Ashura on the Sega Master System is one of those weird, obscure Japanese action games that feels like it fell out of an arcade cabinet from 1985. You play as this little dude who throws shurikens (badly) at waves of enemies while jumping between platforms that sometimes don’t make sense. The hit detection is… questionable, and the controls take some getting used to, but there’s something oddly charming about its janky difficulty.

First few minutes? You’ll probably die a lot. The enemies spawn in weird spots, and some of the jumps feel like they require pixel-perfect timing. But once you get the rhythm down, it’s got that old-school "just one more try" pull. The music’s surprisingly catchy too—definitely the best part.

If you’re into retro games that don’t hold your hand, this one’s a weird little time capsule worth digging into.