Oriental Blue: Ao No Tengai is one of those GBA RPGs that flew under the radar back in the day, but man, it's got this weird charm to it. You start off picking between two protagonists—a wandering swordsman or this scrappy kid—and right away, the game throws you into this lush, East Asian-inspired world that feels way bigger than it should on a tiny cartridge.

The pixel art is gorgeous, all warm oranges and deep blues, and the combat's got this neat twist where you can mix and match elemental spirits to customize your attacks. I remember getting stuck for way too long trying to figure out which spirit combos worked best against certain enemies (hint: don't sleep on water + wind).

What really hooked me was how your choices actually matter—side quests can change depending on who you talk to first, and some towns straight-up won't let you in if you've made certain story decisions. It's got that old-school RPG grind, but with enough little surprises to keep it from feeling stale. If you're into 16-bit era JRPGs with branching paths, this one's a hidden gem worth digging up.