Best games

The best Matrix Software games

The 8 best games from Matrix Software, ranked from 719 critic and player ratings.

The best Matrix Software game is Professor Layton and the Curious Village, with a critic score of 88/100. Updated October 2026.

Ranked releases span 1997 to 2009.
Average critic score across the 8 ranked games: 68/100.
719 critic and player ratings behind this ranking.

How this ranking is built

Games are ranked on the aggregated critic score out of 100 imported from IGDB and Metacritic, never on Tier's own grades.
A game only enters the ranking with at least 30 external ratings, so a single enthusiastic review never outranks a proven classic.
Community grades from F to S are shown next to every game, and only stated as a fact above 5 Tier ratings.
Release window covered: 1970 to 2026.
8 games are listed on this page, carrying 719 ratings between them.
Rankings are recomputed hourly; this one was last rebuilt on 12 October 2026.

Top 8

Professor Layton and the Curious Village 2007 · 201 ratings In the curious village of St. Mystere, townsfolk speak to each other in riddles, lock their doors with sliding puzzles and hide their secrets within brainteasers. When a wealthy baron passes away, his will reveals an elusive treasure hidden someplace inside the village. Now it's up to Professor Layton to untangle St. Mystere's riddles and puzzles, find the hidden treasure, and crack the case. 88 /100

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box 2007 · 108 ratings Professor Layton may be a world-famous sleuth, but even he will need your assistance to crack these challenging puzzles. With Nintendo DS stylus in hand, it's time to muster up some mental might! 85 /100

FINAL FANTASY IV: THE AFTER YEARS 2007 · 97 ratings FINAL FANTASY IV is a 3D remake of the classic Japanese RPG that was first released for SNES as FINAL FANTASY II in the North America. Unlike the many subsequent ports (to Playstation, GameBoy Advance, etc.), this release is a full remake, programmed from scratch with real-time 3D graphics. The characters have a "super-deformed" touch. There is also voice acting during cut-scenes. A new option has been added to the menu, which allows the player to read a conversation between party members and receive advice from them. It also features many gameplay additions. The difficulty level has been increased, not only beyond the difficulty of the Western SNES release (which was reduced compared to Japanese original and subsequent ports), but even beyond the original difficulty. The party members are still bound by class, but they can now hunt for so-called "augments", which can be found or stolen from enemies and which grant the characters additional bonus abilities, resistances, spells that their class would normally not allow, etc. Beside those major changes, there are also plenty of minor additions. It is possible to obtain bonus items after exploring every corner and filling 100% of an area map; Rydia, the summoner girl, has a new monster summon who can be customized in various ways; there is a new quest involving the "naming" moogle of the original game, etc. 82 /100

The Adventures of Alundra 1997 · 35 ratings Between the worlds of light and dark lies the world of dreams. A world where the rule of reason loosens its grip. A place where an insidious evil is stealing minds and blackening the hearts of those from the world of light. Grab a weapon and become the dreamwalker Alundra as he struggles to purge the evil Id of an ancient world before it falls to ash. Explore dungeons, find weapons, solve challenging puzzles, and kick some serious monster butt as you weave between tense reality and nightmarish dreams to save the hapless masses. With a wide cast of characters and scores of challenging puzzles created by the people responsible for Landstalker on the Genesis. Alundra will rob you of precious sleep until you finish! 74 /100

Dragon Quest 2004 · 79 ratings The player takes the role of a namable Hero. The Hero's name has an effect on his statistical growth over the course of the game. Battles are fought in a turn-based format and experience points and gold are awarded after every battle, allowing the Hero to level-up in ability and allows them to buy better weapons, armor, and items. Progression consists of traveling over an overworld map and through dungeons, fighting monsters encountered via random battles along the journey. 70 /100

Final Fantasy III 2006 · 125 ratings Final Fantasy III is a remake and a complete overhaul of the 1990 version with the same title. This allowed western players to finally experience the classic Final Fantasy game localized for the very first time. The graphics are rendered in full 3D and various changes have been implemented. 64 /100

Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation 2009 · 36 ratings Dragon Quest III is noted for greatly expanding upon the original Dragon Warrior and Dragon Warrior II. The game uses basic console role-playing game conventions, such as leveling up by gaining experience points and equipping items. Battle is turn-based like the other games in the series. Dragon Warrior III features a class system, in which each character has a certain class. While the Hero always keeps the Hero class, the other characters can choose among the following: Soldier (Warrior in the GBC version), Fighter, Pilgrim (Cleric), Wizard (Mage), Merchant (Dealer), Goof-Off (Jester), Sage, and Thief which was available only in the later versions. The choice of class greatly affects the character's stats and spells he or she can learn. Furthermore, upon reaching experience Level 20, a character has the option of changing classes at the temple of Dhama, found halfway through the game. The game starts with just the Hero in the party, who then is able to recruit a party of three at the local tavern. Unlike most Dragon Quest parties, aside from the Hero, the party is not made up of characters involved in the story. Although only four characters can be in the party at a time, extra members of the party can be kept at the tavern, allowing room for new recruits. Another innovation is an arena where the player can place bets on the outcome of monster battles. The remakes incorporated some interface changes from later games in the series, such as simplified door opening; the bag, which replaced bank item storage; the item sorting "Tidy Item" and "Tidy Bag" commands; and the "Full HP" command, which can be used outside of combat to automate the process of casting healing and status restoring spells. While the earlier Dragon Quest games were also non-linear, Dragon Quest III was the most substantial example of open-world gameplay among the early Dragon Quest games. It also allowed the player to swap characters in and out of the party at will, and another "major innovation was the introduction of day/night cycles; certain items, characters, and quests are only accessible at certain times of day." 45 /100

Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line 2005 · 38 ratings This game allows the player to control more than one character, and it is the first one in the Dragon Quest series to do so. The player controls his or her characters as they move in the game world. They can search treasure chests, talk and trade with villagers, equip weapons and armor, and cast spells. 40 /100

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What is the best Matrix Software game?

Professor Layton and the Curious Village currently tops the ranking with a score of 88/100 across 201 ratings. Ranking updated October 2026.

How is this ranking built?

Games are ranked on their aggregated critic score out of 100, with a minimum vote threshold so a single glowing review never outranks a proven classic; the Tier community's own F-to-S grades are shown alongside each game.

The best Matrix Software games

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