Nikkan Berutomo Club is one of those weird little Game Boy gems from '98 that never left Japan. You're basically managing a soccer team, but it's got this oddly charming mix of strategy and RPG elements—like picking training drills that actually affect how your players perform in matches. At first, I had no clue what I was doing (thanks, Japanese text), but after a few trial-and-error seasons, it clicked.

The pixel art is simple but full of personality, especially when your players celebrate goals with these tiny, exaggerated animations. And yeah, the menus are all in Japanese, but if you've played enough retro sports sims, you can kinda fumble through it. Just don't expect FIFA-level realism—this is more about the grind of turning a scrappy team into champs.

It's definitely niche, but there's something satisfying about finally winning a match after tweaking your lineup for the tenth time.