elsewhere.
With that said, let’s focus on the positives. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time allows the Mario Bros. to travel to the past through Time Holes found in Princess Peach’s Castle. In the past, they meet Baby Mario and Baby Luigi.
That’s where the gimmick begins. The player can control all the characters together, with the babies adorably piggybacking on their older versions, or separately for puzzle-solving, like slipping into small crevices.
In battles, the adult versions usually take action, but if they get knocked out, the babies take the lead. The entire time-traveling theme exists just to justify Mario and Luigi meeting their younger selves and to introduce this unique and amusing gameplay mechanic.
6 Dark Cloud 2 (Dark Chronicle)
Building Bases Through Time
Released February 17, 2003
Developer(s) Level-5
Publisher(s) Sony Computer Entertainment
ESRB T For Teen Due To Violence
How Long To Beat 50 Hours
Metascore 87
PS Plus Availability Premium
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In Dark Cloud 2, known as Dark Chronicle everywhere outside the US, the player can travel between times using stones called Atlamilia, held by Max and Monica.
The villain, Griffon, wants to steal the stones so he can control time and dominate the future. To prevent this, Max and Monica travel through eras—past, present, and future—restoring villages to thwart Griffon’s powers.
This is where the core gameplay loop of Dark Cloud 2 comes into play.
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We need to rebuild villages using the JRPG’s town-building mechanic. To do this, we explore dungeons, collect materials, and use georamas. After restoring the corresponding village and gathering new allies, we move on to the next.
Time traveling is the central theme of Dark Cloud 2, but it has no technical applications in gameplay. Like many other games that feature it, it’s best to leave science and theories aside.
Otherwise, you’ll find so many loopholes and possible paradoxes that your enjoyment of Dark Cloud 2 will shrink the more your suspension of disbelief struggles. If you can’t do that, just enjoy the game for its base-building design and be happy.
5 Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
The Post-Game Content
To me, Dragon Quest XI is a JRPG masterpiece and would be my favorite in the franchise, stealing the crown from Dragon Quest VIII if only the game hadn’t chickened out in its third act.
The first and second acts of Dragon Quest XI, considered the canon story, are fantastic. The JRPG franchise has always been colorful and way too friendly. But not here, in the eleventh entry. At one point, everything goes wrong, and even a party member dies.
That is, until the protagonist, the Luminary, decides to travel back in time, return to the past, and break everything that had happened up to that point.
All the stakes, conflicts, losses, and moments of overcoming hardships were erased. God, I was so frustrated with that.
A robust post-game is a tradition in the franchise, adding tons of new content, a whole new storyline, and an endgame boss. Even though Square Enix labels Dragon Quest XI’s third act as post-game, it really feels canon, especially considering its connection to Dragon Quest III.
4 Cris Tales
Indie JRPG Based on Time Travel
The Colombian studio Dreams Uncorporated released Cris Tales in 2021. It’s a JRPG-inspired indie game that revolves around time traveling, both in the narrative and as a tool for its turn-based battles.
Story-wise, it’s pretty straightforward. The Empress of Time, Cris Tales’ main antagonist, destroys the protagonist Crisbell’s village.
At that moment, the girl discovers she also has temporal powers and sets off on an adventure to defeat the villain.
Where Cris Tales really shines is in battle. During combat, the screen is divided into three sections. Enemies on the left side can be sent to the past, turning into their younger, weaker, and less experienced selves.
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Meanwhile, enemies on the right can be sent to the future, causing their metal armor to rust or causing a poisonous seed planted to suddenly bloom into a deadly plant.
It’s an incredibly clever mechanic that pushes the player to think strategically rather than just spamming available attacks.
Sometimes, sending an enemy to the past makes them healthier and stronger, while sending them to the future makes them more skilled and dangerous. Cris Tales is a goldmine for fans of JRPGs and time-traveling mechanics.
3 Final Fantasy XIII-2
Fixing Paradoxes While Creating New Ones
Released December 15, 2011
Developer(s) Square Enix
Publisher(s) Square Enix
Engine Crystal Tools
ESRB t
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While the community mocked Final Fantasy XIII for its linearity—often dubbed a hallway simulator—its direct sequel, Final Fantasy XIII-2, took the complete opposite approach.
Playing as Serah, Lightning’s sister, alongside the newcomer Noel, we hop from timeline to timeline, fixing paradoxes and unlocking new alternate universes, considerably growing the game’s mythology.
I know many people hate Final Fantasy XIII-2, but I love this JRPG. The feature that lets us pick episodes in a matrix-like structure, watch how our actions influence different outcomes, and explore various possibilities is incredibly satisfying.
The story also gracefully tackles the time-traveling theme. Caius, one of the most underrated villains in the entire Final Fantasy franchise, truly deserves more love because his character arc is extremely relatable.
Also, Final Fantasy XIII-2 has one of the best boss battles tied to time-traveling mechanics. It’s not exactly a gameplay mechanic, but the JRPG presents a unique take where the boss avoids destruction by simply resetting itself to a past version before it dies. It’s confusing without playing it, but believe me, it’s amusing.
2 Chrono Trigger
Reference on Time-Traveling Mechanics
Discussing time travel in gaming is humanly impossible without immediately thinking of Chrono Trigger. The JRPG’s take on the theme was incredible, and even today, it serves as a reference for future games.
Right from the start, Chrono Trigger shows us exactly how its time-traveling mechanics will work. It’s elegant, embraces simplicity, and, most importantly, it works.
Every era we visit in the game feels believable and reflects the world’s evolution. Even better, some side quests allow us to directly influence how the world develops without feeling far-fetched.
Chrono Trigger proves that just because a game tackles a complex theme doesn’t mean its execution has to be overly complicated.
With careful design and technical finesse, this JRPG masterpiece simplified a mechanic that’s often poorly implemented and employed it to enhance the game as a whole.
1 Radiant Historia
The Butterfly Effect of JRPGs
Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology
Released February 13, 2018
ESRB T For Teen Due To Fantasy Violence, Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol
How Long To Beat 30 Hours
Metascore 85
OpenCritic Rating Mighty
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I know it sounds weird to put Chrono Trigger in second place, but if you play Radiant Historia, preferably the Perfect Chronology version, you’ll understand why.
While Chrono Trigger lets us travel through time and visit different eras, Radiant Historia takes a different approach to the theme. Here, we have two parallel realities, where the protagonist, Stocke, constantly hops between them.
Think of this JRPG as more of a Butterfly Effect than anything. Stocke encounters a problem in the original timeline, called the Standard Story, so he either jumps to the past, looking for a way to fix it, or to the Alternate Story, where his actions influence the other timeline and vice versa.
And despite the protagonist constantly shifting between the past, present, and an alternate reality, it’s surprisingly difficult to find any plot holes in Radiant Historia. The writing is impeccable, the motivations are believable, and the execution is flawless.
Overall, I still consider Chrono Trigger a better game than Radiant Historia. But if we’re strictly talking about time traveling in JRPGs, then I’d pick the latter without batting an eyelash.
Very few games have managed to grasp the theme’s nuances as well as Radiant Historia did.
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