So, Legend of Zelda on the NES—this game basically invented the open-world adventure before anyone even knew what that meant. You start as Link with just a dinky little shield, but there’s a sword waiting for you in the first cave, which is nice. From there, it’s all about wandering this huge, weird overworld full of secrets. Burn bushes, bomb walls, push random rocks—half the fun is stumbling into hidden caves with merchants, weird old ladies, or just some guy who gives you a cryptic hint and vanishes.

The dungeons? Oh man. Each one’s a maze of locked doors, monsters, and traps, and you’ll need specific items to get through them. Like, good luck getting to dungeon four without the raft from dungeon three. Some stuff is optional, but good luck ignoring the boomerang (total game-changer) or the sword upgrades. The last few dungeons are hidden, and while you can tackle them out of order, you’ll probably regret it when you walk into dungeon eight with a level-one sword and get wrecked.

It’s cryptic, tough as nails, and absolutely brilliant—still holds up today.