King's Bounty on the Genesis is one of those games that tricked me into thinking I was just playing a simple fantasy romp—until I lost three hours straight to army management and tactical blunders. You start by picking a hero class (I always go Paladin, but the Barbarian’s gold bonus is tempting), then immediately get thrown into this chessboard-style world where every move counts. Recruiting units feels like assembling the world’s weirdest fantasy football team—why wouldn’t you want an army of ghosts backed up by a dragon?

The battles are where it really shines, though. Positioning matters, terrain affects your archers, and sometimes you’ll stare at the screen for five minutes trying to decide if charging those skeletons is worth losing half your knights. The pixel art has that classic Genesis charm, especially when spell effects light up the battlefield. Just don’t get too attached to your troops—this game doesn’t pull punches.

It’s basically the granddad of modern strategy RPGs, but it holds up way better than it has any right to. If you’ve ever wondered where Heroes of Might and Magic got some of its ideas, here’s your answer.