Final Fantasy VI

The 1994 SNES epic that gave us Kefka — gaming's greatest villain, a nihilistic clown who actually destroys the world halfway through and wins. The World of Ruin is still one of the boldest narrative moves in RPG history. Fourteen playable characters, each with unique mechanics. The opera scene. Nobuo Uematsu's score, performed with SNES sound chip limitations that somehow made it more emotional. Many Final Fantasy fans consider this, not VII, the true peak of the series.