You may think Japanese RPGs are obscure, specialist games, but you’d be wrong. They are invading the mainstream more than ever before. Steve Boxer explains why we love them so much

THE Japanese RPG – known to all and sundry as the JRPG – is one of the most offbeat genres in the modern games industry. It pulls off the unique trick of being both huge (in terms of the size of the gaming audience which is devoted to it) and obscure – image-wise, it’s generally (and erroneously) held to be of specialist interest, rooted in a bygone era of gaming and separated from the mainstream.

Being a fan of JRPGs is almost seen as a badge of honour for gamers – JRPG aficionados see themselves as proper, committed gamers who have uncovered one of the games world’s best-kept secrets.

We reckon it’s high time JRPGs were accorded their deserved status and celebrated as belonging to a genre which is actually mainstream, vibrant and has universal appeal. The imminent arrival of the first instalment of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Remake should help with that: by any standards, it will be one of 2020’s biggest games.