Championship Lode Runner on NES is one of those games that looks simple until you actually try it. You're this little dude running around digging holes to trap enemies while grabbing all the gold—but the levels get brutal fast. The first few stages ease you in, teaching you how to drop pits and climb ladders, but by stage 5, you're sweating over pixel-perfect jumps and timing your digs so those blue jerks don't corner you.

What I love is how the gold isn't just sitting there—some pieces force you to think ahead, like when you have to dig under a block to make it fall just right. And those later levels? Pure puzzle-platforming chaos. Mess up once and you're either crushed or chased into a dead end. Still, nailing a tough stage feels amazing.

It's way more strategic than it looks at first glance.