Have you tried any of the Vectorman games?  I only played the second one, I think, since that was the only cartridge I could find of it.  Fairly challenging, though it may be a bit common since I vaguely remember that was one of the primary action platformer titles for the Genesis at the time.

And what about Contra III for SNES, or Contra: Hard Corps for Genesis?  I only discovered Hard Corps years afterward, and it was definitely the more fast-paced intense experience than Contra III, not to mention a more diverse weapons loadout and four character choices as well as branching plotlines based on your choices!  But again, I dunno how popular either game actually was at the time.

I'll have to look over my list of games and see what I can offer, I know there are some more that would fit admirably.  Brain Lord for the SNES might be one example of a slightly off the beaten path Zelda-ish RPG.

The lack of Earthbound in this topic disturbs me...

The lack of Earthbound in this topic disturbs me...

Because I've played Earthbound before.

I've played both Vectorman games before, very fun platformers. I'll look up some youtube videos of the Contra games.

Quintet-Enix action rpgs are the cure for the SNES blues.

Actraiser

Soul Blazer

Illusion of Gaia (Time)

Terranigma

Each comes highly recommended. Also, if you don't mind a bit of grinding, there's also E.V.O. Search For Eden. I freakin' loved this one back in the day. Can be a bit of a tough nut to crack though, some of the enemies will brutalize you mercilessly if you don't take to the time to upgrade your body parts.

I'll be back and recommend other titles if no one beats me to 'em first.

Harvest Moon. Probably the best version of HM there is.

Is it 7th Saga-hard, Psx? That might be interesting 😛

Wat. Nothing is 7th Saga-hard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Riders

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusaders_of_Centy

Zelda meets pokémon meets AWESOME.

Also one of the best soundtracks in any game ever.

Wat. Nothing is 7th Saga-hard.

Not even Dragon Warrior II? Sacrifice was the ultimate "**** you" from the designers. Instant death, no way to stop it, works EVERY SINGLE TIME?! Ugh.

PSII is on 7th Saga level hard simply because of the insane dungeon layouts.

http://shrines.rpgclassic...maps/dezoris/ikuto.shtml

That layout is bonkers. You can only go down, not up (That's right ladies and gents, you travel by way of pits ~_^ ) unless you cast Hinas (PSII's version of Outside/Return/Exit) or use the emergency exit which is at the very bottom floor. Plus even with the best armors in the game the monsters can still put on their rape-faces and own your party by ganging up on someone effectively killing them unless you are REALLY lucky (Considering it's PSII... you probably won't be) and going trollface.jpg now that you have a dead body to drag around. No phoenix downs aside from the Moon Dews which can only be stolen (you can't buy them) and stealing is incredibly difficult to do and for the most part, ain't worth it. Only other way to revive is the Rever technique which only 2 people can learn and you won't learn it till like the final dungeon unless you've grinded away like a cheap whore. You DO get free technique items that have infinite uses, but they're more mandatory than game-breaking. I don't see how it's possible to make the final run through without the ones that heal you, you'd run out of healing items/TP before you'd finish unless you grinded to insanely high levels.

I think there are a few rpgs that are 7th Saga hard

wasn't 7th Saga the one where your rivals gain levels as you do but their stat builds were superior to yours and by late game they outclassed you considerably in battle?

yeeeeeeah... at least in PSII grinding for levels won't get you stonewalled

ANYHOO:

Beyond Oasis, for Genesis. It's been too long, but I remember loving it.

It is, but if you're smart you can get through without doing a ton of level grinding, making it easier to fight the rivals. Plus you could abuse the runes you got for free healing, buffing, mp restoration, etc. meaning it wasn't required to grind to super high levels (although still hard even with the runes).

But Centy sounds cool and I've heard of BO before, I should check those out.

Another one I liked for the SNES: Shadowrun. Post-apocalyptic cyberpunk world x fantasy tropes x wRPG w/ dash of jRPG linearity. You're Jake Armitage, and you're dead. Wait, no you're not. But you don't remember who you are and why you just woke up in the morgue. Time to interrogate chummers, kill supernatural deities with an uzi, hack into company servers for a little corporate espionage using your head-mounted datajack to troll The Matrix looking for loot and hire mercenaries called Shadowrunners to back you up while you do it. All to a bitchin' soundtrack. The game is short but very sweet.

(i think i might have gone overboard on the images)

Is it bad that I still remember this topic?