Ever played one of those weirdly addictive train sims from the NES era? A Ressha de Ikou is exactly that—a Japanese gem where you’re basically a train conductor trying not to crash into stuff. Sounds simple, but the timing gets brutal fast.

You start off picking a route (I went with the scenic one first, obviously), and suddenly you’re juggling speed, stops, and signals while the pixelated countryside whips by. Miss a station? Whoops, points docked. Slam into another train? Game over. The chiptune soundtrack somehow makes even failure feel cheerful.

It’s one of those games where you keep saying “one more try” at 2 AM. The controls are stiff in that classic NES way, but once it clicks, it’s weirdly satisfying. Just don’t blame me when you start muttering about timetables in your sleep.