Gameplay combines mission-based exploration, and combat featuring players controlling Zig in real-time during turn-based battles.

The team featured industry veterans including Capcom producer Minae Matsukawa, illustrators Tatsuya Yoshikawa and Shin Nagasawa, and composer Yoko Shimomura.

Last Ranker saw generally positive reviews from Japanese critics, with many citing its gameplay as standing out from other RPGs of the time.

Last Ranker is a role-playing video game where players take on the role of protagonist Zig as he battles his way through the ranks of the military group Bazalta.

[4][7] The player can also open quick command menus to use skills, and some attacks cause status ailments for Zig or the enemy such as poisoning or paralysis.

[8] Through battles Zig gains experience points, which increase his level and both raise his statistics and unlock more skill slots.

[8] Last Ranker is set in a fantasy world which is governed by the Warlord Organization Bazalta from the capital city Ghandoar.

Governing the world through force, Bazalta organizes and trains an army of 100,000 fighters, using a ranking system to gauge experience and skill.

The Cantalera, who possess mystical powers, were banished and became a nomadic tribe, then the Salvatores were destroyed in turn and left the Bazaltas in control of the Warlord Organization.

[6] The main protagonist is Zig (Hiroshi Kamiya), a member of the Cantalera tribe who grows frustrated with their traditions and leaves to join Bazalta.

[11] A prominent side character is Missy (Kaori Nazuka), Faz's younger sister and another friend of Zig's who serves as the Cantalera tribe's shaman.

He becomes a subordinate of Tylong (Hiroki Yasumoto), the strongest warrior below the Seven Knights and current head of a hated family controlling their own territory within Ghandoar.

[13][14] Key characters from the Anti-Bazalta faction are Igorida (Megumi Toyoguchi), a one-eyed warrior woman who knows forbidden truths about the world, and the gun-wielding Bazalta double-agent Galgano (Jun Fukuyama).

[15] The central antagonists are the "Seven Knights", the most powerful fighters in Bazalta, forming a council which controls the world's military, politics and finances.

Those featured are Harth (Tomokazu Seki), the current strongest warrior who only wants to fight strong opponents; Yuli (Mitsuki Saiga), a ruthless tactician and current head of the Bazalta family; Rosa (Aya Endō), an archer dedicated to the Knights' original goals; Zebrilla (Banjō Ginga), a merchant who bought his way into the Knights; Norma (Kotono Mitsuishi), a seductive warrior who can use magic and possesses other bodies to prolong her life; and Sengoku (Rikiya Koyama), a warrior from an Eastern land dedicated to honing his abilities.

Zig continues to operate within Bazalta, raising his rank and covertly helping Anti-Bazalta, hoping to bring Faz over to their side and find out if Missy is alive.

Eventually found out, Zig reunites with Anti-Bazalta and they face the Seven Knights' forces; he in turn defeats Sengoku and Rosa, and kills Norma.

Reclaiming a stolen Cantaleran artifact from Zebrilla, they discover that a proclaimed king of Cantalera and the "Last Ranker"—the world's strongest warrior—can open a doorway to the Evinos's domain and end them.

[17][19][20] Niinou had a great respect for Capcom as love of their projects had encouraged him to enter the gaming industry, particularly Street Fighter II.

[1] Niinou wanted to make the battle system and bosses engaging, but still keep it easy enough that players could see the end without grinding.

[23] Some of the music discussions with Niinou and Matsukawa lasted up to seven hours, and she remembered one meeting that ended abruptly when she was struck by an idea and left to write it down.

"Crudelis et Magnificus", the battle theme for the Seven Knights, was composed as a grand choral work with Latin lyrics setting the combatants and context apart from standard fights.

[32] She gave Yuli a specific character theme called "La Valse Noire", representing his distorted nature; recording was difficult, and the performers required a conductor to get the right tempos.

[38] Ishikawa performed several arranged themes from Last Ranker at a violin recital on 17 October at Verbrugghen Hall in Sydney.

[45][46] The first hint of the game's existence was given in 2008 by Imageepoch president Ryoei Mikage, who stated that the company was working on an action-based PSP title that would be revealed within the next year or two.

[2] Speaking in a 2011 interview Haru Akeanga, president of Imageepoch's then-publishing partner NIS America, noted that PSP titles such as Last Ranker were difficult to market overseas due to lower sales on the platform outside Japan, explaining its lack of localization.

[57] A second CD drama based on an original novella by Nojima, Nejineji Bread with Carbonated Water, was released on 15 December, again published by Suleputer and distributed by Sony.

[51][61] A spin-off manga created by Yu Satsuki and supervised by Capcom, Last Ranker: Chain of Blue Silver, was released as a standalone volume on 27 July 2011 by ASCII Media Works.

[64][69] In a preview for 1Up.com by Ryan Winterhalter noted that the setting stuck close to genre tropes aimed at teenage Japanese males.

[64][69] Taku Kihara of Japanese website Game Watch Impress praised the battle system as engaging and easy to learn, but found it lacking in difficulty and content.