Well, most of my choices have already been used, so I'll plug one of my more obscure favorites again. Sweet Home.
It's a Japan-only NES Survival Horror/RPG made by Capcom in 1989. Its fast paced combat, relatively low encounter rate, small amount of grinding, mostly logical item-uses for puzzles, and good visuals (top-of-the-line NES sprites still look great today, IMO) make it one of the best aged RPGs and Survival Horrors of its time, and its interesting inventory and party system, great plot pacing and delivery, and great merging of separate genres* make it stand out, even today.
*A weakness that plagues some survival horrors is how powerful you are at the end of the game. In Dead Space and Resident Evil, you'll have unlocked and upgraded the best weapons and killed the same enemies so easily and so many times that the horror wears off. For some reason, bigger numbers doesn't have the same effect as bigger guns. Sure, you'll feel like a badass when you go back to an earlier area and one-shot those stupid bats, but the same cannot be said of beating the new, stronger enemies. The satisfaction for killing a Mirror halfway through the game is about the same as killing a doll near the beginning, and the lack of a victory tune prevents the feeling of victory from playing up; after all, you aren't out of danger yet.
Basically, the survival horror elements keep the RPG side tied down--they didn't want you spending too much time grinding in one area, and the RPG elements keep the horror atmosphere alive better than shooter elements usually do. Finally, its age really helps the horror. There's just something surreal about playing a gory game with such a grim story...on the freaking NES.
It's a Japan-only NES Survival Horror/RPG made by Capcom in 1989. Its fast paced combat, relatively low encounter rate, small amount of grinding, mostly logical item-uses for puzzles, and good visuals (top-of-the-line NES sprites still look great today, IMO) make it one of the best aged RPGs and Survival Horrors of its time, and its interesting inventory and party system, great plot pacing and delivery, and great merging of separate genres* make it stand out, even today.
*A weakness that plagues some survival horrors is how powerful you are at the end of the game. In Dead Space and Resident Evil, you'll have unlocked and upgraded the best weapons and killed the same enemies so easily and so many times that the horror wears off. For some reason, bigger numbers doesn't have the same effect as bigger guns. Sure, you'll feel like a badass when you go back to an earlier area and one-shot those stupid bats, but the same cannot be said of beating the new, stronger enemies. The satisfaction for killing a Mirror halfway through the game is about the same as killing a doll near the beginning, and the lack of a victory tune prevents the feeling of victory from playing up; after all, you aren't out of danger yet.
Basically, the survival horror elements keep the RPG side tied down--they didn't want you spending too much time grinding in one area, and the RPG elements keep the horror atmosphere alive better than shooter elements usually do. Finally, its age really helps the horror. There's just something surreal about playing a gory game with such a grim story...on the freaking NES.
