Hiryuu No Ken Gaiden is one of those weird Game Boy gems that never quite made it big outside Japan. It got rebranded as Fighting Simulator 2-in-1: Flying Warriors in the US, which honestly doesn’t do it justice. You’ve got this mix of side-scrolling beat ‘em up and one-on-one fighting—kinda like if Double Dragon had a baby with Street Fighter.

The first few minutes feel janky (it is an early Game Boy title), but once you get used to the chunky sprites, there’s something oddly satisfying about landing a dragon punch in monochrome. The roster’s small but has some fun picks, and the overworld map gives it a light RPG vibe between fights. Not gonna lie, the US version butchered some of the charm, but if you dig retro fighters with weird ambition, it’s worth a spin.

Also, yes, this was the series’ first handheld outing—and you can totally tell by how hard the A button gets abused.