Somehow games that are in this oblique-ish space somewhere between a top-down and side-scroller, where you can walk around on both axes but also enjoy the scenery in the background, are very appealing to me. I guess it’s close to the classical beat-'em-up perspective, though I’m looking for more open-ended things that are based on exploration and such.
I guess the most well-known example of what I’m looking for would be the town parts in Legend of the Mystical Ninja for the SNES (the first two Famicom Goemon games also look similar, but are still much more linear)
Recently I’ve tried out this old Japanese PC game called Riglas (which was also released on the Switch), whose areas are neat to walk around in, but like most real-time action computer games from the era, the combat is completely insufferable.
A thing that always had this cool mysterious aura from my childhood, mostly because I never got far anywhere in it (because once again, mid-80s computer games…), was Asterix and the Magic Cauldron (which was rebranded as Ardok the Barbarian in the US)
The PSX Goemon is very nice looking, though the way the maps are laid out you never really see the background in the distance (outside of the actual side-scroller stages) and it ends up feeling more like a typical Zelda-like perspective.
Guardian Heroes has RPGesque stat allocation and lets you move on both axes. It has a traditional beat em up side camera though and I’m unsure if it has exploration.
River City Ransom, a.k.a. Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari a.k.a. Street Gangs is one of the earliest avatars of the genre and one of the most influential open world (open belt?) action-adventure games.
The game has an excellent remake on the Nintendo 3DS, River City: Rival Showdown, a.k.a. Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari SP which has since been HD remastered and released on Switch, Steam and PS4.
The original Famicom version also has a lesser known sequel set in feudal Japan.
And the concept was recently revived with a brand new entry set in the Three Kingdoms setting and they might have become my favorite Kunio games: River City Saga: Three Kingdoms. It was a hit in South East Asia and got a sequel (Next) last year. Also available on Switch, Steam and PS4.
Among its more obvious disciples: the russian solo dev indie game The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa.
You surely already knew some of these games, but maybe not all of them?
Amedama, maybe? It’s essentially Acquire’s attempt to marry their Way of the Samurai house style to a lower-budget game with a very distinct take on the whole “2DHD” thing: AMEDAMA on Steam It’s a time-loop game, so it’s probably not going to be as exploratory or offer as many different locales as you’d like, but it’s also not a straight brawler with numbers tacked on like pretty much every other example you’re going to come across, so I figure it’s worth mentioning.
This format is one that I wish there were more of! As @chazumaru said, River City Ransom is the OG example.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game is worth checking out but it is quite linear so it doesn’t quite fit the criteria. Dragon View (SNES) is another that is worth checking out but doesn’t fit into the criteria exactly.
Definitely an unusual perspective for an rpg since most folks went isometric instead.
Is the shiren series too close to being top down? I felt like there were lots on the pc engine and then I checked my collection and they’re all purely side on, or iso!
Would babel count for you? Too zoomed out? I guess this winds up being pretty close to a traditional top down rpg representation.
I guess you want essentially a belt scroller with rpg elements? So many of the things I’m thinking of are either light on rpg, like ane-san for pc engine, or don’t have the action element, like babel.
Feels weird that I can’t really think of any. Is Capcom’s D&D in the right zone?
Takeda shingen has exp and the perspective. But would I recommend it? Not really.
Babel is an interesting one, cause the graphics inside houses look exactly like an example for this type, but outdoors it feels more top-down like.
Things like Shadow over Mystara and Guardian Heroes (and I suspect Dragon’s Crown, though I haven’t looked into it much yet) are too linear to fit in this mold, I think.
There’s also a few games that look very similar, but where the ground is flatter and they don’t let you walk on the y-axis, like one of the 3x3 Eyes games on the Super Famicom and Sword of Honour on the Amiga.
I guess in order to have this look and at the same time an open-world like structure, you kinda need a series of belt-scrolling type maps with a bunch of interconnected portals at the top and bottom. Takeda Shingen kind of tried to pull it off with vertical scrolling, but ends up looking weird at the seams because of it. Maybe you could emulate it well enough with larger maps nowadays using some 3D trickery. Come to think of it… maybe the more recent Animal Crossing versions could be considered a modern equivalent in some ways.
Can you give some more visual examples of what is not-right? I just checked out Mystical Ninja’s topdown sections and the perspective is the same as Stardew, Earthbound, and every RPG Maker game. How are these wrong for what you’re seeking?
Yup, that’s it. If you see the horizon, it feels more like your viewpoint is just slightly above ground level, while typical 2D RPGs, even when most of the sprites are drawn like from the side, have more of a birds-eye feel to them because you’re always looking at the ground.
Oh, that’s a neat one! The overworld itself seems relatively linear, but there’s so much else going on with the people in the houses and holes and such, definitely feels like it belongs in this category. Also has some cool monster designs!
If you want an example that predates Goemon 2 and Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari, and is also terrible, there’s City Adventure Touch for Famicom—it hits the unholy trifecta of “nonsensical no-effort media adaptation”, “bad game from a studio that’s usually a safe bet” (Compile) and “doesn’t even have good BGM to fall back on”:
Actually I kinda like the music (although the way it’s interrupted with each screen transition is super annoying.) And the sprites are not too bad either. Doesn’t look great to play, though.
This doesn’t really fit the prompt but GUWANGE has these sections where your movement is confined to the ground and you are avoiding obstacles and crossing bridges, etc. But it doesn’t feel top down and feels like you’re moving forward
Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari a.k.a. 
Street Gangs is one of the earliest avatars of the genre and one of the most influential open world (open belt?) action-adventure games.
