Break Time: The National Pool Tour is one of those late-era NES games that actually tried to do something different. You’ve got four rule sets—8-ball, 9-ball, Rotation, and 14-1—and they all play surprisingly close to real pool. The physics aren’t perfect, but lining up shots feels satisfying once you get the hang of it.

What’s cool is the National Pool Tour mode, where you travel to different cities (Chicago, Vegas, etc.) and face off against AI opponents with distinct playstyles. Some of them go for wild trick shots, others play super defensively—it keeps you on your toes. There’s even digitized voice clips, which was kinda wild for an NES cart. "Nice shot!" gets old after a while, but it’s charming in a retro way.

If you just wanna mess around, Practice and Watch modes are there, and thank god for password saves because some of those later matches get brutal. It’s not the flashiest pool sim, but for an NES game, it holds up better than you’d expect.